I really wanted to like this book. I thought it would be campy, cute, and fun. It was campy, but I just couldn’t get into it. I felt like it dragged to long. I would have liked to see the love triangle be more central - I felt like it was muted. I honestly couldn’t get into this book and couldn’t wait for it to end.

Further review to come on http://mithahreads.home.blog, amazon, and Instagram.com/mithahreads

Title: The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project
Author: Lenore Appelhans
Genre: YA, fantasy
Rating: 4 out of 5

Riley is a Manic Pixie Dream Boy—the trope’s token boy—in trouble for speaking out in his last novel role. He’s sentenced to do therapy in TropeTown with other Manic Pixies who have behaved outside of their roles. Riley isn’t sure therapy is going to help him, until he meets Zelda, another Manic Pixie, and decides maybe it won’t be so bad.

But the Manic Pixies have been causing trouble, and now they might be terminated. All the Manic Pixies will have to work together to save their trope from destruction, and Riley will have to choose between a secure future, and the chance to seize his greatest dreams.

I saw a comment that Riley might be a character from The Fault in Our Stars—although that’s never stated, obviously—but I’ve never read that, so I can’t comment on any similarities (I’m sure it’s a wonderful book, but I don’t read anything I know ahead of time will make me cry). This novel is ironic and lighthearted. It’s an easy read, and there are a few moments of surprising depth—like the lesson about other, now-retired tropes being terminated because of their racist characteristics—but at heart, it’s just a fun read.

Lenore Appelhans’s new book is The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project.

(Galley courtesy of Lerner Publishing Group via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

I confess that what attracted me to this book was this cute cover, but after reading the whole story and realizing the extraordinary way the author used to encourage children to create wings and open up new possibilities, i was more than happy to let me read til the very end. It was innovative.
Even though I did not like love triangles, in that case I even understood the writer's motivation and the attitudes of the three characters.
A light, inspiring, and simple story to get us to meditate on what to do to eliminate negative elements from our lives and to fight for our desires and dreams.

Where do I even begin with this book? I know it's early in the year, but this has to be one of my favourites that I've read this year. It has a good message, it's completely unique, I loved the characters, and I just felt so good reading it that I spread it out as long as I could, which is something that I don't often do.

Tropetown is a town where fictional cliché and stereotypical characters live when they're not working in the stories, different from where the main characters live, and a lot different than where the readers live. Following the last remaining Manic Pixie Dream Boy in town, Riley, it shows his life in first person as he goes through the hardest part of this short life so far, first beginning group therapy and then facing retirement because of what he is. I was immediately interested in his character, not because of his stereotype fully, but because he's such a thoughtful person, and he really tries hard to carve out his own life, to be different and to make himself happy. And I think that's something that I really needed to learn from someone else. Riley is that someone else.

After accidentally bumping into a girl named Zelda, another Manic Pixie but a Dream Girl, he knows she's someone he wants in his life. Though she does send mixed signals, she's most of what he thinks aout, and even more once he realizes that they're in the same Manic Pixie Group Therapy. The characters in the therapy group really grow together, and I loved (almost) every one.

I think that this book is really about finding yourself within your stereotype, not being ashamed of it, but making it your own completely. I loved how good this book made me feel, even at the low points, because even though the world and the characters were fictional, they were really relatable and easy to love. The way they acted and the people they were seems like something to strive for, and I would love to take bits of their personality and add it into my own. My favourite character, of course, is Riley for all of those reasons.

Overall, I know I loved this book because of how long I stretched out reading it for. Even though I have so many books that I need to read, I made this last all weekend, and I wish there was more I could know about it. It's something I just need for my bookshelf, and I know it's something that I would read again. No matter what kind of books you read, I think that you should check this one out.

