Main Character Energy
A Novel
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4.2 • 5 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“Poppy is bright and complicated and utterly enchanting in Jamie Varon’s debut.”
—Ashley Poston, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Dead Romantics
Poppy Banks would rather be writing mysteries than writing listicles for her dead-end job at Thought Buzz. But after a series of rejections, she’s ready to accept life on the sidelines as a plus-size woman. Her aunt Margot is the one person unwilling to give up on her niece’s dreams and tells her so at their secret yearly lunches.
But all of Poppy’s beliefs about herself are challenged when her beloved aunt dies and leaves her niece a grand surprise—a trip to her villa in the French Riviera. There, she learns her aunt intends to leave her stunning villa and secretive writer's residency to Poppy—if she can finish her novel in six months.
When the writing countdown begins, Poppy realizes she has more to confront than her writer’s block. Family drama, complicated romances and self-doubt all threaten to throw her off course. In this fun and heartwarming debut, Poppy must decide if she can live up to her aunt’s—and her own—desire to be the main character in her own life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of self-help author Varon's sparkling fiction debut (after Radically Content), Poppy Banks decides to give up on her dream of writing, despite promising her beloved aunt Margot, who runs an elite writer's retreat at her villa in the South of France, that she would keep at it. Then Margot dies and leaves Poppy her villa, with the proviso that, to keep the property, she must complete a manuscript within six months. Buoyed by the fresh start, Poppy begins work on two new novels, all while bonding with the other writers in residence and falling in love with the region. Prickly Oliver Hayes, who oversaw the retreat with Margot, is at first skeptical of Poppy but soon finds he can't resist her charms. Their budding relationship faces hurdles in the form of literary rejection and familial drama, however. Varon crafts fully realized protagonists whose authorial ambitions and frustrations will resonate with bookish readers. The plot takes many satisfying turns, and the beautiful French backdrop will appeal to armchair travelers. Varon has a promising career in fiction in front of her.
