Book Review: The Boy is Back by Meg Cabot

In this brand-new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot, a scandal brings a young man back home to the small town, crazy family, and first love he left behind.

Reed Stewart thought he’d left all his small town troubles—including a broken heart—behind when he ditched tiny Bloomville, Indiana, ten years ago to become rich and famous on the professional golf circuit.  Then one tiny post on the Internet causes all of those troubles to return . . . with a vengeance.

Becky Flowers has worked hard to build her successful senior relocation business, but she’s worked even harder to forget Reed Stewart ever existed. She has absolutely no intention of seeing him when he returns—until his family hires her to save his parents.

Now Reed and Becky can’t avoid one another—or the memories of that one fateful night.  And soon everything they thought they knew about themselves (and each other) has been turned upside down, and they—and the entire town of Bloomville—might never be the same, all because The Boy Is Back.

SERIES: Boy #4
GENRE: ChickLit
PUBLISHER: William Morrow
RELEASE DATE: October 18, 2016
PAGES:  368

The Boy Is Back is the first book I’ve read written completely in social media messages, emails, journal entries, newspaper articles, and product reviews. Such a unique experience for me, and one I enjoyed more than I first thought I would. Cabot is able to give each character a distinct voice despite there being virtually no narrative or descriptions or background.

Parts of the book had me literally laughing out loud, specifically Marshall and his battle with the autocorrect feature of his phone. I also appreciated the subtle touches like the “10 of 10 people found this review helpful” on the product review vignettes as well as the photos that pop up from time to time. It made me feel like I really was peeking in on their lives via social media… and may have had me looking over my own shoulder a bit too 😉

The romance is sweet (their texts!) but mostly falls flat for me. I think because ALL we get is conversation. It was in this – in the development of the romance – that I missed the narrative aspect of a novel. I wanted thoughts and emotions and KISSES! And while, Reed’s and Becky’s thoughts ARE presented somewhat through emails and journal entries, I just didn’t feel like it gave me enough emotional depth to FEEL the romance.

Bottom Line: There’s a lot to like about Meg Cabot’s The Boy Is Back! Humor and friendship shine in this creative format, even though the romantic and emotional development suffers a bit. That someone CAN create a story from just snippets of social media conversations is proof of the author’s talent, and Meg Cabot is definitely talented!

Reviewer’s Note: Readers may want to be aware that there is some profanity scattered throughout the book, but it’s not extensive.

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from HarperCollins and TLC Book Tours. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.)

My Rating: 3 stars / Fun book!

HarperCollins

Meg Cabot was born in Bloomington, Indiana. In addition to her award-winning adult contemporary fiction, she is the author of bestselling young adult fiction, including The Princess Diaries and the Mediator series. More than twenty-five million copies of her novels for children and adults have sold worldwide. Meg lives in Key West, Florida, with her husband.

website | Facebook | Twitter | blog

Other Books in this Series

What about you? What other books have you read in which the story is told through social media and/or emails?