Victoria Van Tiem

Deep cleansing sigh. I am seriously taking a break from books for the rest of the day. I don't want to hit a reading slump. And I can feel myself getting there because before I picked this one up this morning, I started and stopped two other books that were not holding my interest at all.

Told in the first person, we follow main character, Libby London who is all about the 80s. She quotes movies and songs from the 80s. She only wears clothes from the 80s. And she even decorates her apartment in 80s style. For example, she has two huge Rubix cubes as coffee tables, which I do have to admit I thought was kind of cool.

After her friends stage an 80s Intervention and demand that she let go of the 80s and start embracing the year they currently reside in, we have Libby putting up many roadblocks to stay safe in her 80s lifestyle.

I really didn't like the character of Libby. I mean there were parts that had me feeling sorry for her. But she was pretty much a jerk until the very end. And she kept looking towards her friends to fix shit that was going wrong in her life. When you realize what must have happened (and man oh man I could see that plot contrivance after I got to 15 percent) to push her life off balance I was left with so many more questions than answers.

Did it make sense for Libby to hold on to the 80s because the boy that was her perfect one said the 80s suited her? Not really. I didn't get it myself. Because there seemed to be no real attachment that I got from her to hold onto the 80s beyond that. Frankly it just goes to show that Libby was pretty weak when it came to the character of Ollie and did whatever he determined to be cool and shaped herself to be that way. It would have been interesting if the author took a different approach to that character because I think then things would have gotten interesting.

The other characters are not well developed at all. Libby it seems only has three friends, her best friend Dora, her best friend's fiancee Dean, and her childhood friend Finn. She also has an employee named Jasper, who is younger than her by a few years, who apparently keeps asking her out, but she says no to because she is still in love with the character named Oliver (called Ollie).

At times you can see some anger (rightfully) coming off of Libby's friends who you realize do stage the 80s intervention for her own well being. I didn't get that at first until I got a lot farther into the book.

But too many questions remained. There is a central incident and person that everyone just refers to in a certain way in order to make the final ending more jaw dropping I guess. But it's only jaw dropping if you have never read a book before. And that's not me being a jerk, it's just a really well used plot contrivance and the "words" the author uses pretty much gives away what must have happened.

The whole idea of making this focus around The Breakfast Club is a cute one, but it doesn't really work when you get to the idea of Libby's friends setting her up on dates with men that they rename based on The Breakfast Club members. I mean "The Princess", what the hell?

They were supposed to be staging an intervention but only it came with regards to her look. Why would you keep indulging her by saying tonight you go out with the athlete?

The writing in my opinion was not that great. There were way too many British words peppered in the text. Since the character of Libby was supposed to be born and raised in New York there was no reason for this. I am guessing the author may be British? I don't know. It just kept yanking me out of the story every time I came across one.

Also the word "hero" was used so many times that I refuse to read it for a whole day after finishing this book. I hate that the song "I Need A Hero" won't stop playing in my brain. To punish my brain I am making it listen to Nickelback on the way home. That will teach you.

There was also an issue with Libby's age for me. She should either be younger or older than she is based on the fact that the author mentions certain key dates in the book and the fact she's turning 33 is mentioned a bazillion times so I finally just gave up and said whatever.

The flow was pretty bad. We get to the first of Libby's two dates (The Brain and the Athlete) and the story keeps going back and around to Libby's other big problem which is her store location being sold out from under her. The fact that she sticks her headd in the sand and once again needs other people to figure out a solution for her was grating. I seriously at this point didn't get how Libby even ran a successful business. The character Jasper mentions that the reason Libby's store (Pretty in Pink) is doing so great is because of her, that she draws people in and I laughed out loud at at that line. Um, I recall only one scene with one customer being in her store. And Libby's personality was not that great. It just made me crack up that the character of Jasper was seeing a different character than the author even showed us at that point.

The setting of New York really wasn't used at all. The author chose to focus on all things 80s and the pop culture references in this book are too numerous to list at all right now.

