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The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project

Lenore Appelhans (Goodreads Author)

3.54 · Rating details · 233 ratings · 106 reviews

Riley lives in TropeTown, where everyone plays stock roles in novels. Riley, a Manic Pixie Dream Boy, is sent to group therapy after going off-script. Riley knows that breaking the rules again could get him terminated, yet he feels there must be more to life than recycling the same clichés for readers' entertainment. Then he meets Zelda, a Manic Pixie Dream Girl (Geek Chic ...more

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272 pages

Published March 5th 2019 by Carolrhoda Lab

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Apr 20, 2018 Lenore Appelhans added it · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

Shelves: met-the-author, metafiction

This is a meta-fiction romantic comedy about redefining the labels we're given - on our own terms. It's about looking beyond the stereotype and getting to know the actual person. It's about writing and the writing process and the magic and the frustration and the courage to step up and be the main character in your own story. It's a satire of YA tropes with the utmost affection for the category. It's my favorite thing I've ever written, and I can't wait for you to read it.

Why, yes! I do have a b ...more

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Mar 22, 2020 Katie Hanna rated it really liked it

this. this is good book.

The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project tells the story of the Tropes who inhabit the happy world of Trope Town, among them:

a) Manic Pixie Dream Girl Geek Chic,
b) MPDG Freaky Chic,
c) MPDG Wild Child,
d) MPDG Bubbly Badass,
e) Manic Pixie Dream Boy (rare!),
f) MPDG Beautiful Mess, and ...

... you get the picture by now, yes?

Fictional characters, and robotic, pre-programmed Tropes at that, these kids have never been afforded the complexity and dynamic growth of a ...more

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Feb 21, 2019 Samantha (WLABB) rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya, fantasy, arcs

Readers are often lamenting about "the tropes", and one that often takes a beating is the manic pixie dream girl. This was a fun exploration of the MPDGs and their token boy, as they set out on their quest to save and redefine their trope.

• Pro: I had a lot of fun reading this book. It was odd and quirky, and I found myself laughing and nodding as I recognized so many of these characters and their traits from the books I have read.

• Pro: I've read several of these meta type books, and for me, t ...more

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Jan 28, 2019 Jypsy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

What can I say about this book? The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project is definitely different from anything I've ever read. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. I liked the story for its oddness and quirkiness. It's about Riley. He's a MPDB trope in Tropetown. He is going to group therapy because he went off script. While there, he meets a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Turns out, the Manic Pixie Dream tropes are going to be retired. So, off they go to save the day. The story is everythi ...more

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May 06, 2018 Mary Thompson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: teen

Lenore Appelhans has managed to create a book that both works on its own as a fun story about characters you care about and is also a clever sendup of YA tropes. This book will both entertain you and make you think. Just like Riley doesn’t have to helplessly accept his fate as a Manic Pixie Dream Boy, you don’t have to accept force-fed stereotypes. Get ready to change the way you think about every YA book you’ve ever read.

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Dec 08, 2019 Lenore Kosinski rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

https://celebrityreaders.com/2019/12/...

I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

3.5 stars — I had a hard time getting sucked into this story, because I didn’t understand its purpose, or what it was trying to achieve, and so I held myself back from connecting with it. I’m kind of impatient like that. I think I was confused if this was going to be a romance, because it was very odd in the romance department and was kind of failing. I think if https://celebrityreaders.com/2019/12/...

I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

3.5 stars — I had a hard time getting sucked into this story, because I didn’t understand its purpose, or what it was trying to achieve, and so I held myself back from connecting with it. I’m kind of impatient like that. I think I was confused if this was going to be a romance, because it was very odd in the romance department and was kind of failing. I think if I’d known beforehand that it wasn’t a romance, but rather just had romance elements, I would have had an easier time. The story really is about the journey of Riley as he discovers himself and his world and what he wants for his life…just in a super strange world.

It was definitely very cleverly written. I appreciated all the little nods here and there to different tropes, how tropes can be misused, what they bring to a story, all sorts of different views. I loved the overall message of depth and uniqueness and how we’re all trying to figure out who we want to be, but especially teenagers. Like I said, it was very smart about a lot of things — using the tropes, but also stepping outside of those boundaries at times.

