Love Scenes | ARC Review

Synopsis

Acting like she’s in love with her handsome nightmare of a co-star–in a movie directed and produced by her complicated Hollywood royalty family–is Sloane’s job. But what happens when the lines between script and reality get blurred?

Out-of-work actress Sloane Ford is in desperate need of something to do after losing her steady TV gig. When her famous family ropes her into working as a producer on their World War II-era romance, they neglect to mention that the film will be headlined by Joseph Donovan, her least favorite former co-star of all time. The roguish actor made her life a living hell the last time they worked together, using his movie star good looks and Irish charm to cover for his erratic professional behavior. On their new film set, he promises he’s different now, but Sloane is far from convinced.

As filming gets underway, it becomes clear that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. When the lead actress is abruptly fired, Sloane agrees to step in and take over the role, and she starts to remember why she fell in love with acting in the first place. On camera, she and Joseph share an electric chemistry. Off camera, they’ve been honing their characters and, much to Sloane’s surprise, growing closer. But playing the role of a woman in love with Joseph Donovan is a dangerous business, and the more time they spend together, the less Sloane can tell what’s real between them, and what’s just for show.

Review

This was a really enjoyable book. I was hooked from the beginning and didn’t put it down until I was finished.

I really enjoyed this story which is what kept me moving along at such a rapid pace. It’s different from similar books about movie stars because it focuses more on an individual and her personal life rather than the perks of her career and being famous.

Our main character is Sloane and she begins this book disgruntled with people in her life and feeling a bit coerced into doing a job made-up by her family just to get her involved. At first, I was feeling a bit frustrated with the writing because it seemed like Sloane’s feelings about things were all over the place. She seemed a bit unsteady and had lots of contrasting feelings. Then, I realized that her inconsistent feelings were kinda the point of the book. She needed to figure where she stood in life and where she wanted to be moving forward. She begins the book a bit directionless and has to find her footing along the way. A lot of that footing involves her feelings about her family, friends, and people of her past.

Speaking of people from her past, lemme talk a second about Joseph. Joe was an interesting character for me (and one that I really loved) because of his past. Sloane hates Joe because of what he did to her years ago, but the interesting thing about this book is that we never get to know that Joe. We only know about the guy he used to be from Sloane’s memories and past experiences. The Joe the reader gets to know is completely different and he never regresses. That’s also what makes him so different from similar characters in other books. He knows his messed-up past is meant to be left behind and he never looks back.

There are a lot of family themes in this book that are briefly explored on Sloane’s path of clarity. Some of these themes or issues are thoroughly explored, but not all of them. I like that not every problem with Sloane’s family or even Joe’s family is completely resolved because that’s not how real life is. Things just don’t all magically come together all at once. It takes time and sometimes problems can regress after some progression. I liked the reality of this while still keeping with a happy ending.

The romance could have been a little bit better in my opinion, but I didn’t hate it. I think if there had been more “sweet scenes” or scenes that really helped me to know that the two of them were getting to know each other better, I would have been more satisfied. We do see a couple, but I would have liked more.

Overall, I’m very happy I ended up reading this book. It was real, emotional, and romantic. I’d recommend it!

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed a gifted and advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating

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