Book Review: The Promise of Amazing

The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine

**SPOILERS**

I love a good romance book. You know, a good, easy, cute book that you can escape into for a few hours that’ll make you smile. The Promise of Amazing is almost that type of book.

The Promise of Amazing is told through alternating points of view, with every other chapter belonging to either Wren Caswell or Grayson Barrett. It takes place during the characters’ junior year, where Wren and Grayson first meet. They wouldn’t have run into each other had Wren not gone to work at her family’s catering hall after being annoyed at her guidance counselor’s “no one is going to Harvard,” pep talk.

It’s a cute idea when you consider the whole opposites attract thing, but just a glance at the YA shelf will prove that there are more than enough books about the bad boy and good girl falling insta-in-love. It started out cutely, as though their romance might be a real high school dating story, but that soon changed. When a book revolves around the romance connection, it needs to be believable; I could buy it if it was a story of dating casually to see if the two fit together, but not one about falling in love at first sight.

Books into Film: Why Winter’s Tale Just Didn’t Work

Book to Movie: Winter's Tale

I recently had the opportunity to attend a pre-screening of the film Winter’s Tale prior to its release in theaters on February 14th. Winter’s Tale stars Colin Farrell, Jessica Brown Findlay, and Russell Crowe, and is based on Mark Helprin’s novel of the same name.

Helprin’s novel, published in 1985, weaves a tale about a mythic New York City at the turn of the century and a curious battle between good and evil. Described by some as a novel of magic realism, it spans two centuries and has an array of unique characters. It even has an average rating of 4.04 stars on Goodreads, and overall very positive reviews. However, I, unfortunately, did not have the chance to read the novel before I saw the film this past week.

That being said, after viewing the film, I’m glad that I didn’t read the novel first. While the trailers for Winter’s Tale seemed promising, the film did not live up to my expectations. The theater was filled with laughter for the entirety of the screening as the audience made fun of the film’s oddities, including strange lines of dialogue and awkward character interactions. I found myself focusing very hard on understanding what the film’s plot was even about, and while there were redeeming moments sprinkled throughout the film, overall Winter’s Tale felt forced.