[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Berkley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
January Andrews is a romance writer who believes her own stories – perfect couples, happy endings – even in the face of ugly truths. But after the hits she has taken in the last year, while her brain still wants to conjure happily-ever-afters, her heart is struggling to write any that would feel believable. Her foundations have been shaken. And she has a book due at the end of the summer.
After losing her boyfriend – and therefore her home – January has moved into the cottage on Lake Michigan that her father left her recently when he passed away. The cottage he shared with the mistress January found out about when he died. It’s an act of desperation to be sure. The cottage is a constant reminder of her father’s lies, her disillusionment, and the fact that she can’t get any answers out of a dead man.
January’s neighbor at the cottage is a grump whose friends throw loud parties late into the night. The loud music and his crappy attitude are bad enough. But then January realizes she KNOWS this guy. Augustus “Gus” Everett. Best-selling author of literary fiction and January’s college rival.
After a few days of snapish comments and bickering, the two writers let down their guard over a box of donuts and horrendous coffee. After admitting they are both struggling with their next books – and could each use a quick and lucrative sale – Gus issues the challenge. January will spend the summer writing his sort of serious, angsty literary fiction, and he’ll write something hopeful with a romantic happily-ever-after. Whoever sells their book first, wins.
Let the writing begin!
Review
This was good! More serious than I was expecting. Each of the main characters has personal baggage to deal with. And that baggage also impacts the relationship between them.
I loved the writing/storytelling pieces of this. January and Gus come at storytelling from different world views and with different personal goals. I found the differences fascinating.
The romance is an enemies-to-lovers that didn’t feel like one. I didn’t even notice that this fit that trope until I was thinking over the book as a whole once I had finished. The fact that January is the only POV character has a lot to do with that, also. The hostile feelings are more on her side than I think they ever were on his, so they weren’t truly “enemies,” really. But the initial hostility between them fits the trope, too. The camaraderie over their writing made for a nice bit of neutral ground for the story to develop.
I wanted more from the bet/contest. It’s there as they write, as they try to expose one another to the sort of research that goes into the kind of writing they usually do and what the other has been challenged to try. But it moves to the background as January falls into the rhythm of a new story and as January and Gus’s relationship develops. I think that piece would have been stronger and more present if January and Gus had both been POV characters. We don’t get to see the contest from Gus’s perspective, which I would have enjoyed.
While the book I was expecting and the book I read didn’t line up precisely, this was a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging story of love, personal growth, family, grief, and writing. Don’t miss it! (Language, sex)