Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant

Genre: Fiction, Romance Targeted Age Group: 14 - 18 Summary: Tessa Johnson loves writing romance and it has now landed her at the prestigious Chrysalis, a creative and performing arts high school. Tessa is excited about her time at Chrysalis, that is until she finds herself with major writer's block. Tessa's plan to get her groove back: fall in love and have a happily ever after with the hottest and most popular boy in school with the aid of every romantic trope in the book. Why I chose this book: I chose Happily Ever After because Elise Bryant is a new and upcoming author. This book was also chosen because it falls out my usual realm of reading. I am not really one to pick up the romance or romantic comedies in young adult. And finally I chose this book as it showcased a Black female lead in a story about love and finding yourself and your voice. Review:

Calling all hopeless romantics!

I am sure that you will fall in love with Tessa and her story. (While also shouting, "Girl! What were you thinking?!") First off, the pacing was great. I enjoyed the slow burn of the love blossoming between Tessa and her next door neighbor and friend Sam. The use of the romantic trope of the slow burn makes sense in Happily Ever Afters as Tessa initially finds Sam less than appealing. But is through their drives to and from school, their lunches together, pit stops at stores to find baking and cooking goods for Sam along with his delicious desserts Tessa begins to gradually see Sam in a new light, an attractive light. Bryant has you wanting to shake Tessa so that she can wake up and see that Sam is the guy for her. I then found myself invested in the story and wanting to see if her happily ever after ends with Sam (The boy created an ice cream for the girl. An ice cream! How can you not help but fall in love with the boy.)

The relationships within Tessa's family who have a member with disabilities were welcoming to see and the dynamic of the family is an eye opener for those who have not grown up with a family member with disabilities. Tessa has a strained relationship with her mother who puts quite a deal of time and energy into caring for her brother Miles. With all of this energy and time being put into Miles she is letting her relationship with Tessa fall to the wayside. I enjoyed how through Tessa's eyes the reader is able to see Miles as a human being, which he is, but appears to be forgotten when Tessa lists the annoying (and insulting) behaviors people display when they meet and interact with Miles. It has the reader quietly contemplating to themselves if they display this same behavior when interacting with those of the disabled community.

I don't know how but I found myself surprised by the theme and message of loving yourself and putting yourself first and foremost. Perhaps I was so entailed in the romantic happenings of Tessa that even I the reader failed to see what Tessa should be more focused on: loving herself. As you read you will find Tessa to be extremely hard on herself and self-conscious. She is constantly concerned with what others are thinking and putting herself down. I found this to be the reasoning as to why it was difficult for her to break her writer's block. It also feels like the reasoning of why she went along with hair-balled scheme of her best friend Caroline to get the hottest and most popular guy in school to fall for her through the use of romantic tropes. But if Tessa was filled with this immense amount of self-love and confidence perhaps we would not have a story. We would not have Tessa's journey as she finds her voice and finds love for herself. This happens, spoiler alert, when she finally lands the hot and popular guy, Nico, and they attend the winter gala. It is here that Tessa's eyes finally open to the cracks in the facade she had been ignoring all along. You cannot find the love you deserve until you begin to have love for yourself and perhaps this is the love Tessa needed all along.

Bryant, E. (2021). Happily Ever Afters. Balzer + Bray .