Dramatically Ever After
Series: Ever After #2
Author: Isabel Bandeira
Published June 20th 2017 by Spencer Hill Press

Goodreads Synopsis
Senior year is not shaping up to be the picture perfect movie Em Katsaros had imagined. Her super hot leading man is five thousand miles away. Her dad just got laid off. And Em can kiss her first-pick university goodbye if she doesn't snag a scholarship.

To turn this Shakespearean tragedy into the Academy Award-winning dream Em has written for herself, she enters a speech competition and manages to cinch a spot in the US Youth Change Council national round. She gets to spend a week in Boston and her prayers might be answered if she can kick butt and win one of the national scholarships.

Everything seems to be going by the script until she finds out Kris Lambert--senior class president, stuck-up jerk, and her nemesis--is going, too. Cue the dramatic music. In Boston, Kris is different. Nice. Cute, even. But she knows his game way too well--be nice to your opponents and then throw them under the bus on your way to victory. Instead of becoming his next victim, Em decides to turn the tables by putting her acting and flirting skills to work. Unfortunately, as they get close to the final competition and judging, reality and acting start to blur.

Can Em use the drama from the stage to get the future she's been dreaming of?
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

For Em Katsaros, she wants to go to college and study drama, but following her father losing his job, and the fact her mam has tenure at a local university, she's struggling to convince them to let her go to the college of her dreams. However, when she wins State for a speech writing competition, and is sent to the US Youth Change Council national round, she just might be in with a chance of gaining a scholarship, and proving she can get what she wants. But, the other candidate for New Jersey just happens to be her nemesis, Kris Lambert, and her week in Boston soon turns into a battle. But, for all the arrogance and annoyance Kris has at home, he's different in Boston - he's kind, and caring, and just might be flirting? Can Em get over the breakup from her long distance boyfriend, and focus on the competition, or will her warring feelings over Kris ruin it all?

When I read the first book in the series, Bookishly Ever After, way back in 2016, I absolutely loved it! I was approved for both the sequels, but because of events in real life, I never got around to reading them - until Covid hit, and I had a lot more free time on my hands. Book 2 follows Em and Kris, secondary characters in BEA, as they spend most of the book in Boston, at the competition. They were characters who you immediately liked, though there's only one pov (Em's). I will admit, I have next to no interest in speech writing, or competitions like this, but being a history graduate, I loved all the inclusion of historical aspects to the story. Both of the main characters had a really good chemistry with each other, and I enjoyed reading their story. They also had a lot of good friends, both at home and those they made in Boston, which helped to create the story as more than just two people getting over their differences and falling in love. One thing that really annoyed me, though, was Em's obsession or reaction over her 'relationship' with Wil. I can't really remember much about them from book 1, but when you're in New Jersey, and he's in Germany, and doesn't speak very good English, you're relationship's not going to go far. Especially as a teenager. I completely understood why he wasn't as into the relationship as she was, and even though she's the one who said that after the fight they were done for good, she still bombarded him with emails, messages, liking his photos, etc. Just accept it's over, and move on! However, once I got over that, I did enjoy the book, and will be starting Practically Ever After very soon.

Dates Read:
April 7-8, 2021

Rating
4 Stars