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Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant is a breath of fresh air. Read my thoughts on the heartwarming, contemporary romance novel.
Before we start, catch-up on some posts I did earlier this month:
Reality Check Design Process // I’m writing a poetry novel!
Where Are the Parents in Young Adult Books?
Is Original Content Nonexistent?
How Do Book Triggers Affect You? // Let’s Talk Bookish
Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant Published by HarperCollins on January 5, 2021
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Diversity & Multicultural, Family, Siblings, Contemporary, Disabilities & Special Needs
Pages: 384
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Jane the Virgin meets To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before in this charming debut romantic comedy filled with Black Girl Magic. Perfect for fans of Mary H. K. Choi and Nicola Yoon, with crossover appeal for readers of Jasmine Guillory and Talia Hibbert romances.
Sixteen-year-old Tessa Johnson has never felt like the protagonist in her own life. She’s rarely seen herself reflected in the pages of the romance novels she loves. The only place she’s a true leading lady is in her own writing—in the swoony love stories she shares only with Caroline, her best friend and #1 devoted reader.
When Tessa is accepted into the creative writing program of a prestigious art school, she’s excited to finally let her stories shine. But when she goes to her first workshop, the words are just...gone. Fortunately, Caroline has a solution: Tessa just needs to find some inspiration in a real-life love story of her own. And she’s ready with a list of romance novel-inspired steps to a happily ever after. Nico, the brooding artist who looks like he walked out of one of Tessa’s stories, is cast as the perfect Prince Charming.
But as Tessa checks each item off Caroline’s list, she gets further and further away from herself. She risks losing everything she cares about—including the surprising bond she develops with sweet Sam, who lives across the street. She’s well on her way to having her own real-life love story, but is it the one she wants, after all?
Characters/Relationships
The lead character,Tessa, reminded me so much of myself when I was a young writer, especially in my teens. I was this scared, unsure, doubtful girl who wanted to fulfill this dream of mine. But didn’t know how to do it. I also had a curiosity about the world that I needed to bring out. Like Tessa, I wrote fanfictions from the worlds of The Twilight Saga, making up different storylines and changing scenarios and changing characters’ personality traits.
I could also feel Tessa’s frustrations with herself from moving from her hometown to a new artsy performing arts high school, being away from her best friend Caroline, and missing out on life because she was stuck in her rut. Luckily, she made friends with classmates Lenore, Theodore and Sam to confide in. They were people who accepted her for who she was. I wish I’d known more about Lenore and Theodore’s backstories. But I hear there is a companion novel coming next year about Lenore, so I’m excited about that!
I loved reading about Tessa’s relationships with her family. She’s biracial, with a white mom and Black dad, and her older brother, Miles, with athetoid cerebral palsy. There’s a ton of cultural representation sprinkled in between her moments with Tessa’s family. It was heartbreaking to read how Miles was diagnosed. He had situations that may have made another person embarrassed to have him as a brother. But Tessa absolutely adores her brother. Even though he requires a lot more help, she wouldn’t trade him for anything.
Her romance with her classmate Nico wasn’t believable to me. I thought he was cute or whatever. The way Tessa described him made it seem like he’d literally jumped out of her romance stories. Caroline’s plan to set up Nico with Tessa for her own happily ever after to kickstart her writing again seemed like a cute idea. However, the more Tessa and Nico interacted with each other, the more I started to see less of his appeal. Most romances have a predictable love triangle. You know which guy the girl ends up with: the bad boy or the best friend/good guy. But HEA didn’t feel like a love triangle; it felt predictable. I appreciated Caroline helping her best friend Tessa out, though.
Culture & History
Even though Tessa was biracial, there were some references to Black culture that I recognized as a Black woman myself. Like getting up early in the morning to do your hair. Watching countless Youtube tutorials on how to make a certain hairstyle pop. Not to mention being stared at by racist managers while harmlessly shopping, because they think you’re going to steal something. Because of the color of your skin. Although, Tessa was presumably light-skinned. She had many opportunities that a dark-skinned Black girl who has fully Black parents wouldn’t even be glanced at. She still goes through struggles of being cast as other. I know that for me as a dark-skinned Black woman, it’s unusual for me to sort of “stand up” for a light-skinned character who has a little more privilege in her life. But it still hurt to read Tessa’s pain and frustrations.
There were often times when Tessa would talk about her white mom’s family treating her as an afterthought. Like she was less than because she didn’t look all the way white, but not all the way Black. It was an interesting perspective.
Writing Style
Elise Bryant’s writing style was quick, quirky, and easy to read. Her writing also has a ton of heart and depth to her main characters, especially Tessa and Sam. The book took me awhile to finish, but it wasn’t because of Elise’s writing. It was mostly due to me always having to give back my library e-book after 3 weeks! But anyway, Elise’s writing kept me emotionally hooked to the story.
If you’re looking for a cute, fun, romantic contemporary read about a young writer’s journey, then pick up a copy of Happily Ever Afters!
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Comment below! Did you read Happily Ever Afters? What are your thoughts?
Thanks for reading,
