The whole premise of Literally is pretty cool. Character Annabelle, up to this point having the seemingly perfect life, discovers that she's actually a character in a new Lucy Keating (yes the author) novel. Twisted? You bet. 
 Lucy Keating inserts herself as a somewhat antagonistic omnipresence throughout the story. Causing Annabelle to question if the things she wants are truly of her own making or something cooked up by Lucy for the story. Does she really like new guy Will? Who seems so utterly perfect for her and does, in fact, seem to pop up wherever she is at any given moment. Or are her sudden feelings for long-time friend Elliott real? Lately, whenever Elliott has been coming around instead of the knee-jerk eye-rolling reaction to the presence of her brother's best friend, Annabelle has been feeling something different. 
 Once Annabelle discovers that she's been written she sets out to make her life her own regardless of what the author wants. 
 So like I said, pretty cool premise, but does it pull it off? I guess the answer would be yes and no. 
 I cannot tell you how many of my favorite authors' blogs I follow or interviews I've read where they talk about their process, and a lot of times there's an answer going something like "I have to follow what the characters are telling me" or "suddenly that character doesn't fit into the box I've created for them". You know, giving their characters, their creations, almost this life of their own. I think Literally takes those thoughts and those processes and kind of turns them into a very good visual example. How sometimes, from the author's perspective, things you want to happen just doesn't fit or doesn't work out. 
 Now, from the actually story side of things, or Annabelle's side, there are some drawbacks. Besides showing the character that just won't listen, it also, in a light manner, talks about some stereotypical tropes of YA fiction. You can check the love triangle off the list when Annabelle starts having feelings for both Will and Elliott. The fact that Annabelle doesn't recognize her own beauty, but everyone else around her seems to: check. The sudden upheaval of Annabelle's seemingly perfect life, sending her even more into a spiral questioning her life: check. 
 Combining everything together like this, I felt like what ended up happening was that we got a very repetitive story. The characters weren't really allowed to break out of their designated box, or only break out to a certain extent. They became a little too one-dimensional which is another trope that is discussed in the story as well. I wanted to care more about Annabelle's plight but I just couldn't. There was really no room for other characters to grow because all the focus was on Annabelle trying to break out of what the author has written for her. 
 I'm kind of wondering if this was part of the overall point of the story though. In which case, yes it meets expectations. But I'd rather have a character and story that I grow to care about. Where I too want her to break out of the words written for her and see her branch out on her own, but I think that's where the premise made it difficult to actually do this. 
 Overall, I enjoyed the book with it's varying twists and turn. And there are truly some clever moments when Lucy Keating tries to assert her authority over the story. If you're looking for something a little different, I think Literally is perfect. 
 *Copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review.