Rating: 2.5 stars

From the get go, I just couldn’t get into this story. The characters were all very two-dimensional and the plot was just a generic and predictable fake dating / enemies to lovers trope in the usual contemporary setting. It was pretty poorly written and edited, with sentences ending part way through a line and continuing two lines below quite often; which led to a bit of a headache while reading. Many times I became so bored that I wanted to DNF the book but persevered to the end by skim-reading sections.

The sexual misconduct of the male MC was a big no no for me, and made me feel uncomfortable from the start. His character arc didn’t even attempt to resolve this wrongdoing in any way, or perceive the real impact of his reductive views on women and behaviour towards them. Whereas, the female MC had no personality other than wanting to be part of what she called “the Black Women Hall of Fame”. The racial microagressions that were tackled in this book were done very well and felt appropriate, but the characters themselves/the plot could have been developed further to prove just how significant these microaggressions are to people in the movie industry, rather than just used as off-handed side comments. The female MC also never stood up to this or made others aware of how damaging and unfair racism is in this industry.

As such, the author’s style of writing didn’t really work for me as a reader, due to lots of information dumping at times and a lack of any substance at others.
Unfortunately, I won’t be recommending this to others.

A better enemies to lovers book with a fantastic POC female MC, as well as great chronic disability representation would be “Get A Life, Chloe Brown”. A book that I would strongly recommend.

Holy Smokes!! This book was Auh-mazing!! I loved the characters and story. This book is perfect for someone wanting to get away into another persons story!

I love a good fake dating story, but the main characters failed to draw me in at times due to the main part of their relationship being arguments and fighting. There wasn’t a true reconciliation until the last 20 pages of the book and I feel like even though there were some steamy scenes, it always ended negatively between Jada and Tristan. I also felt that Tristan was a jerk, and not what people would want to read as a love interest, despite having a slight redemption arc. I also liked Jada’s character, but I feel like she could have had more character development. She is a strong-willed, good woman, but that’s about it.

I liked the premise of this book, but many times I found the writing to be overly descriptive, with a lot of filler content. I feel like it could have been 100 pages shorter and still gotten the points and plot across. I also noticed that this book lacked in the editing department. There were many grammar gaffes and sometimes parts that didn’t make sense in the context of the chapter or story.

In addition to the majority of Tristan and Jada‘s interactions being arguments, I feel like they didn’t get much time together in the story at all. That ties into the lack of character development for both of them.

I enjoyed this book, but I honestly felt more of a connection and likeness to the supporting characters than to Jada and Tristan themselves. I can definitely see an audience thoroughly enjoying this book, but it’s not something that I would recommend to anyone who reads fake dating romance novels.

I’m super happy to be accepted for an eArc of this. It’s one of my good reads this month! The blurb really got my attention & I wasn’t wrong to dive into this book and devour it👀 I loved it!

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for my complementary E Arc. All opinions are my own. I loved this book never heard of this author. . And this book won't be the last one I read by her. It had romance it had humor it had good characters. It had good pacing. I didn't want it to end. I will be looking out for more books by this author.

hello???!! this book had no right being this good! It was right paced and amazing to read! I loved to read about the messy lives of the characters and though I didn’t like one of the MC I still enjoyed this one!

I was deeply disappointed in this book despite the really fun premise of PR dating turning into a real romance. It has some massive Tom Holland and Zendaya potential but the writing fell short and constantly pulled me out of the story. The dialogue was clunky and awkward quite a lot. And Tristan, while interesting in his introduction chapter, lost all his appeal when he yelled at Jada. None of the rest of the book really did a satisfactory job of redeeming him at all and it fell like an ill fitted match.
I think it's a solid attempt at a romance novel and it has potential but it still feels like a roughly edited fan-fiction that isn't really ready for publication.

Off Script is a novel about two actors struggling to maintain respect in the entertainment industry, after the movie they're working on together goes through a disastrous scandal. Cue drama, fake dating and some heavy reputation-fixing. This book encapsulated what one would expect from a book about the glamour of Hollywood: the constant drama, the need for connections in order to succeed in the industry, office politics et cetera.

I had a vague idea of what to expect going into the book, and wasn't too familiar with the tropes (coworker romance, enemies to lovers) when I first started reading. This book would be good for people who enjoy the "falling in love with a celebrity" trope, but personally it just wasn't for me.

What I enjoyed about the book:
~BIPOC main characters!! Representation in media, particularly in Hollywood, is increasingly difficult to find and it was great to have not one, but two BIPOC protagonists!

~The in-depth knowledge of the television industry, and the deep insight into life as a celebrity! Perhaps it is because of Ashley Marie's history as a screenwriter before she wrote a novel, but it was clear that she knew a lot about this industry, and it really helped the reader to picture the context of the narrative, and I enjoyed being able to learn about the ins-and-outs of Hollywood.

~The cast of female characters. I particularly liked the way that Alia's character, despite being a side character, was pictured as someone with immense success, and Mikaela and Jada were also both aspiring professionals in their fields. Usually novels tend to throw in archetypal characters for the sake of representation, but I really liked the way these characters were truly experienced in their respective roles.

Things that could have been improved:
~I didn't particularly like Tristan's character, and he came across as being a charismatic playboy who didn't have good intentions. His relationship with Jada felt forced and stilted, they were constantly arguing, and overall had little chemistry.

