(courtesy Hachette Australia)
Falling in love is sweet in a million different wonderful ways.
But how much sweeter, especially if you’re a book lover, is it when it all happens against a backdrop of a bookstore, and concerns said owner of that literary retail establishment and a hunky writer who, it turns out, is as lovely as he is gifted with words?
Very, very sweet indeed if Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin is any guide.
A novel set in and around the high mountain surrounds of Denver, Colorado, Better Than Fiction is a beautifully written, emotionally resonant romantic comedy where books and a love of reading meet with grief and a long journey from the pain of the past into the promises of a loved-up future.
Crucially, the novel zings because Martin puts a great deal of work, not always a given in residents of this genre, some of which hope that simply talking about romance will be enough, into establishing her characters as real people with actual cares and concerns that transcend the narratively expedient, and then giving them dialogues that absolutely sparkles with wit, wisdom and vulnerability.
Meeting Drew Young at first, you do wonder what a self-described book hater is doing running one of Denver’s most well-loved indie bookstores, the Book Nook but as you get to know the talented Black photographer with a vibrant love of nature and outdoors, you realise why she has given up her aspirant vocation to run a store which comes with a considerably steep learning curve.
I can feel Elsie’s glare burning into the side of my face as relieved laughter falls out of my mouth, but I don’t even care.
Mr. Perfect isn’t perfect after all! He’s a freaking author! This changes everything.
It transpires that Drew, who was well on her way to a burgeoning photographic career, with occasional media appearances, celebrating the natural wonders of her home state, is running the Book Nook because her beloved grandmother, Alice, with whom she spent a significant amount of time growing up, has recently died.
With the store so important to her grandmother in life, Drew is hellbent on ensuring that it prospers and continues, as much to preserve the sentimental links she has with the place but also so that Alice’s memory is honoured and treasured.
Helping that happen is a book club composed of a gaggle of vivacious older women, many of whom were very close to Alice and who consequently know Drew very well, known as the Dirty Birds who meets regularly in the store and who are determined to help Alice’s granddaughter fall in love with books, and, as it turns out, a handsome, charming romance author, Jasper Williams, who just happens to pop into the story to discuss an upcoming evening appearance.
Jasper is the possessor not just of a literary gift but of movie star level good looks which, as should be the way in any rom-com worth its salt, do not define him in any way.
He must know he’s good looking but he bears none of the conceit or arrogance of someone so visually enhanced, and is thus oblivious to all the women, and no doubt a few men, who lose their sh*t when Jasper comes into view.
(courtesy official author site)
What begins as a simple favour by Drew to help Jasper get acquainted with Denver and surrounding area attractions for the book set in Colorado he’s currently writing soon becomes the most unexpected of bargains – if Drew will act as tour guide, Jasper will draw her up a list of books guaranteed to get her not only reading but loving the activity.
Drew, still mired in grief about losing her grandmother and with her hands full fending off her avariciously toxic father who wants the store for his own – turns out loveliness can skip a generation with Alice and Drew having nothing in common with the horribly narcissistic generation sandwiched between them – is convinced the reading list and Drew will amount to nothing but swayed by his good looks and charm, Drew goes along with the deal and, naturally, love, true love, ensues.
In many ways Better Than Fiction goes pretty much where you expect it to, but what sets it apart from the light romance novelistic hordes is how emotionally rich and substantial it often feels.
Drew’s grief feels very raw and affecting and you can well understand why she reacts the way she does in many of the narrative touchpoints – the only point where it doesn’t quite work, but only by a fraction, is when she and Jasper have the rom-com mandatory falling out – and why she needs the support of Jasper but also the Dirty Birds, her sister Daisy and bestie with a gloriously funny mouth, Elsie.
I wiggle my feet, making sure they’re secure, and tighten my grip on my oar. When I know I won’t bounce out of my seat, I chance a look at Jasper to make sure he’s okay.
He’s looking right back at me, his smile so big I worry it might break his face. ‘Best day ever!’
Drew is a real person with real issues and concerns who deals authentically with grief, and all its wild mood swings, and irrationalities and lack of normal perspective; for a light and fluffy rom-com, and Better Than Fiction is all that in the very best of ways, has a huge amount of emotional weight at its heart and it’s the better a romantic tale for it.
While Jasper isn’t as fully realised, he’s still far more than a cardboard cutout and you can well understand why Drew, caught between her hearts hope for a bright and romantic future and the grim reality of the vice-like grip of grief, is attracted to him beyond that fact that he’s visually a cool drink of delicious water on a very hot day.
Martin’s investing of so much effort into narrative, dialogue and characters off hugely over and over in Better Than Fiction.
You turn every page not simply the storyline is all warm and fuzzy and lovely, and honestly it is all that and more, but because there’s a substance to it all, a sense that this romance is necessary for both of them but mostly Drew who doesn’t need Jasper to save her – she’s very much her own woman and has the strength, wherewithal and talent to look after herself, thank you – but to simply walk with her through her current long night of the soul and to be comfort and uplift her not just now with all the troubles she has but well into the future when happiness, courtesy of true love, seems far more assured.