Annabel Monaghan

Jane Jackson has found a script she's desperate to produce - desperate enough to promise her boss that she can get music star Jack Quinlan to write an original song for the soundtrack. Jane and Jack met once when they were fourteen, it ended extremely awkwardly, and they are not in touch now. But the cinematographer attached to the project, Dan Finnegan, tells Jane that Jack will be playing a music festival in his hometown, and they can go together, stay with his parents, and maybe run into show more Jack. It's a flimsy plan (and spoiler alert, it doesn't work), but it gives Dan and Jane a week together to fall in love in a kinda-sorta enemies-to-lovers arc.

Peeves: (1) Dan Finnegan's eyes are described multiple times as "rectangular." (2) Jane seems completely convinced that scientific dating rules require that she should not be funny on dates. This may stem from her teen actor past, but not wanting to BE a joke is different from not wanting to TELL jokes.

Quotes

"...it's the quiet movies that make room for us to look at ourselves....And people, mostly, are afraid of the quiet." (Dan to Jane, 40)

"There's a difference between someone loving you and agreeing with every single thing you do." (Dan, re: his brother, 139)

Old hurts are buried so carefully. (Jane and her mother, 296) show less

I just listened to this whole book in two sessions. I spent about an hour with it last night, during which I thought I might abandon ship. I am a terrible person, I know this, but I have no patience for years of paralyzing grief and less patience for the concept of ghosts with whom the living have actual discussions where they get answers. That is where this book started. When Ali's ass of a husband leaves her on the first anniversary of her mother's death (this happens in the first 5 show more minutes, it is not a surprise) it felt like the author was doubling down on the trite. I loved Monahan's first book so I should have trusted things would improve, and so they did. I related so strongly to Ali (FMC) grappling with the realization that she has pushed down her feelings and made herself small and inconsequential through her marriage and that she had been encouraged to do so by her mother. I also always love a story of good parenting. All of that was good, but most of this was about two people finding their strength, and having a swoony small-town romance full of complications. When I feel stressed in my real life I love a swoony small-town romance full of complications. They work far better than drugs and alcohol and I feel better in the morning. Some of this was too pat and obvious, it didn't have the flow of Nora Goes Off Script, but I still listened to most of this in one long session (and scrubbed the grout in my shower to a blinding white while I did.) Also, I am sitting here with a big lump in my throat that is somehow satisfying, so I can't go lower than a 4 (we will say a 3.7.)

A couple of notes. This is totally closed-door, there is no sex on the page, just people falling onto a horizontal surface and chatting under the covers a bit later on. (I appreciated this because the MMC shares my son's name, and it sort of creeps me out when that name is used in graphic sex scenes.) Also, the narrator, Kristen DiMercurio, was just great. I have liked her narration of other books too and she has become a go-to reader for me. show less

Nora writes scripts for the romance channel and she's good at it. She knows all the beats of a good romantic comedy and her ability to churn out scripts has kept her family financially afloat for years. When her good-for-nothing husband finally leaves, Nora turns it into a script that her agent sells as a serious movie. When the film crew comes to shoot on Nora's property for a few days, she expects minor upheaval. What she doesn't expect is one of Hollywood's sexiest stars, Leo Vance, to be show more on her porch after filming ends to ask to stay. She doesn't expect him to be so fascinated by her and her structured days, nor to be having thoughtful dinner conversations with her two kids. Nora's written scripts exactly like this, but in real life can a potential romance between her and Leo actually have a happy ending?

I had a grand time with this cute romance and devoured it in two days. Nora is a smart, competent woman in her late thirties who is largely relieved by her divorce rather than devastated. But she still comes with baggage and watching her and Leo find their common ground is charming. While I expected the big misunderstanding of this one, the final resolution of it surprised me. A fun contemporary romance, especially for those who love (but also love to mock) formulaic rom coms. show less

I don’t usually read books about single moms because it’s a depth that I can’t relate to. I am not married yet (October!) and I don’t have kids, so the depth of having kids and sharing that kind of life with someone, then having to do it all alone due to divorce, then worrying about bringing someone into that situation? That sounds really stressful. Add grief about a parent who recently passed to that? Even more stressful.

But this book took all of that stress and fear, and made show more something good come out of it.

As always, I love a book where the female has positive growth because a guy reminds her of who she has always been, rather than just telling her she is beautiful and strong, but this book goes even further and nurtures her as a mother, as a wife, as a woman, and as a lover.

I really liked this book and I’m so glad I didn’t avoid it just because she’s a mom. If anything, a lot of my favorite quotes were about her kids or motherhood. show less