Have I ever read a book that could so singly be resolved through therapy as this one? I don’t think so. And even if the entire plot hadn’t been resolvable if they’d just sat down with a therapist, if they’d just sat down and talked honestly, it would have been.

Granted that wouldn’t have made for such a—I hesitate to say great story, because I didn’t feel like it was, nor overly compelling. How to put this best into words? I thought the more interesting story would have been them coming back to one another and learning to build a healthy relationship, opening up little by little, until the end when all of their feelings are on the table, rather than what happened here. That felt more like they were consistently ignoring what exactly had sent their partnership spiralling in the first place, until the point when it did so again (and I want to just note here, that Katrina’s sudden about-face on that topic would have not nearly been so sudden if it had had build-up along the way).

That being said, perhaps part of the reason I felt this way was because I couldn’t find a reason to want these characters together. On the whole, they just felt a little bland, lacking in characterisation. I’m not even sure I could have told their points of view apart except for the fact the chapters were titled with their names. So I never felt a whole lot for them—I never even got that much of a sense of emotion off the page, except pure rage when it came to Chris—and I was never that engaged in the progression of their relationship.

And speaking of Chris, this one’s a personal bugbear. I don’t really enjoy when books put one of the MCs in a relationship with a character who is quite clearly an awful person—within the first few chapters of this, Chris was telling Katrina he’d break their engagement off if she didn’t write another novel, for his monetary gain. I wasn’t the slightest bit conflicted about what Nathan would do to their relationship, because I wanted it ended from page one. I think this dynamic works, if the MC is supposed to be not entirely likeable or sympathisable, but comes to develop as a character and leaves the awfulness behind. That was not the case here. You may not necessarily like either Nathan or Katrina at the start—and they’re rightfully called out on how selfishly they’re acting—but you’re supposed to sympathise with them both. Hence why this trope just fell flat. I think it needed some kind of more explicit commentary on the way Chris seemed to have beaten Katrina down a little, made her feel she should be grateful to him, which would have explained just why, when every scene they had together was him being truly terrible to her, she still stayed with him to the point she did.

Having said this, let me end on a positive note. I liked how neither character was particularly likeable at the start. They’d clearly both hurt the other, they’d clearly done so pretty selfishly, and through that selfish hurt had never gone back to fix what had gone wrong. And that had affected other relationships too. They were always also called out on that. It was a nice break from those second chance romances where only one has hurt the other, and you’re supposed to believe that it’s always entirely forgivable.

If you are looking for an angsty, complicated romance with exquisite writing, look no further than The Roughest Draft.
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The writing is SO good. I just can’t emphasize that enough. This was my first book from Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka and I’m honestly obsessed with their writing now. ⁣
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I’m not one to love romances with characters already in relationships, and in a way this story has two (Nathan is married during the past chapters), but damn if I didn’t get sucked into Katrina and Nathan’s love story. That being said, know that they both fall in love while they’re engaged/married to other people. And it’s not until 70% of the way into the book that they’re both single. I know this might not work for everyone, but this story and the way it’s told really really worked for me! ⁣
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I loved so much about The Roughest Draft, I’ll probably never stop screaming about the writing, but the whole concept of the story and the forced proximity was SO so good. ⁣
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If you want a romance with a plot that feels like Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation combined with complicated relationships, angst, pining, and emotions, The Roughest Draft needs to be on your TBR.

Noooo I've never had a book take a nosedive for me so fast. It makes me so sad and disappointed. When I started this book, I very quickly fell in love. I said on Instagram that I was calling it as a 5 star must read for me.

I highlighted so many passages. The words were lovely, insightful, and moving.

And then I kept reading and it just became so....overwrought and drawn out and dramatic and wordy. . I can't put it another way. So many FEELINGS. Such deep, serious, life-altering feelings about EVERYTHING.

And the problem between them wasn't even a problem. I kept waiting for this big reveal and there just wasn't one. It was a non issue. And as someone who has been through long distance dating, 18 years of marriage, nine deployments and endless heartbreakingly scary issues and worries and stress...it's not that hard if you want it. You TALK to each other and fix it. You don't act like it's the end of the world and refuse to communicate.

Sigh.

I will say, this book seemingly offers some wonderful insight into the world of a writer and writing dues. The authors are very talented and that's clear.

