dogoodwithbooks's review
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
While I wouldn’t say The Tourist Attraction was a great book, I thought it was a cute but quirky closed-door rom-com.
Set in the beautiful Alaskan mountains, The Tourist Attraction focuses on a tourist going on her dream Alaska vacation and ends up falling in love with the town’s grumpy restaurant owner.
There are things that worked and didn’t work well in this book. While the MCs have a pretty decent character development, Morganthaler spends a lot of time on detailing the most minor of characters, appearing in only a chapter or two and later becoming a forgettable entity. Additionally, while I did think this book can be funny at times, the slapstick humor that Morganthaler utilized in The Tourist Attraction felt, at times, forced.
Nevertheless, the book isn’t bad and I would recommend it for readers who want a destination read that focuses on more quirkier characters. However, there is definite room for improvement.
Set in the beautiful Alaskan mountains, The Tourist Attraction focuses on a tourist going on her dream Alaska vacation and ends up falling in love with the town’s grumpy restaurant owner.
There are things that worked and didn’t work well in this book. While the MCs have a pretty decent character development, Morganthaler spends a lot of time on detailing the most minor of characters, appearing in only a chapter or two and later becoming a forgettable entity. Additionally, while I did think this book can be funny at times, the slapstick humor that Morganthaler utilized in The Tourist Attraction felt, at times, forced.
Nevertheless, the book isn’t bad and I would recommend it for readers who want a destination read that focuses on more quirkier characters. However, there is definite room for improvement.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Vomit and Car accident
thaliareads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is one of the rare times when I don't know what particularly was bothering me about the book, but I just didn't click with it like I tend to with rom-coms. I thought the plot was a fun idea and I liked the main characters. I love a man who loves his dog. However, I don't know if it was the pacing or the dialog but even listening to the audiobook I was never motivated to continue the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Alcohol
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, and Vomit
The FMC does get left behind at one point and the resulting feelings do get discussed. One of the primary settings of this book is the MMC's bar, which means you'll see alcohol and the results of drinking too much as well as bar fights and injuries from various exploits. Sexual content while semi detailed in what is written, is fade to black/primarily implied. Animal cruelty has to deal with the fact that tourists don't understand how to properly interact with wildlife.ems_rxlibrary's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
Moderate: Alcohol and Cursing
Minor: Violence
ohheyitskaitlin's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I might (emphasis on might) have given this book a higher rating, but the author uses highly fatphobic language frequently throughout the book when describing characters (not as a theme of the book or from one character describing another).
I listed ‘sexual content’ as a minor content warning, but any sex-related scenes are fade-to-black.
The book has a lot of cute moments and isa Happily Ever After but doesn’t really earn it and is ultimately unsatisfying.
I listed ‘sexual content’ as a minor content warning, but any sex-related scenes are fade-to-black.
The book has a lot of cute moments and is
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia and Body shaming
Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit
Minor: Confinement, Car accident, Grief, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Drug use, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Violence
the_vegan_bookworm's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This was a really cute and fun read! The author made me fall in love with Moose Springs, Jake, Graham and Zoey. The chemistry was great, I laughed a lot, and got emotional at several points in the plot.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Sexual content
kfmcf's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
This book is slow and I had to plow through it for a library deadline which was tough. The plot aspects of the book aren't horribly interesting but the characters are cute. This...isn't really what I mean when I say character over plot, though. The plot aspects seemed like they were sandwiched in (namely the tourism and excursions). However, I enjoyed learning about the town and life there.
This book did my two least favorite things, though, and when they're put together it makes me want to tear my hair out. this book just ENDS in the most egregious fashion with NO EPILOGUE. So Zoey is supposed to get on a plane back to Chicago, Graham runs back to her and then she's just like 'I'm staying!' And thats...it. It ends. Um. Hello? That leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Also...they've known each other for two weeks. I know that there is a lot of trust built and companionship but that is just...a lot of suspension of disbelief.
I'm not going to run out to read the sequels. I don't like Lana very much as a character (I'm sorry, but what person from Chicago speaks like that), but I like Easton so I may skip the second and go to the third if anything.
This book did my two least favorite things, though, and when they're put together it makes me want to tear my hair out.
I'm not going to run out to read the sequels. I don't like Lana very much as a character (I'm sorry, but what person from Chicago speaks like that), but I like Easton so I may skip the second and go to the third if anything.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Vomit
mollywill's review
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Sexual content
sharon_reads's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
When I picked up this book, I didn’t expect to cry over a fictional moose. Sounds weird, but if you pick up this novel, you’ll know why.
