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Nora Goes Off Script - Annabel Monaghan

 


Genre: Contemporary Romance | Romance 

Release Date: Expected 7th June 2022

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Nora knows romance - it's literally her job.

But the romance screenwriters life gets a huge rewrite when her husband suddenly leaves her and their children behind and she uses that heartbreak and resentment to create her best work yet - the tea house. 

There's no time to think about the loss as her home is filled with cameras and crew, shooting her own story on location and providing plenty of distraction - including the smouldering Leo Vance, the man playing her ex-husband only much sexier and more successful.  But soon enough, filming ends and she's left alone with her thoughts - but not for long. Leo appears on the doorstep, a little drunk, with an interesting proposal. If she lets him stay for just another week, let him live a somewhat normal life with her, he'll pay a thousand pounds a day. 

Seven days - it's not a long time at all. But Nora writers romance movies, so she should know that seven days is plenty of time to fall in love, or break your heart, or change your entire life. 

"There will have to be boundaries of some sort. I don't want to walk in here tomorrow and find him smouldering at my dish-washer."

We've all read this story before - a rich, out of touch and troubled bad boy meets a down-to-earth beautiful woman and they find unexpected common ground. Nora has written that exact story a thousand times so the self-awareness and irony was simply delicious. But this story oozes charm, creating a perfectly cosy and indulgent romance. Think a classic and comforting hallmark romance movie with a fresh contemporary twist and plenty of wicked humour and wit.

But even between all the playful flirting, there was a story about a woman on a journey. Her growth page by page was beautiful, she finds herself as a mother, a lover, a friend, a writer and most importantly she starts to find herself and her worth after her ex-husband left her doubting everything. Their relationships were all so painfully real, Nora being both the provider and carer in her marriage and her husband hating her for it - so being able to finally see herself through someone else's eyes gives her the power to reframe her entire life. 

Warm, witty and wonderfully sweet - this story takes it's time to fully explore the characters and their building relationships - not just rushing to the inevitable HEA but showing a real love forming and not just rushing past any problems to get to that magical ending. 

This book is so unbelievably sweet it will give you a toothache, so consider yourself warned. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review. 

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