I love reading about writers especially when they are falling in love. Right away the premise of The roughest Draft captured my attention. Two co-authors who haven't written together for years because of some mysterious reason are now forced to write one last book. I think there will be a significant audience for this story. It is emotional and angsty. However, it did not completely work for me. When the reason why the two went their separate ways was revealed I felt let down given how much time the characters spent telling us and themselves that that was not the reason. In addition, while the characters don't ultimately do anything wrong like cheat on their significant others, they really spend too much time in a gray area which made me uncomfortable. Yet, the emotional journey was satisfying and I enjoyed it overall.

I received a gifted galley of THE ROUGHEST DRAFT by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Brokan for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley Publishing for the opportunity!

THE ROUGHEST DRAFT follows two authors, Katrina Freeling and Nathan Van Huysen. Four years ago they were a fantastic writing duo and their last release really put them on the map. Unfortunately, their partnership came to a bitter end after that book. Nathan has been trying to make a go of being a solo author without a lot of success. Katrina has given up writing altogether.

Each has their own personal struggles (Nathan’s failing career, Katrina’s fiancée and agent pressuring her to give writing another go) so they agree to team up for one more book to fulfill the remaining book on their contract. It’s awkward and uncomfortable, but they meet in Florida for a writer’s retreat of sorts to buckle down and make it through, writing their next romance… about divorce.

This isn’t your typical feel good rom com type of romance and there are a lot of hurt feelings between the two characters. It switches back and forth between their POVs, both in the present day and in the time period when they were last working together four years ago. I think the authors did a fantastic job of balancing the shifts between chapters to always keep the reader wanting more.

We don’t initially know what happened between the characters to break up their partnership and it’s a slow burn reveal as we start to get clues here and there. We know that Nathan’s marriage broke up shortly after that time period and that Katrina’s rocky relationship with their agent started afterwards as well, but the authors are keeping things close to the vest. I definitely was questioning whether I would like these characters by the time everything was revealed, but I think it came to a satisfying conclusion.

I really enjoyed getting the author perspective on writing a book here and the way the characters bickered and compromised over plot, scenes, and even individual word choices. This being written by a writing duo gave some extra authenticity to this process as well.

UGH THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD!!! i can definitely see fans of emily henry’s picking this up and loving it just as much.

Nathan and Katrina have some SERIOUS chemistry in this stand out novel that is sure to be a new fan favorite. This alternating timelines book was well done and I was excited to read from start to finish.

This intense, slow-burn romance radiates longing and hurt in every word. Nathan and Katrina were best friends and co-writers, until it all fell apart just as their best-selling book published. Now, four years later, Katrina's quit writing and Nathan's solo career isn't going as well as hoped. So when Katrina's fiance, who also happens to be her former agent, pushes her to write one more book with Nathan, she finally agrees, hoping it will fix the tension in her relationship with Chris. With neither she or Nathan sure they can really be in the same room together again, their team pushes them to go to the same beach house where they wrote their last book for a writing retreat.

The authors keep you guessing what really went wrong all those years ago, and how Katrina and Nathan feel about each other now. The descriptions of the co-writing process and how Katrina and Nathan struggle to be vulnerable with each other again pulls you in.

"It's innocuous, and it's everything. What's happening here, in red ink on fresh pages and tossed-off kindnesses, is irreversible. It's the beginning of our lives fitting back together, finding the impressions left when we pulled them apart."

Told in a split timeline, this story keeps you reading both to find out what happened all those years ago and what will happen now, with the two of them alone with their feelings in a beach house once again.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Berkley Romance for an arc of The Roughest Draft in exchange for an honest review. I had mixed feelings about this one. The writing was beautiful, but it was a little slow to me and took me a while to really connect with the story. I really enjoy a slow burn was this was slower than most. It was interesting to see how Katrina and Nathan communicated through their writing. I had a hard time understand why Katrina was willing to let Nathan go originally and why things got so nasty between them. I will still check out other books by these authors because their writing is so beautiful.

