48 pages • 1 hour read
If It Makes You Happy
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Background
Historical Context: 1990s America
If It Makes You Happy is set in 1997; it largely takes place in Copper Run, Vermont, but features references to urban life in Seattle and New York City, too. To authenticate the novel’s temporal setting, Olivia peppers the narrative with cultural references that gesture to 1990s popular culture, but without substantial emphasis on politics or other more serious concerns.
As Shelby Lofgren posits, “The 1990s had everything. Wild fashion, catchy music, cool gadgets, and new ways to have fun. From flannel shirts to floppy disks, every part of life had its own style” (Lofgren, Shelby. “1990s Fashion & Trends: What Was Popular in the 90s?” Capture, 5 Apr. 2025). Such cultural trends are reflected in Olivia’s novel, which features the music of Mazzy Star, the TV show Friends, movies on VHS tapes, Nora Ephron romantic comedies, and fashion elements like flannel shirts and crop tops.
Olivia also steeps the narrative in a sense of pre-technological nostalgia. It was the era before cell phones, as “[h]ome phones had cords, and everyone fought over who got to use the internet. Dial-up blocked the phone line” (Lofgren). In the novel, these technological differences allow for more face-to-face connection, which is reflected in Olivia’s characters’ relationships.
However, the events of Michelle Cadell’s and Cliff Burke’s lives are arguably unaffected by the political context of their time. For example, the 1990s was heavily influenced by third-wave feminism, but Michelle’s character arc appears in conflict with this trend toward women’s professional and personal independence.
Genre Context: Contemporary Romantic Comedy
If It Makes You Happy is a contemporary romance novel that also falls under the romantic comedy subgenre. Works of contemporary romance are “set in the contemporary/modern, post-70s world” (Keyes, Emily. “A Guide to Writing Contemporary Romance Novels.” The Romance Genre Specialist, 29 Feb. 2024). If It Makes You Happy uses several common tropes of the genre, or story models, that offer familiar narrative scaffolding to readers. In this case, we follow Michelle and Cliff’s story through the friends-to-lovers, opposites-attract, and forced-proximity plot beats. Michelle and Cliff are completely different from one another, they become good friends before starting a relationship, and they live next door to each other in Copper Run.
Traditional romantic comedies focus on “humorous plotlines centered on romantic ideas, such as dating, marriage, break-ups, and true love” (Hellerman, Jason. “The Core Elements of Romantic Comedy.” No Film School, 3 May 2024). Romantic comedies also rely on tropes to inspire their narrative structures and conflict. Such tropes include the meet-cute, love triangles, grand romantic gestures, and fish out of water, many of which feature in If It Makes You Happy. For example, Michelle is out of place in Copper Run, her sister briefly forms part of a love triangle, and the running to the airport is a classic of fictional grand-gesture scenes.
If It Makes You Happy is in conversation with other contemporary romance and romantic comedy titles including Christina Lauren’s The Unhoneymooners (2019) and Katherine Center’s The Rom-Commers (2024). To underscore this genre connection, Olivia also incorporates references to romantic comedy films like When Harry Met Sally and You’ve Got Mail.
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