Title: Bookishly Ever After
Author: Isabel Bandeira
Publisher: Spencer Hill Contemporary
Pub Date: January 19, 2016
Format: Kindle eBook
Pages: 387
Source: NetGalley
Genre(s): YA, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: ★★★½
[Goodreads] ● [Amazon] ● [Book Depository]

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Synopsis from Goodreads:

In a perfect world, sixteen-year-old Phoebe Martins’ life would be a book. Preferably one filled with magic and a hot paranormal love interest. Unfortunately, her life probably wouldn’t even qualify for a quiet contemporary.

Everything changes when Phoebe learns that Dev, the hottest guy in the clarinet section, might actually have a crush on her. So, Phoebe turns to the heroines in her favorite books for advice on a personality overhaul. Becoming as awesome as her book characters isn’t as easy as it sounds and when another girl gets Dev for herself right from under Phoebe’s nose, she’s crushed.

Then, to up the suckage, she gets assigned as his co-counselor at a sixth grade camp and has to spend an entire week tied to the hip with the one guy on the planet she wanted to avoid. Can she make it through the potential danger of romantic bonfires and nature walks without Dev figuring out she’s still not over him, or will her counseling career end in emotional disaster? Can she ever go back to her happy world of fictional boys after falling for the real thing?

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My review:

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

“Too bad real boyfriends aren’t as awesome as book boyfriends.”

In a perfect world, this story would be every bookworm’s dream.

This is a book about a girl who loves to read, is obsessed with book boyfriends, and who prefers fictional people over real people. She reads in the middle of the cafeteria and tries to learn life skills from the characters in her favourite books. But sometimes her bookish nature keeps her from seeing things objectively, and more often than not, these misconceptions lead to big misunderstandings. Sound familiar? Yeah. I feel personally attacked by this book, too. *insert laughing with tears emoji*

The premise of this book is a goldmine. I just had a few problems with the execution of it. Perhaps I’m a little too mature for this story now. If I read this when I was thirteen, it would probably be one of my favourite books. Unfortunately I am twenty two and mad at the world, so it didn’t feel quite as magical to me. But that’s a different issue.

Some parts felt dragged out too much. I really didn’t like the extra passages that were supposed to be from Phoebe’s favourite books. It just made the slower parts feel even slower. They didn’t add more substance to the story like I’m sure they were intended to. Maybe you’ll like them more than I did. Maybe you will skip them altogether. Whatever floats your boat. I just feel like 50% of this book was unnecessary. Seriously, I was shocked when I looked down to see that I was only halfway through. No declaration of love yet? No knitted socks? Let’s speed things up, people! Anyways, I am ridiculous. Please ignore me.

Bookishly Ever After is cute and fluffy and incredibly bookish. If that’s what you’re looking for, you will love this book.