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shareen17's review
3.0
A woman is paired up with her career enemy to host a morning tv program with strict requirements to bring up the ratings. Can they learn to work together? You'll never guess. Light and fun.
karenmathis's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
amlibera's review against another edition
3.0
My sense is that this isn't quite up to the same level as some of the other books in this series, but that may just be missing the theatre element (morning show presenters isn't quite the same catnip for me) but there's a Christmassy element and I liked the characters and, to be honest, my brain is fried from my own two week's of intense theatre tech so... this did the job that I needed it to do which was to distract me while I recovered.
jackiehorne's review against another edition
4.0
3.5
HEADLINERS gets off to a bit of a slow start, since it has to recap key backstory that unfolded in the previous book in the series, The Jane Austen Playbook, and because it throws in references and quick sightings of characters from the first two books in the series, too. Once it gets going, it proves witty, entertaining, and well-written, but not quite as grounded in clear feminist issues as the earlier books in the series are.
Sabrina Carlton (white Brit) and Nick Davenport (Guyanese-Brit), rival TV anchors, are competing for a hot evening news job until public embarrassments (Sabrina's revealed via a report by Nick) take both out of the running. Rather than fire them both, the executive head of programming gives both a second chance—if, first, they will co-host the network's dismally-rated morning show, Wake Me Up London, or WMUL, for the month of December. Surely their very public feud will draw audiences eager to see the two rival co-hosts trade insults and set-downs on what is supposed to be a cheerful, family-friendly show.
Neither Sabrina nor Nick, both more known for intelligence than for sentiment, is eager to take on the morning job. But as each wants to continue their network careers, they grin and bear it and start petting puppies, cooking pies, and interviewing celebrities and people with five minutes of fame.
Nick's long been attracted to Sabrina, but has long repressed that attraction, only allowing it out via his snarky public comments about her. He's regretting allowing his ambition to get in the way of his humanity, which led him to break the story that implicated Sabrina's family in a literary scandal; emulating his reporter-father, who cared more about his career and ideals than his family and friends, has never been one of Nick's life-goals. Sabrina is less enchanted by Nick, reading his one-time ruthless unveiling of her family's secret as a deeply-held character-trait. But when unexplained accidents begin to disrupt their morning shows, Sabrina and Nick decide to work together to discover the culprit. And in the process, they discover the person behind the headliner image each projects to the public.
Though well-written and plotted as previous entries in the series, this one felt a little flatter, perhaps because the goals of both characters—saving their television careers—didn't come across as that vital or compelling, and the saboteur plot felt rather predictable. Sabrina comes across as a rounded character, with her strong relationship with her sister, her difficult one with her father, and a romantic past that she is working to put behind her. But Nick is less developed, not only than Sabrina, but also than previous Parker male leads.
HEADLINERS gets off to a bit of a slow start, since it has to recap key backstory that unfolded in the previous book in the series, The Jane Austen Playbook, and because it throws in references and quick sightings of characters from the first two books in the series, too. Once it gets going, it proves witty, entertaining, and well-written, but not quite as grounded in clear feminist issues as the earlier books in the series are.
Sabrina Carlton (white Brit) and Nick Davenport (Guyanese-Brit), rival TV anchors, are competing for a hot evening news job until public embarrassments (Sabrina's revealed via a report by Nick) take both out of the running. Rather than fire them both, the executive head of programming gives both a second chance—if, first, they will co-host the network's dismally-rated morning show, Wake Me Up London, or WMUL, for the month of December. Surely their very public feud will draw audiences eager to see the two rival co-hosts trade insults and set-downs on what is supposed to be a cheerful, family-friendly show.
Neither Sabrina nor Nick, both more known for intelligence than for sentiment, is eager to take on the morning job. But as each wants to continue their network careers, they grin and bear it and start petting puppies, cooking pies, and interviewing celebrities and people with five minutes of fame.
Nick's long been attracted to Sabrina, but has long repressed that attraction, only allowing it out via his snarky public comments about her. He's regretting allowing his ambition to get in the way of his humanity, which led him to break the story that implicated Sabrina's family in a literary scandal; emulating his reporter-father, who cared more about his career and ideals than his family and friends, has never been one of Nick's life-goals. Sabrina is less enchanted by Nick, reading his one-time ruthless unveiling of her family's secret as a deeply-held character-trait. But when unexplained accidents begin to disrupt their morning shows, Sabrina and Nick decide to work together to discover the culprit. And in the process, they discover the person behind the headliner image each projects to the public.
