Counting the Days
A Novel
-
- Pre-Order
-
- Expected Aug 11, 2026
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
What begins as a near-midlife crisis transforms into a journey of love and self-acceptance in this sharp, beautifully layered, and funny debut romance from screenwriter and director Laura Chinn.
At thirty-eight years old, Rhea Darby has never been more single in her life. With her best friends all married and having kids, her social calendar is filled with baby showers and birthday parties, petting zoos and bouncy castles. However, she’d much rather be having hot sex with “the one” and getting closer to the perfect life she always envisioned. After being told that her fertility might plummet when she turns thirty-nine, and always having wanted kids of her own, Rhea decides that drastic times call for drastic measures. She has less than a year to find the right guy, or she’ll have to rethink her meticulously crafted vision board of the future.
Apparently, manifestation really works, because she soon meets Danny, a gorgeous gardener who is perfect for her—until Danny reveals he is absolutely morally opposed to having kids. Still, the connection between them is too strong to resist, even as their differences threaten to tear them apart. Rhea realizes she can’t let go of Danny, but is she willing to sacrifice her dreams to keep him?
Counting the Days is an insightful and sexy novel in which the complexities of love and modern womanhood are met with relatable humor and self-acceptance.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Screenwriter Chinn (Suncoast) grounds her heartfelt debut novel in realistic and complex conflict about whether to have kids. Rhea Darby, 38, has a vision board for her perfect life, complete with happy family and white picket fence. Then her doctor tells her that her chances of getting pregnant will "fall off a cliff" once she turns 39, and the pressure is on to find her dream man. Enter kind, considerate Danny Beckett, a professional gardener who is both attractive and attentive. There's just one problem: he doesn't want children for reasons both personal, following his own unhappy childhood, and political, given the uncertain state of Earth's future. This should be a deal-breaker for Rhea, but she finds it impossible to walk away from Danny. To make a relationship work, they must navigate their conflicting desires for the future. Chinn brings a lot of nuance to their debate, especially highlighting the social pressures on women. The result is poignant and resonant.
