Nora Goes Off Script Paperback – February 28, 2023

This book has my heart completely! It's all the best parts of Funny You Should Ask and Evvie Drake Starts Over with a huge helping of Emily Henry, all rolled into one funny, heartwarming, emotional story.Nora Hamilton is a divorced, single mom of two, and a screenwriter for made-for-tv romance movies. When she writes a screenplay about the demise of her marriage instead of her standard formulaic happily-ever-after script, it is sold to a Hollywood studio who plan to make a big screen movie about it - complete with former sexiest man alive actor Leo Vance playing her ex - and pay her to film it at her home. The pair butt heads from the moment he steps out of the trailer that's ruining her lawn, but the morning after the cast and crew leave, Nora finds Leo on her porch watching the sunrise. He offers a proposition - let him stay on for a week in the tea house where they filmed, and he'll pay her $1000 a day in rent. As a single mom keeping her family afloat, with no help from her too-good-to-ever-work ex, she knows that the money will help pad her meager finances. But it's the raw and desperate emotion she sees on his face that makes her agree to the arrangement. As the days go by, they find a familiar and comfortable pattern, which evolves into a whirlwind affair. When Leo has to leave Nora to go back to L.A. for an audition, he promises to be back in a week. But life gets in the way and once a week passes, and Leo doesn't return, and then disappears entirely from Nora's life. What follows is the aftermath of a quick and intense love, heartbreak, and soldiering on for your family when all you want to do is fall apart.A beautiful and emotional love story, with a happy ending. Nora is relatable - she's a wonderful mother, writer, and doesn't allow her past hurts to jade her to opening her heart again. Leo is complicated but is open hearted and generous. The pair balance each other out so well, they truly have a great relationship. The emotional ups-and-downs between them are well portrayed and entirely believable. My only wish is that we could have seen some of the story from Leo's point of view! This author is now an automatic buy for me!

This one was a cute weekend read.Nora is a screenwriter whose husband Ben left her and her kids a year ago. Just walked out and barely bothers to call his kids. Says he’ll come visit but doesn’t. And she turns their story in to a movie. It is one that is very unlike the Romance Channel movies she usually writes. This one is getting made for the big screen, by big actors. Like Leo, one of the most handsome men in the world. Who will be filming in The Tea House behind her home, where her story is set.He walks into her house like he owns it, drinks her beer and fills in her crosswords and Nora cannot wait for filming to be over. But then, the day after the crews leave, Leo is still there. He offers her $1000 a day to stay for a week. Just to be a “normal” person and relax and enjoy nature. And the money could really help Nora out. So she lets him. As the days go by and she sees him struggling with whatever midlife crisis this is while being absolutely wonderful with her kids, she finds herself enjoying the “family” nights they’re building. But he’s a movie star so she doesn’t get ahead of herself. Until Leo starts seeming like he may want to stay.Like all good “romance channel” stories, this one has it’s ups and downs and then the happy ending. It was cute and sweet, but also a testament to surviving a broken heart. I liked it!

A few years ago when Justin Timberlake was filming in our town a friend said:: “Imagine if we bumped into him in town.” And then continued: “Imagine if he fell for one of us or just an everyday mom doing everyday things.” We laughed about how crazy that would be.Annabel Monaghan’s first foray into adult fiction, Nora Goes Off Script, brings a spectacular version of this daydream to life. Nora is a 39-year-old single mom trying to figure out how to keep her home and family afloat after her husband leaves. She writes for the Romance Channel and admittedly has the formula down pat. She gets the joke: “My superpower is methodically placing a man and woman in the same shiny town, populated by unusually happy people with maddeningly small problems. They bristle at first and then fall in love.”But when she writes a script based on her failed marriage, Hollywood’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ is cast as her husband and filming takes place at her 100-year-old home, the ordinary meets the extraordinary as an unexpected and multi layered love story unfurls.Simply put, Nora is delightful – the character and the book. She’s thoughtful and kind, funny and fun. She is keenly observant, cares deeply about the people around her and appreciates the natural beauty of her home and hometown– from the sun that rises “differently every day” to Mr. Mapleton who owns the local hardware store. She has all the qualities you’d hope for in a good friend. And as you would wish for a good friend, you want the best for her, you want to know she will be ok and whatever happens you won’t want to leave her at the end.The book is not unlike one of those Russian stacking dolls – stories within stories, a play within a screenplay, a real romance wrapped up in a fictionalized version of a loveless marriage. Monaghan’s superpower as a writer, in addition to her facility with language, dialogue and descriptive phrases is her ability to thread the big things – all of life’s joy, wonder and inevitable losses - through the tapestry of everyday life. Sure, Hollywood’s leading man may be camped out in her back yard as a whirlwind romance plays out on the front porch, but still, Nora has chickens to roast, bills to pay and kids that need to be places - at the same time.Some of my favorite parts of this romantic comedy have nothing to do with the romance – they are the very real questions we all ask ourselves: What’s for dinner? How are we going to make the play and that meeting? How do we keep our kids happy, confident and content when so often it feels like everything is working against us?These are the truths Nora wrestles with, they are also the topics we all navigate as parents, as friends, as members of a family and a community. Through Nora, Monaghan encourages us to see more clearly the mundane and the magical, the hilarious and heartbreaking details that make up our days. She encourages us to laugh, to cry and to commiserate along with her – and its impossible not to cheer her on in the process;

It’s 3:30 am and I’m awake because I just finished this book. I’m not sure if Annabel reads her reviews, but I’ll thank her in this one just in case. Thanks for writing such a beautiful story that helped me escape into it. My mom passed a few months ago, and all I can think about is how much she would’ve loved your book and how much fun we would’ve had talking about it. That feeling, while sad, makes me feel close to her.