This was such a fun romance! If you are looking for an easy going read with a cute Sapphic romance I would definitely pick this up.

Rochelle and Amira were once best friends, forced together by their mother's friendship, but time and a move and Rochelle's dedication to school has drifted them more into rivals/enemies than friends. When both end up working at the same movie theater over the summer they have to decide if they are willing to put aside their differences. When the theater is threatened by continued hijinks Rochelle, Amira, and their friends come together to try to solve the mystery.

If you are looking for some fun and some joy I would pick this one up! Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Nothing much to say other than I liked this, and it was cute.

The rivalry between Rochelle and Amira was kinda irksome for me at first, but it got so much better once they became more friendly and Rochelle started to fall for her. Their banter is well written, and even though I wasn't loving the romance beyond the surface, I still enjoyed it. The side cast, specifically Rochelle's friends and the Horizon theatre crew, were also very one-note in terms of personalities, but this didn't bother me too much.

The "mystery" isn't really given too much time. Rather, the characters manage to guess exactly who it was and their motives pretty early on, and there's no red herrings like I was hoping. Although it's true to life, I really don't like the premise hyped up this mystery only for it to be such a let down. Don't go into this with that expectation like I did. Just enjoy the cute, fluffy romance and borage of movie references that naturally come along with this.

All in all, a cute romance, but that's really about this. I'd definitely recommend this to someone who wants something really light with a romance to root for.

I really don't know what it was, but I just couldn't get through this book. Maybe I'm just not into YA right now (or maybe just not this one), but I was disappointed because I always want to read more sapphic books!

I loved the use of the movie theater and how it was a enemy to lover element in this book. I enjoyed the way the characters were written and that they felt like they were supposed to be in this universe. It had that element that I wanted and enjoyed going through this book. Zakiya N. Jamal has a strong writing style and can't wait for more.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

RATING: 2.25/5

The level of humor and wit that is seamlessly woven into Zakiya N. Jamal's debut had me giggling and snorting all throughout my reading of this book. Her jokes are unmatched and the comedic timing of Rochelle's sassy inner dialogue was absolutely perfect. The writing is immediately compelling, possessing a smooth, easy flow that is sure to captivate any reader from page one, especially with a character as relatable as Rochelle. Accompanied by a grasp on pacing that I feel is rarely seen in debut novels, it's clear that the author has a strong mastery over her writing style.

Character-wise, Rochelle and Amira were extremely likeable; their conflict was a little cliche and forced, especially in the "rivals to lovers" department, but I did enjoy seeing their relationship with each other grow and mature into romance. I also really appreciated how Jamal continuously made an effort to describe the character's outfits, which I feel added a level of world crafting that immerses the readers more deeply into their story. HOWEVER, there were a handful of glaring character inconsistencies that ended up making this book not work for me.

With Rochelle being penned as highly intelligent, straight, A's, 4.0 GPA student, it truly felt like a purposeful dumbing down of the character to have her not figure out the mix-up that led to the third act breakup. The conversations at the beginning of the story felt so glaringly obvious as to what the implications of the dialogue were, the sentences were lacking in any subtlety, and it felt as if the author both didn't trust her audience to figure it out AS WELL AS forced a plot hole where Rochelle was just particularly dimwitted about this ONE singular topic.

The predictability of the whole plot, and each character decision, is unfortunately truly what weakens this story's entire structure; from the Horizons saboteur reveal to the side character romance pairings to the third act breakup to the culmination of Horizon's future, it felt like every hint for these elements tried to be subtle and instead ended up feeling so glaringly obvious, and then ended up dragging audiences along until the reveal that was meant to be a plot twist.

To add to that, the plot holes and inconsistencies riddled throughout the story really did not serve the story well. Rochelle's extreme aversion to germs and grossness feels immediately counteracted when she comes home from her first day of work and immediately falls asleep in bed in her work clothes. The morning after, her mom sits on her bed in her sweaty yoga clothes, to which she strongly protests against, but it appears she has zero problems with her own greasy and sweaty attire? And then when the crew has troubles with the popcorn machine, Amira and Rochelle leave the scene to fetch the mop and soap, but then get sidetracked and then never return with the mop and soap, thereby leaving the popcorn a greasy mess?

All in all, for what it's worth, I will say this book is extremely bingeable and the writing is highly compelling, to the point where I'm definitely curious to see how this author grows and matures in her writing with her subsequent books. Unfortunately, with "If This were a Movie" in particular, I personally couldn't get through the plot holes and predictability of the story to fully enjoy the story.

Two best friends since elementary decide to start dating the summer before high school, getting lost in each other’s company and forgetting about their other friends. They fall asleep, get stuck in a joint video game dream and cross many different obstacles and terrains as what seems to me a metaphor for the huge emotions of first love and adolescence in general. I thought it was well done and the art was beautiful.

What a fun and lovely romance! Though I feel I have become less an audience for the young adult romance, I do think this is something I'm so glad was written. This is the kind of YA queer romance that I always want to see more of. It's fun but handles real topics, and makes you root for flawed characters and relationships that may not be perfect, but are really wonderful.

I hope some young adults realize that being a student is not their whole life– there's a world outside of grades.

Overall this book got a 3.75/5 for me. Overall this was just what I needed at the time. I was in between dark romance and these characters made me smile without the seriousness of adult dark romance. Although I couldn’t relate to the main character I felt as though she was written very well and made me connect with her and feel for her. Overall this is the perfect sweet contemporary you need it to be.

ahh i fear im gonna have to dnf this one! this says nothing about the quality of the book in particular, as i loved the representation and sapphic story, but the mystery is not my cup of tea and as of now im struggling to feel any real attachment to the characters. i will, however, be reading more from this author and wholeheartedly willing to give this another go at a different time? as i did not complete it, i wont post a public review! thank you.

