This Book Is Not Yet Rated by Peter Bognanni

If you love watching movies, you’re going to want to stick around for this review!

I am so excited to be apart of this book tour! Thank you Dial Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: Movies have always helped Ethan Ashby make sense of the world. So when developers swoop in and say the classic Green Street Cinema is going to be destroyed to make room for luxury condos, Ethan is ready for battle. And so a motley crew of cinema employees comes together to save the place they love: There’s Sweet Lou, the elderly organist with a penchant for not-so-sweet language; Anjo, the too-cool projectionist; Griffin and Lucas who work concessions, if they work at all; and Ethan, their manager (who can barely manage his own life). Still, it’s going to take a movie miracle for the Green Street to have a happy ending. And when Raina Allen, Ethan’s oldest friend (and possible soul mate?), comes back to town after working in Hollywood–cue lights and music–it seems that miracle may have been delivered. But life and love aren’t always like in the movies. This Book is Not Yet Rated is about growing up, letting go, and realizing love hides in plain view–in the places that shape us, the people who raise us, the first loves who leave us, and the lives that fade in and fade out all around us.

As soon as I started reading this book, I got immediate “Empire Records” vibes! I felt like that fit perfectly, considering it’s a book about movies in the first place. It has the same type of camaraderie between employees and the fight for saving the institution. I loved the characters in this book because they were all different ages, coming from different backgrounds, and each had their own quirkiness to them. I will say, the relationship between Raina and Ethan really brought me down. I really didn’t care much for Raina and felt like she was a distraction to the bigger picture at play. I was really annoyed every time she came in the picture because I was so invested into the story line of saving the theater and all the people involved. The ending didn’t really go in my favor, but I enjoyed reading this nonetheless. There aren’t many books out there that focus on movies and Peter really has a great gift of writing!

3.5/5 Stars

This book releases April 9th, 2019. Keep following the blog tour to see what others think and fun interactions along the way!