Nora Goes Off Script ⭐⭐⭐

Nora Goes Off Script  by Annabel Monaghan

G👀dreads About Summary

Nora Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance channel screenwriter, it's her job. But when her too-good-to work husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage's collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life. No one is more surprised than her when it's picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne'er-do-well husband Nora's life will never be the same.

The morning after shooting wraps and the crew leaves, Nora finds Leo on her porch with a half-empty bottle of tequila and a proposition. He'll pay a thousand dollars a day to stay for a week. The extra seven grand would give Nora breathing room, but it's the need in his eyes that makes her say yes. Seven days: it's the blink of an eye or an eternity depending on how you look at it. Enough time to fall in love. Enough time to break your heart.

Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is the best kind of love story--the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen.

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Chick Lit

The How/Why: Too much hype. The real question is why two Romance in a row*. I don't usually do that. I started this one and at 7% I put it on pause because I just wasn't feelin' it. I still wanted fluffy so I queued up The Great Italian Holiday Mix-Up instead. It was a quick one so when I finished that I thought I'd give Nora another try. 
*I can do back-to-back Historical Fiction or back-to-back Mystery/Thriller, or even Christmas stories.  Romance not so much. I usually need to break it up with something more serious.  

⭐⭐⭐ 

🎉 Overall Storytelling? 🎉🎉🎉🎊

🎣 Did it grab and keep my attention? 🎣🎣🎣🎏

🗣️Would I recommend it to anyone? Maybe 🤷 If you like Saturday Night TV Romance Chick Flick.

🕮 Would I want a sequel? No ➖

📚 Would I want to read more books by this author?  Yes ➕ I follower her on IG and she's adorable. Dolly All The Time is being published 5-26-26 and is on my TBR menu.

💣💥 📢 Content Warnings? No

🌶 Spice? No

🌪 Plot Twist? No

👟 Pace? Slow

💻 Tidbits ~ Not much to add about the story that isn't outlined in the About Summary. Her husband leaves her and their two children. She's a successful love-story-made-for-tv writer. She steps out of the box and writes a screenplay about her break up. It gets a movie deal. The cast and crew move in to film. The hot leading man stays for a week or three. They fall in love. He adores her two children and they adore him. He leaves for an audition and says "I'll be back" and then he disappears. Not as in missing person or in John Doe in a coma, but vanishes from her life. 

The entire dramafest of self-doubt could have been avoided with a simple phone call. "Hey, you said you'd be back. Is everything okay? What's going on?". Don't people communicate anymore? 
There would still be a love story about a popular actor fitting in with a ready made family.  

Backing up - Nora writes this kind of romance drama for a living. Isn't the breakup usually due to a misunderstanding? 

I give this one a solid average.
Pros - All the characters were likeable. It was entertaining enough for me to finish it.
Cons - The silent break up and then a very long time of avoiding each other, then the reason comes to light, then back in insta-love again... was just not my cup of tea. 

Apologies to Annabel and those who loved it.
Stealing from Kate Quinn's rating system:  3 stars is "enjoyed it, but something fell a bit short".

🎧 Narrator: Hillary Huber

🎧7.0 hours 🕮 272 pages

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