Review: The Truth About Happily Ever After

Chin up, Princess, or the crown will slip.
A theme park princess must put her life back together after her happily ever after falls apart in this contemporary YA romance from Karole Cozzo, author of How to Keep Rolling After a Fall and How to Say I Love You Out Loud.
Everything was supposed to be perfect. Alyssa has a job she loves, working as Cinderella at her favorite theme park; a fantastic group of friends; and a boyfriend who will no longer be long distance. But as the summer progresses, her prince becomes less charming and more distant, and Alyssa's perfect summer falls apart.
Forced to acknowledge that life is not always a fairy tale, Alyssa starts working to pull her herself back together. Fortunately, she doesn't have to do it alone. With her friend Miller's support, she's determined to prove that she's more than just a pretty princess. And with his help, maybe she's finally ready for something better than dreams. Maybe she's ready for something real.

The Truth About Happily Ever After is kind of a hard one for me. I loved Cozzo’s previous book How To Keep Rolling After A Fall – LOVED, sooo much. But, I struggled with the main character in this one. Here, we meet Alyssa, and honestly I didn’t find her super likeable at first. She seems overly obsessed with image, popularity, and her role as Cinderella at the theme park where she works. I persevered through the story and was rewarded with a far more likeable Alyssa in the second half of the book. Once her “Prince Charming” is out of the picture, I liked Alyssa, and the interactions with the other characters far more.

It seems to me that Cozzo may have been recalling Elle Woods from Legally Blonde with this heroine, it just didn’t quite work for me. Based on the back half, I would recommend this read. Also, I did super like the idea of the theme park, and all the characters in it.

The Truth About Happily Ever After is a solid spring read, and I’m sure it will find its audience. I am giving this one a 3.5/5 – solid, but not a book I’ll likely revisit.

Find out more about the book or about the author, Karole Cozzo, on her author’s site.

Thank you to the publisher, Macmillan, for the ARC on Netgalley.

Comments

comments