Sally is a coffeeshop owner, a devoted sister, and a lover of all things romance. Her coffeeshop is decorated in reds and pinks, with iconic film moments painted on the walls. She has hearts on the front window with couples’ names, all people who had met for the first time in her shop and gone on to date, fall in love, and get married. To her, there is no better way to unwind in the evening than to make some popcorn and watch a favorite romcom.
Harry is a builder who doesn’t want to believe in love. He’s seen his parents’ marriage implode and his last relationship did not end well. In fact, she is still living in the house he built for himself, and he’s looking for a room to rent somewhere else. When his buddy’s girlfriend suggests that Sally has a room at her place that she’s wanting to rent out, he decides to give it a try. Even when he looks at the room and sees just how very pink it is.
A coat of paint and Harry moving his own bed into the room, and they are set. But they live parallel lives, not really having much in common. Harry is still trying to convince his ex, Isabelle, to move out of his house while playing go-between for his parents. Ever since his father retired, they haven’t been able to get along. And they talk about getting a divorce, but they don’t really move in that direction. They just use Harry to send messages to each other, making him far more miserable each time.
Meanwhile, Sally is trying to earn more money to pay off her sister’s debts. After their parents died, they had moved in with an aunt and uncle for a while, but once Sally was out of high school, they moved back to Brighton where they had grown up. Sally was able to get into her trust fund early, to buy an apartment for herself and Amy, and to start the coffeeshop. Amy can’t get her trust for several more years, so even though she is the sister with the college degree, she keeps coming to Sally for money for herself and her boyfriend Chris.
One night, as Sally is watching the classic Dirty Dancing with friends, Harry comes in and hears them talking. He can’t understand what the big deal with the lift they keep talking about. After her friends leave, Sally shows him the iconic scene, and he scoffs. He doesn’t see the big deal and decides to try it with Sally, just to show her how easy a lift like that would be. They decide to film it for posterity and give it a shot. The video ends in laughter and awkwardness, but Sally decides to upload it to the internet, calling it an epic romcom fail.
Apparently, a lot of people like epic romcom fails, because her social media numbers grow by leaps and bounds overnight. They decide to try it again some time, to see if they can maybe get to the point where they can earn a little money. So they go for an iconic scene from When Harry Met Sally, and then Pretty Woman, mixed with a little of She’s All That, and then Never Been Kissed. Their views and Sally’s followers keep going up, so they keep shooting their videos. But the more time they spend pretending to be in romantic moments, the more the chemistry between them blooms.
Sally knows that nothing can really come of their mutual attraction, as Harry doesn’t believe in romance and she’s firmly got her eyes set on The One. Harry is just her Daniel Cleaver, and she’s waiting for Mark Darcy. That’s how love works, right? Or is it possible that the romcoms have it all wrong?
Nobody Puts Romcoms in the Corner is not for those who hate the films. This is all about the films. It’s about the iconic scenes and the endings and the in-betweens and the dialogue and the settings and all of it. So if you have any misgivings on any of those famous movies, you may find yourself rolling your eyes all through this one. But if you, like me, love all those movies, then you’ll find yourself at home in the pages of this charming book.
I really enjoyed Nobody Puts Romcoms in the Corner. It’s funny and sweet without being saccharine, and it’s steamy with just the right chemistry. I liked the characters, and I thought that their personal family stories added some much needed texture, giving them depth and motivation. And it was just a lot of fun as they acted out the iconic scenes, taking them to new levels and finding all the fuzzies along the way.
Egalleys for Nobody Puts Romcoms in the Corner were provided by One More Chapter (HarperCollins UK) through NetGalley, with many thanks.
