Can a romcom-obsessed romantic find her prince charming?
Is the good-looking actor that she finds obnoxious her answer? Or will reality never compare to fiction?
Waiting for Tom Hanks, Kerry Winfrey
Genre: Chick Lit
Published 2019, 259 pages
The title sucked me in. Unfortunately. Who doesn’t love Tom Hanks? I love Tom Hanks. I’ve seen most of his movies, think he’s super funny in interviews, and he truly seems like the nicest actor alive. But by one-third of the way through the book I was tired of reading his name. It appeared on practically every page! By the end of the book I had had enough references to Tom Hanks to last me a lifetime.
“Everything before this was a misunderstanding or a miscommunication and now it’s all worked out. He’s my Bill Pullman with the large, lovely family in While You Were Sleeping and my Julia Roberts in Notting Hill. He’s my Tom Hanks. I found him.”
Annie loves rom-com movies, and she’s writing a screenplay for her own rom-com. When a film crew comes to her small town, Annie’s uncle gets her a job as the director’s assistant (whom he knew in college, of course), meets a gorgeous, charming actor who she instantly dislikes because she’s read he’s a prankster and likes to joke in interviews (shades of George Clooney!). So she’s mean and rude to him and tries to avoid him. Do you see where this is going? So predictable.
The story is not that interesting, the characters are stereotypes, the plot is very basic, the references to Hanks, Nora Ephron and rom-com movies like Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, and others are frequent, which sounds fun but is just repetitious.
“Now this. This is the Big Misunderstanding, after which he’ll make some sort of Grand Gesture to apologize, and then you guys will have your Climactic Kiss as the cover of a ‘90s song plays and the camera pans out.”
There’s a reason I don’t read romances and this book typifies those reasons – lightweight, predictable, corny. It just wasn't for me, but if you like those things in your books then you might enjoy this one.
Do you like books centered around celebrities? How about celebrity memoirs or biographies? Tell me your faves in the comments.
photos by Donna