I’m a sucker for anything sapphic and Hollywood. I really loved the dynamic between the two FMCs and how sweet their relationship was. The book definitely touched on some heavier topics (ie: grief, sexual assault, etc) and I think they were all handled really well. I found myself rooting for the FMCs and their relationship and I’m so, so happy that this book has a lesbian happily ever after. The writing style was very easy to breeze through!

It’s 2005 and Ali is a PR agent to the stars, but her super power is keeping her famous gay clients in the closet and it’s been making her miserable, especially since she is gay herself and feels that role models could have helped her when she was figuring out who she really was when she was younger. Then Ali’s new client, an up and coming star named Cara becomes her most challenging client yet with her strong sense of self and reluctance to remain closeted. Cara makes Ali question what she has been doing (not that she hadn't been quesitioning herself all along). Ali suffers from severe anxiety which has only gotten worse in the past year since her partner died. Cara’s carefree attitude gives Ali a new sense of safety and happiness, feelings that she didn’t think she’d ever feel again.

It honestly took me a while to like Ali, her neurosis were a bit over the top for me that she annoyed me at the beginning of the novel, but as she grew as a character I warmed up to her. I enjoyed having a story about how the Hollywood machine functioned in a time when everyone was basically hiding their sexuality (not that everyone is out now), and how it affected some of those who were deep in it. I thought the author did an excellent job of painting depth into the characters and slowly burning the relationship. I had a few minor quibbles with the book but nothing that really hurt the reading experience.

3.75 stars

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC to review

I unfortunately did not finish Cover Story. I had a hard time connecting with the characters and didn't feel the romance between them or even a friendship.

Cover Story by Celia Laskey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fans of early 2000s Hollywood drama will love this full-of-heart story about finding love and being yourself.

I caught myself several times with a big grin on my face from all the hilarious and touching moments. On its face, it’s a love story, but deep down it’s about identity, truth, and moving on. It packed an emotional punch, but it balanced it out with thoughtful, funny moments.

The “rooted in reality” 2005 references took me out of the story. I’m a reader that if you are going to use real life people in stories, you have to make me believe your character is also real. But I didn’t feel that way with Cara and Ali (even though I enjoyed them tremendously). I also felt like this could be edited down (less superfluous descriptions of migraines and washing oneself in the shower) and it would’ve packed a bigger punch.

Fans of books focusing on the celebrity/non-famous relationships, romcoms, and books that tackles emotional subjects will enjoy this one.

I gave this 2.5 but I'm rounding up to 3 because I really enjoyed the premise. Dealing with grief, new relationships, past familiar trauma, I was really hopeful this book would wow me.
I don't know if I got lost in the small things of the book but I kept getting distracted with references to all things 2005. At first(as someone who graduated in 2005 so this was a memorable year for me) I kind of liked some of these but then it just felt annoying to see all these specific tidbits throughout the book. Almost as if to say SEE IT'S SO 2005.

I did not like the immaturity that Ali showed when she was the one in the first place who expected Cara to keep herself a secret and then later on demanded that she go against that and force her the other way. I thought those issues were not resolved appropriately.
Same with her dad and their talk it felt too clean and tidy for a book that talked about a lot of mess.

🦇 Cover Story Book Review 🦇

❓ What's the biggest lie you've told about yourself?

🦇 It's 2005, and Ali is a publicist for Hollywood's biggest stars. Part of her job entails keeping gay celebrities in the closet—which is pretty ironic, since she's a lesbian. When Ali is assigned a new gay client, Cara Bisset, who's breaking onto the scene with a (hetero) romantic blockbuster, keeping Cara's sexuality under wraps becomes Ali's biggest challenge yet. After a series of increasingly close calls, Ali is sent on the worldwide promotional tour for the movie to help keep Cara in line. Instead, she finds herself drawn to Cara's confidence and bravery. As Cara's fame continues to rise, both Ali and Cara have to decide which is more important: maintaining the status quo, or risking it all for another chance at love.

💜 Celia Laskey's Cover Story is silly, sexy, and messy in all the best ways. Let's break it down.

✨ Characters (5/5): Laskey's characterizations are by far some of the strongest I've seen in a long while. Ali and Cara are layered, beautifully and realistically flawed, and above all else, human. They aren't two characters created to fit a plot; they breathe life into themselves with every word on the page. Cara is spunky and rebellious and fun (the exact kind of trouble Ali needed in her life). Though Ali is lost in her grief from page one, we see her return to the present as she spends more time with Cara. Each secondary character is included in the story for a reason, adding both to the plot and Cara and Ali's layered character development.

✨ Plot and Pacing (3/5): At the start of the story, we're wallowing in Ali's grief alongside her, and it slows the plot a little. It's not until we meet Cara (and the two spend more time together) that the story really amps up. The pacing follows Ali's moods, realistically representing one's mindset during a struggle with grief and/or depression. The plot (Ali helping Cara hide her sexuality while trying to rise in Hollywood) seems tired and done, but Laskey's execution is meaningful and purposeful, directing the story and women toward opportunities for growth.

✨ World-Building (3/5): I can't remember the last book I read that was set in the 2000s, as bloggers take over journalists and the internet takes the world by storm, but the timing was perfect for this story. Ali faces conflicting feelings about encouraging clients to remain in the closet in front of the public eye, but that situation wouldn't have fit in 2025, when everyone with a phone is a self-proclaimed journalist and secrets don't last. My one issue was the choice to redact real celebrity names. While this works as a play on the secrecy, it also pulls readers out of the story (using fake names would have worked instead).

