Leisa's Review of "If We Were A Movie" by Kelly Oram

"If We Were a Movie" is the third book published in a series called 'Power of the Matchmaker', however, it is a stand alone novel and, as such, can be read independently.  Twelve different authors have come together to write 12 stories that are being released monthly throughout 2016 as well as a prequel novella that was released in 2015.  While each book is a stand alone novel there is one character shared between each book to link them all together, a matchmaker named Pearl.  I found this book by chance when checking to see if authors I've enjoyed reading in the past had any new releases out and haven't read any of the other books from the series.




This particular story follows two NYU students, Nate and Jordan.  Nate is studying music composition in the hopes of becoming a musician and Jordan is a film major who dreams of becoming a film director.  They are introduced to each other by Pearl when she tells Nate that Jordan has a room to rent.  Nate assumes that Jordan is a male so is surprised to realise that Jordan is in fact female when he goes to view the apartment.  The story follows through the development of their friendship and it's impact on their relationships with other characters and their goals for life.  Pearl makes little cameo style appearances throughout the book to 'help out' at critical points in the development of their friendship.

There are many movie references made throughout the story as Jordan believes that everything that happens in life has already been used as a movie plot line. Kelly Oram uses this belief of Jordan's as a story telling method that I feel adds something a little bit special to the book.  Each chapter is named after a specific movie title and, at some point in the chapter, there is a references to the movie and a break down of how the movie is relevant to the events that have occurred.   One chapter actually references a fictional movie from another of Kelly's books (Cinder & Ella) but the other chapters seem to be linked to movies that have actually been released.  I wasn't necessarily familiar with all the movie titles used but enjoyed the humour behind some of the events linked to movie titles that I did recognise.  In fact, there were points in time where I was literally having to stifle my laughter as I read.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and didn't want to put it down once I started.  While I'm not familiar with the other authors that are writing for this series, I'm considering trying some of the other books, my interest in the series is certainly piqued. 

The book is a New Adult story and doesn't explicitly mention anything more than kissing.  If you enjoy a light college romance style story, this book is worth checking out.