The storyline of this book intrigued me as soon as I read the summary. The idea of chronicling Renee’s journey as she went on all these dates with guys she met online had potential for a fun story. And the author definitely came through on that front. There were PLENTY of cringe-worthy dates, and they definitely gave me flashbacks to some of the worse blind dates I’ve been on. But there were enough normal dates that it didn’t feel like the book was an exaggeration. I haven’t done any online dating, but the book gave me a portrait of online dating that I could believe. And I liked how it didn’t feel like the author was either condoning or condemning dating online--her approach was judgment free.Fast approaching her 30th birthday and finding herself not married, not dating, and without even a prospect or a house full of cats, Renee Greene, the heroine of Click: An Online Love Story, reluctantly joins her best guy pal on a journey to find love online in Los Angeles. The story unfolds through a series of emails between Renee and her best friends (anal-compulsive Mark, the overly-judgmental Ashley and the over-sexed Shelley) as well as the gentlemen suitors she meets online. From the guy who starts every story with "My buddies and I were out drinking one night," to the egotistical “B” celebrity looking for someone to stroke his ego, Renee endures her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates. Fraught with BCC's, FWD's and inadvertent Reply to All's, readers will root for Renee to "click" with the right man.
The book’s written as emails from Renee to her friends and the guys she dates. I know some people aren’t fans of this form, but I’ve liked it ever since I read Meg Cabot’s “The Boy Next Door.” Sometimes in this type of book, the emails or letters can feel unnatural, but I think the author did a good job at keepin’ it all believable. The only issue I had with it is the same problem that a lot of books like this face: working the characters’ backgrounds into the emails in a way that’s believable while still providing the reader with the necessary info. I felt that sometimes the way the book handled this was a little clunky and obvious, but it was never bad enough to turn me off.
For the most part, I liked the characters in the book. I don’t think Renee and I would be BFFs in real life, but she definitely could be, like, a co-worker that I grab lunch with sometimes. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with Renee, we were just too dissimilar for me to really connect with her. I liked Renee’s friends well enough--the emails from Shelley made me smile quite a few times. But I did feel like her friends tended to be stereotypes--one’s the anal, repressed friend; one’s the judgmental, insecure one; one’s the witty, promiscuous one--and they never really left those molds. I would have liked to get to see that there was more to the friends than just their surface characteristics.
Overall, if this book were my date (I’m keeping with the dating thing, SEE?), I’d say we had a good time--the conversation flowed relatively well and there weren’t any awkward moments--but at the end of the night, we decided to just be friends. So ladies, this book’s out there and available! Maybe it’s YOUR perfect match.
Received for review.
The way you've described the Renee's friends it makes me thing of Sex and The City in email format. I haven't read a book entirely in this style before and based on your review I am really curious. Sounds like an enjoyable read!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds like something I can relate to! (Well, not personally, I met my boyfriend in high school, but I introduced my friend to online dating so I feel like I've done it before hahaha).
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