Thoughts on In Real Life


In Real Life 
By Jessica Love

How it Stacks Up....... 
★★1/2☆☆///50%///224 pages

I received a review copy from St. Martin's Griffin in exchange for an honest review. This, however, does not change my ability or desire to state my opinion in any way, shape, or form.

So What's It About? 

Hannah Cho and Nick Cooper have been best friends since 8th grade. They talk for hours on the phone, regularly shower each other with presents, and know everything there is to know about one another. There's just one problem: Hannah and Nick have never actually met. Hannah has spent her entire life doing what she's supposed to, but when her senior year spring break plans get ruined by a rule-breaker, she decides to break a rule or two herself. She impulsively decides to road trip to Vegas, her older sister and BFF in tow, to surprise Nick and finally declare her more-than-friend feelings for him. Hannah's romantic gesture backfires when she gets to Vegas and meets Nick's girlfriend, whom he failed to mention. And it turns out his relationship status isn't the only thing he's been lying to her about. Hannah knows the real Nick can't be that different from the online Nick she knows and loves, but now she only has one night in Sin City to figure out what her feelings for Nick really are, all while discovering how life can change when you break the rules every now and then.
What I Thought

Our protagonist, Hannah, annoyed me so much I am finding it hard putting my loathing into words. When I read the blurb and about 25 pages, I thought that I would relate to Hannah on a certain level because we are both introverts, but I was wrong. I could not stand her. Hannah had a personality that made her seem about five years younger than how old she actually was. Hannah said the word "freaking" almost every other word, which made me want to vomit. I can handle the word "freaking" and even use it occasionally, but used in such redundancy makes me think of her as younger than she was. 


The other characters in this book were bland and were very clearly developed very poorly.  Also, whenever the "romance" came between Nick and Hannah or even any of the other side characters, it was very awkward and had no chemistry at all. I couldn't stand the relationships between Hannah and her sister and Hannah's relationship with her best friend. (Who is so unmemorable that I have forgotten her name.) Hannah's relationship with her best friend and sister was kind of like they would put effort in when they felt like it, which you can't do in a relationship. 


The writing in this book was sloppily done. It reminded me of a fan fiction, and was too simplistic for my taste. I also expected some more social media posts and text messages to be included in the course of the story, but there was maybe two conversations included into the manuscript.  However, this book was very easy to get into and since the writing was so simplistic, it was very easy to read once you got into it. 

This is my section for talking about plot, but I don't see what to put here as there wasn't any. The plot was very small and almost nothing happened in it. When something did happen, I was extremely bored. The "climax" (if you could call it that) was very very boring and I honestly just kept reading because I was too far in to quit. I just wanted the book to finally end, and the ending was very disappointing in my opinion. The whole plot was disappointing in my opinion. In Real Life had both a great setup and idea, but it was not carried out well. 


In conclusion, I would recommend this book to you if you had a book hangover or if you were in an extreme reading slump. The characters aren't memorable, and didn't really speak to me. The writing was simplistic, and easy to read, but wasn't the best in my opinion. There is little to no plot in In Real Life, and when there is plot, I honestly didn't care about it at all and I also didn't care what happened to the characters. 


So, have you read In Real Life? What did you think? Do you like books that have to do with internet friends and the internet? Tell me your opinions in the comments below. 

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