If You Change Your Mind follows Harry, an aspiring screenwriter who is determined to win a writing competition to get to the college of his dreams and start his film career. When Harry’s ex Grant suddenly reappears in his life just after Harry meets Logan, an adorable nerd, Harry finds himself torn between two people who could make for his perfect happily ever after. While Harry tries to stick to his plan and focus on his plans for the future, he soon learns that life doesn’t always follow a script.
There’s just something about falling in love during summer. If you’re looking for a read to leave behind the dark, dreary days, then this one might just make the sun in your heart rise! If You Change Your Mind also references an iconic romcom movie with every chapter title which will make long-time fans of classics like Pretty Woman as well as more modern Netflix adaptations smile fondly at the pages.
Admittedly, this book suffers from a lot of issues you sometimes encounter in debuts: there are plot points and conversations that begin but are often dropped when something else interrupts them, convenient plot points are introduced 20% into the story (e.g. a summer job that Harry is supposed to have) and there are a lot of repetitive sentences with little to no variation. For example, as we are following Harry when he learns something about his best friend’s boyfriend, Harry goes through the same cycle of stream of consciousness every few pages about what to do with the new knowledge. By the fourth time this happened, I started skimming these passages. I would have wished for a bit more show than tell in these situations—Harry continuously tells us how conflicted he is, but he literally does it in the same ten sentences every few pages. There’s no variation (or synonyms like “torn” introduced, if you catch my drift) and after a while, it felt like beating a dead horse and made me want to put the book down. Between the chapters, there’s also a screenplay introduced that is written by Harry and kind of mirrors what happens in the novel itself but it again was very much repetitive in its contents. I loved the idea of seeing Harry’s script grow as the story goes on but that could have done with a bit more fleshing-out instead of introducing even more characters that were almost indistinguishable.
All that being said, I did enjoy the overall story. Apart from the repetitions, Weber’s writing style is easy to follow and has a nice flow to it, immersing the reader in this summer of possibilities, love and heartbreak. What I think Weber gets incredibly right is in how he portrays having a crush on someone when you’re a teen. Harry is torn between a few guys in If You Change Your Mind and I enjoyed how they all brought something different to the table, so to speak. Foster is basically a dark horse in the running, Logan is an adorable, sometimes clueless sometimes confident mess of a cute boy and his and Harry’s interactions definitely deliver all the romcom vibes. There’s also Grant, Harry’s ex who’s kind of a douche but does have his moments to shine. While I would have wished for a bit more diversity in the characters, I think readers will definitely root for at least one of the boys to get his happily-ever after with Harry.
There’s also a lovely cast of secondary characters, primarily Harry’s family (his mom and his adorable siblings) that stole the show. I don’t have sisters but Weber definitely made me want to have some after reading his novel. The storyline involving Harry’s aunt gave this book a bit more depth and made this a more emotional read.
Lastly, I really like the overall message of If You Change Your Mind: Harry, as does the reader, learns that not everything in life can be scripted and that sometimes, the best things to happen are the ones we can’t plan for. I think that’s a pretty good way to describe growing up.
Delivering all the summer vibes, heartfelt family dynamics and love rectangle galore, If You Change Your Mind is a fun, light-hearted romcom, perfect for fans of Jason June’s Out of the Blue!
If You Change Your Mind is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of May 3rd 2022.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
“A romantic hero’s journey with a happy ending that will leave you smiling and swooning… I loved it!” —Adam Silvera, #1 New York Times bestselling author of They Both Die at the End
In this hilarious and heartfelt debut novel, an aspiring screenwriter learns sometimes love has its own script.
Harry wants nothing more than to write Hollywood screenplays. He knows the first step toward achieving that goal is winning a screenwriting competition that will seal his admission into the college of his dreams, so he’s determined to spend his summer free of distractions—also known as boys—and finish his script. After last year, Harry is certain love only exists in the movies anyway.
But then the cause of his first heartbreak, Grant, returns with a secret that could change everything—not to mention, there’s a new boy in town, Logan, who is so charming and sweet, he’s making Harry question everything he knows about romance. As he tries to keep his emotions in check and stick to his perfect plan for the future, Harry’s about to learn that life doesn’t always follow a script.
“Fresh, funny, and full of heart… The perfect summer romance!” —Morgan Matson, New York Times bestselling author of Take Me Home Tonight.
