If We Were A Movie by Kelly Oram

This book is available March 1st — but can be preordered now for a special early bird price of $2.99!!  I think it goes up to $4.99 in 2 weeks, so it’s totally worth it to preorder this baby!

Synopsis:
Music meets Movies in this sweet college romance from the bestselling author of Cinder & Ella.

NYU freshman Nate Anderson is a triplet who is desperate to escape his wild and crazy brothers. After they screw things up for him one too many times, Nate flees his housing situation and takes the first available room for rent as far from his brothers as he can get.

Enter his new roommate Jordan–a quirky LA girl who believes that everything in life has already been done in the movies. In this heartfelt tale of love, friendship and family, Nate learns how to deal with his new adult life using Hollywood films as a guide.

    

My Review:
3.5 stars — I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!!

I don’t think I initially realized this book was an all boy POV book, but I LOVE those so that definitely worked for me!  Sometimes I wish I could get into Jordan’s head, but in general this was Nate’s story being told, and I thought it was done with lots of humour and heart.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Kelly Oram, and this book had her trademarks all over it.  I LOVED the movie and music tie ins, they fit perfectly with where the story was going and brought back so many memories for me, b/c I’m pretty sure I recognized all the movie references (even if some were fictional — some great easter eggs for true Kelly Oram fans to enjoy).

In general I adored Nate.  He was a bit of a sensitive spirit, and I empathized with so much of what he was going through.  But he was also a bit of a pushover, and while this book is the story of him getting over this particular flaw (and just growing in general), it was still hard to watch him get taken advantage of…  In some cases it was just too much for me and had me scowling deeply at my kindle.  I actually think Ms Oram portrayed his character really well, and it was definitely consistent and realistic…I just had a hard time reading it, so it took away from my enjoyment in some cases.  So it was a personal preference type of thing, not a discredit to the writing or the book.

And in a similar vein, I just couldn’t take his girlfriend Sophie.  I’m sure there really are people like this in the world, but it was SO HARD to read about.  She was a witch with a capital B and I think I would have preferred a bit less of her part in the story, even if that’s where a lot of the conflict came in.  His reactions to her just made me mad at him, and that’s not what I want from a book boy I’m intending to love.

Now Jordan was awesomesauce.  She was so bold and bright, and yet vulnerable at the same time.  And the chemistry between her and Nate, from friends to more, was fantastic.

I even enjoyed his brothers, and I appreciated the way their part in the story played out.  And then there’s Jordan’s friend Colin — diamond in the rough that one.

So basically it was a delicious new addition to the Kelly Oram library, but my frustrations with Nate (and mostly Sophie) just took away from my enjoyment enough to leave this one just shy of 4 stars for me.