Age: 17
Title: This is What Happy Looks Like
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pub Date: 04/02/13
Galley: Yes
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: I found this book horribly cliched. The whole boy meets girl thing is really overdone, and even worse when it's boy movie star meets small town girl with a secret. There's a ton of overwrought drama that could have easily been edited out, without the story losing anything, and I thought that both of the characters were whiney, irritating, and needed to have internet safety explained to them again. The entire premise is that they started emailing each other by accident, never told each other their names, but gave away almost all other personal information. To me, that's not sweet, it's sort of creepy.
Memorable or Forgettable: I saw nothing original in this book. I've seen these characters before, the girl with a secret that overwhelms her life and the tortured artist who wants to escape, I've seen this plot before, and I've seen this setting before. This could have been any other teen romance novel.
Cover: I thought the cover was certainly interesting to look at. It's a nice picture, and an okay font. But it's not striking, and there's not a ton of shelf appeal. I guess it reflects the contents, which are also fairly bland.
Age Range: 12 through 17
Quality: 3Q Readable
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal
tags: romance / BFYA nominee / ya lit
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