Thanks for reading!
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

This book had a really interesting concept, and it was great to read a piece of meta-fiction since it's not something that I ever pick up. I liked some of the directions this went in and the discussions on when using a trope is okay and when using a trope is problematic or lazy writing.
One of my major problems with this book is that I couldn't necessarily understand the world that was being built. I understand, for the most part, trope town and its sectors on the wrong and right sides of the tracks and even the legacy village. What I don't understand/didn't like is that "reader world," which is supposedly our world, didn't really read like it was our world. There was this fantastical element to it where tropes could possibly join the world and characters could visit their author and authors could launch formal complaints to the council about tropes. I get that this could all just be done, like, satirically? But it just felt like it didn't quite feel like our reality when Riley talked about "reader world."
The tropes were fun to meet and discuss, and I think the focus on the manic pixie dream girl/boy was great, but I didn't really find myself connecting all that much with the characters. I think that's the point at the beginning because we are supposed to see these tropes and over-the-top personas instead of complex, fully developed characters, but I didn't really feel that growth, especially with Zelda.
Overall, this book was okay, but I think it read a little younger and felt confused about whether it wanted to be YA or middle grade. I think this would be a fun book for a middle school/early high school book club or book box to have a discussion on tropes.

lgbtq rep: multiple wlw side characters with f/f relationships

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.

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!

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!This is so delightfully meta and so delightfully cute, self-aware and playful and ironic and whimsical. It has funny scenes, and cute scenes, and heartbreaking scenes, and some ... colorful references to pop culture. (Though I will say that I think the John Green shade goes a little far at times; I had a little snicker at some of the punchlines, but I do actually like a lot of his books — not to mention his other work as a YouTuber and general public figure.) As a writer myself, I felt so called out by certain lines and scenes, but in a way that made me feel like I was in on the joke: #soaccurateithurts.

One of this book's greatest strengths is that there's something new around every corner, whether it's a bit of worldbuilding, a "different" Trope, an unexpected insight on emotional health and/or identity, or a development in one of several simultaneous storylines. It's an adventure in the truest sense of the word: there's travel between different parts of TropeTown (oh, and a fun map of Riley's world!), as well as moments of self-doubt and self-discovery, but there are (slightly) calmer moments where we get to just hang out with the characters in group therapy, getting to know them and vicariously enjoying all the different kinds of pie provided.Riley and the other Manic Pixie Tropes really exemplify "show, don't tell" — beyond their character sheets (which we get to peek at!) and flashier quirks, they each have so much personality and so much heart. (Or, well, varying amounts of heart. You'll see.)

This book definitely isn't for everyone, as the Goodreads average rating and some early reviews demonstrate. But if you like your romcoms with snark, a vivacious (and sometimes petty) friend group, and some crises of existentialism, I really think you'll like this one.

<b>Welcome to Tropetown, where your worst fears are realized and tropes are literally everwhere</b>

<i>2.5/5 stars</i>

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

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. Which is interesting, because this entire story is about Manic Pixies taking charge of their own stories and becoming more developed. They just seemed to play into their tropes and their main characteristics were their tropes, which I get is what happens in novels the tropes are in, but it seemed to go against the whole point of the story.

Also there were a lot of random plot lines that I found to be underdeveloped and strange. As well as secondary characters that seemed unnecessary. The romance is also left unfinished at the end of the story and I hate when that happens. It also becomes a love triangle, one of my least favourite tropes. And it isn't resolved once the story ends!

It also introduces this random racism/sexism challenge within the last 20% which wasn't developed at all, and was hardly effective. It, in all honesty, just seemed like an afterthought thrown in by the author to give the book more depth. It just seemed forced.

I just figured reading this story would be a fun and original look at tropes in novels and perhaps give me more appreciation for their purpose in a story. However, it was just a novel with an excuse to be 100% tropes with no actual original content. They weren't really expanded past what you expect their tropes to be and I was left feeling pretty disappointed at the end.

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—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.

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.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy!

This was oringial novel that took on the various tropes in YA. It was an interesting read.

However, I’m planning on checking on the finished copy because the earc format was hard to read.

This book was definitely different than most of the books I've read before, which isn't always a bad thing. In this case, it was a good thing. I like books that are different so I don't feel like I'm reading the same stuff over and over. This book is about pushing past labels and stereotypes to actually get to know someone. It's cute, funny and entertaining. It's a fast-paced book that I think a lot of people would enjoy.

