After so many interviews Nicholas Galitzine has done alongside his co-star, Anne Hathaway, for The Idea Of You, it was almost impossible not to find out what other projects he has been in. Back in 2022, life was a bit crazy and Netflix was the least of my worries (so to speak) and I haven’t noticed the new romcom they have released at the time. So, thank you to the journalists who talked about Purple Hearts in recent interviews, although I could’ve easily read/watched something else. I didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t as fun as I wanted it to be.
Purple Hearts was written by Tess Wakefield and published in 2017 as her first novel for adults. I actually really liked the writing style, it’s just the story that didn’t make me fall in love with the characters or the plot. However, I was hooked enough to wait and find out what happens in the end – and I love an open ending!
Cassie is an aspiring musician who struggles to pay her medical bills that continue to be more and more expensive due to her Diabetes diagnosis. She meets Luke who is a Marine ready to enlist and together they decide to get married in order to collect military benefits to pay their respective debts. A bit enemy-to-lovers romance, a bit sad, and a bit cute. I think this is the first movie (or book, for that matter) where I’ve got annoyed at the female character. She is a bit too smartass at times and can easily come across as rude, but she wasn’t the only issue here. I think there are quite a few aspects about the story that enraged a few people, including the approach about military or misogyny dialogue.
When your life is a series of mistakes, mistakes are no longer mistakes. They’re just your life.
The Netflix movie was released in July 2022, starring Sofia Carson (as Cassie) and Nicholas Galitzine (as Luke) and directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum. I’ve been thinking of what my opinion was about this movie, and I still can’t decide if I liked it or not. I guess it was cutetsy enough, but I preferred other romcoms the streaming service has produced in the past. Something cool about the movie is the soundtrack and the original songs that have been written and produced by Justin Tranter and performed by Sofia Carson who also co-wrote four of them.
I think if you’re looking for a romance story to fall in love with, you should keep searching. This is not it. However, if you want something cute to play in the background while you cook dinner, go for it. And I think you can skip the book, unless you are curious enough to make your own opinions about it.
Main differences between the book and the movie: *spoiler alert*
· The Loyal band has only 3 members in the book and about 5 or 6 in the movie
· Luke’s brother, Jacob, knows about Johnno from the start and is also on speaking terms with Luke from the start; however, in the book they are not on speaking terms
· Luke only tells Johnno about his plan of marrying Cassie in the movie
· In the book, Luke only sees Cassie’s apartment once he gets released from hospital, but in the movie he is familiar with her place from the start
· Frankie gives Cassie the engagement ring that he bought for his girlfriend so she can use it for the fake wedding; this is not in the book and I thought it was so bad to add it to the script as you can tell immediately that he is going to die and never come back, making the plot very predictable
· The plot about the Purple Heart is changed almost entirely in the movie where they don’t even have a celebration for Luke like they have in the book
· Luke’s dog’s name is different in the movie than the one in the book
Trailer:
Purple Hearts is available through Leda Bazaar in Romania and the movie is streaming on Netflix.