Love by the Book (2014) Leah Renee, Kristopher Turner, Cherilyn Wilson, Cuyle Carvin, Ryan Bittle, Michael Ensign, Lola Wayne Villa, Joelle Better, John Schneider, Stefanie Powers Movie Review

Love by the Book (2014)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Leah Renee and Kristopher Turner in Love by the Book (2014)

By the Book Hallmark Movie

Ever since she was a little girl Emma Graham (Leah Renee - Falling for Christmas) has believed in the notion of fairytale romance and she believes that one day her Prince Charming will come, although her current boyfriend, Landon (Ryan Bittle - Backyard Wedding), is certainly doing his best to be prince charming. But notions of romance have to be put to one side when, Frank (John Schneider - Come Dance at My Wedding), the owner of the book store which Emma manages, wants his son, Eric (Kristopher Turner - An Old Fashioned Christmas), to shadow her at work for a few days. Immediately Emma clashes with Eric who thinks she has a fairytale complex and her love of the quaint, quirky and traditional is preventing her from moving the business forwards, which may mean more to him than he is letting on.

Just a couple of days ago I sat down to watch a Hallmark movie which featured a storyline about rivals at work who end up in love and here I find myself sitting down to watch "Love by the Book" another Hallmark movie which runs with a similar theme. The thing is that I am not disappointed by this; in fact "Love by the Book" was exactly what I expected and was what I was in the mood for; lightweight, familiar and not in the least bit taxing. But what that means is that "Love by the Book" is 90% predictable with of course the antagonism between Emma and Eric eventually making way for romance. I said 90% and there is a subplot surrounding Emma's more realistic sister who is going to get married which adds a dash of variety to things, although in truth it is quite predictable as well as is a further twist involving Eric.

But whilst predictable and "Love by the Book" go together like bread and butter it works and is well cast from Leah Renee giving it all as the bubbly Emma to Kristopher Turner being annoying as Eric. Even down to the supporting cast with Stephanie Powers and Michael Ensign working well together as the old couple who help at the book store and who have that wisdom from experience thing going on. Okay so there is not a believable character in the entire movie and you would never leave Emma in charge of a real business but in the lightweight context of "Love by the Book" they work.

What this all boils down to is that "Love by the Book" is a typical Hallmark romantic comedy and by typical I mean it uses the same story idea that you might have seen in another Hallmark romantic comedy. But in being so regular and predictable helps in making this easy to watch for those who enjoy the non-taxing nature of a Hallmark movie.


LATEST REVIEWS