How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days

September 1, 2021

From the outside, Bethany Lu Carlisle has a full life: a burgeoning career as an artist, a cool New York loft, a cute dog, and two of the best friends anyone could ask for. What she doesn't have is her dream man, Keanu Reeves. And now that America's heartthrob has announced his impending marriage, she might never have a chance with him. Is this a sign that Bethany should give up on all of her childhood dreams and accept the high-paid corporate job she's been offered? Or should she use the job offer's 90-day expiration date to track down Keanu, with the help of her friend True, and convince him they're meant to be? Jackson's ("Sugar Lake" and "Unconventional Brides" series) latest pits the childhood dreams of a woman stuck in regressive patterns against the possibility of a different kind of relationship with her best friend. VERDICT The novel's premise, which rests on celebrity stalking, is problematic, but fans of friends-to-lovers romance might find it an enjoyable read.--Meagan Day, High Plains Lib. Dist., CO

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2021
Friends become lovers after years of friendzoning each other in this part-road trip, part-sitcom romance. Bethany Lu is an artist in her 40s who's beginning to make a name for herself. Nice guy Truman Erickson is an economics professor she's known for decades. They live in the same New York City building, belonging to Bethany's wealthy money-manager father, and they're also tied together by memories of Cole, her dead brother, who was Truman's best friend. Her high school BFF Dawn is convinced Tru and Bethany, who goes by Lu, belong together. But Lu can't handle the idea of risking her safe friendship with him, treating him with bossy familiarity. Tru has his own guilt about Cole's passing, which has made him wary of expressing his romantic feelings for Lu. So when Lu sees the news that Keanu Reeves, her celebrity crush, is getting married and decides to track him down to change his mind, Tru offers to help though he's exasperated with her obsession. On their trips around New York and to other parts of the country, they finally end up in bed, but they still manage to avoid even the most basic communication. As the novel is told in the first person from both characters' points of view, we know they both feel more than they show, but instead of making us root for them, these glimpses into their thoughts raise doubts about their potential for adult intimacy. Jackson aims for a lighthearted road-movie feel, but the pacing and tone are uneven, zipping from episodes of zaniness to immature tiffs and self-recrimination. The fanfic-based Reeves odyssey never recedes to the background, so a quirky device meant to create forced proximity between the lovers competes with the actual relationship. The interestingly prickly heroine's identity quest seems shoehorned into a romance with her caretaker friend.

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Starred review from September 6, 2021
It would be enough if Jackson’s latest (after Real Men Knit) were simply a charming rom-com replete with laugh-out-loud one liners and pop-culture references, but it’s also a moving, heartfelt story about coping with grief, stress, and major life changes. It doesn’t hurt that Bethany Lu Carlisle, an endearing 40-something Keanu Reeves fangirl, and her best friend, True Erickson, are the kind of characters one can’t help but root for. Lu and True have known each other since they were school-age thanks to True’s friendship with Bethany’s late little brother, Cole. All this time, True’s nursed a massive crush on Lu that’s only gotten bigger as they’ve grown closer through their mutual grief. Meanwhile, proudly single Lu sees True as family and has never considered him romantically. When Lu reads tabloid reports that her beloved Keanu Reeves is getting married in 90 days, it makes her question her devotion to the single life—so she does the sane thing and hatches a plan to stop the wedding. True begrudgingly agrees to help her on this harebrained scheme, leading to some outrageous adventures as they race to California. The rom-com trappings keep things lighthearted and welcoming even as Jackson probes heavy emotions. Readers will be wowed. Agent: Evan Marshall, the Evan Marshall Agency.

September 15, 2021
Artist Bethany Lu Carlisle's world is shaken to the core when she reads the news: Keanu Reeves is getting married in 90 days. Her best friend and agent, Dawn, feels her pain, but friend True Erickson is tired of the nonsense. But True has never been able to deny Lu anything, and he ""knows a guy,"" so soon the two are riding the Coney Island Ferris wheel, facing microaggressions at a film-industry party, then relaxing in hot springs in New Mexico. They run into plenty of A-list celebrities, but Keanu remains elusive. As their adventures escalate, it becomes harder to deny their mutual attraction, but it's too tied up in the long-ago death of Cole: Lu's brother and True's best friend. Besides, why risk 20 years of friendship on a fling? And what about Keanu? Jackson's latest (after Real Men Knit, 2020, as Kwana Jackson) is an over-the-top romp with a complicated heroine and great banter. Fans of the rom-coms of Andie J. Christopher and Farrah Rochon will love this one.

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