Summary: Bailey “Mink” Rydell has yet to meet someone who loves classic movies as much as she does IRL. At least she has her fellow witty film geek and online friend Alex, who she may or may not have a crush on. The two live on opposite sides of the county anyway, until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as Alex. Faced with fear that her online relationship is too good to be true face-to-face, Bailey decides not to tell Alex that she’s moved to his hometown. Besides, she’s too busy working at the local tourist-trap museum, where she’s tormented daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter. Porter is supposed to be Bailey’s archenemy, her villain – until Bailey begins to feel something for him that’s not exactly hate. 

My Rating: 4.25/5 Stars

My Thoughts:

A congratulations or two OR TWENTY is in order for so many of my blogger friends and fellow bloggers for convincing me to finally pick up Jenn Bennett’s Alex, Approximately. After being a bit obsessed with Starry Eyes earlier this summer, I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed Alex Approximately– yay to being able to add another fun summer contemporary to my read pile!

In my opinion, Alex Approximately was a unique YA read for a few reasons:

• Bailey, Grace and Porter’s workplace. The Cave isn’t the most normal of museums, but Bailey and Grace had so much fun working in the Hot Box together (for the most part)
• There’s a ton of old school movie love between Bailey, Alex, and Porter
• -Bailey and Porter both have traumatic experiences before the start of the novel. I’m not sure how I exactly feel about Bailey’s situation yet (I know that fiction gets to be fiction, but it felt a little bit left field still), but I understand its purpose for the connection between her and Porter.
• Alex Approximately has one of the best YA contemporary covers ever. Reminder to pick up a movie screen and cute string lights for my backyard ASAP.
• There’s intimate romance done right! AKA no cringe-moments! I loveeeeeeeee YA contemporary with all of my heart, but often romance scenes can be a bit cringe. However, I think Jenn Bennett wrote the intimate/sexual scenes so well (I also noticed this in Starry Eyes). Bailey and Porter also both come off as really mature characters.

Speaking of characters, I loved so many of the side characters in Alex, Approximately, including Bailey’s dad, Mrs. Roth, Grace and Pangborn. I think we’ve gotten to a point in YA where parents and family members are present and ARE AWESOME. Bailey’s dad and Porter’s parents are no exception.

If there’s one thing that was frustrating me as a reader of books’ covers, IT’S THAT ALEX, APPROXIMATELY’S REAL BLURB SORT’VE SPOILS THE BOOK! Warning: if you want to go into Alex, Approximately with zilch idea of who Alex could be, DO NOT READ THE BLURB ON THE PHYSICAL COPY. Even though halfway through the book it’s not hard to figure out Alex’s real identity, next time please save my non-spoiler wishing self.

Overall, Alex, Approximately is perfect for any movie-loving, especially You’ve Got Mail, YA readers. I’m highly anticipating Jenn Bennett’s 2019 release, Serious Moonlight, and I just added The Anatomical Shape of a Heart to my TBR.

 Have you read Alex, Approximately? What’s your favorite Jenn Bennett book? Share in the comments!