Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

Nora Goes Off Script by Anabel Monaghan tells the tale of Nora, who writes screenplays for cheesy romance movies. Her husband recently left her and her two kids and she's mostly okay with things, dealing better without him than she was with him. Sure, she's broke and her old house is falling apart around her, but she feels good about life. She writes a script about her breakup and they film some of it at her rundown home and she meets Leo, the famous movie star who is playing the lead role in her screenplay. The day after filming is finished, though, she finds Leo still there, wrapped up in a blanket on her front porch. What's going to happen with these two?

Interesting characters: Nora's pretty great. Leo's pretty great. The whole cast of characters, including the two kids, are pretty great. I like that Nora has friends. I like Nora's parents. I wish there was a dog in this book, but, hey, you can't get everything you want in life. (I generally do NOT like precocious children in books, but these two kids made me laugh whenever they were on the page. I'm pretty sure that's not realistic in any way, but I adored them.) Monaghan did a great job with the backstory for each of these characters. She gave them quirks and faults, but still made me want to hang out with them. 

Believable conflict: THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE. The conflict here was so real and so believable and I think other romance authors should TAKE NOTE.

Emotional tension: So much. Before the author clued us in to what was going on, I honestly said "he is irredeemable" out loud, to my husband, who was not reading the book and did not care what I had to say about it. BUT. Of course it's all solved in the end and it's all solved in a way that satisfied me. 

Happily ever after: Oh, what a lovely family they will be. They just need to get a dog. (NOTE: The dog stuff is all me. It never actually comes up in the book.)

Forget the trash that was The Roughest Draft. It's much better than Book Lovers. If you want to read about creative people falling in love, read this. 

5/5 stars

Lines of notes (there were so many I marked - be happy I pared it down to half a dozen!):

Whoever buys this house from me, I always think, will tear it down. It’s over a hundred years old; everything’s broken. There’s a certain point in January when the wind blows right into the kitchen and we have to duct-tape a fleece blanket over the doorframe. The floorboards droop; there are only two bathrooms and they’re both upstairs. Each bedroom has a closet designed to house six outfits, preferably for very small people. (location 67)

Ha ha ha. There is currently a beach towel being used a draft blocker for our front door, our bedrooms don't even have closets, and I frequently think that whoever inherits this house from us is going to just burn the whole thing down. This felt relatable is what I'm saying.

He’s remarkably uncoordinated and completely disinterested in sports. These are facts, not opinions. I have seen Arthur stop running down the court in the middle of a basketball game to wind his watch. (location 719)

It is reported that a soccer game many years ago, my oldest niece just started doing pirouettes in the middle of the field as her coach yelled at her to be ready to play defense. This story is family legend.

My parents make me believe that some people really are made for each other and that a joyful, easy marriage is possible. Two people who love each other and are looking in the same direction can build a wonderful life. (location 1989)

This author is so generous in her characterization of side characters. Nora's parents are LOVELY and their relationship is LOVELY and it makes sense that Nora writes love stories even as her own love life is in shambles because she has great role models. I loved the main storyline in this book, but I loved all the side stories and tertiary characters even more.

It might be worth thinking about how I want to feel, because I’ve really burned out on feeling the way I currently feel. (location 2394) 

Huh. Generally when I feel crappy, I just try to avoid anything by making myself busy and avoiding time to think. Maybe that's not healthy?

My contractor was, in fact, cute and also single, but he had a way of over pronouncing his G’s when using the gerund tense that I just couldn’t get past. (location 2448)

This. Writing genius. It's what happens in real life, isn't it? You just glom onto that one thing and it turns you off from everything else.

This is one of the best parts of my mom, her ability to fill a space with words that will take things in a new direction. I remember getting a tooth pulled as a child and my mother sitting in the chair behind the dentist, telling the story of a rooster she met on her way to church last week. (location 2460)

Again, so generous in a description of another woman, but also really funny.