Ummmm, why is this book so popular?

**Small spoiler alerts**
- emotional cheating throughout the whole story. Is this a thing now? Are we embracing this as a society now? Because I'm not here for that! No thank you!
- horrible fiance/boss who might has well of come right out and said go ahead and sleep with him if it makes you work better and I get a big, best seller.
- two characters that are supposed to have chemistry but I couldn't find anything in any of these pages that looked like chemistry to me.
- seriously, are we all reading the same book?

I didn't like anything about this one and I'm sure I will be sacrificed on the Romance Fire Pit for this review but it's just a big, fat NO from me.

This book was deliciously messy!

Following the fallout of two co-writers as they are forced to finish their final contracted book. Messy emotions, harsh words and unhinged emotions fill the book they strive to write and air out all their feelings outside of fiction.
I want to thank this book for its captivating writing because these authors did a great job; the style pulled me in. AND thank god there was no cheating, just human emotion, and life is complicated.

It wasn't a perfect five stars because of the conflict.
The reason they didn't get together had me throwing the book across the room -in my mind anyway because my phone is expensive and I can do it... but I was close.

But still, a delightful book that I highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have always heard good things about this author duo’s young adult books, so I was interested when I heard they had an adult romance coming out. Plus, it was a book about books and authors, and I am always drawn to that.

I think I had a misunderstanding of what this was going to be. I expected this to be more of a romcom, partially because of the style of the cover, but this was much more serious and felt slightly like a literary fiction version of a romance. Beyond that, this book just didn’t work for me. I didn’t care about any of the characters. They all felt really bland. I didn’t feel like Nathan and Katrina had any personality beyond being writers, and Nathan just came off as pretentious. Katrina’s fiancée Chris was basically just there to be a jerk and cause problems. I think there was supposed to be angst because Katrina and Nathan were both with other people at different times in their lives, but there was nothing to make me care about them staying with their current partners beyond me not approving of emotional infidelity. On the other hand, I didn’t know why they were so into each other. I didn’t feel any chemistry, and their fighting was just annoying to me because I didn’t care about their relationship.

This book was just not for me. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad book, and others out there might like it. But as someone who has read a lot of romance, this didn’t work for me. However, I would be interested to try something else from them in the future.

I loved this book. It was the right balance of back and forth from present to past. I enjoyed the slow build and the writing was beautiful. I don't always love a book that holds back "what happened" for the entire book especially when the characters are always around each other because I feel like "really, they wouldn't talk about it" but this book handle that situation wonder. This is definitely a book I will be recommending to anyone looking for a slow burn romance.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an electronic copy of The Roughest Draft.

This story did not tug at my heart strings the way it would. I was honestly a little frustrated by the pace of the story and the interactions between Nathan and Katrina.

Not a terrible novel by any means but not my favorite either. That said, I would totally give these authors another chance.

I struggled to get into the characters and their relationship because the concept of the story itself was just endlessly fascinating - two authors married in real life writing a story about writing partners who are messily, complicatedly, incapable about talking about it anywhere but on the page in love with each other. The real romance in this is for craft, for writing and revision and how authors take their own stuff to the story, but I still spent spent a lot of brain space reading so much into each of their deftly crafted sentences.

A cute romance with a bit of a large slow burn. I overall enjoyed the idea of this one but it almost felt as if there was just a bit too much filler.

This wasn't what I expected. More women's fiction than romance, and I had no idea the main characters were involved with others . Not really my cup of tea so I'm going to bow out of rating this one. But thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read!