Riley was pretty easy to like, even if I didn’t always quite understand who he was or his motivations…I guess he didn’t either. Truthfully, I’m not all that familiar with this level of trope, and what exactly a Manic Pixie Dream Girl/Boy is. I figured it out through context, but it made me sit back and think about what characters *I* know from books I’ve read that would fit that description…and I’m still not sure.

Like I said, the romance left me feeling kind of cold, because I didn’t understand what drew him to Zelda or Ava. I believed in his crush, but I kept expecting development that didn’t happen. I was frustrated with Zelda’s mixed messages too. So I highly recommend going into this story knowing that it’s not a romance, and I think you’ll be much happier.

Another thing I think made this a more…confusing read is how it jumped all over the place, especially near the beginning. I was having a hard time getting a grasp on certain things, and then it felt like the story would go off on tangents…so, for me, it was hard to determine the theme.

In the end I definitely enjoyed myself, and I actually really LOVED where the story ended up and the messages it had for the reader. I’m a huge proponent of depth, uniqueness and diversity, so it wasn’t hard for me to fall in love with those messages. Before the ending, I might have rated this a 3 (or at least rounded down to a 3), but it really leveled up the story for me. It’s always nice when a book ends on a high! ...more

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Jan 18, 2019 CrowCaller rated it it was ok

Shelves: arcs

★★☆☆☆

(2 stars)

(I received this book for free for an honest review off of Netgalley)

I'm a little stumped on writing this review, hence my lack of attempt at coming up with a more snappy title. This is a very tricky book to review, on account of it being extremely meta about... books. And itself. Is it satire the plot, world, and characters are lacking? Is it on a winking purpose that the romance and story arc is so predictable and simple? Is the writing style meant to lampshade the meta nature of ...more

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Jun 07, 2020 Sheree | Keeping Up With The Penguins rated it it was amazing

My full review of The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project is up on Keeping Up With The Penguins.

The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project definitely goes out to all the word nerds and book geeks. The whole premise is a literary critique: Riley is a Manic Pixie Dream Boy, a sub-type of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. He lives in TropeTown where he hangs out with all the other trope characters until they’re summoned by an author for a role in a book.

I suppose it's technically a YA nove ...more

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Dec 14, 2018 Brittany Lamb rated it liked it

Shelves: ya

Note: Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a free, advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a really cute book that I was ultra excited to read when NetGalley approved me. I think that as readers, we all love to joke around about tropes and the overuse of certain ones (especially the manic pixie dream girl trope), but I never imagined a book centered entirely around them.

This book is kind of like one long play on words. Does that make sense? It’s wr Note: Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a free, advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a really cute book that I was ultra excited to read when NetGalley approved me. I think that as readers, we all love to joke around about tropes and the overuse of certain ones (especially the manic pixie dream girl trope), but I never imagined a book centered entirely around them.

This book is kind of like one long play on words. Does that make sense? It’s written around a ton of ironic cute fluffiness. It’s a book about book characters… knowing that they are book characters (but not for this book, per se), who get “requested” from authors to be in a novel. Basically, the tropes are like actors, except instead of watching their work on the big screen, we get to read about it on the pages of our favorite books.

The whole idea was (sorry to use this word again but I’m lacking a better descriptive) cute. All of the little manic pixies were very manic pixie-ish and Riley (AKA the only manic pixie boy who also happens to be the character who stared in The Fault in Our Stars [though this is never explicitly said because I’m sure the author isn’t trying to get into trouble but it is very heavily insinuated]) falls in love with one of the girls (Zelda). Each trope gets a character description sheet and everyone pretty much fits into their stereotype. A trope comes into existence when needed by readers and authors, so the tropes aren’t developed beyond TropeTown.

So, yeah, it was all very cutesy. But also a little… confusing? Developeds (AKA narrators or POV characters) aren’t in TropeTown but they are still living. I think? But they just live in the story written for them… I think.

I guess the reason I didn’t click with this was because it was so ironic and trope-y. I mean, yeah, the book is about tropes but I swear you can only take so much of manic pixie “cuteness” before you’re incredibly over it. It was a really quick read though, so it’s not like it drags on. It just didn’t hold my attention.

It did touch on some pretty important topics, however. I wish these issues would’ve been featured more throughout the book instead of focusing so closely on the retirement of the manic pixie dream girl trope. For instance, at one point a couple of the characters got a lesson about racism and sexism that is often used in some tropes and why that shouldn’t be acceptable because it’s essentially a negatively fueled stereotype. I think that the goal was for the entire book to be about this lesson, but it fell short in that aspect to me because there wasn’t enough focus on it.