Though well-written and plotted as previous entries in the series, this one felt a little flatter, perhaps because the goals of both characters—saving their television careers—didn't come across as that vital or compelling, and the saboteur plot felt rather predictable. Sabrina comes across as a rounded character, with her strong relationship with her sister, her difficult one with her father, and a romantic past that she is working to put behind her. But Nick is less developed, not only than Sabrina, but also than previous Parker male leads.
laila4343's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. A fun contemporary romance with some emotional heft and a bit of family saga thrown in. I’ll keep Parker in mind when I need some escapism.
rebroxannape's review against another edition
4.0
“Sabrina considered herself a morning person. However, she also considered that mornings began at 10: 00 a.m. When she hobbled into the WMUL studio at 5:00a.m...she immediately put her arm across her bleary eyes. Oh, Jesus. She'd forgotten how the breakfast set was dressed. Bright, Chirpy shades of neon buttercup everywhere. It was like someone had exploded the yellow Teletubby, and the contrast between the walls inside and the pitch-black sky outside was physically painful. Maybe the withered ratings couldn't entirely be blamed on a succession of unpopular presenters. Viewers were probably trying to preserve their corneas."Lucy Parker writes a fun book. Even the book I thought was “just OK” was fun. The first book I read (The Austen Playbook) was delightful and the precursor to this one. Headliners is somewhere in the middle of the two. In The Austen Playbook, we meet its heroine’s sister, Sabrina, an ambitious, tempestuous, no-nonsense TV broadcaster, who has an on-again, off-again relationship with an egotistical actor who is cheating on her. She also has an intense rivalry with a fellow broadcaster, Nick Davenport, who, at the end of the former book, exposed her father's perfidious involvement in a plagiarism scandal involving his Grandmother, an illustrious actor and playwright. The hit to her famous family’s reputation has unfairly stalled Sabrina’s career. At the beginning of Headliners, Nick has disastrously insulted the head of the network publicly and his once soaring career trajectory has plummeted. The two sworn enemies are forced to work together to rescue a struggling morning show. If the ratings are not way up by Christmas Eve, both of their careers are toast.
So the stage is well and truly set for an enemies to lovers romance, which seems to be a specialty of Ms. Parker. While the two start off by circling each other like boxers in a ring, they are forced to team up to solve the (not very mysterious) mystery of who is trying to sabotage their show and why. A computer Chucky-like doll goes haywire and attacks Sabrina’s chest live on air (hilarious), Ingredients are substituted in a cooking segment and renowned Chef Marco is infuriated when the live sampling results in his signature dish being spit out in disgust. (also very funny). Meanwhile, the two are inching their way to mutual respect, physical attraction, friendship, and true love; and the pranks on set go from inconvenient mischievousness to physical harm.
As in her other two books, I liked the maturity of the romance. There was no constant drooling and panting ad-nauseum over Nick’s physical attributes and their effect on our heroine’s libido. The sex was certainly more spicy than average when they finally go all-in on their relationship, but there was nothing adolescent about it. The two communicate with each other and they trust each other. There is no stupid “big misunderstanding” that temporarily drives them apart. The plot doesn’t need that silliness to maintain interest. Instead, we have sophisticated amusing banter and witty observations. One of my favorite bits was the weatherman who can only converse in weather-related terms “He left under quite a cloud…My mind is getting a bit foggy these days…such a lovely sunny smile…His tic is contagious and the puns start to pile up…”Yes, she’s on cloud nine with the new show-Blimey.” “ It’s funny stuff.
We also have the wicked witch of a villain of the previous book getting her so satisfactory comeuppance, the reappearances of the lovable Freddy, Sabrina’s sister and her formidable husband, her difficult father, Nick’s unusual family and their story, and a few more little side trips. Ms. Parker makes an effort to give all of her many characters detailed character traits or backstories which make them come to life in especially amusing, endearing, or nasty ways. Nick’s ex-wife and good friend describing his date for the evening as “Whispering Willow…a walking ASMR video” drolly pegs both Tia, his ex-wife, and his date.
For me though, the main appeal of this and the other books I have read so far by this author is the immersion in the glittering lives of the privileged and famous of London and environs. It is a whole other world and is very entertaining. It did bog down in the middle for some reason (too many side trips?) and it took me forever to finish it. Not sure it was really the book's fault but for that reason, it is 4 stars for me, not 5.