~The writing occasionally felt awkward and clunky, especially when the author was trying to explain character backstories, or give some insight into the actions of protagonists. It felt unnecessarily lengthy at times, and was not engaging.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an unbiased review!

Initial Thoughts
More of a 3.4 but I really enjoyed it despite disliking one of the MCs. The setup was cute and it was very fast-paced.
Marie writes well-rounded characters who feel like real people. Loved the messy lives of these characters.

Thank you Netgalley and Wattpad books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the concept and the relationship between the characters, but the pacing felt quite a bit off and the ending too rushed. The amount of detail in the sex scenes is unique--it's steamy and graphic at times, but never for too long. Good for people who want something in between medium and hot levels of spice.

Jada is a strong woman, persistent and a hardworking drive to be the best. Jada is an actress on love locket. Tristen is the love interest who ends up getting into some conflict on and off the stage. Jada and Tristan work together to make themselves better.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a fun, quick read. Jada was an amazing character, with the hurdles in her career, she stood above others, dug her feet in and found drive to take steps toward her dream job.

The overall character development was great considering Tristen went from being egotistical, loud, and cocky to someone who could express feelings and be nice.

The execution on the book could have been more thoughtful as I didn’t feel like there was a specific plot. The perspective of the characters was all over the place and hard to understand. I was not sure who was talking and when they were talking as it was more so in a narrators way of writing.

I love fake dating and I love Hollywood romances so this was definitely the perfect book for me! Loved this and the main couple had great chemistry. Highly recommend for fans of light hearted romantic comedies.

Let's say 3.5
Firstly, I want to talk about how great this cover is. It's so beautiful.
As someone who had been reading lots of stories on Wattpad, I was happy to read this.
I read this in one day. Couldn't keep away from it. The author did so much with research and as someone who doesn't know much about the film industry, I learnt a lot.
As much as I loved this book, some things didn't excite me as I wanted.
For example, I felt there was no too much chemistry between Jada and Tristan. I couldn't feel it as much as I wanted to.
And they argued over every little thing that made me want to enter the book and slap their faces.
Asides that, it was a great read. Especially Mikayla and Ren. I would love to read a novel about them. They had little moments together but I was so invested in their scenes.

Thank to Netgallery and the publisher for an ARC!

Thank you netgalley and Wattpad for the eARC of this book

It has fake dating which is one of my favorite tropes. It is just impossible not to enjoy this book. I was actually in shock when I found out this came from Wattpad because of how well-written and well-developed the romance and the book in general. Anyway, I love the romance between Jada and Tristan. This sort of reminds me of You Had Me at Hola because of the similar premise and tropes.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book at 25%. I found the actions of the main male lead character to be so completely wrong and irresponsible and I cannot see a world where I’m able to forgive him. Sexual misconduct is only the beginning of this guy’s problems. The main female lead has very little personality. And the first few chapters were so full of pop culture references and brand names that I was having trouble taking any of it seriously.

Additionally the writing is immature and riddled with errors, and the dialogue is stilted and sounds as though these are middle schoolers talking about relationships instead of the 20-30 somethings I think they’re supposed to be.

I hate not finishing a book but I simply couldn’t do it anymore as soon as the very contrived fake dating setup started happening.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you’d told me in 2014 that in 2022 I would be reading a book published by Wattpad and actually enjoying it, I would never have believed you, but Off Script has managed it! That’s not to say I didn’t have qualms with this book, but overall it was a fun read with main characters who felt real and had good chemistry. I’m a sucker for a fake dating trope and this this book does it pretty well.

My main issue was that I felt like we didn’t see enough of Tristan and Jada just having a nice time together? I understand that arguing is central to their dynamic, but I would’ve found it easier to believe how much they love each other if we saw solid chunks of them enjoying each other’s company without arguing! The cycle of a couple of pages of having a nice time followed by misunderstandings, arguments, and apologies which don’t seem to stick became a bit annoying after a while, as I wasn’t seeing much growth between each cycle. The constant hot and cold of their relationship felt jarring by the end. Also, I think this book could’ve done with being maybe 75-100 pages shorter, as the writing felt bloated at times.

This is totally a personal preference thing, but I thought the steamy scenes could’ve been a bit steamier (and especially since it’s a Wattpad book, I mean come on!). But obviously I know that not everyone likes steamy sex scenes lol.

Full review will be up on pop-culturalist closer to release month. Off script is perfect for fans of the fake dating trope!! I loved reading about Jada and Triston.

*3.5

I enjoyed this book but it just felt as if it could of gone through a bit more development. The characters didn't even really become friends until over halfway through the book and even then it didn't feel like they connected that much. The chemistry was there I just feel as though there should have been a few more domestic scenes to make it believable.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Who does't love the faking-dating trope? It seems to be having a moment right now, and I am here for it.

Jada and Tristan's chemistry will keep you turning the page and wanting more. Who got a book hangover from this one? I know I did!

Thank you NetGalley for giving me an ARC!

I loved this novel, and I found the dynamic between the main characters to be incredibly engaging and well-written. I would say that this book would be perfect for anyone looking for a super cute fake-dating romantic novel. The writing was very funny and easy to comprehend, and the concept and idea of the behind the scenes Hollywood romance was incredible!