By Any Other Name

Last night I finished reading, “By Any Other Name,” by Lauren Kate. Many of you might remember her from reading her famous young adult series “Fallen,” and “Teardrop”. Lanie has a successful career as a romance editor, the perfect fiancé that checks off 99 boxes on her checklist. Lanie is living her best life. It only seems to get better when she is given the opportunity to help her favorite writer Noa Callaway get out of her writers block and if she can do that she’ll get the promotion she’s always wanted. If Lanie fails she loses her job. Though there is a reason no one has seen the famous author. When Lanie meets Noa in the flesh it comes as a surprise that Noa is actually Noah. This novel was like catching up with an old friend because I loved Lauren Kates “Fallen” series and I knew I would enjoy her very first romantic comedy book.

Pros

I like that the setting is mainly in New York and then in Positano Italy for the book launch. The characters are likeable, Lanie’s friends Meg and Rufus are hilarious. The novel reminds me of a classic romantic comedy movie you would watch in the 90s and 2000s. I did enjoy Lanie’s backstory of how she realized she didn’t want to be a doctor like the rest of her family, but having a career in the publishing industry was her calling. Noah is my new fictional crush. Fan casting in my head for the future movie or series would be either Henry Cavill, Oscar Isacc or Aiden Turner to play Noah. I also enjoyed how this novel makes it clear you won’t ever find a guy that fulfills all of your checklists and that it’s okay to change and want to grow. Romcoms sometimes have a bad habit of telling you you’ll meet the perfect guy that checks off your checklists when reality is there’s no perfect guy just as there is no perfect girl. I would keep going on about what I enjoyed but I don’t want to spoil too much.

Cons

There wasn’t anything I disliked about this novel. I wish it could go on longer to be honest. To quote Jane Austen, If a book is well written, I always find it too short.

Overall

Overall I enjoyed the novel a lot. There wasn’t anything I disliked except wishing the book was longer. “By Any Other Name,” is a love letter to those of us who love books, and romantic comedies. Thank you Lauren Kate for writing such a letter to us.