A touching, humorous, and exquisitely detailed sapphic romance, Cover Story strikes a balance between emotional depth and Hollywood gloss. Through Ali, a grieving publicist whose profession requires her to keep queer stars secret - until she meets Cara Bisset, a budding actress who refuses to hide - Celia Laskey creates an engaging story. Themes like identity, loss, and the price of conformity are all part of their slow-burning bond, which is passionate, healing, and electric. Cover Story is a poignant examination of love, tragedy, and the bravery to live one's own self with incisive humor and compassionate insight. An exceptional LGBT romance that stays with you long beyond the last page. Thank you NetGalley for the eARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. This book was something I was greatly excited to read, but it unfortunately left me feeling disappointed.

Often times with writing, it’s encouraged to “show instead of tell,” but this book seemed to heavily lean into “telling,” to the point that a lot of it read as very juvenile.

Ali is works for a Hollywood PR agency in the early aughts and always counsels her LGBTQ clients to stay IN the closet in order to protect their careers, despite being lesbian herself. And then she is tasked with getting a hot new movie star through the publicity tour of megahit movie. Cara is loud and proud...and lesbian. While Ali is constantly finding ways to help Cara stay closeted, sparks fly and her quest to keep stars in the closet becomes personal. I don't often DNF books but I almost did with this one. It wasn't terrible. I was just...bored. I found myself skimming the back half just to find out how it ended. Just wasn't my thing.

Cover Story is deeply moving story about a widowed publicist, Ali, who grapples with the loss of her girlfriend, while trying to navigate her career. She begins to struggle with the idea of keeping her clients closeted to maintain their successful careers after working with her latest client, breakout movie star, Cara Bisset. She has to work through her trauma, her belief systems shaped by the pressures of Hollywood, and her own self doubt before she can move forward.

Cover Story addresses sexuality, SA, grief, and mental health struggles while balancing a hopeful, romantic love story.

Celia Laskey gracefully navigates our FMC, Ali through tough situations and conversations. I could not put this book down, & had a massive book hangover when I finished it. The story was cute, yet had depth. I enjoyed reading a WLW/sapphic rom-com. Representation is so important, and this book not only entertains the reader, it connects them.

This was not my jam. I see enough Taylor Swift is gay theories on Reddit. It seemed lazy to include it so similarly.

I enjoyed Cover Story by Celia Laskey. Ali, anxious and grieving celebrity publicist, is a compelling and endearing protagonist. This is not a fluffy and light celeb queer rom com, but Laskey deftly and delicately handles the difficult topics that the characters have experienced including death of a partner and parent, outing, closeting, sexual assault, and mental health struggles. Despite the heavy topics in the book, the romance between Ali and rising star Cara shines. I loved their chemistry and relationship that develops through the book. Overall I recommend this book for anyone looking for a sapphic celebrity romance with a lot of depth.

I wanted to like this book when I got it thru NetGalley but I really could not engage with the main characters. I finished it because I just wanted to know how it ended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for this ARC

I've been on a romcom kick lately and this one definitely took me for a ride. This involves grief, loss, mental health, as well as romance. Not my favorite I've read lately but I enjoyed it.

This book took me by surprise! This was a romance, but it was also something more, It was a life story filled with all the emotions, joy and heart break, as well a wonderful exploration of grief and survivors guilt. Don't stop reading here becase, as someone recently touched by loss, this was a powerful exploration of that moment where life wins and you the urge to once again move toward takes over. In Allies case this takes the delightfully quirky and powerful form of rising star Cara. Although about ten years Allies junior, Cara is such an old soul that she not only accepts herself but fully embraces and rejoices in who she truly is. And here begins the comedy within this book. How can a PR specialist help Cara conform to the Hollywood Ideal when she has no interest in fitting that mould? Cue the world tour for Cara's new realise with Allie as her companion. But what if Cara's openness and freedom liberates Allie more than Allie can contain Cara? Will their need to each survive in the Industry change one of them or both? What happens if they, gasp, fall in love? You can see how well this wonderful balance of tension is played by Celia Laskey throughout this book. The course of Cara and Allie's romance is not smooth or easy but it one that turns a seemingly simple romance in to one that you will want to talk about and share.

