The Gist: Ren (Rapunzel) has spent her whole 22 years living off the grid on a homestead being homeschooled by her parents with hardly any outside interference - no TV (except VHS tapes from the 80's), no radio and limited interactions with the locals in the nearby small town. Her parents allow Ren to go to college (with a whole host of rules she must follow) where she meets Fitz (aka Flynn Ryder) who is known as a lady's man around campus and the two suddenly find themselves on a road trip for different reasons.
I enjoyed seeing the Disney references and plot points and secondary characters from the movie were explained with a modern touch. The secondary characters made the movie but here they fell flat with Max's modern twist feeling weird and lackluster, and Pascal (my fav!) barely being mentioned in the book.
This was a decent blend of old and new, but the story was a bit too slow moving and tame for my tastes. I felt disheartened that the tough guys Ren and Fitz met on their road trip - not the romance - was the highlight of the book for me. But I appreciated the twists and the reminder that I need to rewatch Tangled. Overall, this was a cute but tame story with a YA romance vibe that fell a little short of Disney magic.
My Rating: 3 stars
Author: Christina Lauren
Genre: Romance
Series: Meant to Be #4
Type and Source: Trade Paperback, personal copy
Publisher: Hyperion Avenue
First Published: June 25, 2024
Read: Dec 24 - 29, 2024
Book Description from GoodReads: She has a dream. He has a plan. Together they’ll take a leap of faith.
Ren has never held an iPhone, googled the answer to a question, or followed a crush on social media. What she has done: Read a book or two, or three (okay, hundreds). Taught herself to paint. Built a working wind power system from scratch. But for all the books she’s read, Ren has never found one that’s taught a woman raised on a homestead and off the grid for most of her twenty-two years how to live in the real world. So when she finally achieves her lifelong dream of attending Corona College, it feels like her life is finally beginning.
Fitz has the rest of his life mapped out: Graduate from Corona at the top of his class, get his criminal record wiped clean, and pass himself off as the rich, handsome player everyone thinks he is. He’s a few short months from checking off step one of his plans when Ren Gylden, with her cascading blonde hair and encyclopedic brain, crashes into his life, and for the first time Fitz’s plan is in jeopardy.
But a simple assignment in their immunology seminar changes the course of both their lives, and suddenly they’re thrown out of the frying pan and into the fire on a road trip that will lead them in the most unexpected directions. Out on the open road, the world somehow shifts, and the unlikely pair realize that, maybe, the key to the dreams they've both been chasing have been sitting next to them the whole time.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments totally make my day!! I read each and every one and really try to reply to all messages posted. Thanks for stopping by my blog!