So I finally saw the Love Again movie after reading the wrost book I’ve read in the last few years. Let’s start from the beginning.
Published back in 2009, originally under the title SMS für dich, the book is the 3rd novel from the German author Sofie Cramer. In 2022, the book was published in English for the first time under the title Text for You. My guess is that the novel was translated around the time the movie was being produced as the interest grew around it. For any Romanians interested in reading it, the book has also been published in Romania by Leda Bazaar and you can find it here.
The story is supposed to be a cute romantic comedy, but it doesn’t succeed to deliver on either front. It was very badly written, unfortunately, it doesn’t have any colour to it and it feels like it was typed out by a highschool teenager. Generally, there is not a lot of expectations when it comes to this type of books, but here I felt like there was barely any effort put into the crafting of the story.
It’s not too often that I read books translated from other languages and I think this didn’t help too much either, although if the writing is bad the translation is not going to be the biggest problem (as it happens with some books that lose their original value or message when translated). I don’t really know, but what I do know is that I do not recommend this book at all.
The story is as simple as it gets, although the death of the male love interest is being left under the suspicion of suicide for a good part of the book. The issue I have with this is in the way it has been treated and approached by the author. The subject of suicide is a really heavy and serious one, but here you get the feeling that either way, what matters is.. nothing, really. You end up not carrying about ANY character or part of the story. The main characters are lifeless, there is almost no dimension given to any of them, and their friends have literally been written just to enable some dialogue. The main characters do not meet until you’ve read more than half of the book have been covered and that is way too much for a romantic comedy – the plot is just so, so bad. When they finally meet, they instantly like each other enough to get together. Honestly, I do not understand how this book got published, it doesn’t offer anything to its readers.
The movie is not perfect either, but anything is better than this book. Love Again is the type of romantic comedy that you can easily watch one afternoon to relax and eat a pizza in front of the TV. You will forget about it in less than a week, but you won’t regret watching it either. It’s the typical Hollywood romcom but where the plot is delivered somewhat smarter than the book. I will leave below all the differences between the book and movie that – obviously – make the movie better.
Written for the screen and directed by Jim Strouse, Love Again stars Sam Heughan (Outlander) and Priyanka Chopra-Jonas (Nick Jonas’ wife ) alongside a cameo by Celine Dion (who I personally love). Now, the Celine Dion cameo felt like a self-promotion of her album and tour, Courage, more than anything. Even the mid-credit scene mentioned the same thing. On the other hand, Sam Heughan and Priyanka Chopra-Jonas were okish in their main roles, delivering a decent romantic comedy that doesn’t stay with you for too long. Cute, but nothing more. The movie also features new songs by Celine Dion, as well as some of her oldies but goldies. My favourite song from the soundtrack, written especially for the movie, is Love of my Life.
Differences between Text for You and Love Again:
· the story picks up 2 years after her boyfriend’s death, but in the book things are happening 6 months after the fact
· all characters have different names
· the story takes place in New York in the movie, but the book is set in Germany
· her boyfriend dies in a car accident in the movie, but in the book he dies by suicide due to substance abuse
· Sam Heughan’s character was left by his fiancee just before the wedding, but in the book I don’t even recall the reason they split – it was something trivial anyway
· in the book, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas’ character has a sister, but in the book her closest friend is playing that cliche supporting role instead
· her sister creates an account on a dating app, but in the book this doesn’t happen
· the main characters have sex in the movie, but in the book not even this happens… maybe it would’ve helped to move things along!
Trailer:
