I received an ARC of Happy Messy Scary Love from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love books about social media or people hiding who they really are online; catfishing. It's so relevant to today, because it is happening all the time. So I knew I would probably end up really liking Happy Messy Scary Love and I did! I ended up loving it. I breezed through it in a day, because it was so hard to put down. It was cute, it was fun, it was addicting!

I loved Olivia and her love for horror movies. Olivia was so relatable. She is under so many different pressures and then throw in the new feelings she has for her online friend Elm and everything gets so complicated. There are tons of horror movie references and name drops, which was awesome. I loved her friendship with Elm and all their fun banter and horror film talk. Lots of laugh out loud moments with them. There were a few emotional moments too. There's a few things that Olivia is going through as well as her friends.

This is a short but sweet review, but Happy Messy Scary Love was a really great read and I loved it so much. I had a lot of fun reading it and I was sad for it to end. It'll be releasing next week, so be on the look out for it. It is the perfect summer read.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of Happy Messy Scary Love by Leah Konen in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes used in this review are from the ARC & may not match up with the final copy.

Starting over is only for movies, after all.


Happy Messy Scary Love had me feelin' some type of way. Olivia reminds me so much of well.. me. Minus the lies, the scandal & all that jazz. Our main character wants to be a horror screenwriter -- she has the chance to do a screenwriting program at NYU, but waited until the last minute to write out an example of work & basically sabotaged herself ever getting in. Hello, it me?????
It's not that I didn't want to write. It's more that I didn't want to write anything bad. So I spent a lot of time doing research -- er, watching horror movies.


Honestly though, I let fear rule me all of the time; to the point, that I never take that leap of faith & instead of just facing the possible rejection, I just.. don't.. do it. Happy Messy Scary Love is very inspirational with this factor & thanks to this book, I found myself searching for horror anthologies to enter! Wish me luck.

That's not the main premise of Happy Messy Scary Love; just the part that really stuck out to me, because hashtag relatable.

There are a lot of parts that bothered me in Happy Messy Scary Love; primarily the lies & deceit. The entire time I found myself shouting, just tell him already! Which is basically how I felt watching the entire Gossip Girl series, but that's a different story. Did y'all know that if you didn't lie -- life is, like, better? You don't have to keep up with any fabricated tales & no one gets mad in the end? It's wild. However, I knew what I signed up for when I signed up for it, so really -- who's fault is this?

What I really enjoyed was the ~horror~ aspects of Happy Messy Scary Love. This book is fun for those who enjoy their horror references & this is the exact reason as to why I requested a copy of this book. Olivia is obsessed with horror (which is probably obvious, seeing as she wants to be a horror screenwriter), so horror plays a lot into this story. There are references to so many films: Get Out, Psycho, It Follows, Carrie, Nightmare on Elm Street, the list goes on. Anytime a movie was mentioned, I'd get so giddy. My horror senses were tingling throughout. Even the chapter titles played onto horror film titles?!@!@! # This book had me seriously geeked.

The characters, romance & all that jazz was fine. It was just your typical quick contemporary read & nothing really stuck out to me besides, as mentioned a few times, the horror references. Olivia faces the same type of conflict as any other protagonist in this genre, making me feel that this read may be forgettable in a couple of weeks.

I really liked that Happy Messy Scary Love is perfect for so many different people: those who want a nice, fun, fluffy read & those who are horror nerds & wants to squeal over the genre. It definitely wasn't a waste of time, I just don't think this is a book I would decide to read for a second time.

If you’re a teen and a movie fan, this book is for you. You’ll appreciate the context and enjoy a cute, fun read. 3.5 stars for me, it would have been 4-5 stars if I was a movie buff!

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I enjoyed reading this. An interesting story with fun characters. Well written.

After self-sabotaging her application for a student film writing program at NYU, Olivia accepted that her summer would be spent in her family's mountain abode watching Netflix. But, in an effort to push her out of her comfort zone, her mother secured Olivia a position at a zip-line park, and who to her wondrous eyes should appear? Elm, her online crush, who she never expected to meet in a million years. From there, things got really complicated.

I am not going to pretend that the plot was original. We have seen this before. Girl meets boy online, when it comes time to exchange photos, girl sends a fake one. This lie spawns more and more lies, to cover up the prior lies, until the messy referenced in the book's title, becomes a reality.

