Can a romcom-obsessed romantic finally experience the meet-cute she always dreamed of or will reality never compare to fiction, in this charming debut adult novel from Kerry Winfrey.

I’m not normally a rom-com reader, although I do enjoy a good movie of the same genre. But I checked Waiting for Tom Hanks out at least three times before actually tackling it. I’m not sure why it took me so long.

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Waiting for Tom Hanks was very good. My main problem was the main character, Annie. She was not a protagonist I could relate to. I couldn’t get over her never ending pity party over her life, with an unrealistic expectation that some day her “Tom Hanks” from Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail is going to rush in on a white horse and sweep her off her feet.

When Drew, the famous Hollywood actor comes to town to film part of a movie, Annie is constantly defensive with Drew when she has no reason to be. He’s got a reputation as sort of a jokester, but anyone that’s a fan of rom-coms knows that being a funny guy masks someone with deeper feelings who is just trying to avoid being hurt. Since Annie is the rom-com queen, it should have been obvious to her.

There are some trigger warnings for Waiting for Tom Hanks, like the death of a parent, a heart attack (both which happened to one of my parents, but I didn’t feel triggered), and body shaming. I get enough of the body shaming at poor Bess in the Nancy Drew novels, so I guess I’m used to it, even though that doesn’t make it okay.

Everyone except Annie is more interesting than her, and that’s what saved the book. Seriously, the supporting characters like Uncle Don and Annie’s best friend, Chloe, were what made the whole trip enjoyable. The pop culture references reminded me of The Gilmore Girls, and the love of Nora Ephron also helped this book. I can’t wait to read the sequel, Not Like the Movies, which I’m picking up from the library this week. Review to come in three weeks!

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