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings.com/
rebroxannape's review
4.0
“Sabrina considered herself a morning person. However, she also considered that mornings began at 10: 00 a.m. When she hobbled into the WMUL studio at 5:00a.m...she immediately put her arm across her bleary eyes. Oh, Jesus. She'd forgotten how the breakfast set was dressed. Bright, Chirpy shades of neon buttercup everywhere. It was like someone had exploded the yellow Teletubby, and the contrast between the walls inside and the pitch-black sky outside was physically painful. Maybe the withered ratings couldn't entirely be blamed on a succession of unpopular presenters. Viewers were probably trying to preserve their corneas."Lucy Parker writes a fun book. Even the book I thought was “just OK” was fun. The first book I read (The Austen Playbook) was delightful and the precursor to this one. Headliners is somewhere in the middle of the two. In The Austen Playbook, we meet its heroine’s sister, Sabrina, an ambitious, tempestuous, no-nonsense TV broadcaster, who has an on-again, off-again relationship with an egotistical actor who is cheating on her. She also has an intense rivalry with a fellow broadcaster, Nick Davenport, who, at the end of the former book, exposed her father's perfidious involvement in a plagiarism scandal involving his Grandmother, an illustrious actor and playwright. The hit to her famous family’s reputation has unfairly stalled Sabrina’s career. At the beginning of Headliners, Nick has disastrously insulted the head of the network publicly and his once soaring career trajectory has plummeted. The two sworn enemies are forced to work together to rescue a struggling morning show. If the ratings are not way up by Christmas Eve, both of their careers are toast.
So the stage is well and truly set for an enemies to lovers romance, which seems to be a specialty of Ms. Parker. While the two start off by circling each other like boxers in a ring, they are forced to team up to solve the (not very mysterious) mystery of who is trying to sabotage their show and why. A computer Chucky-like doll goes haywire and attacks Sabrina’s chest live on air (hilarious), Ingredients are substituted in a cooking segment and renowned Chef Marco is infuriated when the live sampling results in his signature dish being spit out in disgust. (also very funny). Meanwhile, the two are inching their way to mutual respect, physical attraction, friendship, and true love; and the pranks on set go from inconvenient mischievousness to physical harm.
As in her other two books, I liked the maturity of the romance. There was no constant drooling and panting ad-nauseum over Nick’s physical attributes and their effect on our heroine’s libido. The sex was certainly more spicy than average when they finally go all-in on their relationship, but there was nothing adolescent about it. The two communicate with each other and they trust each other. There is no stupid “big misunderstanding” that temporarily drives them apart. The plot doesn’t need that silliness to maintain interest. Instead, we have sophisticated amusing banter and witty observations. One of my favorite bits was the weatherman who can only converse in weather-related terms “He left under quite a cloud…My mind is getting a bit foggy these days…such a lovely sunny smile…His tic is contagious and the puns start to pile up…”Yes, she’s on cloud nine with the new show-Blimey.” “ It’s funny stuff.
We also have the wicked witch of a villain of the previous book getting her so satisfactory comeuppance, the reappearances of the lovable Freddy, Sabrina’s sister and her formidable husband, her difficult father, Nick’s unusual family and their story, and a few more little side trips. Ms. Parker makes an effort to give all of her many characters detailed character traits or backstories which make them come to life in especially amusing, endearing, or nasty ways. Nick’s ex-wife and good friend describing his date for the evening as “Whispering Willow…a walking ASMR video” drolly pegs both Tia, his ex-wife, and his date.
For me though, the main appeal of this and the other books I have read so far by this author is the immersion in the glittering lives of the privileged and famous of London and environs. It is a whole other world and is very entertaining. It did bog down in the middle for some reason (too many side trips?) and it took me forever to finish it. Not sure it was really the book's fault but for that reason, it is 4 stars for me, not 5.
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings.com/
emjayreads's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
caitlinmchugh24's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book. Enemies to friends to being love is typically not what I read in romance, but this author and the other book in this series ensured that I read this book. Nick and Sabrina were fully developed and the setting of London and the news station made it an engaging and enjoyable. I will continue to read this series and recommend it for fans of contemporary romance, set outside of the United States. As this was part of a series, I would recommend reading at least 1 or more of the books before this ones in order to understand the group of characters in the series and some of the events/information referenced.
heidenkind's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyable! Loved the chemistry between Nick and Sabrina and appreciated how the Big Misunderstanding was neatly sidestepped.