The Romantic Comedy Book Club
Spoilers have been removed. This would have been a 3.5 star rating - not a 3 but that option is not available.
For those of you who have seen the movie Isn't This Romantic, this book will be right up your alley. When initially asked to read it, the cover made me think of Killer Klowns from Outer Space, with the sci-fi horror looking "edge"' to it. This book is anything but! Making fun of romantic comedy clichés, Attack of the Rom Com is a whole lot of fun and insanity. You won't want to put it down as you "leap" from story to insane story.
There were very few things Sophie Sweet believed in: a leather jacket could cure anything, Doritos Surprise is the best meal ever, any conflict can be resolved with good ol’ fashion violence; but “twuwuv”, yeah that wasn't one of them! She wasn't interest in finding her perfect match, her soulmate, her other half. All she wanted was to enjoy a fun night out with her best friend Jodie at the carnival and maybe get in a few good pokes messing with her favorite psychic. What she got was a pink abomination named Tiffani, insight she could live without, and the unrealistic promise that Jodie would find true love (at least it came with a money back guarantee!). Having had enough “fun” for one night, Sophie and Jodie pass out at their traditional sleepover, only for Sophie to wake up… in high school?! On the gym floor no less. Trying to determine what fresh torment she has been subjected to, Sophie quickly realizes she is being forced to relive her worst days but with a twist - the most popular guy in high school has asked her to the prom. Sick to her stomach, Sophie's suddenly aware that a lot is starting to resemble… a romantic comedy! As if things couldn’t get any worse, her pinkish nightmare… i.e. Tiffani the sociopath (I mean psychic) is Tiffany the Guidance Counselor! Letting her in on what’s about to go down, Sophie - against her will, plays along (to an extent) in order to end this nightmare… only to awaken as a pretty pretty princess. Each time Sophie believes she has checked the boxes to escape her torturer, she is placed in a brand new scenario. As each scenario plays out, despite her best efforts, Sophie begins to face the demons she carefully avoided, breaking through the walls until she can finally see what, rather who, has been waiting for her on the other side.
This was a beautiful story of psychological constraints. We believe in the narrative that we tell ourselves so if we believe we don’t deserve happiness, we don’t. If we believe we are not worthy of love, we aren’t. We convince ourselves that we are just beating everyone to the chase, they can’t put us down if we are already there, right?!
While sometimes hard to follow, this book was very funny! Sophie is all over the place and her moments of freaking out are down right hilarious. As the book is told from her perspective, we spend the vast majority of time in her head or seeing things from her eyes. You can quickly tell where the book is going in terms of the overall message but you also get to see first hand why Sophie is absolutely clueless!
Overall, it is an AMAZING story about love, growth, the effects of trauma, and healing. To reiterate the comment above, the writing is confusing at times, often muddled or inundated with colloquials that the reader is temporarily lost. With a great editor, this book would fly off the shelf! Simply put, it is a really good story but not very well written. Again, this could be due to it being in single POV so you are reading an internal dialogue for most of the story. If this is the case, then it is written as if you are peering into the jumbled mind of someone who is carrying a lot on their shoulders and has spent so long pushing everything down, the lid is about to pop off!
While the book did have language and humorous references to intimacy, it kept things pretty PG-13 (again, mostly for the coarse language). For anyone who may have grown up with a less than stellar childhood, has any type of abandonment issues, or faced adversity due to their sexual identity, this book may be triggering.
The ending of this book warmed my heart so much and will give any reader hope that we can always turn a corner, the ending isn't written as long as we are still breathing. We may not want to face the ugly and may try to hide from what hurts us but if we can find the strength to overcome it, the reward is worth it.