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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
4 ⭐️ A story about a missed connection and second chances between two co-authors.
The romance was unexpectedly beautiful. I don’t like cheating (emotional or physical) stories, but this was different. You could tell how much Katrina and Nathan loved and respected each other on some fundamental level. But unfortunately, Nathan was married and loved his wife, albeit in a different way. Both Katrina and Nathan struggled to come to terms with their feelings for each other while trying to be respectful of Nathan's marriage. There was some unintentional emotional cheating but nothing physical really happened until the relationship was over. These characters were so conflicted that I couldn't help but feel sorry for them. It's just so obvious that they are soulmates who meet each other at the wrong time. But I loved how they finally find their way back to one another.
Also, I just adored the way Nathan describes Katrina. It truly gave me butterflies during his POV chapters. ❤️
FYI, the spice is very PG13, so non-existent. There's a paragraph or two where we see the characters get frisky, but it's not graphic. Instead of sex, the story has a lot of moments of sexual tension and smoldering.
The writing was brilliant - a lovely combination of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Emily Henry. The metaphors and extended symbolism used throughout this story were beautiful. And the author's prose offered amazing insight into the characters, descriptive settings, and overall amazing attention to detail. I will admit though, there were some moments when the writing was stiff and the flow wasn’t quite right so it took some effort to read. This is intelligent writing so if so you actually have to read each and every single word to follow the story. If you’re a skim reader, you’ll need to slow down.
And how cool that this story written about two authors in love is actually written by a husband and wife author team! Apparently, they came up with this book idea on their honeymoon.
I've seen other reviewers saying the issues between Nathan and Katrina are simple and obvious, but I thought it makes sense why these two couldn’t just talk their problems out. Writing is how Nathan communicates and that wasn’t going to change until he grew as a character. Katrina is a sweetheart but seemed too afraid to live the life she truly wanted. They both had their own subtle issues that are slowly worked through throughout this story.
Overall, The Roughest Draft was a well-written story that I found captivating from start to finish. I felt so many things - angst, anger, love, and heartache - but the ending is HEA and left me satisfied.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review! As always, all opinions are my own.
The romance was unexpectedly beautiful. I don’t like cheating (emotional or physical) stories, but this was different. You could tell how much Katrina and Nathan loved and respected each other on some fundamental level. But unfortunately, Nathan was married and loved his wife, albeit in a different way. Both Katrina and Nathan struggled to come to terms with their feelings for each other while trying to be respectful of Nathan's marriage. There was some unintentional emotional cheating but nothing physical really happened until the relationship was over. These characters were so conflicted that I couldn't help but feel sorry for them. It's just so obvious that they are soulmates who meet each other at the wrong time. But I loved how they finally find their way back to one another.
Also, I just adored the way Nathan describes Katrina. It truly gave me butterflies during his POV chapters. ❤️
FYI, the spice is very PG13, so non-existent. There's a paragraph or two where we see the characters get frisky, but it's not graphic. Instead of sex, the story has a lot of moments of sexual tension and smoldering.
The writing was brilliant - a lovely combination of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Emily Henry. The metaphors and extended symbolism used throughout this story were beautiful. And the author's prose offered amazing insight into the characters, descriptive settings, and overall amazing attention to detail. I will admit though, there were some moments when the writing was stiff and the flow wasn’t quite right so it took some effort to read. This is intelligent writing so if so you actually have to read each and every single word to follow the story. If you’re a skim reader, you’ll need to slow down.
And how cool that this story written about two authors in love is actually written by a husband and wife author team! Apparently, they came up with this book idea on their honeymoon.
I've seen other reviewers saying the issues between Nathan and Katrina are simple and obvious, but I thought it makes sense why these two couldn’t just talk their problems out. Writing is how Nathan communicates and that wasn’t going to change until he grew as a character. Katrina is a sweetheart but seemed too afraid to live the life she truly wanted. They both had their own subtle issues that are slowly worked through throughout this story.
Overall, The Roughest Draft was a well-written story that I found captivating from start to finish. I felt so many things - angst, anger, love, and heartache - but the ending is HEA and left me satisfied.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review! As always, all opinions are my own.
I read this so quickly. Very sweet book with some depth to it as well. Really enjoyed it.
medium-paced
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I heard this compared positively to an Emily Henry book I enjoyed and I've got to say it was disappointing. Didn't connect with either romantic lead and found the metaness of a writer duo writing a book about a writer duo writing a book quite irritating; as much as I hate screenwriters writing scripts about struggling to write a script. Beach Read etc was fine because it didn't focus on the actual writing, whereas this was navelgazey to me.
I had really high hopes for this book, but I was left severely unimpressed. The adorable cover and the author duo had me thinking this would remind me of Beach Read or People We Meet on Vacation, but that was not the case.
We have an author duo whose first book topped the charts and within their contract it states that they will write another book. After their first book, the authors separated and went their different ways. The chapters alternate between present day and 4 years prior when the author duo was writing their first book. This concept was not done well in my opinion. I will occasionally enjoy this timeline split, but there has to be enough suspense driving the plotline. I felt that was the case with The Roughest Draft. Sometimes the two were so similar I was having a hard time remembering if the scene was in past or present.
The romance was not my favorite either. We have two adult characters who are toeing the line of infidelity and they cannot communicate their emotions to save their lives The characters resort to writing scenes and passing them to each other instead of confronting their emotions with each other. That would totally work if the characters were 17 years old, but it felt very childish for an adult couple. The burn was almost too slow and I was uninterested by the end of the story. I felt like I was forcing myself to finish the last 10% of the audiobook and I didn't really pick up on much because of that.
This book was incredibly average to me. I didn't hate it, but I certainly didn't love it either.
We have an author duo whose first book topped the charts and within their contract it states that they will write another book. After their first book, the authors separated and went their different ways. The chapters alternate between present day and 4 years prior when the author duo was writing their first book. This concept was not done well in my opinion. I will occasionally enjoy this timeline split, but there has to be enough suspense driving the plotline. I felt that was the case with The Roughest Draft. Sometimes the two were so similar I was having a hard time remembering if the scene was in past or present.
The romance was not my favorite either. We have two adult characters who are toeing the line of infidelity and they cannot communicate their emotions to save their lives The characters resort to writing scenes and passing them to each other instead of confronting their emotions with each other. That would totally work if the characters were 17 years old, but it felt very childish for an adult couple. The burn was almost too slow and I was uninterested by the end of the story. I felt like I was forcing myself to finish the last 10% of the audiobook and I didn't really pick up on much because of that.
This book was incredibly average to me. I didn't hate it, but I certainly didn't love it either.
I was so excited when I won the giveaway for this book! I love dual POV books and especially ones where they jump from the present to the past. It was written so the reader really understands how well the two characters know and understand one another. I will say, there were a LOT of typos and I’m not sure if that’s part of getting an I corrected proof of a book or what, but even so, I would highly recommend! The book comes out January 2022!!
sometimes books deserve 6 stars, this is one of those times 6/5
This was... not enjoyable. I saw a review where they said the characters were writing fanfic of themselves and that is the best explanation I've seen. -- minor spoiler -- Also I don't like cheaters. I don't care what ya'll say in the past he was cheating on his wife and in the present she was cheating on her fiance (even if he deserved it and was a tool). So besides those things they were still really unlikeable and irritating and I do not recommend. Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.