I knew nothing about these co-authors going into the book, including the fact that they're married, nor had I read any of their young adult novels. I had no expectations, which I think worked in my favor, and learning of their relationship after finishing The Roughest Draft explained why the story felt so incredibly personal. It's about co-authors, Katrina Freeling and Nathan Van Huysen, whose books were bestsellers, until they dissolved their working relationship and friendship three years ago. They're still in contract for one more book and now they're forced to reunite in Florida, where they wrote their last novel, to get out this final manuscript. But as they write, they each have to face their past and what's happening now that they're together again. It's very character-drive and introspective. They're trapped in a house, forced to write, and the claustrophobia they feel sometimes spilled out onto the page and rightfully so. There's so much simmering beneath the surface and given this is a romance, it won't surprise you to hear that the romantic tension is a real, palpable thing. I loved how it showed the intimacy that comes with co-writing and the wonderful back and forth of being perfectly in sync with someone. And I enjoyed that the ultimate conflict wasn't something contrived but honest, messy, and real. Sometimes you're your own worst enemy, romantically, personally, or just in life in general. But more than anything, I got that epic love feeling from Katrina and Nathan's relationship and that's my favorite kind of romance.

DNF'd at 54%. I gave this book my all, but something about it just didn't do it for me. I'm not so sure whether it was the pacing, or the interchanging timelines, or the voices of the main characters, or.. I don't know.. I tried my very best to finish reading this, but I honestly felt like it was lacking in so many ways. It wasn't engaging, it wasn't relatable, both the main characters weren't easy to root for, and perhaps the most disappointing part for me is that it had so much potential. Maybe I gave up on this book too early? Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for it at the time? I honestly don't know. I'll probably pick this book up a few months from now, though, to try again. For now, I'm sorry, but it's a no from me.

I almost don't have a rating for this book, I feel so conflicted about it. I loved it, but also felt so conflicted about it. Incredibly mixed feelings in regards to the execution of certain elements, yet I still felt incredibly attached to the inner lives of the two main characters. Ironically, parts of the story felt like a rough draft, as not all of the plot or character elements felt fully finished and fleshed out. Despite my overall enjoyment of this book, I still have so many caveats to my liking it. But in a way, I guess that adds to the charm of the novel. I didn't realize I'd already read another book by these two authors (a YA contemporary). For their first adult contemporary romance novel, I felt like they did a good job, and I'll definitely keep an eye out for more of their books.

Four years ago, Katrina and Nathan had a falling out and no one knows why. They haven't spoken since until their publisher asks for a new book from them. After all they have one final book due on contract. Nathan's recent solo novel is not selling as much as he wants to. Katrina is now retired and engaged to their former agent just finds out about their financial problem. Writing a potential best seller will be beneficial to both but are they ready to face each other again and put aside what happened in the past?

The story is written in Katrina's and Nathan's perspectives. I liked Katrina more than Nathan but I didn't really connect to either character. I also didn't feel the chemistry. We get flashbacks from four years ago when they're writing their previous book. I normally enjoy reading books with dual timeline but it didn't work for me in this one. It was confusing since the events from the past are quite similar to the present time.

I was actually 50% in when I thought of dnf-ing it. I ended up skimming through the last 30% and I rarely skim read. I think what happened in the past (the reason they parted ways) was pretty obvious right from the start but I still wanted to know how it happened. I was underwhelmed when it was revealed.

I didn't know that this book is written by two different authors until I reached the last page. I was captivated by the cover that I didn't check who the author/s is/are. The writing was great but I wasn't a fan of it. I didn't hate this book but I was disappointed. There were still things that I enjoyed like the writing process of Katrina and Nathan, their bookstore trips, and their friend Harriet.

I've seen a lot of readers who love it but sadly it was not for me.

This was a fun read! This was a great variation on enemies to lovers. It was great to see how Katrina and Nathan's relationship devolved in hostile indifference and then evolved into something new and better.

The Roughest Draft is interesting romance journey of two writers, Nathan and Katrina, who fell out of partnership just when their best-selling book fly off the shelves but when they are forced to write one last book of the contrast, they find their way back to each other and love. The story is about a writing journey, accepting feelings, finding a way towards happiness without fearing the uncertainty, anxiety and fear of success, friendship, and love.