I can into this book with no expectations discovering Laskey for the first time. This book had me glued to the pages because I forgot I was reading a book categorised as a Romance and needed to know how it would end. With powerful emotions and psychological explorations handle need with a delicate hand, Allie leaps to life off the page and feels like a friend you have known forever. Cara is so wonderfully crafted as a character that you find yourself rooting for her to stay her authentic and vibrant self, even though you know what the cost may be.

This was a real life story and one that filled me with much hope, A few tears, but even more hopeful sighs and smiles!
Filled with Love, Life and Laughter this exploration of what it means to discover love for A second time and embrace it no matter the worry or cost was a top find for me this year and Basket is an author I will be watching!

Thank you Grand Central for sharing this amazing book with me and one that will stay on my best of 2025 Shelf!

I'm really torn on this one. People are very upset about it being based on Taylor Swift conspiracies, but at the same time - why not pull from real life?

I loved the start, but found it tough to finish about the last 100 or so pages. Cover Story is the lesbian rom-com I’ve been waiting for—smart, funny, and full of heart. Celia Laskey delivers a refreshing take on queer romance through Ali, a publicist still grieving her late partner, who’s tasked with keeping rising actress Cara in the closet… just as sparks start flying. The chemistry is undeniable, the pacing is perfect, and the emotional depth had me smiling one minute and teary the next.

Ali’s anxiety, grief, and self-discovery are written with such care, and the relationship with Cara felt real—playful, sexy, and genuinely sweet. This book was a joy to read, and I’ll be thinking about these characters for a long time. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This is a sweet romance book but be warned it is heavy and deals a lot with grief. However on the whole the story is utterly lovely and an all around fantastic read.

Loved this one so much, but definitely not your typical light hearted rom-com. While it had many funny moments it touches on many tougher topics such as grief and mental/chronic illness.

A rom com! From Celia Laskey!

COVER STORY, set in 2005, stars Ali, a publicist who sort of fell into it (her true love is writing short stories). Ali's a lesbian, but part of her job is keeping queer celebrities in the closet. She's assigned to work with Cara, who's on the verge of becoming a mega star... and who says "being gay is like, her whole personality."

This is a romance, so you know where this is going! Sometimes an individual character's arc can detract from the romance, but I actually really liked how Laskey wrote about Ali's struggles over the course of the book. There was a lot to relate to in what she went through and how she navigated it (...or didn't).

Overall, definitely one I'd recommend, especially to fans of 2000s era romcoms and romance novels featuring Hollywood.

interesting romance, with the biggest flaw in my opinion being the excessive amount of detail that almost pull it away from what it seems to be meant to be. 3.25 stars. tysm for the arc.

Cover Story is a thoughtful, at times moving novel about grief, fame, and complicated love—but it wasn’t quite the book for me. The story centres around Ali, a recently widowed publicist navigating the murky waters of mental health and unexpected romance with rising actress Cara, set against the backdrop of mid-2000s Hollywood. While the premise was compelling, and Celia Laskey certainly has a knack for crafting layered, dimensional characters, I found myself struggling to stay invested in the narrative.

The book is heavily focused on Ali’s emotional journey, and while that can be powerful, her self-absorption and lack of awareness of other people’s feelings made her a tough protagonist to root for. The romance with Cara is very much a slow burn, with most of the relationship developing in the second half, and I wish there had been more chemistry shown on page to make their connection feel earned. There were moments of joy and genuine tenderness—especially with scene-stealer Glen the dog—but the story often lingered too long in overly detailed scenes, particularly in conversations with side characters, which made the pacing feel uneven.

