It’s not a bad book. You all are just no fun.

By

USA Today bestselling author K.M. Jackson delivers a hilarious road-trip rom-com perfect for fans of Meet Cute and When Harry Met Sally.

Review

Let’s address the elephant in the room: There are a lot of reviews side-eyeing Bethany Lu’s, the main female lead, outlandish plan to hunt down Keanu Reeves. I was okay with it for two reasons:

1. This book is a ’90s sitcom. Think Family Matters or Living Single. Ridiculous alternative universes where a person can run into big stars like TLC, Montell Jordan and Arsenio Hall while walking down the street. (Or sometimes while hanging out in their own living room.) Real-world rules don’t apply here! It’s the same logic that allows our female lead to be an unemployed 40-something artist while living in an exclusive, luxury loft.

Keanu Reeves is just this episode’s Special Guest Star. He’s the excuse for our main couple to take a wacky roadtrip full of hijinks and cameos from other big stars, including — no kidding — Chris Evans, Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet. And when she does finally meet him, it’s weirdly staged and not at all natural but still sweet.

2. It isn’t about Keanu Reeves. Yes, the news that Keanu Reeves is getting married is the catalyst for Bethany Lu’s plan, but her real crisis is figuring out what she’s going to do with her own life. If Keanu is finally settling down and getting serious with his life, that means Bethany Lu should, too. And she doesn’t feel ready for that. She feels uninspired in her work and confused about her relationship with the hero, True. The journey to hunt down Keanu Reeves is less about actually finding him and more about getting away from her normal day-to-day life to figure shit out.

It’s also about helping her and True to move on from a major loss they both suffered. Keanu and his movies were a big source of comfort for the both of them immediately afterward. As someone who dealt with the loss of her mother by investing 300-plus hours on a mom-themed Stardew Valley farm, I get it. (I’m too embarrassed to share the total number of hours I’ve spent in that game. 🫣)

Now, this book isn’t perfect. The dialogue is kind of clunky and I don’t really know what’s happening in the third-act break-up. Bethany Lu pushes True away so he decides to run off and … learn how to surf to impress her? Is this a reference to something? How will this impress her if she doesn’t know where you are and what you’re doing, True? Why did you act so mad when you left? Also, the main friend group acts too immature for their age. In fact, I would bet money that if this were a YA romance starring a teen girl who was obsessed with Tom Holland while dealing with her parents’ divorce or something, it wouldn’t get as much flak.

I also hated the audiobook narrator’s male voice. I wish they had just hired another actor to read his parts. It’s not that bad when a narrator is just reading dialogue, but we’re talking whole chapters of 1st person POV from the main male lead read by a woman. It took me out of the book every time.