**Disclaimer: I received a free eARC of Finding Mr. Write by Kelley Armstrong through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this opportunity.
Finding Mr. Write by Kelley Armstrong is an adult romance novel about a female author who decides to try and publish her novel under a male pseudonym and needs to find a man to pretend to be the author. Hijinx ensues. The novel was set to be published on June 25th, 2024. I rated it 4 stars on GoodReads.
Here’s the summary from GoodReads:
A fun romantic comedy about a woman writing under a male pseudonym and the man she hires to play the role in public.
Daphne McFadden is tired of rejection. After submitting her manuscript to dozens of agents, she’s gotten rejection after rejection, and now it’s time for something drastic. And so, Daphne submits her manuscript again… under a man’s name.
Imagine her surprise when it sells for big money at an auction and soon becomes a publicity darling. Only she needs a man to play her super macho alter ego Zane Remington. Enter Chris Stanton, who absolutely looks the part of a survivalist and has a talent for pressing her piss‑me‑off‑I‑dare‑you buttons while somehow being endearing at the same time. But Chris has a few secrets of his own, including the fact that he’s really an accountant who has no idea how to chop wood or paddle a canoe. When Daphne’s book becomes a bestselling sensation and they’re forced to go on tour together, Daphne finds herself wondering if this city‑boy geek is exactly what she needs to push her to claim her dreams.
Kelley Armstrong is an author that I totally love, but I do admit that I have a bit of a mixed track record with some of her works. However, this ended up being a book that I really enjoyed on the whole. I will admit that I went into it with different expectations for what kind of romance this would be, and I thought it would be spicier than it was. However, this is definitely more of a fade to black romance, which there is nothing wrong with, but I did want to give other readers the heads up about.
To start off with review wise, I really enjoyed both of our main characters. Daphne was a really interesting character, and I related to her desire to do whatever it takes to get her book out there in the world and also the anxiety that she felt about what it might be like for that book to be out there in the world. I enjoyed the way that she had chased her dreams, and the way her past issues came to light in how they affected her. Her motivations and conflicts made a lot of sense to me. I also found that Chris was a really interesting main character. The explanations for why an accountant was so buff were well done, and I appreciated his motivations for getting involved in the situation at all. He was into Daphne pretty quickly, and it’s very much a he fell first situation. I would have liked a bit more development of the romantic tension on his side of things, but I did enjoy his personal character journey and the way that he learned to be himself and not anyone else.
Chris and Daphne had a great dynamic, and he was a very supportive partner for the most part. The conflict that built between them made sense to me, though I did wish that maybe they had talked just a bit more. However, again, it was realistic for them not to talk based on their pasts and how they coped with the world.
Each main character had a support character who kind of acted as a voice of reason. For Chris it was his sister and for Daphne it was her best friend. I loved both of these side characters and how they talked sense into the main character. They maybe weren’t as developed, but on the whole they played a key role in the book and it wouldn’t have been as good without them.
The pacing for the book felt a little strange, as parts felt a bit rushed. I also wanted more consequences for the nemesis, Daphne’s gross neighbour. However, on the whole, I had a very fun time reading this book and discussing it with my friend who was reading it at the same time as me. The plot and the writing were both great, and I can definitely add this onto my list of solid Kelley Armstrong reads.
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