chick flick

Title: The Chick Flick Project
Author: Courtney Elliott
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Comedy
Publisher: Senzuri Books
Publication Date: November 7th 2012
Goodreads
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for honest review.

Ally Nichols is fed up with constantly putting herself out there to only be rejected again and again. After her most recent failure, she comes up with a solution. She decides to start modeling her love life after all of the big screen’s most recognizable love stories. Hilarity, heartbreak, mishaps and mayhem ensue. She hopes that maybe one of them actually figured out the secret to true love. The only problem: no one ever told her that sometimes your Hollywood Happy Ending is where you least expect to find it.

The Chick Flick Project by Courtney Elliott is a delightful, fun read that left me laughing out loud at times, and sometimes made me bite my nails waiting for what was to come next. Ally Nichols is a reporter for a women’s magazine, and is determined to find out whether all those Hollywood love stories would work in real life. She goes on a quest to re-enact the circumstances of several Hollywood classics lik “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” and “Dirty Dancing.” While sometimes it looks she may succeed, most of her tries fail miserably. Will she ever find love? Or is a Hollywood ending not something Ally can hope for?

The greatest thing about this book is Ally’s voice. She’s so funny and quirky, I instantly connected with her. From page one, she talks to the reader like they’re her friends, and there’s a certain humor to the writing voice that made me tumble into the story as soon as I started reading. On top of that, the premise is really interesting. Have you never wished Hollywoo movies would happen in real life? I certainly have, and the way Ally tests them is of course hilarious. She seems a bit naief at first, but she quickly grows as a character and gets over that.

I also liked Ally’s friends, Jill and Zack, and their weekly schedules: Italian Night, for instance, was hilarious. Zack was probably my favorite character, next to Ally. It’s obvious from the start how much he cares about her, and he constantly warns her not to do anything stupid by going on dates with people she hardly knows. Sometimes his warnings are with good reason, other times he seems a bit overprotective, but in a cute way.

The only thing I didn’t like about this book was the ending. I don’t want to spoil it, but something happens then that’s totally unrealistic and completely doesn’t work for me. One of the guys Ally meets during her experiment comes back in the picture, and well, what follows is…odd. That’s the only word I have for it.

However, don’t let that scare you away from the book. It’s well written, fast-paced and the voice flows very well. The story never stops either: Ally practically rolls from one experiment into the other.

If you’re a fan of click flick movies, or romantic comedies, check out this book. I promise you’ll laugh.