Wish your life could be a little more like a romantic comedy? Then this is the place for you.

Too Good to Be Real (From ARC, quotes may have changed in publication copy)

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

While her friends wish for meet cutes worthy of their favorite rom-coms, Julia is ready to give up on love. Swiping right has replaced getting swept off your feet and good old-fashioned romance has become, well, old-fashioned.

A writer for a popular website, love becomes the last thing on her mind when impending layoffs threaten her job. As Julia searches for the ultimate pitch to impress her boss, she stumbles upon a resort offering guests a chance to live out their romantic comedy dreams. Real life dating is so bleak, who wouldn’t want to spend a week in a fantasy rom-com world with your best friends?

At the resort, Julia literally falls into a not-quite-meet-cute involving an aggressive seagull and an adorably awkward guy named Luke who is also participating in the rom-com experience. Julia hides the fact she is there to do a story, but Luke harbors a few secrets of his own. Among further encounters with thieving seagulls, a gaggle of corgis, kisses in the rain, and even a karaoke serenade, their feelings deepen quickly. But could their love be real when they haven’t been honest about their true identities? Once the fantasy is over, can they have a relationship in the real world?

It is truly a shame that a rom-com resort doesn’t actually exist because after reading Too Good to Be Real, I desperately want to go to one. 

The book follows Julia, a journalist for a popular website, who, in a desperate attempt to keep her job, volunteers for the website’s new travel column. As she’s searching for the perfect place for her pitch, she stumbles upon every romantic comedy lover’s dream: a resort where you can actually live out various rom-com scenarios. When she’s checking in, she meets Luke, the game master of the resort, in more of a meet-ugly than a meet-cute.

Smitten with Julia from the start, Luke decides to join the game as a participant, but there’s a problem: Julia doesn’t know he works for the resort, and Luke thinks that Julia’s friend is the reviewer instead of her. Despite the secrets they’re keeping, the two develop fast feelings through a series of adorably awkward encounters. 

A romantic comedy about living out romantic comedies is risky but Too Good to Be Real manages to toe the line between delightfully corny and amazingly self-aware. I loved how it didn’t shy away from making as many rom-com references as possible, and I had so much fun reading through and trying to place them all. The developing relationship between Julia and Luke is enjoyable to watch. The struggle they have finding the difference between fantasy and reality was realistic and well done. 

I also loved how well all of the side characters’ stories were developed, from the existing couples at the resort to rekindle their relationship to the single participants finding love in unlikely places. Overall, this was a cute and quirky read. If you love rom-coms, this is definitely the book for you.