“Sorry,” I stutter. “It’s just that…she’s describing my life.” In response to this statement, Lucy watched me coolly, her head slightly tilted to one side. It made me uncomfortable.
Annabelle likes things to be ordered. Like color coded calendar ordered. So when her parents announce that they are separating the selling the family home, Annabelle’s perfectly ordered life becomes decidedly disordered.
To make matters worse, Annabelle discovers that her entire life, ordered and disordered is actually just a character plot written and controlled by a famous romance author. She suddenly finds herself courted by the perfect boy who gets more perfect with her every whim, while at the same time slowly discovering feelings for her brother’s best friend, leading her into one of the author’s infamous love triangles.
She begins to question everything in her life and every decision she’s made, wondering if any of them were made under her own power. Her new-found identity crisis leads her to a final confrontation with her author that make her fight for autonomy harder than ever.
“I am not going in a drawer,” I protest quietly, using the last of my strength. “I am trying to write my story.”
I was super intrigued by this concept. I mean a girl finds out her entire life is actually just the plot for a character in a book. It’s sort of my dream. Isn’t it any reader’s dream? However the execution left me somewhat overwhelmed. The most glaring grievance is that the author in the story is actually the author of the book. It felt too on the nose for me and the author character come off as a bit unhinged. Her character seemed to villainous for the rest of the story. I guess I wanted it to be more about Annabelle’s personal growth and development and less about her fighting off a crazy author controlling her life.
However, I only paid a dollar for this book and I would definitely say I got my dollars’ worth. I can’t say that I would recommend it unless you’re looking for a quick and easy read.
“And what I begin to realize slowly, is that while a lot will happen, while none of it will be easy, none of it will mean the end of anything, or the end of me. Because I am Annabelle, and I will always know who I am, even if I’m not always sure what I really want.”