Watching Olivia dig herself deeper and deeper into this mess was pretty much like watching one a those horror films she and Jake enjoyed so much. I audibly admonished her and energetically shook my head in an effort to discourage her from making more and more bad decisions, but Olivia had to make the mistakes in order to have her moment of reckoning. She had to hit rock bottom in order to come to terms with her fear of failure and rejection, and her negative thoughts about herself. I found that part very relatable, and feel that a lot people have felt some sort of self doubt at one time or another.

Other things I enjoyed:

• Jake! - He was a precious, sweet cinnamon roll of a boy. He was adorable and also a little nerdy, but he owned it.

• The setting - I grew up in Brooklyn and was familiar with all the places referenced int he book. So, it was fun to be back in the neighborhood. I have also spent time in the Catskills, and Konen did a great job re-selling the beauty of the mountain town to me.

• Horror movies - Both Jake and Olivia were HUGE fans of horror, and I liked all the discussions and movie mentions. I also found it amusing that Olivia was writing a screenplay for a film called "The Bad Decisions Handbook", while she was making so many bad decisions.

• The Zip-lining family - The whole incorporation of the zip-line park added an extra element of fun, but then Konen also stuffed the place with some quirky side characters, who I enjoyed meeting.

• The romance - Jake and Olivia were adorable together. There was a lot of awkward, but in the cutest way possible. There was also this major, sort of, grand gesture towards the end, which put a huge smile on my face.

Overall: Though the concept wasn't groundbreaking, I had fun watching Olivia trying to get herself out the super-tangled web she wove, and seeing her experience a lot of personal growth along the way.

I loved this rom-com about horror movies and summer love. This book perfectly encapsulates what it feels like to find "your person" online instead of in real life. Happy Messy Scary Love is like a perfect summer flick. It keeps your heart rate up while still giving you everything you are looking for, a distraction with a big finish. Olivia and Elm's relationship is full of misunderstandings and lies, some more for good some not, and it reminds us of that high school crush feeling we can never recapture in adult life. This is perfect for fans of Morgan Matson or Jennifer E. Smith.

This was a fun summer romance that reminded me of the movie serendipity in the way that I was left with the knowledge that the characters were missing.

This was such a cute book! I really enjoyed getting to know Olivia and Elm. I can't wait to read more from this author!

I thought the plot was interesting. If you're a horror movie buff, like mistaken/hidden identity romances, then I guess this would be a good book for you. But personally, I'm not into horror movies and a lot of the beginning is talking about those movies

A light hearted read. A proper love story.
Well written good story with good characters.
Easy read
Thank you to both NetGalley and Amulet Books for my eARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review

DNF @ 16%. I'm bored and the characters seem younger than 17 - it almost reads like middle grade. Also the main character, Olivia, is just SO annoying. Idgaf what your reasoning is, it's shady as hell to pretend to be your best friend just because you have a pimple and feel too ugly to send a photo. No.

Olivia fancies Elm a budget horror movie creator but sends him a picture of her friend Katie thinking they'll never meet...



However as her plans to go to NYU over summer fail after she doesn't submit her screenplay on time, her mum forces her to work at a zip line adventure course where she meets Jake and a whole twist of a tale starts...



With awkward dinners, parties, learning new skills, making new friends and memories, to almost losing your friends this book is a rollercoaster of events as the pair truly get to know each other despite their first encounter which was via technology not face to face. It was a fun read and a good will they won't they about whether they would get together or not!



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

A fairly fun, light-hearted read. I admit, I never really invested that much in Olivia as a character. Her scheme, while it came from an understandable place, was hard to buy as a valid course of action the longer it went on. I also wish we saw more of the side-characters, the other workers at the zipwire centre. Still, the writing was enjoyable and I loved all the horror movie discussions. From someone who really doesn't like that particular genre, it made me see why people really do like them.

Happy Messy Scary Love by Leah Konen is your typical young adult romance story. In the beginning I liked the concept but half way through I was bored with the story.

Super sweet, story with good characters and story different enough to make it interesting. I liked this book from beginning to end. The characters were realistic and the writing style was a breeze to read. Dialogue felt real and so did characters. Good book that will appeal to its teen audience.

Somewhat middle of the road YA title, with a bit of an excessively coincidental premise. Good for film fans, both horror lovers and romcom aficionados. Would have been well-served not to have multiple Big Cathartic Conversations to wrap everything up all in back-to-back chapters.

