Author: Holly Bourne
Publication Date: 1 December 2020
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Page Count: 368
Reading Method: Digital ARC
Synopsis:
Audrey is over romance. While dealing with her parents’ contentious divorce, a breakup of her own, and shifting friendship dynamics, she has every reason to feel cynical. But then she meets Harry, her fellow coworker at the local cinema. He’s brash, impulsive, and a major flirt. And even though Audrey tries to resist, she finds herself falling for his charms. But in this funny, insightful, and ultimately empowering novel, love—and life—isn’t what it’s like in the movies.
Review:
I thoroughly enjoyed It Only Happens in the Movies. In it we have Audrey, a feminist MC writing a report on the ridiculously unrealistic romantic comedy genre. This book is smart, moving, a bit funny and heartbreaking at times, and ultimately, I found it to be very satisfying.
I really enjoyed the movie theater setting and the characters we meet at the cinema. Harry, our love interest, is wildly charming and a hopeful film director. He somehow manages to rope Audrey into acting in his newest zombie film, where she meets his group of friends who are even more wild than he is.
Audrey is facing her own issues at home. Her parents are recently divorced and her mother isn’t handling it well. Her brother, away at college, is very little help and her father seems to be lacking any sort of empathy. There were so many times I wanted to reach through the pages and shake her father. And her brother. Honestly, her whole family. All of them are so wrapped up in their own feelings that they can’t see or don’t care that Audrey is struggling. In this way, I really connected with Audrey’s character.
This book is a big story in a small package. There is so much to unpack, there is so much character growth, and so many satisfying scenes as Audrey finds herself and learns to put herself first. I really really liked this one and would recommend it to pretty much anyone.
You can purchase a copy of It Only Happens in the Movies here (amazon) or here (book depository)
Learn more about Holly Bourne here
