This was a cute book. The story was cute, the characters were cute, the setting was cute. It was all just cute. I find it deeply ironic that in this novel about a screenwriter of formulaic, predictable romances, there is… a formulaic, predictable romance plot. But it’s still cute. ( )

I love this book on so many levels. Let's start from the beginning.

Nora lives in upstate New York with her two kiddos in a rundown yet quaint home with a formal tea house out back. Nora is a screenwriter and has sold her soul for the tried and true same-old romance films that have netted her enough money to get by. Nora's ex, a too-good-to-work kinda guy, left about a year ago, and Nora has just landed a deal with her latest screenplay about her life, in a fictionalized way, of course. And guess who's starring in it, the uber-famous, most handsome bachelor star, Leo Vance. Opposite Leo is the stunning Naomi.

The crew comes to Nora's house for filming, slated to last three days. During that time, Nora and her kids' lives are turned upside down by town gossips (nosey bodies), 18-wheelers on her lawn (cast and crew), and all things Hollywood. But the beautiful thing is that Leo has taken a shine to Nora's kids, and they to him. Upon wrapping up the show, Nora figures its all finished, until she walks out the next morning to find Leo asleep on her porch swing.

Leo turns out to be just a guy, an ultra-famous one, but just a guy nonetheless. He falls for the kids, helps out at the school play, signs autographs for the locals, and, surprise, falls in love with Nora. Then come the twists, the turns, the split, the get back together, the happy ever after.

But let's talk about what struck me here - Leo ghosts Nora for days that turn into weeks and months. Of course, in the book, there is a back story we don't learn until the end, and all works out. But if any of you have ever been ghosted ( )

Fun rom-com with a bit of an unpredictable second half. ( )

{stand-alone; romance, family, non-steamy} (2022)

(read by Hillary Huber)

Nora is a script writer for a romance channel living in the small town of Laurel Ridge in upstate New York and she produces scripts which all have the same formula. Her husband, Ben, recently left her and their two children and mostly what Nora felt was relief. Relief that he left her the kids and the house (which she loves but he didn't), relief that he would no longer be blowing their meagre savings on unnecessary extravagances (usually for himself) or belittling her work, in spite of the fact that she was the only one earning a steady income. I love the way Monaghan describes the house and its surroundings.

This house is a disaster, sure. But I fell in love with it when I first looked down the long windy path of the driveway. The magnolia trees that line either side touch in the middle, so that now, in April, you drive through a tunnel of pink flowers. When you emerge onto the main road it feels like you've been transported from one world to another, like a bride leaving the church. It feels like a treat going out for milk, and it feels like a treat coming home.
The house was built by a British doctor named George Faircloth who lived in Manhattan and came upstate to Laurel Ridge in the summer, which explains the complete lack of winterization. It was built to be enjoyed on a seventy-eight-degree day and primarily from the outside. I imagine his landscaping this property like a maestro, arranging the magnolias and the forsythia beneath them to announce the beginning of spring. After a long gray winter, these first pink and yellow blooms shout, "Something's happening!" By May they'll have gone green with the rest of the yard, a quiet before the peonies and hydrangea bloom.

Somehow, though, her feelings about her husband worked their way out in a script that her agent got excited about and sold to Hollywood to make a film for the big screen rather than the romance channel to make a TV movie. The story opens at sunrise at Nora's home on the day that the film company, with the two current hottest movie stars - Leo Vance and Naomi Sanchez - are coming to start filming in the tea house on her back lawn.

The first morning we woke up here, I got up at first light because we didn't have any curtains yet. I took my coffee to the front porch, and the sunrise was the surprise of my life. I'd never seen the house at six A.M. I didn't even know we were facing east. It was like a gift with purchase, a reward for loving this broken place.
I stand on the porch now, taking it in before the movie crew arrives. Pink ribbons, then orange creep up behind the wide-armed oak tree at the end of my lawn. The sun rises behind it differently every day. Some days it's a solid bar of sherbet that rolls up like movie credits and fills the sky. Some days the light dapples through the leaves in a muted gray. The oak won't have leaves for a few weeks, just tiny yellow and white blooms pollinating one another and promising a lawn full of acorns. My lawn is its best self in April, particularly in the morning when it's dew-kissed and catching the light. I don't know the science behind all of it, but I know the rhythm of this property like I know my own body. The sun will rise here every single day.

After filming wraps, and Nora can have her tea house and lawn back, Leo stays on longer ... and longer as he finds this small town the perfect place to detox from his dehumanised life. Nora takes him shopping to her discount grocery store, where he is blown away by the simplicity and by being able to buy his own produce rather than someone delegated to do his shopping for him. And, of course, Nora and Leo (you know the type - hot, sexy, six foot two, smoulders at you) start to fall for each other.

Meanwhile, Nora is juggling being a mum to 8 year old Bernadette and 10 year old Arthur (who's getting to the age where kids are too cool to know you). Bernie is easy going but Arthur (who was never sporty enough for his dad) wants to try out for the school play. Despite telling him not to get into acting, Leo agrees to help him learn lines - and the kids start to bond with him, as he does with them. Of course, nothing perfect lasts in the middle of romance novels and things fall apart. How will Nora and the kids and Leo find their happily ever after - and will it be the one that they thought that they were heading for?

So this was mostly the usual romance formula but it had two plus points for me: 1- no steam and 2- believable kids. I really liked it. There were no 'bad guys' except for the big misunderstanding - which, in itself, was plausible - (and the 'why didn't they communicate?') but everyone around them was rooting for them - or at least for Nora, since it was narrated in first person from her point of view. It was also nice meeting both Nora and Leo's families and good that her sister, Penny, was an important part of her support system.

I liked the narration by Hillary Huber too; she does a good job of creating different voices, especially of the kids (though I was a bit startled initially when everyone spoke with an American accent, because they wouldn't have sounded like that in my head if I'd been reading it myself). This was a feel-good story. I could read more by this author.

(January 2024)
3.75 stars ( )

Screenwriter Nora Hamilton has finally sold a script to someone other than The Romance Channel, and now a Hollywood crew is on-site filming at her property. When movie star Leo Vance asks to stay on-site a little longer, Nora is skeptical, but the extra money he will pay will get her solidly out of debt and give her time to work on other projects. She doesn't expect him to fall in love with her...

I liked this very much while I was reading it, though after I closed the book, I started nitpicking. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to tell you that part of the conflict in the book relies on miscommunication (what romance doesn't?), but it bugs me that it goes on for so long. I did think the way it was handled was an interesting twist, so maybe I shouldn't quibble. Another very minor quibble is that Nora's son is in a production of what's very obviously the musical Oliver! (specific song titles are referenced), but they only refer to it as Oliver Twist. Okay, that really is a quibble that's not worth the time of day. All in all, romance lovers should give this one a try, as the setting, dialogue, and characters are delightful. ( )