ARC Book Review: Dramatically Ever After by Isabel Bandeira

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Published: June 2017

Series: Ever After #2

Pages: 384

Summary

Senior year is not shaping up to be the picture perfect movie Em Katsaros had imagined. Her super hot leading man is five thousand miles away. Her dad just got laid off. And Em can kiss her first-pick university goodbye if she doesn't snag a scholarship.

To turn this Shakespearean tragedy into the Academy Award-winning dream Em has written for herself, she enters a speech competition and manages to cinch a spot in the US Youth Change Council national round. She gets to spend a week in Boston and her prayers might be answered if she can kick butt and win one of the national scholarships.

Everything seems to be going by the script until she finds out Kris Lambert--senior class president, stuck-up jerk and her nemesis--is going, too. Cue the dramatic music. In Boston, Kris is different. Nice. Cute, even. But she knows his game way too well--be nice to your opponents and then throw them under the bus on your way to victory. Instead of becoming his next victim, Em decides to turn the tables by putting her acting and flirting skills to work. Unfortunately, as they get close to the final competition and judging, reality and acting start to blur.

Can Em use the drama from the stage to get the future she's been dreaming of?

My Thoughts...

I read the first book in the series, Bookishly Ever After, when it first came out, and fell completely in love with the characters. I was really happy to get a chance to get to know Em's character a little better and I enjoyed this book just as much as the first one.

Dramatically Ever After delivers exactly what it promises: a fluffy contemporary to keep you company on long rainy afternoons and warm your heart. I really enjoyed the interaction between characters: Em and Kris' conversations were full of witty remarks and enjoyable banter, with plenty of sarcasm going round. As that is one of my favourite modes of communication, I was obviously very pleased with this. 

I really enjoyed delving deep into another character's passion: after Phoebe's love of books, we now get to explore Em's devotion for the theatre and the performing arts. It's refreshing to read about teenage female characters who have a passion and vision in life beyond boys and actually work hard to achieve their goals. Em really takes it a step further, acting definitely over dramatically at times and trying to put on a show 24/7 to avoid sharing her fears and appearing vulnerable, but I appreciated the fact that her friends always called her out on it. 

Kris was definitely a keeper. We get to see him through Em's eyes first as an annoying wannabe politician, trying to please everybody while working his personal angle. But as they are forced to spend more time together, it was really fun to see Em discover layer after layer of Kris' personality and falling slowly. There were plenty of swoon-worthy moments between these two, and the romance never felt forced.

Overall, this book was a really enjoyable light read, with a good storyline and memorable characters. I shall definitely look out for the next one in the series!

Rating: 3.5/5