A Teen You've Got Mail

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

This is the book that came in my April Lit-Cube, the theme of which was You've Got Mail. If you've seen the 1998 movie, you know that Meg Ryan's character has been instant messaging Tom Hanks' character, and they have a thing for each other. Unfortunately, Tom Hanks' character is the owner of a big bookstore (think Barnes and Noble) who is trying to put her little bookstore, The Shop Around the Corner out of business. In life, they dislike each other. On the internet, they are smitten. This book is very similar.

Bailey "Mink" lives on the East Coast with her mother. She has been messaging back and forth with someone named Alex, who happens to live in the same California town as Bailey's dad. They are both film buffs, so Alex tries to convince Bailey to come visit her dad so she can meet Alex and they can watch North by Northwest together on the beach,

Bailey not only visits her dad, she moves in with him, but she doesn't tell Alex. She wants to scope out the situation first to see if Alex is even worth pursuing. In the meantime, Bailey gets a job at a cheesy museum and meets the infuriating security guard named Porter. Porter's family is kinda famous--they're all surfers, which is a big deal in their town. Porter drives Bailey nuts, but then she kinda falls for him.

Since I told you what this is like, by now you've figured out that Alex is Porter. It's no secret really, as this is mentioned in the blurb on the book jacket. At any rate, it takes Bailey a while to figure this out.

I liked this. It was a cute story, and, despite everything else I have going on with work and grad school, I managed to devour this book in no time at all.