Tag: lenore appelhans

two star book

The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project Review

Courtney/Enchanted.to.Read.You
  • Title: The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project
  • Author: Lenore Appelhans
  • Book Form: Egalley ARC
  • Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
  • Genre: YA, Contemporary
  • Rating: ★★


Riley lives in TropeTown, where everyone plays stock roles in novels. Riley, a Manic Pixie Dream Boy, is sent to group therapy after going off-script. Riley knows that breaking the rules again could get him terminated, yet he feels there must be more to life than recycling the same clichés for readers’ entertainment. Then he meets Zelda, a Manic Pixie Dream Girl (Geek Chic subtype), and falls head over heels in love. Zelda’s in therapy too, along with several other Manic Pixies. But TropeTown has a dark secret, and if Riley and his fellow Manic Pixies don’t get to the bottom of it, they may all be terminated.

– Goodreads

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. These thoughts and feelings are my own.

So. I’ve put off writing this review for two days. I just don’t really know what to say. I was not a fan of this book.

This is about Riley, the manic pixie dream boy, who lives in TropeTown – where all the bookish tropes live and get called into jobs aka books.

The idea is catchy. I was like, oh this sounds cool! It seemed fun and campy. And I love campy. I just….. could not get into this book.

Riley has to go to therapy daily because he went ‘off script’ from what the author was writing. There he meets Zelda, another manic pixie in therapy, and he falls for her. But in his current job, he finds himself actually falling for Ava. So there’s this love triangle, which I felt like had so much potential, but it didn’t really go anywhere for me.

I felt like there was just no progression in the story. I kept waiting for something to happen. Or for the book to end. And I hate feeling that way about a book.

All in all, I just didn’t enjoy the book. I was just counting down the minutes until it ended. I wish I would have liked it more because it was such a fun idea!

Until next time…