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Yacht rock rules

Cover of Not Like the Movies
A review of Not Like the Movies by Kerry Winfrey

It's not easy being Chloe Sanderson, especially when she's so hard on herself. It's understandable. She's been taking care of everyone since her mom left when she was in fourth grade. She's working, putting herself through business school, providing for her dad's care in an Alzheimer's facility and trying to keep it together. So much so that she's bound to snap.

Chloe's ne'er-do-well twin brother rolls back into town unexpectedly bringing his dreamy new boyfriend. Her best friend Annie is getting married and making big life changes. Chloe has agreed to bake pies for the wedding and make a gloriously romantic and crafty pom wall and feels time shrinking around her leading her ever closer to the inevitable snap. Everyone else has their life on track in a way that she does not and this prompts her to take some unwise romantic risks that may jeopardize what she truly wants.

Set in Columbus, Ohio, this is book two in the "Waiting for Tom Hanks" series and features the movie premiere of the screenplay Annie wrote loosely based on Chloe's will-they-or-won't-they romance with her boss, Nick. Get your yacht rock* playlist ready and settle in for a charming read.

*Yacht rock is a broad music style and aesthetic commonly associated with soft rock, one of the most commercially successful genres from the mid-1970s to early 1980s. Artists of note include Christopher Cross, The Doobie Brothers, Toto, Steely Dan, Loggins and Messina, and my favorites, Hall & Oates.

Oct 28, 2020