Review: Sweet, Fun Romance that  also Touches on Some Serious Issues
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 24, 2013
I've touched on this in other reviews, but for a long time I thought the chick lit genre was kind of dead, or at least it was dead for me. But recently I've made some discoveries, like Over the Edge, Why Can't I Be You, and this book, that are making me rethink my earlier assessment.The book starts off with graduate student Lizzie heading to London with a friend to study for nine months. Lizzie's never been to London or even out of the country. As a bit of a bibliophile Lizzie is really excited to go to a country with such a rich literary history. She's also excited to get away from her large, controlling family (more on them later) and to break out of her quiet, shy shell. Her first night out in London she meets Thomas, a not so much struggling actor, but an actor on the verge of his big break, and there's an immediate connection.The main thing this book had working for me was the relationships between the characters. I thought overall that character development was somewhat lacking, but thankfully the relationships were really strong. I loved reading about the beginning of Lizzie and Thomas' romance. They were incredibly cute together, but they're also real in their expectations of their relationship and very respectful of each other. I also liked how they have similar, very compatible personalities, but were also able to complement each other where they were lacking. The relationship between Lizzie and her friend who accompanied her to London was also strong. So often best friends drive me nuts, but this was a good one.Part of me wants to fault this book for having Lizzie fall so in love with Thomas that he becomes her whole life, but in this situation it doesn't bother me as much as it normally would. After a quick reality check Lizzie realizes that she needs to still devote a big chunk of herself to school and really, besides the friend she came with, Lizzie doesn't have any other friends in London. Maybe she missed out on an opportunity to make more friends in London, but she did become friends with Thomas' group of friends and I think that counts for something.This is a book that features celebrity culture pretty heavily. Lizzie and Thomas meet at a play where a famous now grown up child actor is appearing nude, Thomas is currently one of the co-stars in a Twilight-esque francise, and as Thomas becomes more and more well known Lizzie is forced to deal with paparazzi and unflattering press coverage. I don't want to say that this is a large part of the book, Thomas' extreme fame only comes towards the end, but it's something to be aware of. I'm not someone who follows celebrity culture, but I (think I) got all the references here and it was believable to me.Let's talk about the people I hated. Lizzie's family. God they drove me nuts! I'm not saying this as a negative against the book, I actually think the author did a great job of portraying an overbearing family, I just hated the family. They pushed Lizzie into a job she doesn't want, they discourage her from going out into the world and experiencing new things, and they constantly make her feel guilty for pretty much existing. These types of families drive me nuts in real life and that annoyance definitely translated here. My family has its faults, but thank god they ultimately just want me to be happy, no matter what.Bottom Line: I'm happy to say that this is another strong entry in the category formally known as "chick lit." It's a fun, enjoyable book that strikes a good balance between a sweet romance and serious issues around forming a connection with someone who lives far away and also controlling families. I want to say it would be a great beach read, but it takes place mostly over the winter in rainy London so it feels a little weird to recommend it for the beach! But it has that type of feeling.