The ending was a kind of meh for me. To go from the place she was at to an entirely different mental place was not realistic to me. We find out that Libby is dealing with some pretty weighty issues. And I do applaud the author for taking a look at them. But I really do wish that the book had focused on them more and or getting her friends involved. I mean it didn't take a rocket scientist to see why Libby was the way she is. I just needed her friends to say something or to at least acknowledge it. They just seemed to think as soon as she got a boyfriend her life would magically get better.… (meer)

"As we get older, every relationship is tainted by the ones before. You enter sceptical, wanting to be proved wrong. But with your first love, you aren't experienced enough to know any better. Your heart is wide open and unblemished. That's why it stays with you. Why Ollie's stayed with me"

4.5 stars.
What a wonderful story! Holding Out for a Hero is all about the eighties, like it or leave it. Libby is seriously stuck in the ‘80s and her friends call for an intervention. She needs a make-over badly as far as they’re concerned and she needs to move forward with her life. In two weeks’ time it’s her 33rd birthday and they want her to show up at her birthday party with a partner. In order to bring her into the twenty-first century, they set her up with a series of blind dates, each one corresponding to one of the characters of the ’85 movie The Breakfast Club, a movie that defined the decade she’s stuck in. If you haven’t seen it, like me, you are kind of missing out on some of the fun since there are a lot of references to the movie and the actors. In fact, there are lots of references to the ‘80s in general and the more knowledge you have of what was hot and happening, the more fully you’ll be able to enjoy the story. It did annoy me at times that I did not really understand some references, it was like I sometimes didn’t really get the punchline of a joke. Even so, google helped me a long way with that, and I just loved all the different dates Libby had to undergo, each one almost more hilarious than the other and my absolute favourite part was the account of the pirate mini-golf.

Reading Holding Out for a Hero about Libby’s struggle with life and love made me laugh so much! This is really a laugh-out-loud book so be aware and don’t be surprised for the looks you might get if you read it in a public place. It’s bound to put you in a good mood for the day, it’s written with so much wit and ease, and Libby London has delightful tongue-in-cheek humour.

It’s hard to believe the book is so funny when the main character is also seeing a psychologist because she needs help with her insomnia and bouts of depression as she calls it. These moments of distress are perfectly combined with the hilarious dates that fall upon Libby, and ultimately, as the story progresses, this serious side comes up more and more and her slow surrender to let go of her first love, really lifts up the story.

This book is not only a light-hearted chick-lit novel but is also touching and hart-warming. A great read!!!… (meer)

Calling all Chick Lit and RomCom fans .. are you a hopeless sucker for true love romance stories and iconic romantic comedy movies? If so, then boy do I have a must read book for you!

In her debut novel, Love Like The Movies, author Victoria Van Tiem weaves a wonderful romantic comedy that will melt your heart.

Twenty-nine year old Kensington Shaw is a creative director at a prominent ad agency, who recently became engaged to Bradley Connors, but there is something missing. A romantic comedy fanatic at heart, she longs to have a passionate love just like in the movies. Kensington's world turns upside down when her ex-boyfriend Shane Bennett, the one who broke her heart years ago when he dumped her and returned home to Britain, suddenly shows up at her ad agency as a new client. Determined to win back her heart, Shane challenges Kensington to live out ten romantic comedy movie moments with him, and he'll sign with her agency. What's a girl to do when she has to choose between two guys: the guy her family loves or the one that provides a love like the movies?

Love Like The Movies is a delightful romantic comedy that gave me a warm fuzzy feeling, okay so I'm a unabashed romantic at heart, but seriously this was a sweet story filled with romance and humor that easily kept me following along as Kensington struggled with deciding which guy would win her heart. The twists and turns keeps the reader on their toes wondering who will Kensington choose until the very satisfying conclusion.

The best part of the book for me was reliving fond memories from the references of ten classic romantic comedy movies that made up a big part of my teens and early adulthood. Seriously, I was captivated by Kensington and Shane's re-enactment of these classic and timeless romantic comedies: Sleepless in Seattle, Pretty Woman, Bridget Jones's Diary, 27 Dresses, Dirty Dancing, Sixteen Candles, Love Actually, Say Anything, You've Got Mail, and My Best Friend's Wedding. I was swept away to my happy place by these movie references, they left me sighing with a silly grin on my face. Who wouldn't want to find love just like in the Hollywood movies?

If you're looking for a little escape into the wonderful world of romance and fun with a touch of humor, than Love Like The Movies is the perfect guilty pleasure, you can thank me later.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Pump Up Your Book! Virtual Book Publicity Tours.

http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2014/03/love-like-movies-by-victoria-v...… (meer)