Mini review:

Trigger warning: None till the point I read.

DNF

I received this E-ARC via Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I have read the authors previous book and was excited to dive into this! Unfortunately I didn’t like it.

I liked the writing but soon found out that’s all I liked. I didn’t care for the main character or her friends. As I read on I lost interest.

Still recommend.

Happy Messy Scary Love is a cute YA romance with a fun plot. For the most part, I really enjoyed reading it. One of the things that actually made me really like it is the fact that the author made the characters feel real for their age bracket. Insecurities are the main layers of the story and readers can see this in Olivia throughout the story. Many teens feel insecurities of course, and this just makes the characters more realistic.

The lies and drama sorta put me off the story (I was rolling my eyes quite a bit) but I think that is mostly due to my age rather than anything else.

Overall, I think this is a nice story, one that will really be a great fit for the YA crowd and I do look forward to reading more novels but the author.

Honestly, this was a miss for me. As cliche and predictable that this was, the execution just didn't meet my expectations. Let's start with the characters. First off, Olivia (aka Carrie) wasn't anyone special. Whiny, but not the worst MC. Her reason for sending Jake (aka Elm) Katie's picture in place of her own is kind of pathetic, or at least the way she explains it made it seem so (like seriously? Acne doesn't make you ugly, self-conscious, yes, but it shouldn't be a determining factor in starting such a big lie). And yes, Olivia is one of those girls who is actually pretty but is not aware of it. Something else that really bothered me, other than the obscene lie, was how Olivia treated Katie. No major spoilers here, but when Katie makes a surprise visit to Olivia, Olivia doesn't actually treat her in the nicest way. It rubbed me the wrong way when Katie was helping Olivia with her lie, but jealousy has a way of ruining things I guess. When the whole drama unfolded, I did not find myself sympathizing for Olivia, more like 'you had it coming' kind of feeling. Overall, Olivia just didn't handle the situation well and she had me rolling my eyes after every bad decision she made, which she was aware of. Out of the main cast of characters, Jake and Katie were probably the best ones. Jake is a cute dork, and Katie is that best friend that will always have your back. Oh, and her aunt was cool too. I'll just leave it there.

The romance wasn't that bad. Olivia and Jake were cute, though it was a bit underdeveloped for my taste. I'm not a fan of romances that kind of start a bit too quickly. We do know about the online relationship between Carrie (Olivia) and Elm (Jake), but if you take the online factor out, Olivia and Jake haven't even known each other that long, nor that well. That irked me a bit. And the ending was rather cheesy, but I'm glad it ended at least on a happy note.

Overall, if you're looking for a quick cheesy romance novel, this might be for you, even if it wasn't for me.

This is a book I was really excited for for exactly one reason. It's a romantic comedy about horror movies. I love horror movies, love everything about them, and when I found out this was about two horror fans falling for each other I was sold. And, even though I had problems with this book overall, I'm glad I read it and I'm glad it's getting published because it shows just how fun horror can be. I'm so happy there's a romance where the two bond over horror movies that isn't "I'll put this on to scare you so I can protect you" or "We're both 'weird' and 'damaged' and that's why we like this." Olivia and Jake are just two people who love a genre and wanted an experience that would grow that love. And I thought that was fantastic.

However, Happy Messy Scary Love is, in my opinion, what happens when the plot of a book is too thin. The premise, that Olivia is secretly the girl Jake has been chatting with online and who sent a picture of her best friend Katie to in a fit of insecurity grows real old, real fast. There's a lesson here in that, if there's a will they/won't they type situation, the situation surrounding that has to be either realistic or believable. And in this case, they weren't because there never seemed to be a firm understanding of Olivia's character. She was presented as this sort of easy-going girl, with a procrastination problem but then was this insecure wallflower concerned with how others view her.

Insecurity is a relatable topic, but it's hard to make interesting because the way we deal with our own insecurities are varied and wild. They manifest in different way and we deal with them as such, so reading about how someone else deals with it runs the risk of seeming disingenuous because it's not how the reader experiences it. For Olivia, she separates from her issues. She separates from her school, her script, her online identity. And that's fine, but there's never any introspection on Olivia's part as to why this is. She remains the same beginning to end and it never feels like she grows, just apologizes for getting caught.

Main character issues aside, I do think that Happy Messy Scary Love is a romance that a lot of people can get behind, acting as a love (HA!) letter to my favorite genre.