Readers are often lamenting about "the tropes", and one that often takes a beating us 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, this was one of the stronger ones, because it actually had more plot than the others. I felt like I went through all the fun stuff with the topes, but I also got a pretty fleshed out world and a complete story.

• Pro: This wasn't all just laughs and poking fun at tropes. Applehans also explored the idea of being more than your label and paving your own way, and I enjoyed being part of Riley's journey to self-fulfillment.

• Pro: Don't get me wrong, I love each and every John Green book, but I did giggle when I recognized some of his MPDGs. For example: Nebraska, yeah, you who she's supposed to be.

• Con: There were a few times I thought the author was trying too hard, but at the same time, the information relayed was quite informative. So, not a total con.

• Pro: When I read the first therapy session, I kept envisioning that scene from Wreck It Ralph, when all the bad guys are sharing how they were bad, and "bad" for these characters was how they deviated from their trope. I thought it was just as much fun, and really looked forward to the therapy sessions.

Overall: This was a super fun romp through Trope Town, which also challenged the reader to look beyond the labels.

Judging a Book by it's Cover - 2019-02-16
The description of this book sounds so strangely unique and brilliant, I have no idea what to expect, but hope that my going off script and taking a chance on this weird little book will be worth it.

( 2.5 Stars )
Review - 2019-02-21
A book about living and breathing tropes in a place called TropeTown who get called upon by authors to fulfill their trope roles in the novels they are currently writing. How very meta! I thought this was a pretty cute and unique idea and I was very curious to see how it played out, but to be honest, the novelty of it kind of got old quickly.

I enjoyed exploring the various tropes and sub-tropes and I thought it was really interesting the way the Trope world and Reader world intertwined and basically brought life to the writing process and the characters in a book. I liked the unique way it described how an author gets to know a character and the idea that characters are just sort of waiting to be called into action.

I think the overall point of this was to give Tropes a life and a personality outside of their trope. A main focal point in this was therapy sessions for tropes who started acting outside of their roles and it set the scene for a rebellion where these tropes find their individual personality and defy their labels, but the book reached that level. The characters never really broke free from the trope and since they are all living, breathing tropes, there's no real character growth or character descriptions outside of the already established label. But maybe that's the point? I don't know. Like I said, it's so very meta and I'm not super familiar with that.

I felt pretty lukewarm about this as a whole. I thought the concept was really cute and there were some cute parts, but sometimes that cuteness was too much for me to handle and the last part of the book dragged for me. I can appreciate what Appelhans did with this, but it's not something I would want to try to read again, or a genre I'd want to see pick up popularity.

** I received an advance copy of The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project for honest review through Netgalley from Lerner Publishing Group and thank them for the opportunity to read this and share my thoughts.

When I was in film school, I loved screwing with tropes. I spent ages on tvtropes.com, I studied up on metafiction and critiques. So this story seemed like it was perfect for me (plus hello, beautiful cover).I'll say I was about sixty percent right?Riley is our usual MPDB, he was the inspiration for Augustus Waters, among several other "quirky and inspiring" male characters. But he never gets fully fleshed out. Hence why he's a trope.It's not entirely uncommon for tropes within TropeTown to date or fall in love, but when you're in therapy for going off-script, like Riley, you're not allowed to date other people in your group. Like Zelda.Of course, everyone in Riley's therapy group are all subtypes of the MPDG. Nebraska (give ya a guess as to who she's supposed to be...) is the hot-mess type, Zelda is the geeky subtype...you get the picture.I think my main issue is that there's not a lot of substance within the story? We're hyperfocused on these characters that don't have a lot of depth, because they're purposefully designed that way. Hell, we even get actual character sheets for them! It's like you can run a tabletop RPG using just these guides.Part of me feels like the author meant for this to be a bit satirical, since every single one of these characters is instantly recognizable, but it just fell a bit flat.

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 develop whiplash from all the head nodding and bounding about I’m forced to do.


Honestly guys, this book was personally attacking me.

I raved to friends about golden stuff like this, and I was sure I was going to give this four stars. But then I asked myself to look past all the amazing vignettes and look at the plot, characters. And then I realized . . . I wasn’t impressed.

