Author: Katherine Center
Year published: 2024
Category: Adult fiction (romance)
Pages: 336 pages
Rating: 4 out of 5
Location: (my 2024 Google Reading map): USA (CA and TX)
Summary: She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?
Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies―good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates―The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!―it’s a break too big to pass up.
Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone―much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script―it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.
But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter―even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules―and comes true?
Review: Katherine Center is one of my go-to authors and while this one wasn't my favorite of hers, I enjoyed reading it and it has given back my reading mojo after a 2-week break. The other Katherine Center books I've read (links are to my reviews) are: Happiness for Beginners, Hello Stranger, The Bodyguard, Things You Save in a Fire, What You Wish For, and How to Walk Away.
I like both of the main characters. They mostly say and behave the way I wanted them to, there is tension though it isn't quite hate to love, there is an element of that trope. They do have a little more depth with fears, delights, and histories than is often found in romances.
And the setting is fun: a Hollywood mansion. I love the idea that Esther Williams lived in the house at one time. The pool provides fun and meaningful scenes between the two main characters.
I also like the role the secondary characters of Emma's family play--they are sweet, caring, and add a level of engagement that worked for me.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Alphabet (Title)--R
- Bookish--the main characters are writing a screenplay
- Literary Escapes--Texas
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