I'm in love with the way Emily and Austin write together. It's fluid and full of poetic prose. The way they string a sentence together paints a vivid picture. You can bet their YA backlog has jumped up on my TBR.
Kate and Nathan were a writing duo genius but four years ago they broke up. Speculation is of a torrid affair but no one will confirm. They're forced together to honor their publisher's contract and no one is happy.
My only *minor* complaint is a decision made by Kate in the "today". It pulled me out of the story because I felt like it was somewhat out of character for her to be reckless.
I adored the way their writing paralleled their lives. I've always heard an author should write what they know and the symmetry between the two was perfection. It might have been on the heavier side for a romance, however, I was captivated from the first chapter.
Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.

This book is exactly what I look for in a rom-com. Sure, it has a few standard tropes like second chance romance, forced proximity & friends to enemies to lovers BUT the themes that hit home the most for me were those of loss (both friendship and romantic), self doubt and self actualization. It’s been a while since I’ve read characters whose chemistry burned off the pages like this. I could literally feel my chest tighten with the tension. I loved the dual POV & dual timeline so you knew exactly what Katrina & Nathan were thinking. The steam level was perfection and just right for those not looking for a super spicy read. I adore this book and these characters and look forward to a re-read soon.

Thank you to netgalley and Berkley Publishing for the arc. I really loved this book.. I'm a sucker for books about books and this one was fantastic. I loved the characters and the story they were writing and the one they were telling that they weren't writing. I loved the flashbacks too!
I'm glad this was the first book I've read by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka because I really enjoyed it, but i read a lot of YA and I'm surprised to have never read anything else by them, especially because their other books definitely sound like books I'd love so I'm so excited to read more and recommend those to customers as well!

The Roughest Draft is Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka’s first adult romance. The Story follows two points of view. Katrina Freeling and Nathan Van Huysen are co-authors who have become famous in the literary world for their second novel, Only Once. The Roughest Draft goes between two timelines, one following Katrina and Nathan as they write Only Once, and the current timeline, three years after Only Once was published. In the current timeline, Katrina and Nathan no longer work together and are writing on their own. When an unmet contract brings them together to write again, Katrina and Nathan must work through the events and feelings that made them part and stop speaking to one another.

I had a bit of a rocky start with The Roughest Draft. For the first 30% of this novel, I disliked almost every single character in the story. I found them to be either annoying, conceited, or just terrible. As I kept reading, they did grow on me and I started caring about the characters and the overall plot more, but it did take a second. After that first 30% I really got into the groove of the novel and how it was playing out.

The Roughest Draft has to be one of the most unique romance books I have ever read. The story is about Katrina and Nathan, but their love for writing and the intricacies of them co-writing a book plays a huge part in the story. As someone who feels very neutral when it comes to writing, I was surprised with how much fun I had reading Katrina and Nathan’s writing progress and how they worked to come up with plot points and even discussed what words they wanted to use. Writing goes hand in hand with the romance in the story, and it fits together perfectly.

This would be a great summer read! I would recommend it to romance lovers looking for:
-something a little different from typical romance stories
-romance featuring characters with a complex past
-characters who are literal soulmates

Before Sunset meets Bookish vibes in the latest romance from Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka.

Literary darlings Katrina Freeling and Nathan Van Huysen are on an indefinite break after finishing their hit novel four years ago. They never did press together, never spoke to one another, they just ceased to exist to one another, and nobody other than the two of them understand why. When prompted with the chance to join together to finish 'one last book' together because of an outstanding contract, Katrina is cajoled by her husband to utilize the chance to write another hit after years of writer's block. So after years apart, the duo begrundeonly decides to write together in the same house where they finished their last masterpiece - and of course, old memories and feelings return back like a wave.


Wibberley & Siegmund-Broka's step into adult romance succeeds just as their previous novels in YA romance killed it. Whereas their other novels jump right into it, this one is a slow burn. A love letter to books and writing and writing partnerships and what it takes to not blur the lines. It doesn't shy away from the messy bits, the bits of self-doubt, the parts that hurt us most. It's no surprise this book is honest and romantic as hell, you can almost see the writer duo's inspiration taken from their own lives on the page.

Thank you to Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, Berkely and NetGalley for this early ARC. Loved this book.

