Book review - Pretty in Punxsutawney

Title: Pretty in Punxsutawney
Author: Laurie Boyle Crompton
Genre: romance
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Rating:

nice enough

Summary (provided by publisher): A Groundhog Day meets Pretty in Pink mashup that tells the tale of a shy, introverted high school girl who must relive the first day of school over and over again until her first kiss can break the curse … she hopes.
Andie is the type of girl who always comes up with the perfect thing to say … after it’s too late to say it. She’s addicted to romance movies—okay, all movies—but has yet to experience her first kiss. After a move to Punxsutawney, PA, for her senior year, she gets caught in an endless loop of her first day at her new school, reliving those 24 hours again and again.
Convinced the curse will be broken when she meets her true love, Andie embarks on a mission: infiltrating the various cliques—from the jocks to the nerds to the misfits—to find the one boy who can break the spell. What she discovers along the way is that people who seem completely different can often share the very same hopes, dreams, and hang-ups. And that even a day that has been lived over and over can be filled with unexpected connections and plenty of happy endings.

My opinion: I wasn't sure the plot of this book would really land for me, given that I haven't seen either of the influencing movies. As it turns out, they are so culturally ubiquitous that I could guess much of the plot regardless. There were details referenced with which I was unfamiliar, but major plot points were fine. In some ways, the plot is the epitome of a shallow teen rom-com. While the parallels are intentional, it never transcends the genre standards. Andi meets a cute guy who's a bad match for her, explores friend groups, realizes there is more to others than the surface, etc. And while it's admirable to have your protagonist realize that her snap judgements are ignorant, it's a very shallow lesson. The romance is flat and expected, most of the characters without much nuance. It's entertaining, to be certain, but doesn't have much depth backing it. A light read.
Advanced Reader copy provided by NetGalley