When love begins to blossom while she's at a romantic comedy themed resort, can Julia trust it? Or is her supposed real-life love story just part of the show?
A writer for a popular website, Julia fears for her job when she hears the top brass are cutting many full-time staff in favor of cheaper part-time freelancers. Desperate to keep her position and her health insurance, she asks her boss to let her do a review of a travel destination for the site's travel blog, and current biggest draw for readers, Take Me! When she finds an all-inclusive resort themed around romantic comedies - one of her favorite things in the world - she can hardly believe it. She invites her two best friends to come with her - even convincing one of the girls to pretend to be the reporter in her stead - and they head off for a week of make believe. Julia doesn't expect to have any trouble keeping fantasy and reality separate, but when she runs into a cute guy on the beach moments after arriving - a guy who she can't help liking the more she gets to know him - Julia starts to wonder if she might be getting taken in by the fantasy after all.
As the programmer hired to create the simulation for Notting Hill, Luke knows the game isn't real. The activities, the chance meetings, the cliche moments; all of it is orchestrated by his program, which makes sure the actors and players end up in the right places at the right times with the right people. Despite all that, the owner of the resort wants him to prove that the kind of love found in romantic comedies really can happen. If he can do that, he'll earn the bonus he needs to get his game company off the ground - something he's dreamed of doing since he was young. When he hears a reporter will be coming to be part of the opening week, he decides his best course of action is to join the game so he can make sure she has an amazing time. However, he keeps finding himself drawn to her friend, and the more he gets to know her, the more he wonders if real love can happen even when everything else is pretend.
Romance is not my go-to genre, but I wanted something light, fun, and sweet, and this book definitely delivered. The idea of a themed resort - like a Renaissance Faire for romantic comedy fans - sounded very cute, and the setting was a fun way to incorporate a lot of elements that might have otherwise seemed too tropey. Julia and Luke were fun characters too. Neither of them have baggage that is particularly heavy, but both have enough backstory to make them feel like developed characters. I also greatly enjoyed their companions - Julia's two gal friends, and Luke's best friend and sister. They helped keep the story moving even when the main characters weren't feeling sure of their next moves. The ending, just like a romantic comedy movie, is pretty easy to predict, but there were a few curves thrown in to keep things interesting.
If you like romantic comedy movies or novels, I would definitely recommend Too Good to be Real (2021) by Melonie Johnson. The lows never get very low, and the journey is still fun even though you know the destination. A quick word of warning though, for those who are concerned with such things, there is a fair bit of cursing - the book opens with an f-bomb - and while it's not a steamy book, there are a couple of, shall we say, hotter scenes.
For more Romantic Comedies, take a look at our list.