Review: Romantic comedy that I couldn't put down
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 15, 2013
I know, from the title alone you think this is a cheesy, gimmicky book. And it kind of is. It's the sort of book that would have made a great Meg Ryan movie back in the day. Who's the new Meg Ryan, by the way? Emma Stone, maybe? Let's picture Emma Stone.Christy is in her late twenties, and she runs her own personal service business called Doorman dot com. It involves a lot of pickups and deliveries of objects and people, and she keeps track of it all on her beloved iPhone. One fateful day, as she takes the train from New York to New Brunswick, she accidentally leaves her precious precious phone on the train. A cute guy finds it for her, and the rest is wacky hijinks and coincidences.Will runs his own human resources business, and he's usually got things to do, but he's in New Brunswick to deal with his dead grandpa's house, which means dealing with his spaced-out, non-communicative poet father. He would be having a bad day, but he gets to talk to Christy on the phone and help her solve her problems, so he feels pretty good about things.Christy's jaunt through New York is chaotic but she manages to meet every friendly person in town and build lots of good karma. Her schedule is messed up, she picks up the wrong Italian guy from the airport, and she misses the chance to put a deposit down on the apartment of her dreams. It's kind of a terrible day, but she enjoys checking in with Will and they find themselves just chatting when they've got time. They even manage to complete all of her tasks, albeit out of order and behind schedule.Now, all of the secondary characters are tangled up in a way that would only happen in a movie. You can choose to be aggravated by the tweeness, or you can accept it and enjoy the roller coaster ride. I, for one, couldn't put this book down all damn day, and the list of things that I didn't accomplish because of it made me feel like the anti-Christy. I have to give credit to a book that keeps me reading like that.My only real complaint is the ending. In the movies, it's fine to show the two characters finally meet up, exchange heated glances, kiss each other madly, and then fade to black. In this book, the meeting was drawn out a little too long due to quirky interruptions, and I wanted more of an emotional charge when they were finally able to kiss. Then I really, really wanted more kissing, but it just ended. Le sigh.Rating: BThis review also posted on Red Hot Books