Review: Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett
10:00
Series: None
Author: Jenn Bennett
Published July 27th 2017 by Simon & Schuster Children's UK
Goodreads Synopsis
The one guy Bailey Rydell can’t stand is actually the boy of her dreams—she just doesn’t know it yet.
Classic movie fan Bailey “Mink” Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online as Alex. Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush.
Faced with doubts (what if he’s a creep in real life—or worse?), Bailey doesn’t tell Alex she’s moved to his hometown. Or that she’s landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she’s being heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth—a.k.a. her new archnemesis. But life is a whole lot messier than the movies, especially when Bailey discovers that tricky fine line between hate, love, and whatever it is she’s starting to feel for Porter.
And as the summer months go by, Bailey must choose whether to cling to a dreamy online fantasy in Alex or take a risk on an imperfect reality with Porter. The choice is both simpler and more complicated than she realizes, because Porter Roth is hiding a secret of his own: Porter is Alex…Approximately.
Goodreads
Review
Full disclosure, this book just might be my all time favourite book! So, that being said, this review may be a bit rambly. In Alex, Approximately, Bailey is someone who is obsessed with classic movies. Her whole life sort of revolves around them, and through them, she met her online pen pal, 'Alex'. The live on opposite sides of America, not an easy feat, and have never met in real life. To be honest, 'Alex' isn't his real name, and he knows her as 'Mink'. It soon comes about that Bailey will be moving across country to live with her dad in California, to the same hometown as Alex, but for some reason she doesn't tell him. She thinks she'll be able to identify him on sight, but as the weeks go by, she still doesn't know who he is.
One person who she does know is the arrogant Porter, who becomes her nemesis early on. When they both start working at the same museum in town, Porter starts to grow on Bailey, and she's conflicted. She has these two guys she really likes, both seemingly different, and she feels like she's cheating on the other, when she really didn't have an issue.
I loved Bailey! She is the best character that Jenn has ever written, and I wish she was in every book. She has such a personality to her, quirky and a bit shy at times, and I just adored reading from her PoV. She's also fully fleshed out, with such a fantastic backstory that slowly is brought out, by different characters, and really helps us to understand her nuances more. Even though she is masquerading as 'Mink' online, she's really showing herself, and I think that's why Alex/Porter fell for her so fast. Porter, as well, had a back story, and a wonderful family around him, that I loved getting to know more about.
The plot was phenomenal, with no page being boring or unnecessary. Rather, if there could've been 100s of more pages, I wouldn't have complained. You've Got Mail type plot devices can be done either very well, or really badly, and this was definitely in the former category. The reveal of who 'Alex' and 'Mink' actually were was done very, very well, and I keep this book close to re-read whenever I'm feeling down, or need to get out of a reading slump as it is just amazing! If you haven't already discovered Jenn's books, you need to, and this is the best one!
Dates Read:
July 27, 2017Rating
5 Stars
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