I've started reading this book, but I do not believe I'll finish it. So far, I've read that Nick, a film projectionist, is having trouble getting over his girlfriend of four years, Ellie, who he met on the night that Obama was elected. I've tried to get engaged with this book, but after an hour of reading, it's just not happening.

This book was pretty cute and it was definitely enjoyable. I adored Nick and Ellie and was really rooting for them. If you are looking for a quick and cute romcom, look no further!

A cute 500 Days of Summer-esque story as Nick relives his relationship and breakup like a movie. Very cute and enjoyable for a light read.

I so badly wanted to like this book, and it came so close on so many occasions ... but it just never reached it's full potential for me. The MC was a bit too much "woe is me," when he had a perfectly lovely girl that adored him and just wanted him to grow up. And honestly, she didn't even want him to change careers or be something he wasn't, she just wanted him to take on some more responsibility so that he could be a better long term partner. Sorry, don't see the problem with that. But WOE IS HIM and WOE UNTO HIS LIFE and WOE, WOE, ALL THE WOE.

Sorry, dude. Not my problem.

The ending was hopeful and helped my feelings regarding said dude a little bit, but not enough to have me recommending this one.

(I will say, however, the dude's movie & music references were ON. POINT.)

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine Books, & Random House for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

For some reason, I just cannot get into romance novels written by a man. Just not as relatable for me I suppose. Not for me but I am sure it will appeal to a lot of other people.

I’ll just say it: I don’t think every romance needs a happily ever after. Love, Unscripted doesn’t have one, and I actually found it kind of refreshing (I have read a few reviews by readers who were mad about it, though). Unfortunately, that was really the only thing I liked about this book. And I’m sad about it, because I really wanted to like this.

My main complaint about this book was that it was just SO SLOW. I pick up romance books because they’re usually fun, quick reads. But I struggled with this one. I felt like this book could have benefited from being edited down a little bit – it’s only a little bit longer than most romance books I’ve read, but it dragged. I think the movie references might have been a little bit overkill (I come from a big family of movie buffs, and I there were so many that went over my head).

It’s also a challenge to read a romance and root for characters you don’t care about. And I really didn’t care about these characters. Nick was kind of annoying, and Ellie was just meh. Even the side characters were often cringe-worthy (way too much time was spent on the obnoxious libertarian Tom).

I really struggled to get through this book. The pacing didn’t work for me, I didn’t really like the characters, and the story wasn’t enough to redeem it.

Nick loves films and he loves Ellie but Ellie has left him and he doesn't know why. He thinks that it's because she doesn't love him anymore but it's not that at all. Why can't life be like a good rom-com? Boy meets girl, they fall in love, have some arguments but in the end, they have a happily ever after.

The book unfolds and Nick ends up finding out more about himself than he was expecting. Why would the love of his life leave him? Why did she fall out of love with him? What went wrong? Nick has no idea but then the pieces finally fall into place and he realizes that he did this, he messed it all up and stopped trying and finally understands and "sees the light" of what happened and what went wrong.

It was a good read, to see this love story unfold and then unravel before your eyes.
I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to Ballentine for providing a copy of the book. LOVE, UNSCRIPTED was a cute read with a good concept. I enjoyed the multiple timelines within the novel. My biggest issue is that it cannot be categorized as a romance due to the lack of HEA. The genre and the illustrated rom-com cover mislead the reader's expectations. Cute book, incorrectly packaged.

There were three timelines that Love, Unscripted features. The first timeline is the presidential election night in 2008. This is where Nick and Ellie meet for the first time. Then, the second timeline is current time where Ellie and Nick are broken up and Nick is trying to figure out what went wrong. The third and final timeline is the in-between, like what happened during their relationship throughout the years. 

This book had a lot of promising qualities, but I really struggled throughout.  The timelines really threw me off and I think I would've had a better time with it if there were only two. I understand the concept of having different timelines so we can grasp every detail and really learn their story. However, I found the three timelines to be confusing and it could've been done better.

The drag of this book is what made me give the rating I did. I'm not someone who usually has that hard of a time getting into a book, but this time was different. I think half of it has to do with the fact that I'm not interested in politics at all and the other half was that I could not get into the characters. It was very slow and the characters didn't have that much of a development. There were moments of "maybe I can get into Nick" and then I was thrown back to the night of the election or somewhere in the past. 

There were honest parts of this book where you see Nick's down spiral, but I struggled a lot with his character. Like I said, there were quick, fleeting moments of possibly liking Nick's character, but I had a hard time with him because he becomes very jerk-ish to everyone and it just makes him very unlikable. 

Overall, as someone that loves movies and read the synopsis of this book, I thought that this book was going to be very different. I loved the idea of it and it had a lot of promising qualities, but it just was not for me. It was a good start for Owen Nicholls in fiction, I'll definitely check his books in the future.

I wanted to love this book so much - it definitely had the potential.

I LOVED the movie reference first and foremost.... I think the younger generation might not get them - but that's just fine with me cause I did! And they were FUN!