Honestly, this took me quite a while to finish, and if it hadn’t been an ARC, I might not have pushed through. That said, I do think Laskey is a talented writer with a strong voice, and fans of introspective literary fiction or slow, emotionally layered romances may find more to love here than I did. I just wanted a bit more spark—and a bit less telling—for the story to really shine.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this author's previous book, Under the Rainbow. This one is more of a romance, which was fine--I did love the characters. They felt so real and I wanted to be friends with them. It's also very steamy. Very detailed love scenes. It's a story of grief, of lost love, of new love, and accepting yourself. It's set in the early 2000's so the references were fun! Enjoyed this one.

Ali, our grieving anxious hypochondriac lesbian MC, lost her partner a year ago in an accident and has been having a hard time coping. It doesn't help that she sort of fell into her job as a celebrity publicist who spends a lot of her career encouraging her clients to stay in the closet. But her newest client, Cara, isn't like the others - being a lesbian is a core part of her identity, and while she wants to be a star and do what Ali says - she's going to upend Ali's life in all the best ways in the process.
This is a book that tackles a lot of topics - mental health, grief, forced closeting, to name a few sexual assault - so don't go into this thinking you're getting a fluffy celebrity romcom - you're getting a story about 2 people finding love in each other but navigating a lot of hurt along the way. Cara and Ali's relationship was so beautifully built, Cara's gentle battering ram to Ali's self inflicted seclusion really made me root for them both. I found Ali's experience of grief really honest - the way it would sneak up on her at unexpected times - and Cara's care for Ali in those moments was really tender and effective for me as a reader to see the feelings she has for Ali.
I found it interesting to learn in the authors note that this was originally written as a modern story but they could only sell it once she set it in 2005 because 'closeting doesn't happen anymore.' And like obviously it does, because as Laskey says in her authors note - that math isn't mathing. and i would be so interested in reading that original version because my main criticism of the book was how hard it felt like it was trying to convince me we were in 2005, it became distracting at times. i'm also not convinced i loved the XXXXXXX stand in for presumably actual celebrity names, as opposed to just further developing the world with more fake celebrities?
overall this is a great read for anyone looking for a sapphic celebrity romance with a lot of depth and reflection on the role of celebrity and the ways in which enforcing invisibility harms the queer community.

Set in 2005, Ali, a woman in her mid-thirties, is grieving the death of her partner and dealing with mental health issues. As a publicist, she has experience of keeping Hollywood stars in the closet to protect their careers even though she doesn’t like it. Enter Cara, an up-and-coming actress who needs help keeping her sexuality covered up. Sounds simple, but what happens when she develops feelings for her client? 


It was a blast from the past that gave me a few laughs, but a good chunk of the book was about heavy topics. Death of a loved one, grief, trauma, and mental health disorders. I recommend readers to look at the trigger warnings before diving in. As for the writing, I would’ve preferred some more dialogue and not so much narration. The amount of narration tempted me to skim through it, but I pushed through it because it was well written. Ali’s fear of falling in love again was understandable, but I was glad she still wanted that for herself. Overall, I thought the book was sweet and heartfelt, and I recommend giving it a read. 

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a free arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a roller coaster that took on so many issues including death of a long-term partner, death of a parent, mental illness within self, mental illness within a parent, repressed childhood trauma and anger, chronic illness, forced queer identity closeting, witnessed pet being mauled (survived), rape, eating disorders, homophobia, and I’m probably even missing some. I kept thinking to myself that the book was biting off more than it could chew, but none of these topics felt forced - meaning I didn’t feel like any of them were in the book just for the sake of being able to discuss them or include them. They all made sense within the plot and story and were not shortchanged in the narrative. It was just a lot to process, as the reader, to one second be on a really heavy, awful subject, and then all of the sudden we flip the page and there’s a sweet happy moment that turns into a steamy sex scene. I would just say it was a lot. However I really liked the story, I loved the characters (flaws and all), and I enjoyed the plot and journey they took!

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest rating and review.

I was really excited to read this after loving the last Celia Laskey book I read, but unfortunately this one didn’t hook me and I couldn’t get into it. I’ll try again some other day.