Review: The Monday Girl by Julie Johnson

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“What if you live your life expecting a romance novel, and get a tragedy instead?”

To describe this book by songs- it is basically Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift with a side of Hollywood is Not America by Ferras. It’s not an average cutesy love story. Hearts will be broken. This is tragedy; and when the big reveal, happens you’re just as emotional as the main character, because congratulations, you played yourself too.

To give a quick summary of the book- Kat is a 22 year old who was forced to act by her mother. Her life is definitely not as glamorous as many make Hollywood out to be. She has yet to make it big. After being discovered by Wyatt Hasting, a movie producer, while leaving an audition, Kat is offered the role of her life. A starring role based off her favorite book. The only problem, Grayson Dunn is also starring in the movie. The Sexiest Man Alive and also the guy she met many years ago.

I liked this book. It was entertaining, and I was immediately sucked in by the beginning. There is something intriguing by ending the prologue with the passage:

“If you meet me on the street you should hurry on without a backward glance, and later when you climb into bed beside a happy girl with simple thoughts and stroke her perfect hair with fingers that are still shaky from our near-miss, you can whisper that you had a brush with death today, darling, and somehow lived.”

I appreciated all of the twist and the turns. It is definitely not predictable and that ending will leave you speechless with your jaw on the ground because it’s going to bring so much drama into the next installment. And it’s going to be interesting to see how well that all plays out.

Hollywood is fascinating to me, so it was interesting to see Julie Johnson’s take on it. It was present, but it did not really feel authentic. The movie aspect of it did not really stand out as much as I had hoped. Because I’m interested in Hollywood, there were some minor details that I felt were left out about the movie.  

Although, we sort of got to see the effects of instant stardom on the main character, I would have liked to see more. Especially more of the emotional side, considering the main character was a little hesitant about acting in the beginning.

Characters

I liked Kat. She is very flawed and is in dire need of a hug. Her relationship with her mother is semi prominent in this book, and it is so tragic. It will pull at your heartstrings because her mother is not the greatest.

I really enjoyed her narrative. It was sarcastic and fun. It was also dark, because you can feel her pain. She’s hurting, and she’s broken. And I think that almost everyone could see a little bit of themselves in Kat.

One main problem I had is that Kat was deemed as this great actress; however, I did not really feel that while reading. It felt like a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. For example, Wyatt or Grayson would comment about how great Kat was, but the reader would never get to see that side of her.

I loved Wyatt! His pet name for Kat was a little annoying, but from the beginning you could tell that he was the absolute sweetest.

This book is only in Kat’s POV, so we don’t necessarily see what the other characters are thinking and feeling, we only have to go by Kat’s perception of them. And from the material given, Grayson was a bit of a mystery. He’s also the typical arrogant and charming love interest. I felt like he was dealing with some serious issues like Kat was. I loved that he wore socks with little animations on them. That was adorable!

Final Analysis

The Monday Girl is a story that most can relate to. It’s heartbreaking and emotional with many twist and turns. The main character is definitely flawed and very much strong.