ARC Review: Book Boyfriend by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

 

Devoted fangirl meets hesitant fanboy in this swoony contemporary love letter to readers who adore fantasy worlds, from the beloved authors of The Breakup Tour.
 
Jennifer Worth lives to escape into the world of her favorite romantasy series Elytheum Courts, where the romance is sweeping and the men are brave, chivalrous . . . and winged. Newly single and craving connection, she travels to an immersive fan experience celebrating all things Elytheum, only to see the last face she expected—Scott Daniels, her work nemesis, whose disinterest in Jennifer’s favorite series and standoffishness have made their publishing jobs feel like a feuding fae court.
 
Except the Scott she encounters there, in his secondhand cosplay outfit, is . . . different. Swaggering, flirtatious, confident. Unlucky in romance himself and inspired by Jennifer’s love for the swoonworthy men of Elytheum, Scott is determined to remake himself into the perfect book boyfriend.
 
Jennifer has no interest in helping the man who vexes her every workday and dismisses her fictional fantasies, but as the immersive convention activities force them together, they’re surprised to discover magic like none Jennifer has ever read about. But is enemies-to-lovers romance only for books, or can Jennifer and Scott bring the trope to life?

Title: Book Boyfriend

Author: Emily Wibberley and Austin Seigemund-Broka

Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group

Expected Publication Date: February 25, 2025

Review:

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an egalley of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Doesn't ever girl want to live inside her most favorite fantasy books? I know I do. Given the chance to experience this with a character, I jumped right on it. I really enjoyed The Breakup Tour so my expectations for this book were pretty high.

Jennifer Worth lives her life without taking risks. She works in publishing, but doesn't pursue her dream of writing. She lives for fantasy book boyfriends, but is too afraid to put herself out there to find love. When she gets the chance to spend a week immersed in her favorite fantasy story, she's surprised to find her rival, Scott Daniels, is also attending the same event. 

This book had so much potential to draw me in and make me feel all the feels of what living in a fantasy story is like. The plot has a fun vibe: let's immerse ourselves in a fantasy based experience and live like our favorite characters. It had a renaissance fair flare to it. Unfortunately, it did not live up to that hype. While the story itself is cute, enemies to lovers and all that, it completely missed the mark. I wanted to fall in love with Jennifer and her nemesis Scott. I wanted to watch their sparks fly despite their "hatred" of each other hoping it would ignite their chemistry. But I didn't see any of it. What I got was a slow paced story with a lot of references to a fake fantasy that I felt zero connection with and a couple who have no chemistry to speak of. Jennifer is grumpy, then she's happy, then she's sad, then she's anxious. And, while one can certainly experience all those things, none of those characteristics helped me understand her or see her develop into something more. As for Scott, he's obviously into Jennifer but deigns to act as if he's at the experience for other reasons. Without his point of view, it was hard to get a read on him. I didn't like him or dislike him, I just had no connection with him and didn't feel like I needed to root for him to end up with Jennifer. His character was flat and barely developed beyond what we see in the first few chapters of the book.

Overall, I just wanted more from this book. Given my love of the previous book read by these authors,  I was also expecting it. The premise was something I thought for sure I'd love, and it was, but the execution was not what I needed it to be.  It just didn't quite pull together in the way I would have liked. If you're looking for a cute story with not much substance to the romance, this may appeal to you. 

2.5 stars rounded to 3

Authors:

Emily Wibberley attended Princeton University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Austin Siegemund-Broka, with whom she is author of The Roughest Draft, as well as several love stories for teens.

Visit her and Austin's website at www.emilyandaustinwrite.com. ...more

Austin Siegemund-Broka cowrites YA contemporary with Emily Wibberley. His debut with Wibberley, ALWAYS NEVER YOURS, publishes from Puffin/Speak in 2018.

A former journalist in the entertainment industry, where he covered the courts and, yes, met a couple celebrities, he graduated from Harvard in 2014 with a degree in English and a focus on Shakespeare. When he's not writing (or reading) YA, he enjoys combing every corner of contemporary music and watching Buffy with Emily.

He lives in Los Angeles. (