Quote:Dev Deshpande has always believed in fairy tales. So it’s no wonder then that he’s spent his career crafting them on the long-running reality dating show Ever After. As the most successful producer in the franchise’s history, Dev always scripts the perfect love story for his contestants, even as his own love life crashes and burns. But then the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star.
Charlie is far from the romantic Prince Charming Ever After expects. He doesn’t believe in true love, and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. In front of the cameras, he’s a stiff, anxious mess with no idea how to date twenty women on national television. Behind the scenes, he’s cold, awkward, and emotionally closed-off.
As Dev fights to get Charlie to connect with the contestants on a whirlwind, worldwide tour, they begin to open up to each other, and Charlie realizes he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars. But even reality TV has a script, and in order to find to happily ever after, they’ll have to reconsider whose love story gets told.
My Thoughts
I wrote a
Goodreads review that you can read, but I'm also going to dump my thoughts here:
Show
- The romance in this book was good because it felt intentionally fleshed out and healthy. There was some insta-attraction, but it wasn't the overwhelming, "oh my god I just met him but now I want him in my bed" sort of attraction, and that made it feel more real, in a way? I love how throughout the different scenes the characters found more things they loved about the other.
- The side characters! The whole book takes place on the set or behind-the-scenes of a reality TV show, so naturally the side characters are the producers, the contestants, and Charlie's publicist and I absolutely LOVE them all. They all have a role to play and I enjoy how none of them fall into typical side character roles and that each have their own fleshed-out personalities.
- The discussions of mental health!! It really spoke to me. I felt like I was in Charlie's and Dev's shoes all at different times during the book.
- THE PLOT. The whole reality show kept things very high-stakes all the way up until the last chapter, and I love that even as the romance is developing there's also a whole storyline of the reality show going on? I love the contestants so much <3
This is a discussion thread for people who have read or are reading the book in question. With that in mind, there are likely to be spoilers throughout. However, in the event of major twists or “how it ends”, please wrap content in spoiler tags.
Code:
[spoiler]Surprise!content here[/spoiler]