WOULD LIKE TO MEET

A film agency assistant follows all the rom-com rules in an attempt to save her job…and maybe fall in love in the process.

Evie Summers has always loved love—specifically in romantic comedies. She grew up dreaming of writing her own film, and her father was her biggest champion. But after his death, she lost her writing spark. Now she’s stuck toiling as an assistant at a film agency, waiting for the day she gets her big break and gets promoted to agent. It seems she may get her chance when her agency’s biggest and worst-behaved client, Ezra Chester, needs some motivation to produce the rom-com screenplay he promised. Ezra thinks rom-coms are trite and unrealistic, but he agrees to finish his screenplay if Evie proves to him that meet-cutes can lead to true love. Evie has to re-create some of her favorite rom-com scenes and report back to Ezra. Spilling orange juice on a stranger, à la Notting Hill? Check. Sharing a car with someone, just like in When Harry Met Sally…? Check. Staying at a charming cottage that seems to be straight out of The Holiday? Check. Evie tries it all, humiliating herself in front of the general public, including a cute but quiet single father and his precocious daughter. Meanwhile, she also has to help plan a bachelorette party and wedding for her hilariously high-maintenance bridezilla of a friend, but her dedication to work keeps getting in the way. But just like in all the best rom-coms, Evie might find true love where she least expects it. Evie is a scrappy, winning heroine whose decisions may occasionally be frustrating (as is the rom-com tradition, there are lots of miscommunications) but are always well intentioned. The references to classic films of the genre will delight rom-com fans, as will the sweet romance. The best scenes, though, are with Evie and her three best friends, who have the warmly mocking dynamic of friends in a Richard Curtis film.

A lovely, humorous ode to romantic comedies.