Overall, it’s not something I hated. If you like quick, fluffy, ironic stories, than I’d suggest you check it out! But it wasn’t really for me, sadly.

(I would like to now apologize for make you read the word “cute” so many times. I really don’t know how else to describe a story like this. It was overwhelmingly so) ...more

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Jan 10, 2019 Kristen Lippert-Martin rated it it was amazing

It is my opinion that Lenore Appelhans is a bit of a genius. Please see THE MANIC PIXIE DREAM BOY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT as proof of that assertion.

If you're a regular reader of YA, you'll no doubt get a kick out of the whole concept of these oft-used characters and tropes, all living in Trope Town, doing the bidding of their authors whether they agree with their tired plot lines or not. After all, "The author is always right."

And you'll read along, smiling and nodding, like "Yep, I've seen *that ...more

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Jun 10, 2019 pdbkwm rated it liked it

Even though I started this in May and only finished it now, that doesn't mean that this is a bad book. Ramadan happened and I always take a book reading break during that time.

With that out of the way, I have mixed feelings towards The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project. On one hand, it's a whimsical meta filled book that is all about tropes, writing and what characters in these novels are really up to. It reminded me a bit of Stranger than Fiction, in how the Author interacts with his/he ...more

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Jan 26, 2019 Becca rated it really liked it

I received an e-ARC of The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review! Any quotes used in this review are from the ARC copy & may not be in the final book.

Be still my pixie heart.

I’m gonna be real with ya. this book is so stinkin’ cute. By accident, I picked it up last night & didn’t move until the very last page. & it wasn’t even because I was at the edge of my seat, but just because it was so cute & very fast-paced. I believe it only took me about ...more

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Jan 10, 2019 Pamela Stennett rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019, young-adult, young-adult-fantasy

https://iwriteinbooks.wordpress.com/2...

So, I have a confession.

When I was younger, I loved the Manic Pixie Dream Girl (or Boy when they were present) trope. I resonated with the spunky, energetic, quirkiness so much. I’ve always been a little bit MPDG, probably.

But as I got older, I started looking at the trope a little bit differently. While I was a free spirit and hyperactive, I still had my own goals and dreams. I won’t turn this into a dissertation on gender role expectations but needless t ...more

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Apr 27, 2019 Aleena rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, 2019-release, books-about-books

"Your pass unlocks any gate to which you have access," the guard explains. He's young and tough with a buzz cut and an angry pink scar across his neck. Excellent grammar though.

This was a delightfully clever and tongue-in-cheek backstage view into not only the Manic Pixie Dream Girl or Boy trope, but the YA novel itself-- from the character's point of view. Riley is a stock character who wants to be so much more than his trope allows. When his trope is threatened to be retired, he has to band to ...more

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Nov 27, 2018 Molly rated it liked it

There was so much to love about this book, but there was also so much to critique. Overall, I enjoyed it, and it had some really great progressive moments despite having room to grow in other areas.

A brief summary: Riley is the only Manic Pixie Dream BOY in Trope Town, and he is in trouble. He's been a little too negative around his authors, so he is ordered to therapy where he can learn to behave like the proper supporting role that he is. Trouble arises, however, when he finds himself infatua There was so much to love about this book, but there was also so much to critique. Overall, I enjoyed it, and it had some really great progressive moments despite having room to grow in other areas.

A brief summary: Riley is the only Manic Pixie Dream BOY in Trope Town, and he is in trouble. He's been a little too negative around his authors, so he is ordered to therapy where he can learn to behave like the proper supporting role that he is. Trouble arises, however, when he finds himself infatuated with another Manic Pixie Dream Girl in town only to discover she's also in his therapy group. Oh yeah, and the whole trope is at risk of getting retired, so there's that too. What's a Manic Pixie Dream Boy to do?

