The Roughest Draft
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3.9 • 123 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
One of...
Amazon's Best Romances of January
Popsugar's Best New Romances of 2022
Cosmopolitan's Best Romance Novels of 2022
Buzzfeed, GMA.com, Shondaland, and Bustle's Best of January
Oprah Daily’s Most Anticipated Romances of 2022
E! News' Books to Add To Your Reading List in January
Bookbub's Most Anticipated Romances of Winter
The Nerd Daily’s Swoonworthy 2022 Releases
They were cowriting literary darlings until they hit a plot hole that turned their lives upside down.
Three years ago, Katrina Freeling and Nathan Van Huysen were the brightest literary stars on the horizon, their cowritten book topping bestseller lists. But on the heels of their greatest success, they ended their partnership on bad terms, for reasons neither would divulge to the public. They haven't spoken since, and never planned to, except they have one final book due on contract.
Facing crossroads in their personal and professional lives, they're forced to reunite. The last thing they ever thought they'd do again is hole up in the tiny Florida town where they wrote their previous book, trying to finish a new manuscript quickly and painlessly. Working through the reasons they've hated each other for the past three years isn't easy, especially not while writing a romantic novel.
While passion and prose push them closer together in the Florida heat, Katrina and Nathan will learn that relationships, like writing, sometimes take a few rough drafts before they get it right.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Married coauthors Wibberley and Siegemund-Broka (Time of Our Lives) break from their usual YA rom-coms for a surprisingly bleak adult debut that's light on both romance and comedy. Three years ago, Nathan Van Huysen and Katrina Freeling co-wrote the bestseller Only Once, which centered on an affair. Nathan was married at the time, and rumors about their art reflecting their lives drove Katrina to an early retirement and Nathan to tell the New Yorker that writing with Katrina was "torture." But when Katrina's literary agent turned fiancé, Chris, runs into financial trouble and Nathan's solo book proposal is rejected, the pair reluctantly agree to work together again. They hole up in Florida and insult each other through drafting their new manuscript—until their true feelings reveal themselves on the page. The prose is rather pedestrian for how loftily both characters discuss literature, and the alternating timeline between their work on the new novel and their collaboration on Only Once adds little. Most rom-com readers will object to the emotional affair between Katrina and Nathan while Nathan was married, and the pretentious, privileged Nathan and self-involved Katrina do little to redeem themselves. This literary spin on Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story aims for bittersweet, but lands on depressing.
Customer Reviews
The Roughest Draft
First time reading these authors. It was a good story, with interesting characters. I did get tired of going back and forth in time.
Put together so well!
Everything about this book was amazing! One of my favorite romance books I have ever read.
captivating, lovely language
the language was poetic and as a lover of subtext, i appreciated every detail. the choices felt intentional and i loved that about this book. every time i picked it up, it felt captivating and like i was diving into the story every time. i loved it more than i thought i would!