I have mixed feelings for this book. I was really excited for this as I saw glowing reviews and forced proximity arc. With this arc, I was expecting a bit of drama, banter, and fun but this turned out different from what I expected.

Plot is interesting. I liked the concept and idea of the book. Once best friends and exceptional writing duo fell apart as their feelings for each other changed while writing their best-selling book. They couldn’t stand each other after finishing the book, didn’t even attend events or book signing together. In fact, Katrina takes retirement from writing and gets engaged with their previous agent, (now only her agent) Chris, while Nathan writes his solo book but it doesn’t get as much popularity as their co-authored book and the publisher don’t want another of his solo book. As Nathan and Katrina didn’t finish their contract of one more book, publisher suggest they work together. With no other option, both are forced to write one more book in Florida house where they written their best selling book.

What made me stick to the book is Writing. It is most amazing, beautiful, the kind you find in literary fiction that makes you get lost in words. The narration is first person, alternative POV of Nathan and Katrina. Most of the book is written in present but there is intermittent past chapters telling what happened four years ago when they were writing their best selling book and what made them fall apart along with how their feelings developed during the time.

All this writing process took place under one roof of Florida house where they have lots of history, with forced proximity, hot weather, and now characters’ frosty feelings for each added it’s own effect to the plot making it interesting.

Another best part is the characters’ writing journey. I enjoyed reading how they met, how their partnership started, their style of work, what exactly is like to work as co-author, pros and cons of writing in partnership, how they made it work. I liked the way author compared writing journey in partnership to marriage and characters very much behaved that way. They brought out best in each other, fought and bickered like couple over use of word, format or where they want to lead their characters and book, what part they don’t disagree and how they resolved the matter.

Curiosity also got better of me. I wanted to know what exactly happened between them. We get a glimpse in initial chapters that Nathan was married, their feelings changed while writing their book, there are rumors they had affair which lead to end of their partnership and Nathan’s marriage. We also see what hurt them most, Katrina burning pages and Nathan’s cutting remark in interview BUT even with all these things there still wasn’t a clear picture what exactly happened. I was curious to know if those rumors are true, if they really had affair, did Nathan cheat, what pages Katrina burnt that hurt Nathan and why.

I found Nathan sensible, developed, and smart but that too I discovered a little late. For first half of the book I didn’t exactly had any opinion about him but second half made me like him more and more and I found myself agreeing with what he said. What he did after their fallout made sense. I loved him for staying true to himself and with others about his feelings. He has been honest from the beginning. His guilt for his wife (now ex), his feelings on how divorce affected him, and what it was like to write without his writing partner is realistic and well written. I liked he poured his feelings into his writing and his characters. The way he made Katrina realize fiction isn’t entirely fiction as it also comes from reality.

I loved Harriet who was most reasonable and honest person in story after Nathan. She brought breath of fresh air and I liked her for showing both Nahan and Katrina what a dick they have been to each other and that too for a silly reason.

Why 3.5 stars

What frustrated me most is I got the answers of questions I had almost after 60% of the book. I also didn’t really like Katrina. I didn’t care about the romance that came at 70% of the book. Both plot and romance is too slow for my taste.

Katrina is hard to get and understand. I’m sorry to say but I didn’t feel for her. I get she kind of going through depression and anxiety but it wasn’t apparent. I could see that in her reluctance to publicity, refusing to attend events, hiding from rumors, not going for book signing, not confronting situations or negative feelings but I couldn’t see why or what triggered it. I thought it was all because of what happened with Nathan but that wasn’t the case either and when I finally read why she burnt the page, it blew my mind like it did Nathan’s. Some explanations is given for her fears like she was middle child and all but I didn’t find it enough. I don’t get why one would run away from happiness and why nobody tell her nothing is everlasting.

