Nobody Puts Romcoms In The Corner by Kathryn Freeman

 

Nobody Puts Romcoms In The Corner by Kathryn Freeman.

Published in ebook 27th February 2023 and paperback 2nd March 2023 by One More Chapter.

From the cover of the book:

Not an expert, not even close, not in any of this. But nobody will try harder than me to make you happy.

Sally is a classic romantic and Harry is a classic cynic, but when a drunken bet leads the new flatmates to (badly) recreate ‘the lift’ from Dirty Dancing, and the video goes viral (#EpicRomcomReenactmentFailure), they both realise there’s potential financial benefit in blundering their way through the romcom lexicon for their suddenly vast social media following.

Now, as Harry and Sally bring major romcom moments to new life – including recreating that classic diner scene – their faking it turns to making…out and suddenly they’re living a real life romcom of their own! But like all the greatest love stories, the road to happily ever after is paved with unexpected challenges for this hero and heroine…

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Sally is a romantic. She knows every rom-com movie inside out, and believes that when she meets 'the one' she will, quite literally, hear bells sounding in her head. Harry on the other hand is a cynic. He does not believe in love, and would rather be caught dead than watch a rom-com. So, when the two of them end up flatmates, the sparks that fly are more of the adversarial than the lovey-dovey kind... at first.

Before long, they feel a sexual tension developing between them, even if they cannot admit it. After all, they really are not each other's type, are they? As the frostiness begins to melt, a drunken episode has them re-enacting (and videoing) the famous lift from Dirty Dancing, and Sally has the bright idea to upload it to TikTok. Their poor effort to emulate the Grey-Swayze dance move goes viral, and it sets Sally thinking that they might be able to make money off the back of their instant fame by copying other beloved moments from rom-com movies - and #EpicRomcomReenactmentFailure is born.

As they rack up more and more re-enactment fails with their own brand of twist, Sally and Harry's pretend on-line relationship develops into a very intense real one, but their differences have them convinced that they are not in this for the long-haul - no matter how great their sex life. Can the rom-com magic lead to a happy ending for them both?

This is a classic romance between two characters who seem to have very little in common at the beginning of the story - one believing that real life can be as portrayed in rom-com land, and one convinced that true love does not even exist. But where would we be if the course of true love ran smooth? Freeman bounds joyfully headlong into a tale that has her misfit pair learning to look at love a little differently, when they are brought together by necessity. 

The attraction between them starts as purely sexual, fed by their physical closeness as they run through Sally's repertoire of rom-com highlights, and this leads to some very steamy scenes. Each of them spends so much time convinced that they are not what each other needs, especially as they have their own issues to work through, that when they find a way to meet somewhere between full-on rom-com dreamland and emotional cynicism it comes as a big surprise to them both. A bevy of misunderstandings and mishaps crop up in the process, as you would expect, but this makes the final pay-off all the more swoon-worthy.

I liked Sally and Harry very much (a genius naming of the pair from Freeman there), though I did not really gel with the supporting players, other than the hilarious Hilda and Mildred. In fact, I intensely disliked many of them for almost the entire story (side-eyeing Harry's mother and ex-girlfriend, and Sally's sister Amy here), but this kind of adds to the gorgeousness of the storyline that brings Sally and Harry together against the odds.

This tale is a goldmine for laugh out loud moments (including a giggle at the thought of characters who feel they are past it at the dizzy heights of thirty-years-old), and I loved all the references to some cracking rom-com movies. It is full of fun, sass, and well-judged poignancy, and it ends right where you want your happy ending to be. Perfect escapist rom-com enjoyment to warm the cockles of your heart! 

Nobody Puts Romcoms in the Corner is available to buy now in paperback and ebook.

Thank you to One More Chapter for sending me a Netgalley copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Rachel's Random Resources for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Kathryn started her working life as a retail pharmacist but soon realised trying to decipher doctors' handwriting wasn't for her. In 2011, backed by her family, she left the world of pharmaceutical science to begin life as a self-employed writer.

She lives with two teenage boys and a husband who asks every Valentine's Day whether he has to bother buying a card again this year (yes, he does) so the romance in her life is all in her head.