The Roughest Draft
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3.9 • 8 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
This novel is that rare piece of writing that needs no editing, haunts your sleep, and leaves you wishing it was longer when you turn the last page.' - Jodi Picoult
Their romance was a bestseller. Too bad it was all fiction . . .
Three years ago, Katrina Freeling and Nathan Van Huysen were the brightest literary stars on the horizon, their cowritten book topping bestseller lists. But on the heels of their greatest success, they ended their partnership on bad terms, for reasons neither would divulge to the public. They haven't spoken since, and never planned to, except they have one final book due on contract.
Facing crossroads in their personal and professional lives, they're forced to reunite. The last thing they ever thought they'd do again is hole up in the tiny Florida town where they wrote their previous book, trying to finish a new manuscript quickly and painlessly. Working through the reasons they've hated each other for the past three years isn't easy, especially not while writing a romantic novel.
While passion and prose push them closer together in the Florida heat, Katrina and Nathan will learn that relationships, like writing, sometimes take a few rough drafts before they get it right.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Married coauthors Wibberley and Siegemund-Broka (Time of Our Lives) break from their usual YA rom-coms for a surprisingly bleak adult debut that's light on both romance and comedy. Three years ago, Nathan Van Huysen and Katrina Freeling co-wrote the bestseller Only Once, which centered on an affair. Nathan was married at the time, and rumors about their art reflecting their lives drove Katrina to an early retirement and Nathan to tell the New Yorker that writing with Katrina was "torture." But when Katrina's literary agent turned fiancé, Chris, runs into financial trouble and Nathan's solo book proposal is rejected, the pair reluctantly agree to work together again. They hole up in Florida and insult each other through drafting their new manuscript—until their true feelings reveal themselves on the page. The prose is rather pedestrian for how loftily both characters discuss literature, and the alternating timeline between their work on the new novel and their collaboration on Only Once adds little. Most rom-com readers will object to the emotional affair between Katrina and Nathan while Nathan was married, and the pretentious, privileged Nathan and self-involved Katrina do little to redeem themselves. This literary spin on Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story aims for bittersweet, but lands on depressing.
