After showing readers how romance can blossom on a flight to London in last year's The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, Jennifer E. Smith here shares another love story woven by twists of fate, in the style of You've Got Mail.
When small-town girl Ellie O'Neill receives a misdirected e-mail from movie star Graham Larkin, the two 17-year-olds strike up an anonymous correspondence. (E-mails between Ellie and Graham--some witty and charming, others heartbreaking--are interspersed between chapters.) For the first time since his rise to fame, Graham feels valued for who he is, and not just as an actor stuck doing movies that don't matter. Whereas Graham has become a household name, Ellie is hiding her identity to protect her mother's affair with a politician. But when Graham's feelings escalate for the girl he never met, he arranges to have his latest film shot in Ellie's "Middle-of-Nowhere, Maine" hometown.
Smith buoys the serendipity in this romantic comedy of errors with smart sentiments and authentic characters. Graham and Ellie are a mesmerizing fit, neither of them playing roles, and overcoming obstacles, including Graham's agent's attempt to engineer a publicity stunt with his co-star, Olivia Brooks, and Ellie's mother's firsthand warnings about how badly a relationship can unravel when the world is watching. This well-crafted novel shines like a spotlight. --Adam Silvera, Paper Lantern Lit intern and former bookseller