Things I Loved:
- The discussion of the writer's creative process with their characters -- It was very imaginative how these characters "go to work" when authors need them for a novel. It was a really unique concept, and it was described very well! I wish there was more of this throughout the whole novel as it was one of my favorite parts.
- The creativity and "meta" element of it -- Trope Town, the "Developed" characters, etc.
- The ending written for the fictitious book within this book -- I don't want to spoil it, but it's a nice progressive ending!
- The diversity of some of the characters -- There are some hetero romances, but there's also some mention of LGBTQ+ romances, and as a teacher, I like putting more relationship diversity in the hands of my students. This book would easily make all readers feel included.

Things I Didn't Like:
- Some underdevelopment in description -- At one point, the book talks about how authors too often forget to describe the setting and the characters are working in a blank room... I actually felt like that happened a lot in THIS book. While there was plenty of description of the characters' outfits and hair and whatnot, I felt like there was much to be desired about what the unique world they live in looked like.
- At some points it got really preachy -- My husband and I love watching "The Good Place" which is a fairly philosophical sitcom; however, sometimes my husband complains that there is too much preaching to the audience about philosophy and the meaning of life. I kept coming back to those complaints while I was reading this book. Before reading, I was already familiar with the author's criticism of the Manic Pixie trope and that too often these characters are underdeveloped, formulaic, and overused. However, I felt like I just kept getting hit over the head with it throughout the book, and it became really redundant. The book itself sold me on the idea of the trope and its limitations, so I didn't need preaching within the book about it as well.
- Overt criticism of other authors -- There's a character named Nebraska who was a breakaway start after being in a book and mysteriously dying... The developed character in the story spent the rest of his novel pining after her and wondering what happened... The criticism here is pretty blatant, and while I see its merit, there's something I don't like about tearing down another author in your book. I like the idea of authors supporting authors.
-The multiple plots -- I don't mind having an "A" story line and a "B" story line to a novel (it's what makes a novel interesting and complex), but I felt like the story lines all suffered because there were too many things to focus on and not enough development to any which one. There's the Riley love story, there's the Riley friendship story/therapy, there's the mystery of Finn (Riley's best friend), there's the potential retirement of the trope, and there's Riley at work... I wish some things had been cut so that I could feel more invested in the others.
- Character development -- Sometimes I was left confused because the characters were a certain trope, but then they were "playing a role" so it was hard to tell if the characters ever amounted more than the tropes they were assigned to. There were also some times that Riley would tell readers that he was a certain way because of his trope, but then he would also say he didn't know how to behave otherwise because of his trope... I wanted to know who he really wanted to be then if I wasn't seeing the real him.

Overall. I enjoyed it, but I wish the author had cut some things in order to expand more of the truly unique areas like the characters at work. I felt like that was one of the most meta moments, and it was one of the most quirky things about this book, so if there was more time spent there, I think this could have been a serious hit. It's still a fun book, and I will certainly recommend it to my readers, but there is room for growth. The author could easily write another book about another side of Trope Town, focusing on fewer plot lines, and I would love to read it!! She's started building this unique world, and I would love to see her continue developing it!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Lerner Publishing Group through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The book will be published on March 5, 2019. ...more

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Mar 22, 2019 JS rated it really liked it

3.5 stars

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Jan 22, 2019 Alyssa rated it it was ok

I got an ARC of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

To start with the good, I love how meta this book was. In this book, the main characters are characters in stories, working with Authors. That made for a treasure trove of gems like this:

“We did Pilates together, and she cranked up her book playlist. She said she spent weeks coming up with songs that exude the atmosphere of the piece.” Ava snorts. “It kind of felt like a waste of time, honestly.”

As well as:

I swear I deve

...more

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Dec 19, 2018 Clara rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-netgalley

This is really hard to rate: there are some ways in which this VASTLY exceeded my expectations, but in other ways, I really wanted it to go further.

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Mar 03, 2019 Erin (_everysecondbook) rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult, 2019-releases, contemporary

Welcome to Tropetown, where your worst fears are realized and tropes are literally everwhere

2.5/5 stars

I was provided an early copy by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Here's the thing: this book was enjoyable and different but it just could've been taken so much further. And I do realize it is a huge tribute to the tropes and will play into them. I just thought it would be a bit more satirical than this.