This was a fun read. It was hilarious, and the relationship was charming and enchanting, even though it didn’t start out that way. This book features the grumpy and sunshine trope, and Graham, our leading man, hates any, and all tourists. Until, he meets Zoey. Then everything changes. We still get to his grumpy attitude towards everyone else while being sweet on Zoey, and I loved it. Despite his feeling, he went out of his way to try to make her vacation a memorable one.
The book took an unexpected turn when it reflected on both the positive and negative aspect of smaller communities being a tourism town. It was interesting to see both perspectives, and see how destructing it can be to the locals.
The ending kind of through me for a loop and I felt like we lost out on Graham being his normal self, and instead he was being stupid. Despite his feelings the entire book, we only see at the end him put the hate on which annoyed me. It wasn’t the ending I was expecting but still ended up having me crying over a fictional moose and the relationship all over again.
This was a fun read. It had some serious themes integrated into the novel which I wasn’t expecting, but it made the story more realistic. This is exactly what I needed to get me out of my slump.
This was a fun read. It was hilarious, and the relationship was charming and enchanting, even though it didn’t start out that way. This book features the grumpy and sunshine trope, and Graham, our leading man, hates any, and all tourists. Until, he meets Zoey. Then everything changes. We still get to his grumpy attitude towards everyone else while being sweet on Zoey, and I loved it. Despite his feeling, he went out of his way to try to make her vacation a memorable one.
The book took an unexpected turn when it reflected on both the positive and negative aspect of smaller communities being a tourism town. It was interesting to see both perspectives, and see how destructing it can be to the locals.
The ending kind of through me for a loop and I felt like we lost out on Graham being his normal self, and instead he was being stupid. Despite his feelings the entire book, we only see at the end him put the hate on which annoyed me. It wasn’t the ending I was expecting but still ended up having me crying over a fictional moose and the relationship all over again.
This was a fun read. It had some serious themes integrated into the novel which I wasn’t expecting, but it made the story more realistic. This is exactly what I needed to get me out of my slump.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Grief
Moderate: Drug use, Fatphobia, and Violence
theespressoedition's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was CUTE! A feel-good, small-town story with mostly likable characters.
While I enjoyed the audiobook, for the most part, I did feel like the narrator made some of the characters sound a little strange and it caused the chemistry between them (romantic or not) to feel a little forced at times. This was especially true for the ladies in the story. It made me think that Lana was a lot more provocative and that Zoey was a bit of a bimbo dork. However, if you look past the way they sounded, the story itself was entertaining.
I read that it was a grump and sunshine trope, but that really didn't feel like the case to me. If Graham is supposedly a grump, he certainly didn't show it with Zoey. I realize it's more the way he feels about tourists overall, but he was more flirty and goofy than grumpy to me. He just had a complex when it came to tourists.
...whiiiich really irritated me. I get it - it's the point of this story, but Graham's prejudice against tourists REALLY irks me. The fact that he's so adamant against them and yet he literally runs a place called The Tourist Trap bugged me to no end. Stupid reason to dislike a book, but it definitely knocked the rating down a couple of notches for mebecause it was never really rectified. At no point is there an AH-HA! of them realizing that tourists really aren't that bad. In fact, as a reader, you're supposed to hate them more and feel for the town because of what happens with Ulysses. That just didn't sit well with me. Coming to an understanding would've made more sense in my eyes.
I'm glad that I read this though because it's lighthearted for the most part and was a great lead into the sequel!
While I enjoyed the audiobook, for the most part, I did feel like the narrator made some of the characters sound a little strange and it caused the chemistry between them (romantic or not) to feel a little forced at times. This was especially true for the ladies in the story. It made me think that Lana was a lot more provocative and that Zoey was a bit of a bimbo dork. However, if you look past the way they sounded, the story itself was entertaining.
I read that it was a grump and sunshine trope, but that really didn't feel like the case to me. If Graham is supposedly a grump, he certainly didn't show it with Zoey. I realize it's more the way he feels about tourists overall, but he was more flirty and goofy than grumpy to me. He just had a complex when it came to tourists.
...whiiiich really irritated me. I get it - it's the point of this story, but Graham's prejudice against tourists REALLY irks me. The fact that he's so adamant against them and yet he literally runs a place called The Tourist Trap bugged me to no end. Stupid reason to dislike a book, but it definitely knocked the rating down a couple of notches for me
I'm glad that I read this though because it's lighthearted for the most part and was a great lead into the sequel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Toxic relationship
bedtimesandbooks's review
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Alcohol
Minor: Car accident