Tropesick
A Novel
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- ¥1,500
発行者による作品情報
"Lauren Okie is one of my favorite new voices in romance.”
– B.K. Borison, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Good Spirits
In this lush, slow-burning romance, two childhood neighbors, connected by a shared tragedy, unexpectedly reunite to ghostwrite a love story for a reclusive author. Spending the summer at her secluded Hamptons estate, they soon discover that dozens of classic romance tropes, including the ones they’re crafting on page, are mysteriously playing out in real life.
Katie Caruso is a completely normal twenty-five-year-old girl. At least, for the past eight years, she’s tried to be. She likes glitter and sequins and flirting with cute boys at New York City bars. She’s also a ghostwriter for Meredith Bradford, the bestselling romance novelist of all time. But then Tyler McNally walks back into Katie’s life, and that bedazzled facade crumbles at her platform-sneakered feet.
Katie and Tyler haven’t seen or spoken to each other since the overdose death of Katie’s older brother, a standout MLB pitching prospect. Tyler was her brother’s best friend, and Katie—naturally—was the girl next door. But now, Tyler is a sleeve-tattooed, Ivy League–educated aspiring literary fiction novelist, nine years sober . . . and Katie’s writing partner for the summer.
As genre conventions require, Katie and Tyler soon find themselves removed from Manhattan and instead writing their love story in “forced proximity” at Meredith’s isolated Southampton home. As the summer unfolds, the tropes Katie and Tyler have written into their novel begin to play out in their own lives. Call it destiny, fate, or magic itself: it’s clear their love story isn’t finished. This time, though, they’ll work through the pain that tore them apart—and fight for their happy ending.
Heart-wrenching and tender, Tropesick is a love letter to the romance genre. With a wink and a nod, Okie has packed the novel with readers’ favorite tropes:
Grumpy/SunshineBrother’s best friendGirl next doorForced proximityForbidden loveKissing in the rainGroveling heroSecond-chance romanceSlow burnOnly one bed
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
There are multiple layers of metafictionality to this clever romance about romance from Okie (The Best Worst Thing). Katie Caruso makes a perfectly good living ghostwriting for the famously reclusive romance author Meredith Bradford. However, the latest project comes with a wrinkle: thanks to tight deadlines, Katie has been assigned to work with a partner. This turns out to be literary fiction author Tyler McNally—Katie's deceased older brother's best friend and her former crush. Despite their rocky history, the two agree to work together on Meredith's next book, a trope-filled love letter to Southampton. As their project proceeds, Katie and Tyler experience the very tropes woven into their plot (which, as it happens, is also about authors), each explicitly called out by Okie and her characters. Their "grumpy/sunshine," "brother's best friend," and "girl next door" dynamics lead to a classic "second-chance romance" that ramps up a notch when circumstances necessitating they both take up residence in Meredith's luxurious estate leave them in "forced proximity." There's a late twist about Meredith that many readers will predict, and all the fourth-wall breaking can get to be a lot, but Katie and Tyler's chemistry is undeniable as they work through lingering grief and trauma to arrive at a predictable but satisfying destination. Fans of the growing self-referential rom-com subgenre will want to check this out.
