Winner Takes All
A Novel
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Jun 23, 2026
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
When two rival music executives wake up married in Las Vegas with no memory of tying the knot, they have to recreate their night together while competing to sign the band of their dreams in this smart and sexy rom-com that combines Book Lovers with The Hangover.
Talent scout Eleanor Thompson arrives in Las Vegas with one goal: sign the popular alt-rock group Dempsey to her record label and subsequently save her job. Unfortunately for her, Adam Shaw—former colleague and the man who recently poached the top performing artist from Eleanor’s roster—has the same idea. When Adam crashes Eleanor’s dinner meeting with the band, it sets them off on a night of shot-fueled one-upmanship that ends with matching wedding rings. Some people might be able to laugh off a drunken Vegas marriage, but Eleanor and Adam are not some people.
They soon realize annulments are a lot easier to get on TV, especially when you factor in a missing ID, a run-in with casino security, and a band still expecting to be wooed before hitting the stage for the final show of their national tour.
With only a few hours until the party where Dempsey plans to announce their new record label, Eleanor and Adam embark on a wild dash around Vegas to fix the previous night’s mistakes. Between meeting an attorney in the back of a strip club, getting blackmailed into playing the newlywed game, and a surprisingly deep moment outside a karaoke bar, Eleanor and Adam begin to fall for one another. Do they dare place a bet on love? Or will they keep their cards close?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Like a rom-com twist on the Hangover movies, this genuinely funny contemporary from Martin (The Year We Fall Apart) centers on a wild night that neither of its protagonists remember. Music talent scout Eleanor Thompson is in Vegas looking to sign indie rock band Dempsey. So is her former colleague Adam Shaw. The pair can't stand each other: Adam was one of the many gossips at Eleanor's old company who thought she owed her career to a relationship with their former boss, while Eleanor has always written Adam off as a nepo baby. But when the two wake up married the night after their mutually unsuccessful meeting with the band, they work together to piece together what happened—and figure out the logistics of getting an annulment—while still vying against each other professionally. Along the way, both reevaluate their former opinions of the other. Martin makes good use of the Vegas setting, and her leads' chemistry is obvious even when they're competing. It's a fun, lively take on the forced-proximity trope.
