I want to thank Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka for this delight of a book! When I finished it, I jabbed the book in my husband’s face and said, “They’re married in real life! I want to cry.”

The Roughest Draft is a dual POV romance between cowriters as they work through their shit to fulfill their two-book contract.

I was giggling, kicking my feet, the whole nine yards. The book is set in Florida and features many beach scenes, so it would be a great vacation companion. I was hoping to devour this by the pool, but Denver had stormier thoughts. ⛈️

Not only do I love romance books with writers, but I also love stories that highlight the realities of the profession. Katrina is terrified of happiness and success because it can be taken away, while Nathan is scared of speaking his truth without the shroud of fiction. It’s just so authentically written, with beautiful quotes!

There were a few things that I didn’t love, but they’re just preferences. I don’t like when characters are in current relationships at the start of a romance. It makes me feel gross to know that someone else is possibly going to get heartbroken at the end. In this case, it worked out okay. (Fuck Chris, but what about Melissa?)

Another thing I didn’t like was there were a few chapters toward the end that pulled me out of the story. They’re finally getting together, but it’s layered with fights from the previous timeline. It was distracting and a little frustrating.

That being said, those are the only two nitpicks that I have and I truly loved this book. I may want to return to it to annotate it.