I don't know, the characters all felt incredibly flat to me. Whic ...more

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Apr 12, 2019 Stephanie rated it really liked it

Shelves: library, print, ya

Everything old is new again. This was such an interesting perspective on tropes, and more importantly, it's a YA story I haven't read before. At times it read a little more like a thesis than a novel, but I thought the concept of Trope Town was well executed and definitely fresh for YA. I'm not sure it would be as amusing for someone who isn't familiar with John Green's work, since there were pretty heavy allusions to Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, but I will absolutely recommend ...more

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Feb 03, 2019 Hannah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, tcg-reviewed, favorites, netgally, 4-and-a-half-stars

4.5/5. I received an eARC from Carolrhoda Labs via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I'm a huge fan of meta fiction, and this book was such a joy to read. My full review can be read here: http://twincitiesgeek.com/2019/02/the... ...more

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Mar 04, 2019 Samantha || Fictionally Sam rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc

4.5 Stars!
Buddy Read with Isabelle! ❤️
"Even if they are only parts, every part we take on informs our own sense of self. And when we're forced to live the same quirks over and over, those quirks start to define us."

This novel was insanely adorable.

A work of contemporary meta-fiction with a splash of romantic comedy, The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project (MPDBIP), follows the story of Riley and the consequences he faces for going off script during a writing session with an author. Howeve 4.5 Stars!
Buddy Read with Isabelle! ❤️
"Even if they are only parts, every part we take on informs our own sense of self. And when we're forced to live the same quirks over and over, those quirks start to define us."

This novel was insanely adorable.

A work of contemporary meta-fiction with a splash of romantic comedy, The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project (MPDBIP), follows the story of Riley and the consequences he faces for going off script during a writing session with an author. However, during his government mandated therapy sessions he finds himself falling for one of the girls in his group, which is against the rules in TropeTown. As he grapples with his developing feelings for the new girl, Riley finds out a secret within TropeTown that will cause him to take a journey in discovering who he truly is instead of who everyone claims him to be.

Throughout my time reading this book, I envisioned MPDBIP to be super cartoon like--almost like the children's show, Lazy Town, everything is golden and happy and sunshine in every corner you look. You have talking animals and a plethora of different tropes that live in this one town, where their sole purpose is to aid authors in their writing. However, TropeTown comes with a lot of different rules (like a shit ton) and a lot of those rules are stipulations of what you can/cannot do and who you can and cannot be depending on the Trope you are.

“We did Pilates together, and she cranked up her book playlist. She said she spent weeks coming up with songs that exude the atmosphere of the piece.” Ava snorts. “It kind of felt like a waste of time, honestly.”

I wasn't expecting this story to be so deep and thought-provoking as I found it to be as the cast figures out who they are personally instead of who the world tells them they are. Appelhans gives her readers a chance to see how not everyone is what we think they are or should be, and that beyond the lens of labels they are indeed people with full exotic and complex lives--just like we are.

With an ingenious writing style, Appelhans served up witty banter and epic pop culture references (I see you John Green shade) throughout the novel that pulls us into the story even further--keeping us entertained and smiling the entire ride through. The novel is fast paced but you never feel like it's going too fast that you get sucked out or confused about what is happening within the plot.

Funny, deep, and snarky, The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project is a fast paced story about finding who you are when the world wants nothing more than to label you and keep you in a box. If you are a sucker (like me) for meta-fiction, or even a cute romantic comedy, then I highly recommend this gem!

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. Quotations taken from an uncorrected proof and may change upon final publication. ...more

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Feb 26, 2019 Isabelle | Nine Tale Vixen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: review-copies, blogged-reviews, book-club-and-buddy-reads, rep-lgbtqia-plus, 4-point-5-stars, ft-meta-fiction

Buddy read with Sam! ❤

I received a review copy from Netgalley. This does not affect my rating or opinions.

4.5 stars.

I knew from the title and cover that this would be one of The Best or else one of The Worst books I read this year, and I am so excited to announce that it turned out to be the former!

When have you ever heard of two Manic Pixies in love? I mean, wouldn't the universe explode from an overload of quirky cuteness?

This is so delightfully meta and so delightfully cute, self-aware an ...more

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Oct 20, 2019 Maja rated it it was ok

Shelves: type-new-books, grade-ya, extra-anti-rec, rating-two-stars, genre-fantasy-real-world, extra-background-queer

I picked this book up thinking it would either be strikingly clever or enjoyably bad, and it definitely came more on the side of the latter. It's a decent enough premise in terms of fun subversions and meta humor, but it's nowhere near enough to sustain an entire plot, let alone one as wildly flimsy as this one. It would have been a decent to great short story, but as a full-length novel, even a short one, hard meh all around.