Another reason I didn’t like is, she went after Christ just as soon as her partnership with Nathan ended. She let Chris manipulate her to write another book with Nathan. Moreover, readers and even she could see Chris is with her only because she was best selling author and he even gave permission to fuck Nathan if that means she writes another best selling book with him. So, for most of the book my impression for her was, either she is weak or stupid. She blamed Nathan for her shattered dream when he wasn’t exactly at fault here. I also disagree on what she said about Nathan not voicing his feelings and turning it into fiction. I don’t see anything wrong with it as everyone has a different way of communicating, not everyone is comfortable with everything like she is not comfortable with idea of happiness and dream coming true.

Overall, The Roughest Draft is an interesting story of writing duo and their journey with beautiful writing and forced proximity arc.

I recommend this if you like,
character-driven story
book about writing journey
book about co-author and how they work together
slow-burning romance
slow pace
Layer of anxiety

4.5 🌟 If Beach Read and People We Meet On Vacation had a baby, it would be this book.

I loved the idea of two estranged writers writing a book together. The tension, the setting, and a mix of enemies to lovers/friends to lovers/second chance romance was the perfect combination for me!

Miscommunication was a huge trope used, which usually is a huge no for me but didn’t take away too much from the story for me.

Overall, loved this one and read it in two sittings!

Loved this book and read half in one sitting. I wanted to know what happened between Katrina and Nathan. Loved the writing style and that it wasn’t treated as a romantic comedy. I can see how easily it could have been and probably would have been successful, but it was a more serious book. The subject matter and the plot worked better this way. I will absolutely keep an eye out for more adult books from this writing team.

A book for romance lovers and book lovers alike!

I love when books deal with books - it makes my bookworm heart extra happy! Add in a romance book about authors writing a romance book who are also secretly (or maybe not so secretly) in love with each other and it’s a surefire recipe for success in me eyes.

I listened to this one on audio, which was dually narrated, and very well done. Collaborating authors is a process that intrigues me. How do you find a way to successfully write with someone else? In this instance how do a man and a woman, Nathan and Katrina, navigate the blurred lines of writing romance while not crossing the line between steamy fiction and reality?

Obviously, lines are crossed and I was there for it all! Loved how the story unfolded via a then and now aspect while also focusing on the present book’s storyline. Does fiction imitate life? For these two, you betcha it does and it leads to lots of emotion and some angsty moments!!!

I thought this was a clever premise and I personally enjoyed how it was exectuted. Plus, it’s a book about a writing duo, written by a writing duo. I mean c’mon - how cute are they?!

I absolutely enjoyed this read! It pulled all my heart strings and the angst oh the angst *chefs kiss!! The plot and the pace in this was very steady but I absolutely love the chemistry between the two main characters.

The flow of the book was pretty slow in the beginning, but halfway through the book, it picked up and so much things were happening at one given time. Over all, if you are looking for something full of tension and chemistry, this is definitely it.

If you are looking for something with Beach Read vibes then this is for you! I tore through it in a couple days so the authors did a good job of hooking the reader. However, I was more drawn to finding out what would happen then I was to connecting to the characters. A fast, fun read.

This is a friends-to-lovers story about two co-writers that have a 'falling out' after their book becomes a big success. Why they actually stopped writing together and why they are no longer even friends is treated as a bit of a mystery throughout the book.

I enjoyed this book, but I do feel like there could have been more chemistry between the two main characters. They knew each other intimately, from being friends and colleagues for so long, and while there was plenty to hint at them having chemistry, I just didn't FEEL it.

Anyway, the story is that they're forced back into co-writing another book together, although neither is happy about it. They go on a writing retreat in Florida and the forced proximity makes them tackle some of their demons from the past and consider what they really want for the future.

They communicate a lot through the book they are writing together, and it is meant to be full of subtext that only the other could possibly decipher...but it actually seems pretty obvious.

There is an ongoing theme of bad timing—for most of the book (which moves between past and present) one or both of them is in a relationship with someone else. While they try to keep their hands to themselves, there is a lot of emotional cheating in the book.