Review: Waiting For Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey

Can a rom-com obsessed romantic finally experience the meet-cute she always dreamed of or will reality never compare to fiction, in this charming debut adult novel from Kerry Winfrey.

WAITING FOR TOM HANKS by KERRY WINFREY

Publication date: June 11, 2019

Published by: Berkley

Genre: romance, rom-com

SYNOPSIS

Annie is twenty-seven years old, single, and obsessed with romantic comedies (she and her mother watched them religiously, before her mom died). Her dating life is limited by the expectations she’s

formed from these movies. She is not as open to new experiences as she might be, because she’s waiting for her Tom Hanks–i.e., a guy she’ll find in the perfect, meet-cute romantic comedy way. When Annie does finally meet her perfect match, it’s not quite in the way she expected, and she’s forced to reckon with the walls she’s built around herself over the years.

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Praise for Kerry Winfrey:

“An endearing, klutzy heroine elevates this utterly charming romance [and] the plot’s many moving pieces add complexity. Chloe, lovable Uncle Don, and the local coffee shop’s colorful characters provide humor and heart in just the right places.”—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“What a total delight it was to read this book! A compelling, heartwarming, hilarious rom-com. I couldn’t stop turning the pages!”—New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster   


“This sweet story is a warm, favorite-sweater-wearing hug for anyone who believes that true love doesn’t only happen in the movies.”—kc dyer, author of Finding Fraser

“The perfect blend of humor and romance…Waiting for Tom Hanks is a romantic comedy full of heart, humor, and a delicious dose of reality.”—Wandereader

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kerry Winfrey is the author of LOVE AND OTHER ALIEN EXPERIENCES and THINGS JOLIE NEEDS TO DO BEFORE SHE BITES IT. She’s written for many websites, including HelloGiggles. When she’s not writing, she’s most likely baking yet another batch of cookies or watching far, far too many romantic comedies. She lives with her husband, baby, and dog in the middle of Ohio.

You can find her on:

Twitter | Instagram | Website | Goodreads

REVIEW

Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

As a huge fan of rom-com movies, and someone who has probably seen almost all of Tom Hanks' classics, I didn't hesitate when I saw this book. I knew I wanted to read it. Of course the bright and adorable cover didn't hurt either. Having never read this author before, I had no idea what to expect when opening this up. This probably sounds strange to say considering my rating, but I actually do think that she's a talented writer. But there's a difference between being a good writer and storytelling effectively and that's where my problem lies. I had several big issues with the book:

1) How the enemies to lovers trope was created/developed

2) The heroine's childish and illogical behavior towards the hero got very, very annoying. (one and two are connected)

3) How her rom-com obsession is in actuality more of an unhealthy fixation. It ruled her entire life and affected every thought process and decision throughout her day.

I knew from the synopsis that Annie would be obsessed with rom-coms. I just had no idea that it would be presented in the way that it was. I was so down for being served a heaping smorgasbord of movie references. However I knew within the first couple of chapters that I didn't like Annie's thought pattern on them at all. She thinks and behaves as if she is living inside of a movie and everything she does has to be like a movie she saw. Every potential boyfriend she meets has to be just like a hero in a movie she saw. Her living situation, her job...everything revolves around creating a scenario that will lead to the perfect meet-cute with the perfect man. I'm sorry but life doesn't work out that way and her constant weird thoughts made her sound like she'd lost touch with reality. This goes beyond her loving rom-coms because of her fond memories tied to her mother. Or her parents' once in a lifetime romance that has erected impossibly high standards. She's created a fantasy world because of it.

Annie finds out that there will be a big budget romantic movie filmed in her town, and her friends urge her to get a job on set. Drew Danforth is the male lead, and when she hears he's the star she immediately starts a judgmental tirade about his character. He's the complete opposite of Tom Hanks, he's "too good for hollywood," he's ridiculous, a slob, and his worst sin: he's a prankster. He's a privileged jerk who doesn't take life seriously or appreciate his success. All this based on gossip sites and times she saw him on TV. She doesn't know the man! You can imagine how grating this would get when she insults someone she's never met before, and it only got worse from there.

Through her uncle's highly coincidental connection, she's able to land a position as assistant to the director. (She's an aspiring screenwriter. Wouldn't he have mentioned this to her before?) Far from her imagined meet-cute, her first meeting with Drew is uncomfortably awkward and every interaction thereafter goes downhill. She snaps at him and misinterprets every word out of his mouth making her appear like a shrew. Bluntly put, this guy is FAR from a jerk and does not deserve her attitude. She got so bad that I had to skim over a couple of their conversations because she wouldn't stop insulting him. Even when he tried to open her car door she makes a ridiculous claim about his reason.

     “Oh, my God,” I mutter, and I’m about to swing my door open when he opens it for me. “You don’t have to do that,” I snap, about to tell him not to make fun of me by opening the door as if I’m the famous person and he’s my driver.

I believe this was all in order to create an enemies to lovers trope, but there was no sexy banter, no logical explanation for how she felt. There was no antagonism on his part, not even when he was unfairly insulted. They weren't enemies, it was one person making assumptions about another and getting angry all the time. In other words, it all felt manufactured and fell flat. As for Drew, he didn't seem to be affected at all by her behavior and somehow developed a crush on her through all of it. I really couldn't understand why. Because of all of these things I had a hard time getting through the first half of the book. She finally did realize that she was wrong about him, but once their flirting kicked in, I didn't have any investment in their HEA. The ending was very over the top and the conflict at the end that was caused by an accidental text made me cringe so hard.

To sum things up, I do like the author's humor and there were sporadic moments in there where I was entertained by her friends' relationship with each other. But unfortunately the heroine was unlikable for too long, the movie theme was set up too strangely, and I didn't feel the chemistry I should have. Many will disagree with me, maybe some will relate to how I felt. I was really disappointed and wish I could have loved it more, but I think I can safely say that this particular story wasn't the right fit for me.

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