Nondescript title notwithstanding, this actually is one of the best rom-coms I’ve read in a very long time! There’s a foreword from the author at the beginning that seemed quite appropriate: she said this is one of her own favorites, as it pulls back the curtain on the publishing industry, and also illustrates her own experience in the niche world of English-as-a-second-language. Both of these contexts make the story quite unique.
The story follows Bryony, passionate teacher at an ESL center for immigrants, started by her grandmother. The school is desperate for funds, and Bryony has the brilliant idea to write a book, dramatizing and fantasizing her grandmother’s origin story, to raise awareness. Unfortunately it’s her first book ever, and she goes to writers’ conferences to pitch it to the biggest agents in the industry, who don’t give her the time of day. (I’ve never been to any conferences like this, but I can picture it, as I’ve done enough behind the scenes in the publishing world myself.) One of those she pitches is Jack Sterling, who doesn’t give her the time of day. It’s a great meet-cute. When she refuses to be told no, he finds a way to strike a deal: he’s looking for a ghost writer for one of the biggest names in publishing, and she agrees to write it, if he’ll represent her real book. (This part requires a bit of suspension of disbelief, but it doesn’t really matter, it’s just the engine that gets the story going, so fine with me.)
Fast forward several years. Bryony and Jack are inseparable best friends, except she has a boyfriend, and she’s pretty sure he has a girlfriend, and anyway in her mind he’s also just her agent, so it’s quasi-professional… there are lots of layers of defenses that keep her from seeing the truth that’s obvious to everyone else. But the woman she’s ghost-writing for is a narcissistic and utterly intolerable bimbo, which eventually blows up in her face. Also, the book Jack is supposed to be representing for Bryony is dreadful, and she refuses to see it… even as Jack learns how wonderful the actual ESL center and all the people it helps truly are, as he gets deeper into her world.
I realized after several nights of insomnia that I absolutely couldn’t read this before bed, because I’d have to read “just one more chapter.” I started reading it in in the gym instead. Terrific!
My rating: *****
Language: none
Sexual content: none (imagine that! For a romance!)
Violence: none
Political content: none
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