2.5 stars rounded up.

Sometimes melt in your mouth sweet, sometimes intense, overall quite satisfying. Great for fans of enemies-to-lovers and missed connections.

Great prose, terrible everything else. I feel like this book sold purely based on the hook-y pitch of "two married coauthors write a romance about two coauthors falling in love while writing a romance" and not on the basis of any substance because I didn't find much in here to like. Again, the prose is great but the characters feel incredibly flat and boring and even their narrative voices sound exactly the same. Any time I stopped reading in the middle of a chapter I had trouble figuring out whose POV I was in when I picked it back up. Also, the ~big reason~ their partnership fell apart is incredibly anticlimactic. Two stars because the prose is pretty and because I did actually finish it instead of DNFing.

This was just okay for me. I think I'm burned out on books like this after the success of Beach Read. My biggest issue with this book is one that I've had with a lot of other contemporary romances written in this same style - the dual first person pov. Very few can actually pull this off where the characters have distinct voices. Instead, they always sound like carbon copies and I have trouble remembering which pov I'm reading about, and in this book there was an additional issue with the flashbacks, and I had to keep looking back to see whether I was in the present or the past and whose narrative I was following. It just gets tedious after awhile. Nathan and Katrina sounded exactly the same. I also had trouble buying into their romance because the flashbacks didn't do a good enough job showing us why these two fell in love. We were pretty much just told they were. I did feel the chemistry between them while they were writing but I could have done without the cheating aspect. Also, when authors write characters who are authors, and those authors are touted as brilliant, etc, with examples of that so-called brilliant writing, it just rubs me the wrong way. I think a lot of people will enjoy this book, especially if they loved Emily Henry's Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation and there is nothing keeping me from recommending it for contemporary romance fans. It's just not something that I would re-read. 3 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.

This was just the romantic relief I needed. The chemistry between the characters was electric and tangible. I also loved all the literary references - very reminiscent of Beach Read by Emily Henry (in a good way). It's a book for book lovers.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for providing a digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

Really great romance centered around 2 co authors. Loved the setting and the flashbacks. A good side friend character as well. I liked this one better than Beach Read, another author centered romance.

I enjoyed the first 20% or so of this book but then it felt like it dragged on from then, unchanging. Katrina and Nathan's thoughts and writing were just repetitive after a while and I found myself skipping ahead, looking for evolution but nothing happened.

I love romances about writing and this dual author, dual perspective, dual timeline romance was a great experiment. I was put off by the emotional cheating, but enjoyed the complicated characters and how their personal lives mesh with their writing lives.

The Roughest Draft dives deep into poetic prose, conflicted characters, and imperfect happily ever afters. It captures the uncharted territory of what happens when fiction and reality are blurred and blended together, creating a beautifully honest love story that will completely melt your heart.

Former co-writers, Katrina and Nathan, haven’t spoken after an intense falling out following the completion of their bestseller. Now, four years later, they have to work together again one last time. But with their lingering past unresolved, their drafted story becomes deeply personal as they remember what they used to be, best friends and partners, a formidable team who had respect and love for one another.

From the very first chapter, these characters leaped off the page and into my heart. By halfway, I felt like I KNEW Katrina and Nathan. And reading the last chapter, I didn’t want to let them go. They were so real and relatable, flawed in their actions and raw in their emotions. The tension between the two was off the charts, with crazy amounts of chemistry, longing, and angst! And, I absolutely LOVED it!! Every emotion, action, and reaction flowed seamlessly, developing into a passionate read with a great love for the written word, and I fell wholly invested in this story.

If you loved Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation, I highly recommend this book! It’s one I can’t wait to read again, and I am looking forward to more adult romances by this duo!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!

I'm not a huge fan of cheating/ affairs in books and while this wasn't a physical affair you could tell the two had feelings for each other and they had a cheating type of thing going on with the way they wrote together.

I am a fan of the right people being together, and you could tell they were right for each other so in that respect I would say it was done well.

I was a bit bored throughout the first half though and much like every other book, things could've been fixed had the characters had one fuckin conversation with each other.

Still, the chemistry didn't really fall into place until halfway through and when you realize why they were at odds with each other for 4 fuckin years you'll probably pull out some hair in disbelief.