It’s not a bad book. It may work for you if you like cutesy stuff. But I just couldn’t connect to Riley. The entire time while I was reading, I was just like, “I don’t care about this, Riley.” A disproportionate amount of the book was about how much he really wanted to be Zelda’s boyfriend, and those parts were far weaker in comparison to the meta stuff/commentary about tropes.

Speaking of Zelda. I didn’t like her as well. Lots of the supporting characters felt like standard manic pixie dream girls, which is ironic, considering this is a book about manic pixies breaking out of the manic pixie mold. Even Zelda didn’t feel like she broke out of the mold too much. In the end, she too served as a standard manic pixie dream girl in a work that attempts to subvert the trope. The only character I cared about at all was Ava.

Anyone looking for a meta read might like this. Just be aware this is more a romantic comedy than anything else, and hopefully you won’t be as apathetic as I was.

I remember studying meta fiction in university and adoring the concept - this book is definitely self-aware in the sense that it breaks the fourth wall several times. It is what it is: if you enjoy the manic pixie trope then you should enjoy this book.

Also, any writer will read this book and will cringe at the cliches and at the tropes because we’ve all put them in our own stories, but it’s done with such a tongue-in-cheek approach that it totally works. I adored seeing the authors manifest little quirks that are quite well known in the community, such as writing their first draft in which characters nod at every sentence. I laughed out loud several times.

So the general concept of the book was absolutely brilliant. The idea that tropes are called upon by authors to interact with the more developed characters in stories was so interesting. I will remember that concept over what I came to think as the rest of the novel, which in my opinion became filler. I wish there had been less TropeTown and more Author Summons.

At one point in the novel I started hearing the narration in an incredibly high pitch, and the book went from cute and witty to tiring. I was quite ready for it to end. I guess it may appeal to younger audiences, which is strange to me when i consider how meta and self-aware that it is.

I also missed the balance of protagonist VS. antagonist. I feel like there wasn’t a very well defined enemy in this book, and so any drama felt inconsequential.

So overall, I can’t say this book was my cup of tea, but it was definitely witty enough for me to give it a solid three star.

I’d like to thank Lerner Publishing Group, as well as Netgalley, for the free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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 whimsy of this novel; just the idea of writers calling forth physical muses to create their stories around was intoxicating. Watching Riley’s journey for self-actualization was endearing and I couldn’t stop reading. It had me wondering what trope I would be, and hoping I could be a Manic Pixie with their love, light, and undeniable quirkiness. I loved the hints to popular scenes in media that we all love, notable ones being 10 Things I Hate About You and The Fault in Our Stars. We are also given a hard hitting realization that we do have these stereotypes that we lean on, not only in media, but in life, but these people are rarely only what they seem. We put them in boxes, and never let them realize their full potential, which is a mistake especially in real life. To quote one of my favorite lines from the novel, we must make sure that we make everyone feel like poetry, not shorthand. I loved this book, and I secretly hope there will be a sequel, for reasons you’ll have to read the book yourself to find out!

3.5 stars. This was fun. I think it could’ve been...more, but it was sweet, quick and I kept picking it right back up - I even read it while I was cooking dinner.

I’m interested to pick up a finished copy, as some of the formatting was hard to read, and I’d be interested in more books by this author in the future.

This was an interesting look at Trope Town, where all of the stock characters authors need for their novels reside while waiting for an authors' summons. The main character, Riley is a Manic Pixie Dream Boy, which is a bit of an anomaly since there has only ever been two of them. When the is sent. to group therapy because of some author complaints he meets up with a bunch of Manic Pixie Dream Girls who are in therapy as well. This unlikely group of heroes must deal with the possible termination of their entire genre of character. I did think the characters were interesting and the backstory for the book was interesting as well. It was a quick, enjoyable, and unique read but I felt like I would have liked more explanation about certain aspects of the story or the individual characters.

I really loved the description of this book, however it did not deliver. It seems less of a novel and more of fan fiction based on a novel or series of events. It definitely left a lot to consider. The story lines seemed forced although a bit comical in a way.