Adored this book! Sweet, funny, with an air of mystery and mishaps. I highly recommend this fun read!

A quintessential YA romantic comedy for a new generation. It doesn't get any better than Zakiya N. Jamal's debut If We Were a Movie. Well rounded characters with a storyline that felt real truly enhanced this take on enemies to lovers for a younger set. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books | HarperCollins and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

I absolutely adore this book and don't think I'll stop talking about it ever. This is a REAL romcom, THANK YOU! I just love and relate to this book and its characters so much. It's charming and funny. It never drags, but nothing feels too rushed either. Rochelle felt so real in her struggles for perfection and achievement, and I love that Amira was a rival but only because she didn't understand her. . Rochelle and Amira initially seeing their shortcomings in themselves when looking at each other but ultimately realizing that neither of them really see those shortcomings in each other was so sweet. I cannot express how much I love this book. I will end up saying the same thing a million times, a million ways. I cannot wait to see what else comes from this author, and I cannot wait to buy a copy of this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reading copy of this book. I enjoyed this book in a fluffy way, but had hoped for slightly more depth. I laughed with the characters at the cleverness of each other, but the text did at times feel bogged down by how many references the author included. As a professor once told me about my own writing, it sometimes felt like I was showing off how clever I was. That's how I felt about the conversations between characters in this book. While I did enjoy it for the most part, I wanted more from the mystery and the characters. Fell a little flat for me.

As a Black bisexual woman, I loved how sweet this book was! I definitely related to Rochelle and her “logical” way of thinking about relationships and their impact on her future, but also felt like I learned something about managing school and personal relationships. Amira is also very relatable, with her still feeling vulnerable when she feels like she’s supposed to have all the right answers. Don’t even get me started on all their friends! What a fun group of characters that never get left out in the moment, which is more than you can say for some other books! I will say that the rivals-to-lovers aspect of this book burns away pretty quickly and abruptly, but it’s so much fun that I could barely knock this book for it at all. Overall, this book was amazing and I’m now yearning for these two in university!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book!

This book started off great! I really enjoyed the characters the storyline the writing style but then towards the end it did get a little boring but I am still giving it 4 stars bc I really enjoyed most of this book.

Ok ahhh the writing in this? Very perfection 😭 the pacing and the banter and the found family and the mystery solving/saving the business were all so perfect, I think I've found one of my 2025 favorite books right on day 2 😭

The romance was so wholesome, ugh ❤️❤️

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

I liked the story and the relationship but got a little bored towards the end. The main characters were great and it was awesome to see two black female leads especially in a sapphic romance. I recommend

This was a very sweet YA romance. I loved the "Save Horizon" storyline coupled with the enemies to lovers troupe. This is a very cute book highlighting both POC and LGBTQ+ communities.

Movies aren't really Rochelle's thing, but anything that will bulk up her Wharton application—such as work experience—is absolutely her thing. When a position opens up at the local Black-owned cinema, she'll take it...even if it means working with her once-upon-a-friend, now her low-key nemesis.

Overall, this feels like a really solid debut. These are by and large likeable characters, both the main cast and the secondary characters (I enjoyed the twins' roles in particular), and it's nice to see Rochelle gradually loosen her death grip on All Academics, All the Time. There's also this nice moment: "Mentally, I reprimand myself for assuming their pronouns and make the switch in my brain" (loc. 604*). It's such a small thing, but it feels wonderfully realistic; I've read way too many books where the author tries to signal inclusivity by having the main character get all pronouns correct immediately, and it's much more realistic to see someone stumble and course-correct.

There's a small mystery baked into the plot, and I would have liked to see a bit more from it. I don't want to go into too much detail in a review, but the stakes felt lower than they should have been—I think I was expecting something to happen to the memorabilia, and there was sort of a dearth of suspects, limiting any whodunnit sense. I also would have liked to see some more specifics about the movies (and history) relevant to the cinema; I'm not any kind of film buff (at the time of writing it has been—if I remember correctly—almost a year and a half since I sat through a full movie; cannot ask my partner for a more exact date or he will suggest that we watch a movie) and know very little about any realms of film, including Black cinema, so it might have been nice to learn a bit more.

But: The romance is cute, the setting is interesting, and props to parents (fictional and real) who fundamentally just want their kids to be happy. A win in my book!

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

This was a sweet YA read that I finished in only a couple of days. I'd recommend it for anyone who likes a little mystery mixed in with their romance, and YA lovers who wish there was more LGBTQIA+ representation than MM/FF stories.

Although the main characters were front and center in this novel, I really appreciated the effort the author put into all the other characters in the story, and I felt like I knew this community by the end. There was a delightful amount of representation of gender and sexual identities, even the oft-neglected aroace! I also really liked the background about the theater and felt like a lot of thought was put into bringing that space alive in the text.

SPOILERS BELOW

The only thing that made this a 4-star read for me, instead of 5-star, was that it was hard to tell what was the A plot versus the B plot. I read the blurb assuming the romance aspect was going to be the major arc, but that was resolved much more quickly and smoothly than I expected (3rd act breakup notwithstanding). The mystery about the Horizon mishaps took up more space in the second half of the book, even though the culprit seemed pretty obvious. I might not have been too disappointed that the mystery outshone the love story if the mystery had been a little more mysterious.

Thanks very much to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the chance to enjoy this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review!