If You Were Here by Jen Lancaster

Amish-zombie-teen-romance author Mia and her husband Mac buy and renovate their first home in the Chicago suburbs that John Hughes' movies made famous. Along their harrowing renovation journey, they get caught up in various wars with the homeowners' association, meet some less-than-friendly neighbors, and are joined by a hilarious cast of supporting characters.

This book was bad. I had to force myself to finish it.

It started off cute enough. The whole thing is Mia's inner dialogue. She is cute, funny and quick witted but the novelty wears off real quick. There is a reason why we don't speak everything we think. Everyone does not need to know every tiny thought we have. Yet, the author must have think that's not true.

The story is filled with an endless supply of pop culture references, which unless you are a big John Hughes fan (who isn't?!), read People and watch a lot of HGTV, you probably won't get most of them. Also, most of these references are in the form of footnotes. I hate those footnotes. They were overused and unnecessary.

It got an extra star from me for the humor, there were times where it was really funny especially some of the Stephanie Meyer jabs, and the fact that she thought up a series of books about Amish Zombies. That is just brilliant. I would read those.

Overall, a very bad book. If you do choose to read it, read it soon. Before all the pop culture jokes become outdated (some of which already have.)

2 out of 5 stars

BUY IT HERE:If You Were Here: A Novel