Let's start, as usual, with the things I liked: it's a clever enough p I picked this book up thinking it would either be strikingly clever or enjoyably bad, and it definitely came more on the side of the latter. It's a decent enough premise in terms of fun subversions and meta humor, but it's nowhere near enough to sustain an entire plot, let alone one as wildly flimsy as this one. It would have been a decent to great short story, but as a full-length novel, even a short one, hard meh all around.

Let's start, as usual, with the things I liked: it's a clever enough premise, like I said, and a fun setup to think about. I liked that all the Manic Pixies were friends and that they worked together to help one another. I loved the casual wlw rep! I like that it at least tried to be educational in terms of representation and the harmful nature of certain tropes (even though it was SO trite and rote and came out mostly like lip service). I like that Ava took control of her own life, that she was acknowledged and appreciated as a character in her own right rather than just a love interest for Riley. I liked that Nebraska was redeemed at least a little. (I LOVED the less-than-coy John Green nods with her, ha.)

And now having said that... BOY was this a simplistic, flimsily constructed, only-okay-written piece of substance-free fluff that could have taken SO MUCH space to deconstruct and subvert tropes and instead walked right into them for absolutely no reason!! Riley/Zelda is the most predictable, blandest het nonsense I've read in a very long time; I truly hoped that given all the talk of letting tropes be themselves and Zelda saying Riley loved the idea of her more than her herself, we wouldn't have a standard love story starting on a meet-cute with insta-attraction... AND YET WE FUCKING DID, UGH. UGH!! Zelda herself was definitely the least interesting of the Manic Pixies, and Riley himself was about as engaging as wet cardboard -- and seriously, we focus on a dude even when the entire book is about a female-originated trope?? Please. And-- honestly, I can't overstate how much this entire concept falls the fuck apart if you linger on it for too long. It makes NO SENSE that all of these fictional characters coexist in these capacities, let alone that they interact with real people and can escape into the real world! Seriously, this would have been a really fun short story and has absolutely zero business even attempting to be a novel. Really, don't bother with this one. ...more

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Feb 08, 2019 Brenna Clark rated it it was amazing

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group for this ARC! I was instantly hooked by the name and the premise, and I am so excited to say that it did NOT let me down! We follow Riley, a lone Manic Pixie Dream Boy, as he navigates life in TropeTown. We are introduced to so many tropes and sub types and even a few Developeds (the main characters of your favorite novels) and even though some of these share characteristics, they are all their own standout beings. I loved the absolute w ...more

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Feb 16, 2019 Christina (A Reader of Fictions) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-print-copy, on-my-shelves, egalley, owned-ebook-other

Full disclosure, the author, Lenore Appelhans, is one of my dearest friends. My opinion is still honest, because that's my brand, but FYI I do love her so fucking much. (Also, her husband—who she only got to spend just over 2 years with including the time they were dating and who she loved with her whole entire heart—passed away completely unexpectedly, and she could use support. Please consider preordering this book to help her out. Her life is very dark and grief-ridden now, and she could use Full disclosure, the author, Lenore Appelhans, is one of my dearest friends. My opinion is still honest, because that's my brand, but FYI I do love her so fucking much. (Also, her husband—who she only got to spend just over 2 years with including the time they were dating and who she loved with her whole entire heart—passed away completely unexpectedly, and she could use support. Please consider preordering this book to help her out. Her life is very dark and grief-ridden now, and she could use hope.)

The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project will not be for everyone. Indeed, it's not exactly a Christina book, which is to say that it's not a book that's all about romance, even if romance is something Riley thinks about a lot. Like all of Appelhans' YA novels thus far, The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project is high concept. It's a satire of YA tropes, particularly the manic pixie of the title, a loving but definitely cheeky look at both the good and the bad of the tropes. The book pokes some fun at John Green but not in a way that feels disrespectful.

What I find most brilliant about this novel is that, really, anything you dislike about it proves a point. If the characters tend to be a bit on the flat side, you have to remember that this is because they're tropes; they live in a world that's a shallow facsimile of the actual world, and, if they dare to step outside of the narrow confines of their trope, they get punished. The climax of the story is deeply absurd, but that too is a commentary on the trope, so it made me laugh with he book rather than at it. Such clever construction.

