Customer Reviews

A Novel Idea (Romantic Comedies (Mass Market))

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sixteen-year-old Norah Bloom has always been a trendy, Brooklyn hipster with a love of books - especially scandalous romance novels. However, Norah has been unlucky in love from day one, and has yet to even kiss a boy; whereas her thirteen-year-old sister, Stacey, has been fending off boys with a stick for years. When Norah finds out that she's short on extracurriculars, and may have a problem getting into the college of her dreams, she decides to start a book group. A high school book group at a quaint indie bookstore, with a drool-worthy guy manning the coffee counter. Norah is expecting a bunch of nerds to show up, but is quite surprised that a few of her new book loving buddies are...hotties! The hottest being shy James, a modern day Jane Austen character. But Norah has a problem...how to snag the guy of her dreams. Being the literary lover she is, Norah devises a secret plan - with the help of one of her favorite romance authors - to catch the guy, and make nice with her own little happily ever after tale.

I guess you could say that I judged this book prematurely, based on the cover - which is utterly adorable. However, as an avid reader, I loved the idea of a teenage girl starting a book group and meeting the guy of her dreams, which is why this book will stick with me for years to come. Aimee Friedman's snazzy dialogue, and name-dropping of indie bands reeks of fabulosity to me, and the characters she created each possessed their own quirks, that make each and every one of them rememberable. Norah is a wonderful heroine whose love of literature - and James - will make her appealing to all teenage girls - especially the bookworms - who dream of meeting a guy who shares the same interests as them. Like reading a note from your book-loving best friend!

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

In the beginning and in the end of reading this book, I did enjoy it. It was parts in the middle that made it seem a bit too silly and unbelieveable. Not to say all novels must BE believeable but there were just points where there was no way a girl would ever go through such lengths to win over a guy. Well, in my opinion anyway. But other than that i really enjoyed the book. I felt i could see myself in a lot of the characters during the story. Its not a great read but i do recommend it to others because it was indeed still entertaining. I will probably search out more of Aimee's books too see if there are ones bettert than this one.

This is a book about sixteen year old Norah, who is short on college credits and needs to find a way to bring up her extra curricular activties. When she starts the book club, she finds that one person in particular catches her attention. To get the guy to look her way Norah comes up with plots... ( from a romance novel!!! ) This book is awesome with all the twists and schemes!! It is hilarious!!! This book totally captured my heart!!

unlike the gossip girl series this book gives you an idea of what it's really like to be kid growing up in new york! brooklyn and the subways arent icky places meant to be avoided! brooklyn is filled with cool artsy little nooks if you know where to look for them!

another awesome thing about this book is the characters! it starts of in a 'breakfast club' sort of way introducing you to the type of people whom you think you already know. , you meet the 'jane average' jewish heroine, her savvy black best friend, the sassy overachiever gay friend, the 'cool californian blond surfer dude' type, an italian 7 jeans wearing 'popular girl' (or 'plum') and indian and white "nerd-guys".

(((i love the racial diversity! finally a book about new york where all the characters arent white! lol!!!)))

but guess what? none of the characters are what they seem! as norah and the reader will find out passing any of these characters off as 'just a stereotype' will have you missing out on a totally awesome person! is franchesca really a vapid annoying little debbie? is griffin only into annoying little debbies? is neil just another scifi book-geek???

and those are only minor characters LOL!

its very refreshing to see a teen book where all of the characters get some kind of thought and attention from the writer. you feel like you could meet any of these people in real life. yes, even phillippa!

I really liked the concept of this book - it started out great -but the execution was terrible. For one: The main character is not only silly, she's obtuse and annoying. I wanted to slap her many times throughout the book. Her scheming plan (based on a plot from a romance novel of all things) to win over James was pretty pathetic to say the least. If I were him, I wouldn't want a girl like her.

This book could have been a winner but it was mostly a dud. If you are looking for a good romantic comedy try ANIMAL ATTRACTION by Jamie Ponti. That is awesome!

I've only read about three Romantic Comedies, but this has been one of the best, and funniest.
The main character, looking for ways to prepare for college, starts a book group. An odd group of characters form, all bringing something very unique and funny to the group. For someone who didn't consider herself a "romantic," Norah doesn't count on one of the group members to make her change her mind. For a light, fun read, definitely read this one.

Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies are always a fun read. These books are not necessarily the best written novels but the stories are always fun and you know you will get a happy ending. I think some adult romances could take a note from these books b/c they are characterized well which is much of the battle in writing any novel since you want your characters, for the most part, to be endearing and relatable.

I have been collecting the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies over the past year or so and I'm happy to say I've finally picked up one an read it and I sure started with a great one!

The premise of A Novel Idea sounds promising a shy bookish girl starts a book club at a local bookstore/coffee shop to bulk up her college resume and hopes to find a cute boy in the process. And holy cow the book did not disappoint. It was as sweet, bookish, and nerdy as I hoped it would be!

Norah was very easy to relate to, she's well read (with a secret love of romance novels) and has two outgoing and fun best friends Audre and Scott. And of course her wish comes true of a sweet and nerdy book boy in her book club in the form of James. James is the ultimate nerdy cute boy, I would totally go for that. I thought their semi-relationship was sweet and how they were both too shy to really do anything until Norah hatches a plan with the help of one of her romance novels... hilarity ensues!

As promised the book is funny and romantic and I can't wait to read more from this series!

i really liked this book!! i fell in love with the characters and really got lost in the book! it is a really good book to curl up on the couch with on a cold day. it really kept me interested.

Meet Norah, a Brooklyn highschool junior, who has a hard time meeting people (especially guys). She's shy, smart... a real girl next door type.

When she finds out she needs some extracurriculars on her college applications, she gets this idea to start up a book club at her favorite local book store, Book Nook. Her two friends Audre and Scott help out with the organizing. At first she thinks it's a disaster, but then she falls for one the guys, James, who joined. Now she just has to figure out how to get him to notice her.

This was a short bok than any teen would love.