All day Monday was spent writing—in pink fuzzy socks, not barefoot like the title suggests—and I’m 1,744 words closer to the end. Not a big number for an entire day of work, but I’ll take it. I’m finally past a scene I was dreading and I’m proud to say I DID NOT CRY while writing it. Nope, I didn’t. NOPE! MY EYES DID NOT DAMPEN ANY MORE THAN USUAL EVERYDAY DAMPNESS AND THAT IS MY FINAL WORD.

I’ve started the read-aloud edit phase from page one during my weekday commute, so I’m both writing the end and editing the beginning now which is a great use of time but also kind of scrambling my brains. A once-a-week night off from books helps, especially when I’m lucky to see yet another great movie…

My husband briefed me on Barefoot, and at first I said, “Sounds really Manic Pixie Dream Girl tropey. Pass.” But as he scrolled past it online, I caught the words “bad boy” and I was like, “Wait, bad boy? Okay, sold.” LOL

Usually the MPDG trope is used alongside a geeky, stuffy, downer of a hero, with the MPDG heroine’s one and only dimension being used to teach the hero how to lighten up and live again. A “Wish Fulfillment from stir-crazy writers” as the article says. Add a bad boy though, and it changes the formula. (And who can turn down a bad boy hero? I mean really.) Barefoot might have contained hints of the MPDG trope, but the heroine was fleshed out enough to make it mostly disappear. The reasons for her MPDG qualities made sense to *her* story, so she became a real character to root for and not just a stand-in for a trope or a convenient motivator for the hero. Reviewers say it’s a knock-off of Tangled (another slight MPDG done well enough to avoid being tropey, in my opinion). I see that now, but I didn’t while watching it.

Another well-written, believable love story. Sweet but not cheesy, unpredictable enough to keep my interest. Good writing, good acting, good everything. Maybe not as good as In Your Eyes, but good enough to recommend.