This was a fun, mostly light-hearted rom-com novel about a romance writer with a severe case of writer’s block.
January Andrews – happily-ever-after-themed author – inherits a beach house from her late father next door to whom she discovers is her college nemesis, Gus Everett, who is now well-known for his literary fiction books. Both of them are not only overwhelmed by their falling-apart personal lives, but they are also struggling working on their next books while under a deadline, so they make a bet – they each have to write a book in the other’s genre and get it published. One day a week, Gus shows January how he gets his inspiration, and one day a week, she shows him how she works.
I had heard a lot of really good things about this book, but to be honest, I hadn’t actually read any of the reviews in much detail, so I had no idea what this book was actually about! I thought it was very clever to write a book about writer’s block; it seemed very meta, and I did wonder if the actual author of this book struggled coming up with an idea and just started writing about it to see where she would get.
I really enjoyed the sarcastic banter between the characters. And, generally, I just enjoyed the story. It was a nice break from some heavier or suspenseful books I’ve been focused on recently. It definitely leaned more toward January’s genre of writing instead of being the next Great American Novel, but isn’t that the point of a rom-com?