This book was listed as Women’s Fiction and as Mystery/Thriller categories, though I feel like there was not as much Mystery or Thriller to it.

None of the characters is really a great person at the start of the story. They all have ulterior motives, especially Sophie and Hartley. But I thought the other Romance authors were kind of fun when they weren’t busy making Sophie feel bad about herself.

Sophie is not necessarily a likeable character. She’s very stand-offish in the bookish community, thinks very highly of herself, and can be a bit rude to fellow authors and bookshop owners. But, she’s also been hurt in the past, lost the love of her life, and has isolated herself to the extent that her career is all she has. She makes some terrible decisions throughout the story driven partly by ego, but mostly be fear.

Hartley is not what she seems to be. She is driven by loss and insecurity, but makes some pretty crazy decisions to draw attention to herself and further her career.

And then there’s Cooper, whose story is all over the place and I was never sure what was the truth about him until the story was over. His motivations were less clear in the whole scheme of things, and he seemed to switch sides quite easily.

The use of AI is a main point in the plotline, with Hartley stating she wrote her novel using AI and the rest of the authors standing firmly against it. There is mixed response from the everyone outside the author group within the industry though, and I found that a bit icky. I would have liked a resounding negative response from all involved.

There were a few other plot points involving a crime and food allergies that may have gone a bit too far, but things did resolve quite nicely and I do like where everyone ended up in the end.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC through HTP Book Tours and NetGalley in exchange for a spotlight post and review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Please visit the spotlight post for an excerpt.