It Only Happens In Movies by Holly Bourne | Book Review

Title: It Only Happens In Movies

Author: Holly Bourne

Series: N/A

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Feminism, Humor

Publisher: Usborne Publishing

Publication date: October 1st, 2017

Pages: 384

My rating: 

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Audrey is over romance. Since her parents’ relationship imploded her mother’s been catatonic, so she takes a cinema job to get out of the house. But there she meets wannabe film-maker Harry. Nobody expects Audrey and Harry to fall in love as hard and fast as they do. But that doesn’t mean things are easy. Because real love isn’t like the movies…

“And I’m thinking… If this was a movie, what would you be doing, Audrey? 

Would you be yelling at the girl on the screen? Chicking popcorn or cushions and screaming “DON’T DO IT, YOU MORON”?

….Or would you sighing, willing her to hear him out?”

This was such an incredible book I’m still surprised. Ever since I read the premise of this novel I knew I was going to pick it up when it came out, but I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It was a very realistic contemporary, very sarcastic and that kept me laughing out loud until the very end.

Despite the title, the movie aspect was a main part in the book, and I cannot tell you how much I usually enjoy those. They add something different to the whole story, and I really enjoyed the parts where they were filming or talking about the script, since I’m a lover of those type of things.

“I do exist. I am here. I am part of this life, whether you like it or not. I will have reactions. I will be a human. I won’t go away quietly. I deserve to be here.”

I think one of the reasons why I liked this story so much was the characters. Audrey was just like a teenager would be, and it was very easy to connect with her. She was not in the best moment of her life, and there was a good development when it came to her at the beginning and at the end of the story that I very much enjoyed seeing. She was also feminist, and there was one particular scene that appeared in most of the romance movies and/or books (and yes, that’s the “you’re not like other girls” quote) that was done so good and it made me so happy seeing it in a YA book that I almost screamed out loud.

The sidekicks were oh, so damn good as well. I have to say at the beginning I didn’t know much about them, because Audrey didn’t really get out with her friends that much so they weren’t in the picture that often, but throughout the story you could see a great friendship, and how Audrey started to lean more in her friends.

Another thing that’s basically like a unicorn in YA is sex. Well, explicit sex scenes. AND THERE ARE SOME IN THIS BOOK, and it was talked about sometimes that guys, it was like a miracle or something. Usually in YA contemporaries, sex is kind of a taboo, and it’s like it doesn’t happen or you have to guess. But in this book it was completely different, and I think that’s super important. There were a few conversations along with some steamy scenes, and I was so happy to see that it was talked in a YA book.

“It’s true,” I insisted. “Romance films ruin people’s real-life relationships. They offer this idea of love that isn’t sustainable in normal life.”

It was a very humorous and sarcastic story, that basically tried to step on all the cliques that were in romance movies and books, and that’s something I adored seeing, because some of the things were pretty accurate, to be honest. Sometimes there was a bit of teenage relationship drama, especially towards the end of the book, but I didn’t particulary mind that.

Something I really enjoyed was how the story ended. I don’t know why but ever since all that drama started happening I pictured in my head how everything would end, because that’s what happens in most of the YA books. But nope, it didn’t, and I was pleasantly surprised by it, because it made it even more realistic and unique.

Overall, I totally recommend this book if you’re looking for a different YA contemporary, because the romance was pretty great and the characters and story were amazing.

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