Starring Erin Krakow and Robert Buckley
***SPOILER ALERT***
Meg (Krakow) and her aunt have a bookstore in Nantucket that’s known for its Blind Date (with a) Book Club. Graham (Buckley) is a bestselling YA author who’s just self-published a historical romance under a pseudonym. However, his agent, Terrance (Daniel Bacon), isn’t impressed with it. After hearing Meg being interviewed on the radio, Graham heads to Nantucket to persuade her to select his novel for her book club. He’s pressured by Terrance to produce another bestseller and looks to Meg for constructive criticism of his new novel. Meanwhile, Meg’s aunt Renee (Johannah Newmarch) wants out of the book business, leaving Meg grappling with selling the store versus returning to a career as a real estate agent. Then Meg and Graham’s budding romance is jeopardized when Graham attends a book club meeting “undercover,” and a journalist and the members discuss his book, unaware of who he really is.
PROS
The movie was directed by Peter Benson, who’s acted in numerous Hallmark movies and in recent years has taken to directing them too.
An out-of-the-ordinary book club. Meg’s book club selections were mystery books wrapped in brown paper, and she wrote brief, tantalizing descriptions of them on the wrapper to pique readers’ curiosity. Not knowing what book you were getting made this book club more intriguing than most. The “blind date with a book” was a fresh idea, and if a book club like this existed in real life, I’d gladly join it.
Krakow and Buckley. These two created undeniable chemistry as Meg and Graham. From the moment their characters met—a French tourist assumed they were a couple and photographed them beneath a sign—the romantic connection was obvious. Buckley was charming in a low-key way, and Krakow was likeable, even when as Meg she doled out criticism of Graham’s novel, which he called literature and she called historical romance. The way he exposed himself to that criticism, never hesitating to make himself vulnerable to it and always accepting it with good humor, made his character that much more endearing. After Meg and Graham’s date, during which they ate lobster ice cream (yikes!), he walked her home, and the sparks flew as they shared a passionate kiss. Meg looked as giddy as a high schooler after that. I liked how the actors kissed as though they really meant it!
The climax of the story. After Meg learned that Raina (Johannah Newmarch), a journalist, would be attending the book club meeting where Graham’s historical romance would be discussed, she was nervous he’d be recognized as the bestselling YA author he was. Sure enough, Raina figured out who he was, and she blew his cover after she and the others had voiced their negative opinions of his book. Meg abruptly cut off the meeting, announced she’d be selling the bookstore, and ordered everyone out, including Graham, who admitted he should have listened to her. This was undoubtedly the liveliest scene in this movie.
CONS
An annoying journalist. Journalists in Hallmark movies are often irritating, and that was true here. When Raina interviewed Meg, she kept twisting what the book club was about, insisting that it was about dating and finding love, whereas Meg’s take was that it was about connecting with other people over a love of books. And when Raina recognized Graham, she actually asked him if he’d only joined the club because he was looking for a date. She then pointedly asked if Meg already knew who he was, and if she was only featuring his book because he was a friend. Although Meg did know and was doing Graham a favour, it was crass to ask these questions. It would be refreshing if journalists in these movies were depicted as less gossipy and insensitive.
Slow pacing. Though I enjoyed watching the leads and found the supporting actors, especially Faith Wright (bookstore employee Alice), to be good, Blind Date Book Club moved at too sluggish a pace. This was a cozy and comfortable movie, but not a very eventful one, and it coasted along too leisurely toward the climax. For this reason, it was a little hard to stay with.
The fate of Graham’s historical romance. It was disappointing that Graham didn’t work to improve his new novel but instead cranked out another YA one to meet his agent’s demands. He appeared to have little love for his bestsellers, even though his fans clearly did, and had bravely stepped out of his usual genre to try something new, and something he believed was important. It would have been more satisfying if he’d pursued that something new. At least Graham’s agent did say that he’d circle back to the historical romance eventually.
My grade for Blind Date Book Club: B-
Caroline Kaiser is a professional book editor who specializes in fiction and memoirs, and she’s been guiding writers toward publication since 2007. Caroline is also the author of two ghostly mystery novels, Virginia’s Ghost and The Spirits of South Drive. Before she embarked on an editing and writing career, she spent many years working in a Toronto auction house as an antiques appraiser. Apart from curling up on the couch and drinking tea as she watches Hallmark movies, Caroline enjoys baking and exploring London, Ontario, the picturesque city she now calls home. Her website is www.carolinekaisereditor.com.
