REVIEW: Book Club Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday
Dear Jenny Holiday,
Readers first met reclusive and grumpy Minnesotan author Jack Branksome in last year’s Into the Woods which I didn’t review but which I loved. He had been having writer’s block and was struggling to begin his second novel after the massive and overwhelming success of his debut. Jack is a bit of a misanthrope and prefers people in small doses but he did form a friendship with Teddy Knight, the hero of Into the Woods.
Most of Book Club Boyfriend picks up shortly after Jack returns from the camp but he’s still blocked and unable to write anything much. But first, a prologue.
After the release of his debut novel, his editor and publisher were super excited about the book being chosen for “Books with Blair”, (think Reese Witherspoon’s book club or Oprah’s book club) – basically and endorsement (and license to print money) from actor-turned-producer Blair Kellermoon. (In looks at least, Blair was a lot like Reese Witherspoon actually.) There was even talk that Blair may want the movie rights. Jack said no. Scandal ensues.
In the time since the “Zoom of Doom” Blair has had big changes in her life. Now divorced and an empty nester with both children in college interstate, Blair is learning to live on her own. Blair has had periods of anxiety in her life, where she experiences what she thinks of as “the cyclone” and which the reader recognises are panic attacks. But this time, things seem harder and she’s become a virtual hermit. She’s struggling to do much more than go to her production office and she’s cut herself off from friends. She’s also started checking whether the gate is locked too many times and has something of an obsession with washing the dishes, by hand, by herself, immediately after dinner.
Jack is somewhat prone to saying things which make him sound like a jerk. That’s because sometimes he really is a bit of a jerk. Jack’s dad is a famous reclusive author, also of literary fiction, and Jack has spent his life trying to get his dad’s approval. Jack’s dad thinks TV is for small-minded people. He thinks movies are basically the same. So things come out of Jack’s mouth which are things his dad would say or think and not necessarily what Jack would think if he gave himself some time and space to actually. you know, think. Anyway, Jack says something about Blair in an interview with The New Yorker which makes him seem like a snob and when it’s pointed out to him (because it has to be pointed out to him – Jack is very clueless about this stuff a lot of the time but he does get better at it as the book goes on), he’s bothered that he’s once again made Blair look bad. So, because he has writer’s block and procrastinating is a thing and because he doesn’t actually want to be a jerk, he texts Blair (her number still being in his phone) and apologises. Blair, who has not yet seen The New Yorker, is, to say the least, surprised to hear from Jack. Naturally she asks him why he’s apologising.
Jack: I made an observation that sounded reasonable when it came out of my mouth but when committed to paper and stripped of context sounded less than ideal.
From there, Jack and Blair become unlikely texting buddies. They have lengthy conversations by text. There’s something about confiding vulnerability to a virtual stranger. He confides in her about his writer’s block. She discusses her passion project, a YA retelling of The Great Gatsby called Green Light and how it’s going nowhere and various other things. Eventually, Blair suggests Jack come to LA to write his book. He can stay in her pool house. They won’t have to see each other really but she will know there is someone around and that is a step up from the isolation she’s experiencing. He can write his book in a new environment which might shake things up a bit and get him “out of his own head” and out of his writing funk.
Jack has an innate (see previous about his dad) mistrust of everything LA but he agrees to go because why not give it a try? Nothing else is really working. He has a deadline which has already been moved. He can’t bear the thought of not meeting it. His dad is already judging him, if Jack misses the March date it will only be worse.
Against his will, he smiled. He liked Tiffany. She was different from his idea of LA people. She was smart as they came, and she said what she meant.
Of course, Blair was different from his idea of LA people, too, so a logical person might conclude that his mental image of LA people needed some adjustment.
Of course, Jack and Blair end up together. It’s a romance; that’s what we’re all here for. But the way of it is not what I was expecting or what I’ve read before from this author. It sounds a bit obvious but it struck me that these two needed things to be a certain way for it to work out between them. And the book gives them the time and space they need. It allows them to be who they are and to find a way to be together that works for them even though it may not work for others. (It is absolutely a romance with a very satisfying HFN ending, if not quite a HEA – I’m entirely confident they were on their way to a HEA though.)
Both Jack and Blair have issues to work through. A lot of that working through is done off page but it is shown as work, without a magic fix. Both protagonists are a work in progress even at the end (aren’t we all?). Because of what these characters need, the book is somewhat episodic with longish periods of time apart as each works on what they need to work on. Fortunately the page time apart is short. I no longer have patience for books where the love interests spend months or more apart and I have to suffer through the separation too (I’m looking at you Rosemary Rogers).
Jack has a dry humour and a clever mind. He’s very insightful when he pays attention. He pays attention to Blair.
Blair, for her part, shows Jack that TV is not in fact for the small-minded and with her, he begins to open up. As he does, he sees his relationship with his parents and also a childhood friend in a new light. He appreciates what he did not previously and understands that his dad is not a good person. Trying to live up to Art Branksome’s expectations is a thankless and impossible task.
He was pretty sure he was starting to panic. Jack didn’t really do panic. Not that he never worried, but full-out panic wasn’t in his repertoire. Still, he knew the words and phrases associated with panic. Shakiness, shortness of breath, clammy skin. Those words and phrases were happening to him now.
I could have done with a little more at the end to give me just a glimpse of what their HEA might look like – I expect it would be untypical but nonetheless real – the book finished somewhat abruptly.
Book Club Boyfriend had all the banter and humour I expect from Jenny Holiday. Combined with characters I cared about, liked and, occasionally wanted to flick with a fork, the story kept me engrossed and entertained.
He pulled her closer and bent over and whispered in her ear, “We are going to do a lot of things that would horrify Mrs. Billings.”
(If you want to know who Mrs Billings is, you’ll have to read the book.)
Grade: B+
Regards,
Kaetrin
Last week I read Into the Woods immediately – the same night – after reading Canadian Boyfriend. I enjoyed them that much. Thank you for the review, I didn’t know about this one. Jack Branksome was seriously grumpy in Into the Woods.
@LML: He was! and he’s pretty curmugeonly in this one too but he… kind of learns to be human in this book. A lot of his grumpiness comes from his dad really. It makes sense that when he breaks away from that he’s a lot happier. I’m not sure he’ll get to outgoing but he’s certainly a lot happier and more fun to be around by the end of the book.
He had a couple of moments of grace in Into the Woods, otherwise it would be a tough sell.
@LML: if you decide to give it a try, let me know what you think!