As Seen on TV

I am a city girl. I love city life. The convenient public transportation, the ease of obtaining kosher food, the wide array of entertainment and museums that I rarely partake in but find joy in knowing they are there. So when Adina, protagonist of Meredith Schorr’s contemporary romance As Seen On TV, bemoans that dating in a big city is nothing like the quaint small town life she views on the Hallmark channel, I rolled my eyes. Delightfully, so did Adina’s mother.

However, Adina’s Mom is a paragon of virtue and still supports her daughter as Adina journeys to the small town of Pleasant Hollow to chase a story she hopes will help her break out as a journalist. Adina, a lifelong Hallmark romance fan, has pitched an article about the small town being usurped by a big bad developer. Except, upon arrival, she discovers that small town living isn’t always that great and the Pleasant Hollow residents are either apathetic or welcoming to the development that might bring more opportunity and variety to the town.

I actually did feel sorry for Adina as her dreams of pie eating contests and snowball fights were crushed, especially since this spelled disaster for her journalism career, but I couldn’t help my glee when it turned out the only date-able guy in Pleasant Hollow was Finn, project manager for the development that turns out to be not so big and bad after all. As Adina and Finn reminisced about their favorite city establishments, I found myself rooting for the couple.

A pivotal scene in the romance occurs over Rosh Hashana dinner and fans of casual Judaism will be pleased to note that Adina’s religion is sprinkled throughout the book in a way that is organic and real. I was thrilled to see Adina find her way both as a reporter and as a couple with Finn, although the writer in me cringed at both her epic self-sharing in her articles and her subsequent decision to read the comments. Luckily she had a nice group of family, both found and biologic, to lean on. Friends she made despite living in the big city instead of a quaint small town.

Note: I received an arc through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

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E Broderick is a writer and speculative fiction enthusiast. When not writing she enjoys epic games of trivial pursuit and baking. She currently lives in the U.S. but is eagerly awaiting the day a sentient spaceship offers to take her traveling around the galaxy.