I liked that this had that juxtaposition of the two elections 4 years apart. I thought I was going to like it from the guys POV but I just couldn't root for Nick. If fact.. it's been a few days since I finished and I actually had to go back and check what his name was.

He wasn't very likeable at all to me and if Ellie hadn't been so in love with him ... I probably would have hated him. But I wanted her to let him go. I wanted her to find someone better.

Nick was pretty flippant and rude to her for the most part. I wish it had focused on the few sweet parts more (like the videos). But the banter between him and Ellie - he was just terrible with the things he said! He was generally not a great boyfriend who just seemed so lazy - and by the end I really hoped they wouldn't end up together.

It was a cute story otherwise - the plot moved along nicely - i really enjoyed all the other supporting characters and I read this one very fast. The best part for me was definitely the the movie references.

I really didn't enjoy this book. All of the characters were terrible but especially the main character, Nick. He was so insufferable. It was so clear that he thought he was so much better than everyone else. What he though was wit came of as very condescending. He had no redeeming qualities and I don't blame Ellie for leaving. To top it off, we didnt even get the satisfaction of a happy ending for them. I hope that Nick doesn't go get Ellie, he doesn't deserve her.

Unfortunately I could not get into this book. I loved the idea for the plot, just didn't keep my interest.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

It honestly took me so long to get through this book and that's because I just didn't love it.

This book is done in three timelines and I think that struggled to keep my attention. I get too caught up in one time period and then it changes and I'm like no what I want to know what was happening in the current time period. I realize there are reasons for this but it just didn't stick with me.

Then, to top it all off, this book didn't have a happily ever after.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book a lot. It was a cute and quick read. Its a great mental pallet cleaner between heavy books.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

Unfortunately, this book did not work for me. I ended up not finishing it. I didn't really connect with the characters and the self-deprecation didn't work for me. I skipped ahead a bit and the ending isn't really clear... is this book supposed to be a romance? where is the happily ever after?

In a book where the main female character instantly calls out the main character's, well, character, that he felt that women were tools for a man's personal growth and change.... the story really does take that direct route. The multiple timelines weren't always well-paced and that caused some rough cuts. The bits of Nick and Ellie's romance done in a relatively screenplay-esque style were confusing. It was an interesting way of someone going through the terrible moments or "downfall" moments of the relationship, but since they were written in that style, it separated the character's heart from what he was recalling. It clashed with how emotional he was in the other parts.
I liked that Nick was emotional and felt that it was good to be so. I did not like how selfish and self-centered he was. His final 10% (if that) coming to Jesus moment of realizing how wrong he has been and all the bridges he needs to repair felt weak and like it was out of necessity and not earned character growth.
I didn't have a good time reading this story through Nick's perspective and found him to be just as annoying as Tom in 500 Days of Summer. It's really funny though, because the moment about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, really summarized it completely: He completely misunderstood the movie's point and instead focused on a meaning that meant he could still get what he wanted even if the other person didn't or wasn't a good fit.
I do really appreciate the opportunity to read an advance copy, I'm very sorry that this book wasn't for me.

This story was a little slow for me and I never became fully engaged. I did like the reference to film and the quirky humor in spots. Nick was a little annoying and I would break up with him too. I’m sure that there are many who will enjoy this book more than I did. The writing was good and I would love to read the next novel by this author.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing-Ballantine and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

“Love, Unscripted” by Owen Nicholls is a story about a self-deprecating narrator, Nick who is telling the story from his vantage point on how everything went downhill between him and Ellie. In a somewhat cynical yet honest depiction of how falling in love and breaking up is like. Love is indeed unlike the movies. I enjoyed the movie references and truly related with the characters no matter how absurd some scenarios are. Totally loved the book and I recommend this. I thought that this debut novel was creative, clever and nostalgic. Very well done.

I really wanted to like this book and couldn't get into it. The main character, Nick, felt sorry for himself throughout the book and it got old fast. I guess this one wasn't for me.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have read a few meh thrillers lately so I was looking for a great romcom to redeem my month of reading, but unfortunately this book fell flat for me. I felt it have potential to be great but I was ultimately underwhelmed.

What I enjoyed about this book:

1. The sibling relationship between Nick and Gabby was a high point of this book. Their banter was hilarious and they were an extremely relatable brother/sister duo.

2. I enjoyed the movie theme, but all the references fell a bit short for me because of my lack of movie knowledge. I did end up googling a few and adding them to my list to watch so hopefully I find a great movie or two to watch from this book.

3. This book had more depth and emotion than I initially thought it would. I felt this book is definitely relatable, especially to those looking to find purpose and decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives. I will leave contemplating life choices and looking for your happy ever after.

My biggest star dedductor was the lack of epilogue and ambiguous ending. With the lack of communication between Ellie and Nick I just needed to see how their story ended. Honestly with the two of them it could have gone either way.

If you're looking for a romcom that's not as cheesy as most that's about self realization and self discovery, this is a perfect book for you. The serious aspects are balanced well with the witty banter and laugh out loud moments.