'This is What Happy Looks Like' and My Pen Pal Love Story

I used to have a pen pal (do kids nowadays even know what a pen pal is?). Like, snail mail pen pal. She was my cousin and I was maybe 7 or 8 years old then. I remember it being fun and waiting for the mail was exciting. And then when I was in 6th grade, I had another pen pal and this time it was a guy (gasp!). He was my classmate's cousin and he was my age, too. The wait in between letters (which was, if I remember correctly, just 5 letters in total) was shorter because my classmate just deliver the mail to us. It was exciting in the beginning, but I was disappointed when on his second letter, out of nowhere, he said I LOVE YOU and drew hearts on the paper. Whut. Even when I was a kid, I couldn't take insta-love. Hahahaha!

Fast forward to college. That time was like the golden age of texting, at least in the Philippines. So it was perfectly normal to have "textmates" and I had a lot. Argie, my boyfriend, was one of my many text mates then (my classmate gave my number to him). What made him special though (besides the fact that we were obviously meant to be, hahahaha) was the letter exchanges we had before we met in person (we sometimes hid letters under classroom desks). Here I was, a decade after my first pen pal experience, and I was writing to the best pen pal ever. The rest is history, as they say. We've been together for over five years now. We don't write to each other anymore, but I kept his letters. Why am I telling you this? It's because I just finished reading This is What Happy Looks Like (what a mouthful) -- or Happy, for short -- and it reminded me a lot of my pen pal days, even though in this book it was email and not snail mail. A missing number in an email address, that's how Graham's message accidentally arrived in Ellie's inbox. Was it fate? Coincidence? Whatever it was, it was powerful and beautiful. Graham and Ellie are the kind of pen pals I like: witty, funny, and highly interesting. They talked about everything under the sun for three months...everything except their identities. They don't even know each other's names. Tricky, especially since Graham is a famous teenage movie star. And Ellie's... well, you just have to read it to find out. Happy is the 3rd Jennifer E. Smith book I've read. Surprisingly, it's also my favorite among all three. I know a lot of readers who didn't love this book as much as Jen's other works. And out of all three books, this one seems to be the most unlikely to happen in real life, although that's arguable. I'm not saying it's unlikely, but really? You fall for someone who you've been emailing with and it turns out he's a celebrity. That doesn't happen 99% of the time, right?

“I'm not sure I'm quite finished saying hello yet.”

But there's something in the way Jen Smith writes that makes me want to believe in seemingly impossible things like love at first sight, successful long distance relationships, and finding out that your pen pal is a Hollywood star. She's just so good at these things. She makes it so believable and real. And I love that this book gives a substantial glimpse of what being a celebrity is like. It's also remarkable how SAD this book was, at least the middle part of it. I felt betrayed. Why didn't anyone tell me that this book is sad? But I guess I should've known because Geography and Statistical also had really sad parts in them, too. It's so subtle and yet it's there. The heartbreak was palpable. Which was why I heaved a sigh of relief at Harry's (Graham's manager) genius plot twist.

“And like every ending, it was a strange mix of exuberance and sorrow.”

This is What Happy Looks Like is a lovely book, a modern fairy tale if you will. It's the perfect read for a lazy afternoon, or a rainy morning, or a cold night... really, any time. Whether you've had a pen pal or not, Happy will make you smile.

"Ellie was surprised to find herself thinking of the little town in France, the one with all the miracles. She could only hope that in a place filled with so many wonders, it would have still been possible to appreciate something as remarkable and ordinary as all this.”

Have you read this book? Have you ever had a pen pal, text mate, chat mate, or email buddy? Sound off in the Comments!

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