Cute ending though and I hope this isn't the real story of the authors love life. Can Melissa get her own story and happy ending please.

The Roughest Draft kept me engaged for a long time. The authors have a real knack for the analyzing and describing the finer points of relationship-related emotions. They also did a nice job describing one way the joint writing process can work. I enjoyed the way the evolution of the relationship between Katrina and Nathan was revealed. Throughout the first half of the book, I thought it was positively brilliant. But by the end, I just wanted to shake the two of them and tell them to talk to each other already. I’d have given it 5 stars if it’d been about 50 pages shorter.

Katrina Freeling and Nathan Van Husyn were THE sensational writing duo. Their books made it big and these two co-authors had a knack for working together. Their work was always amazing and their books were best sellers. So then, what happened to Katrina and Nathan? Why did they “break-up” and never write another book again? And more importantly - why are they now coming back together to write one more book together?

This book...I finished it a few weeks ago and I honestly cannot stop thinking about it. This book was messy, angsty and filled with a lot of anger, hurt and tension. I really liked the flashbacks between how Nathan and Katrina were before and how they are currently. I was itching to find out what happened to make them dislike each other so much.

I will admit that I am not a fan of cheating or love triangles and this book had no black or white area where that was concerned. It was a very gray/murky area and I’m honestly not too sure how I feel about that. That being said, The Roughest Draft was a book that deeply touched me. It’s a book that was often hard to read at times, because it felt so real. I still find myself thinking about Nathan and Katrina.

Grab your copy of The Roughest Draft if you’re looking for a second chance, angsty romance that will leave you thinking about these characters long after you’ve read the book.

This was a charming, smart rom-com with such a great hook—romance cowriters falling in love! The dual timeline worked really well, both voices were relatable and smart, and there were plenty of mishaps and errors along the way. A heartwarming, super readable story!

Book Review of The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberly

Three years ago, Katrina Freeling and Nathan Van Huysen were literary stars with their co-written books climbing the bestsellers list! But one interview and some harsh words ended not just their partnership but also their friendship! They did not part on good terms and havent spoken since!

But now the final book is due! Will they be able to put the past behind them and finish the book?

I had a little trouble at first getting into this story. There isn't really any action and you really don't hear much about anything other than the two main characters! So that being said, the chemistry between Katrina and Nathan is great! The writing has that playful banter and runs high with the emotions but really his book needed that! Overall it was a nice, funny and at times quick and playful read! Happy reading everyone!

This was the perfect intersection of romance and lit fic for me. The writing was incredible, and the chemistry off the charts. The plot on this one was a real high wire act, but readers are in excellent hands here. When these two finally found their way to each other, I practically cheered!

Thank you so much for an early copy in exchange for an honest review!

I thought I reached my quota of author romances, especially since I just finished Beach Read last month but oh my goodness!!! This book reaffirms why chick-lit/ women's fiction is the superior genre. I absolutely love non-linear storytelling, the way how Emily was able to pour Nathan and Katrina's soul on the page had my heart glowing like Jane the Virgin.

Do you know what makes this story 10xx better???? it is written by an actual couple, which made me cry and subsequently throw up because WHEN will it be my turn to be happy?


This book made me blush, made me scream, and is already on the TOP of my to-buy TBR come February. I cannot wait for Booktok to get their hands on this!

The Roughest Draft was a really fun read. I enjoyed both the description of the authors' collaborative writing methods (both the natural one and the more forced one), and - of course - the slow burn as they fought to resist admitting that they were in love with one another. I'll definitely recommend it to fans of Beach Read and those who like reading about writers/writing.

This book felt like a warm blanket, smooth and comforting. I’ve always enjoyed a good second chance romance story, and this one did not disappoint. Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund Broka managed to deliver a poignantly real exploration of the messiness of exploring and admitting one’s own feelings. The two main characters are certainly flawed, but it’s these very flaws that make you care so deeply for them. I saw myself in both Katrina’s tendency to avoid vulnerability for fear of being hurt and Nathan’s urge to hide behind his writing for fear of facing the implications of reality. The only thing that kind of threw me off the story at times were the flashbacks, but I’ve never been a fan of them to start, so I don’t think the authors are to blame here. Overall, I would recommend this to anyone in need of a cozy book that leaves you feeling satisfied, happy and hopeful. For me, it was just the pick me up I needed.