The first half of this was so-so, but the second half MORE THAN makes up for it. Once we get rid of Chase and get Noah back in Plainview surrounded by his mom (hilarious), the amateur acting group (inspired, all of them), and Luke (dreamyyyy) - then we're off and running.

In the first third or so, you're just waiting for things to get going -- I think what could make this book even better is if Noah's implosion on Broadway & possibly even the demise of the relationship with Chase were compressed to a much shorter bit, right at the beginning - boom, done, they already happened, it was horrific, and then we get right into Plainview. I would have liked even a bit more of the theater troupe working on his musical, give some of these characters even more shape & detail, and slowly getting Noah to make thier changes, and to be honest, I really think a bit more of a slow burn would have worked better with Luke -- we needed a few more actual conversations between them as they begin to re-establish their relationship/understand their past relationship & misperceptions.... And then a little more tentative beginning to their current relationship to make it feel more real. To this end, I wish that the character of Noah had been portrayed as a LITTLE bit less of a bitch -- it feels like most of his character development in his early days back in Plainview comes through total meltdowns/angry-diva temper tantrums -- and I get that that's who he is, but it just makes his transition feel sudden -- it's like MELTOWN, then he instantly sees the error of his ways. I think just decrease the percentage of total meltdown/diva moments (but don't get rid of them entirely!) and exchange it a bit for some more gradual, thoughtful change.

But, overall, the second half was just beautiful -- Despite my quibbles, I enjoyed the Noah + Luke relationship; Noah's mom is hilarious; there's some really funny dialogue between Noah & his best friends; and his relationship with his dad is SO touchingly beautiful.

I was a little confused as to why Noah was back in NYC after his show in Plainview (I thought he had to go straight to Seattle?), and for a minute there I was CONVINCED Plainview was going to become his 'bad-musical-rewrite' testing ground - bring the bad musicals to the amateur gang & they (with his writing help) would fix them up.... That's not what happened, but still - I mean, just in case a sequel might happen, I'd be all for meeting this cast of characters again.