Some readers have found The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project confusing, and I can see it. You definitely need to abandon yourself to a thoroughly unique perspective on characters, tropes, and writing. Suspension of disbelief is necessary. You need to release yourself to this Pixar-feeling world. Personally, I enjoyed the ride a lot. There's a lot of humor, much quite subtle and requiring knowledge of the genres to really understand the underlying jokes. This is a book that, whether it works for you or not, will really make you think.

I read an early draft two years ago or so and this final version, which has undergone changes. My memory being what it is (or isn't), I was surprised and impressed once again with the creativity of The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project. It's rare to read anything that feels truly fresh and original, but The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project absolutely does. I recommend it most especially to readers who enjoy something out of the ordinary with a sly wit and real originality. ...more

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Dec 30, 2018 Juliana rated it liked it

I was given a digital ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is not what I expected at all. It was unique and very meta to the point that I liked it but didn't love it. The concept was very fresh and made me want to keep reading. What stuck with me the most were the scenes where Riley was in a book within the book and talking about the Author writing his scene. I liked these scenes the most because I could easily relate. When I write, I imagine my characters and how I can ...more

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Mar 26, 2019 Ryley (Ryley Reads) rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, received-for-review, standalone, romance, young-adult-fiction, own, alternate-reality, read-in-2019

I love a good trope-y book, and one that's a bit more meta and addresses those tropes always intrigues me. That was the main motivator for me reading this book and while I thought those elements were really fun, I'm not sure how much I really got out of this book.

Thanks so much to Thomas Allen and Sons Canada for sending me a copy of this book for an honest review, as always, all opinions are my own.

This book follows Riley (yes, it was weird reading about a character with my name, even typing th I love a good trope-y book, and one that's a bit more meta and addresses those tropes always intrigues me. That was the main motivator for me reading this book and while I thought those elements were really fun, I'm not sure how much I really got out of this book.

Thanks so much to Thomas Allen and Sons Canada for sending me a copy of this book for an honest review, as always, all opinions are my own.

This book follows Riley (yes, it was weird reading about a character with my name, even typing that felt weird) who is a Manic Pixie Dream Boy trope in TropeTown, a place where all the tropes live until they are called into an Author's story. However, after going off-script, Riley is sent to therapy with other Manic Pixie's, including Zelda. Despite Riley's growing attraction to Zelda, everyone knows you aren't meant to fall in love with your trope.

This, along with Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me, are one of the few books that look at the many tropes and various other connections between YA novels and novels in general. The focus of this book, of course, is the MPDG or in this case MPDB trope, where the quirky, brooding character is only there to support the main character's story. Once they have achieved their goal, they are quickly discarded from the story.

Written fairly well, this book was a quick read. The chapters were short, a couple pages at most, and the writing style was accessible and easy to read. I think many a reader will have no problems getting into this one.

My only real problem with this book was that everything felt very... I guess surface level is the best way to describe it. There wasn't anything inherently bad about the storyline or the characters, I just felt like I wasn't really as immersed in the story as I could have been. Maybe, in some meta way, I became the outsider who didn't fully understand the potential of the MPD trope, but I feel like that might be stretching it a bit.

Overall, I did like this book and if you're into the whole trope thing, I think you'll enjoy it. ...more

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Dec 26, 2018 Becca Jacquin rated it liked it

This book was way out of my comfort zone, but I couldn't get over the premise of getting to go behind the pages with characters.
I'm not overly familiar with meta-fiction and hope that it isn't the latest and greatest trend, because while this book was good it doesn't bear repeating.
There were hilarious parts, I mean group therapy straight out of Fight Club where you get to see some of the most common tropes thrown in a room together because they're misbehaving. Not to mention the cleverly named ...more

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Apr 29, 2019 Lauren R. rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-kindle, genre-contemporary, young-adult, 2019-read, own-kindle, couldnt-put-down, super-disappointed, books-about-books

2.5 stars. This was better in theory than in execution for me. I think the concept was fascinating and very meta, which I liked, but I just didn’t really enjoy reading it? It’s such a hard book to review because it feels like it’s not even a book. The whole TropeTown world was really cool (despite not fully understanding how it all worked). I know that the MC was supposed to be a MPDB and whatnot but I still didn’t connect with him or anyone else. I got whiplash from all the weird decisions and ...more

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