Wibberley and her husband Siegemund-Broka are successful American YA authors. Past books include "What's Not to Love", "Time of Our Lives" and "The Last Oracle" series. This new release is an adult romance book. We meet Katrina and Nathan who are co-writers. Their last book was very successful, but after that they dissolved their writing partnership and refuse to answer questions as to what happened. Now they are forced to reunite to pen the third book in their contract. This is a good recommendation for romance fans, but it is not a rom-com as it is more serious than books in that genre.

Thank you to Berkley Romance for an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Katrina and Nathan are writing partners who have had a falling out. Years later they return to write a follow up book to their bestseller hit.
This is a very slow burn book. It hints at revealing what happened to cause both writers to not speak to one another for many years. As it unfolds I really wanted to know what went wrong. The book teased and really dragged out what happened, but still did enough to keep me interested. The book flips back and forth between present day and three years ago.
My problem with this book is the context of cheating. It tries to make it seem that the two main characters didn't really cheat, but yeah they kind of did.

Review // The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
Pub date 1/25 | #gifted

If you had to pick between slow burn or insta-love, which would you choose?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This book was such a creative, character driven slow burn love story. I went into it feeling the romance aspect wouldn’t happen until closer to the end, and going in with that mindset really allowed me to enjoy the complex progression from enemies to lovers between Kat and Nathan. There was so so much feeling between the two characters. The hate and love were fiercely portrayed and I really enjoyed every interaction between Kat and Nathan. When I wasn’t reading I found myself thinking of it and wanting to get back to it to see what happens next. Another thing is when a book is a slow burn I need the angst to be amped up, and The Roughest Draft definitely hit that for me.

The Roughest Draft comes out 1/25 and is definitely a book to add to your TBR!

TW: skirts infidelity

[thank you @berkleyromance and @netgalley for the gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review]

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I liked the alternating timelines and the slow development of what cause the fractured relationship. I think it would've been cool if we got to read more of the book they were writing. One of the things I quite liked about this book is that the characters were unveiled slowly, so you didn't really know who's side to be on. I look forward to reading more from these authors in the future.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

3.75 - After reading and liking - but never loving - this writing duo's YA romance I was so excited to see what they would do in the adult romance space. The biggest compliment I can give this book is that I read it in one sitting - I couldn't put it down! The chemistry - both personal and professional - between the two leads was electric. I loved watching them work together and seeing how that energy inevitably trickled into their personal relationship. My only major complaint is that I wish Katrina's fiance hadn't been so one-dimensionally awful - I struggled to understand why she entered a relationship with him or stayed with him for so long. I also could have gone for a little more spice; after the electric build up between the two characters for so much of the book, I felt cheated out of getting to see that tension fully resolved. I felt like they didn't fully "commit" to having a more adult, descriptive sex scene that could have really sold the reader on their physical chemistry being just as intense as their professional chemistry. Overall, a solid adult debut that left me feeling excited to see what else this writing duo will bring to the adult romance space.

A thoughtful book about how writing and life often intesect and inform one another. The book was good but not overly exciting.

I did not love this unfortunately. I just thought this story was very boring and it took way too long for the reader to find out what happened 4 years ago and it wasn’t even that great of a reveal. I’m pretty disappointed in this one.

After finishing their best selling romance novel four years ago, Nathan and Katrina went their separate ways, vowing to never write together again. Katrina retired from writing and is engaged to her agent, who shocks her by begging her to write a another novel with Nathan to save him from financial ruin. Katrina reluctantly agrees, knowing that being holed up in a house with Nathan under a tight deadline won’t be easy.

This one really surprised me, but in a good way. I really liked the insight into what goes into coauthoring a book and how grueling the process can be. This one gave me Beach Read vibes so if you enjoyed that one you should give this one a go, though it definitely has more of a serious feel to it.

Romance. Perfection.

The slow burn.

The mutual pining.

The feelings paralleled in their co-authored love story.

I swoon and sigh just thinking of this book. I loved every single page. I savored their rekindled friendship with a powder keg of love and longing not far under its surface. Second chance at love done right. 🙌🏻