Ava Wilder

I loved this book. It was not an easy romance - this book tackles a lot of intense issues: alcoholism, intimate photo leak, death of a partner (not on page), difficult family dynamics, and the ethical dilemma of child actors and labor for media consumption. Also, this is a fake dating romance, so we are constantly on edge, waiting for the damn characters to admit they have actual feelings not pretend ones (which I absolutely love). I appreciate the depth of the side characters - and how Ethan's ex is not made out to be a mean, controlling ex-wife but a former partner, co-parent and sometime collaborator.

Anyway - it's an intense book and it took a lot of work to get these two mc's on equal ground to be vulnerable and open but the struggles were worth it.… (altro)

When co-stars Lilah and Shane are reunited for the final season of a paranormal mystery series, their hostile off-screen relationship gets them sent off to counselling together.

This is a lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romance, and I’ve concluded that this dynamic leads me up to doubt whether a couple should get back together. Rivalry and antagonism hit differently when fueled by betrayal rather than people just not really knowing each other. (I’m not sure if I’m explaining this clearly, but I am sure that I don’t want to spend a whole heap of time and words on it.) Lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers also has a tendency to miss what I enjoy most about second chance romance (the angst and pining) and about enemies-to-lovers (characters reevaluating what they think of the other once they open up more).

Anyway, the portrayal of working in Hollywood was interesting, and I enjoyed the parts of the story where Lilah and Shane are actually getting along.

Not my favourite but not a waste of time.… (altro)

Recommended by Ella S.

Actress Grey Brooks is looking for work after her long-running teen show ends. Much-more-famous actor Ethan Atkins has been wallowing since the death of his best friend and collaborator Sam about five years ago. Grey and Ethan's mutual publicist sets them up for a six-month fake relationship, but it gets off to a bumpy start...then seems to go well...then turns into a huge disaster when nude photos are leaked and Grey loses the job she'd just gotten. Ethan's struggles with alcoholism are constant throughout, and after he ruins a public panel and his private relationship in one day, he goes into rehab and therapy, reconnecting with Grey sixteen months later.

Grey and Ethan's chemistry is wholly believable, and Grey in particular is a compelling character who has her own flaws and insecurities but also a lot of self-confidence and a refusal to take anyone's bullshit, even Ethan Atkins' (on whom she had a tween crush; he's about ten years older).

Secondary characters like Grey's friend Kamilah, her agent Renata (who also appears in Will They Or Won't They), and Ethan's ex-wife Nora add depth and interest to the story.

Quotes

Maybe that was what fame did to you: made you paranoid that none of your private moments would ever be private again. (85)

Everyone knew celebrities' development permanently arrested at the age they became famous. (104)

He'd made his life as small as possible so he'd hurt as little as possible. (299)… (altro)

Lilah Hunter and Shane McCarthy co-starred on the popular show Intangible for five years; then Lilah left to pursue a career in movies that didn't work out as she'd hoped, and she's back for Intangible's ninth and final season. But Lilah and Shane's own relationship is alternately frosty and explosive after their romance and breakup during the first season. They still have chemistry - can they overcome their flaws, weaknesses, and miscommunications to rebuild? (The HEA is guaranteed, so...yes! But this contemporary Hollywood romance has both heat and depth, with two complex characters at its center.

Quotes

None of [Lilah's standard responses] were lies, exactly, but the real answer was both simpler and far more complicated: because of her anxiety.
She couldn't remember a time before it. (47)

Lilah sometimes felt like she was walking around with a snake coiled in her belly just waiting for her to open her mouth , ready to strike at the slightest provocation. (82)

"Because if I don't make an effort [with the other cast members], I'm a bitch who thinks I'm better than everyone. But if I do make an effort, I'm being fake. What do you want from me, exactly?" (120)

Like the place in his heart where she used to fit had been drywalled over rather than bricked up. (143)

"I think we're past the 'sex without feelings' stage of our relationship," she said quietly...
"So what stage are we in, then? Feelings without sex?" (236)

It was as if she'd been trudging around in head-to-toe armor for so long that she no longer noticed the burden, but now that it was suddenly lying in pieces at her feet, she was left both weightless and defenseless. (299)… (altro)