This Is What Happy Looks Like
This book is the epitome of a good beach read.
Not that I have a beach to sit on or anything out here in the desert. Today it was 106 degrees outside. I haven’t seen rain in I don’t know how long. A hammock on a beach sounds delicious. And this would be a good book to read while in that hammock.
This Is What Happy Looks Like is well-written fluff. You know exactly what you’re going to get before you put it in your mouth, it tastes good going down, and you forget it almost as soon as you’ve consumed it. This Is What Happy Looks Like is a YA rom-com in book form, and while it is a bit cliched in parts, it’s enjoyably so. Ellie O’Neill receives an accidental email from a stranger asking her to walk his dog, Wilbur. She emails him back to let him know he has the wrong person, and it turns out Wilbur isn’t a dog, he’s a pig, and the teenaged boy who owns him is pretty great. They strike up an email correspondence that both of them are way into. But unbeknownst* to Ellie, her internet paramour is none other than movie star Graham Larkin. When Graham has the production of his next movie moved to Ellie’s sleepy Maine hometown, the two finally meet, but not only do they have to deal with him being GRAHAM LARKIN, Ellie has secrets of her own.
*Anytime you can use the word ‘unbeknownst’ in a review of a book, you know exactly what kind of book you’re dealing with.
The plot of this book is suitably far-fetched, but like I said, that’s part of its appeal. Graham and Ellie are remarkably well-drawn for being characters in this sort of book. Their wants and worries and desires and fears are all very believable, considering their circumstances. The only time I felt myself becoming annoyed with the book was when certain tropes kept popping up, like the other girl that Graham is supposed to be interested in but he isn’t because he’s so deep, or the sassy best friend who is obligated to get into a fight with the girl protagonist over some misunderstanding. These types of stories seem to think they can’t survive without these tropes, when in reality they could just cut them completely out of the book and no one would even notice, except maybe to say, hey I’m glad I didn’t see that thing in this book! Anyway, like I said: beach read. Fluff. If that’s what you’re looking for, pick this up and you won’t be disappointed.