✨ Romance (4/5): The relationship between Cara and Ali has such an easy, natural progression. I adored the choice to have Cara's beard relationship mirror her relationship with Ali, which forces Ali to question everything. The vulnerability between them is comforting in its rawness; their emotional conversations are by far the strongest component of the book. In fact, the story has a spark of renewed energy (showing us moments when Ali isn't thinking of her grief) every time the two women speak to one another. The age gap never feels too weird (but we see it clearly through Cara's lack of judgment at times). Unfortunately, the smut did feel technical and stilted at times. There's an awkwardness to these scenes as well, but it comes off messy and playful and real; an exact representation of Ali and Cara's relationship.

✨ Mystery/Suspense (4/5): I'm grateful that we don't get the full, in-depth flashback into the night Ali lost her partner until later. We sit in her grief throughout the entire story, but it's not until she talks about that night that we start to experience some relief. Her opening up, even just to the audience, allows her to heal. The question of whether Ali comes out does draw to the very end (a topic for discussion that's perfect for book groups), adding a slight element of tension to what is somewhat of an exhaustive story.

✨ Tone/Prose (2/5): As I said, the narration mirrors Ali's grief, which sometimes makes the prose difficult to enjoy. The writing is more "tell" than "show" at times, which can get exhausting fast (another reason the dialogue between Cara and Ali strengthens, or even carries, the story). There's a lot of repetitive filler that causes the pacing to drag, despite it being reflective of Ali's anxiety. The story is marketed as a rom-com, but the story's emotion-driven elements are stronger than any hints of comedy I saw (why does the synopsis call it "hilarious"?). I would love to see this story on-screen, though, to remove all the "telling" and allow the characters to show us their story instead.

🦇 Recommended to fans of Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Rachel Lacey, and Alexandria Bellefleur.

✨ The Vibes ✨
🎬 Queer / Lesbian Romance
🎭 Age Gap
🎟 Hollywood Romance
🩷 Early 2000s
🩷 Single POV
🎟 Spice
🎭 Grief
🎬 Mental Health Rep

🦇 Major thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. #CoverStory

⚠ Content Warnings: anxiety/mental health, past death of a loved one, death, compulsory heterosexuality, sexual assault (recounting/discussed with partner), sexually explicit content, alcohol, systemic homophobia

💬 Quotes
The first time Ali called herself a lesbian out loud, her whole body vibrated with confirmation. She couldn’t believe it had taken her so long to figure it out— looking back, it was wildly obvious. But when society lied and told you everyone was straight, you assumed you must be straight, too.

Ali believes the general public would actually relate more to stars if they were completely honest about their experiences and opinions.

You’d be surprised how much two women can get away with under the guise of being friends.

When she came out at twenty-three, everything finally made sense. She felt like she met herself for the first time.

Cover Story

Five stars!

✨ F/F lesbian romance
✨ Spice 3/5
✨ Medium paced (but felt fast because I loved it so much!)
✨ Moods: hopeful, playful, funny
✨ Tropes: age-gap, celeb/publicist (idk if that’s a trope but I’m making it one)
[Content warnings at the bottom > beware of spoilers]

Cover Story is the lesbian rom-com I have been waiting for! The novel follows Ali, an anxious grieving widow, who also happens to be the publicist assigned to a younger up and coming actress, Cara. A very lesbian actress who Ali (also lesbian) is tasked with keeping in the closet. A not-so-easy feat when the sparks start flying…

While Cover Story is a rom-com, it delves into deeper topics such as grief and anxiety. Ali is not perfect, but I found her struggles to be relatable. Her character growth left me, the reader, feeling hopeful. I appreciated the communication efforts between Ali and Cara. Unlike other romances I’ve read, I didn’t find myself yelling at the page trying to get the characters to just talk it out already!

I thought Celia Laskey’s writing was humorous and almost bubbly at times. I felt giddy while reading the interactions between the main characters. I think that’s what I loved the most about this book: The characters felt sexy and silly and real. As a lesbian myself, I could see a genuine relationship between Ali and Cara. Their relationship didn’t feel overly sexualized, romanticized or fantasized. When reading, this easily could have been a story starring someone I know.

Five stars for the lesbian representation and the perfect balance of silly, sexy, and heartfelt. This book was cathartic for me, and I especially appreciated the author’s note.

I highly recommend this book especially those looking for: les fic, rom-com, age-gap, or a romance with depth.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced review copy. All opinions above (and below) are my own.

Final thoughts:
- verboten
- Glen is perfect

Content warnings below, beware of spoilers, and please note these may not be all inclusive.

Content Warnings: anxiety/mental health, past death of a loved one, death, compulsory heterosexuality, sexual assault (recounting/discussed with partner), sexually explicit content, alcohol, systemic homophobia

I'm honestly getting tired of the "Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" books, and so I went into this one expecting yet another mediocre knock-off, but what I found was a very sweet and uniquely alternative take on the gay celebrity romance genre that honestly left me in tears. It's amazing to see how far we've come in LGBTQ+ rights in the past decade alone, so it was fascinating (and a little scary considering it was not that long ago) reading about the experience of being a closeted celebrity in the 2000s. This novel was fantastic in exploring grief, internalized homophobia, sexual trauma and abuse, fraught parental relationships, mental health and chronic illness, and even lesser represented issues of friendship (feeling resentment towards your friends having kids). I felt like Ali and Cara were such strongly written characters, and the side characters also brought a lot to the story as well!

I also thought Cara's coming out was excellently handled. Recently I've been reading some romance novels where characters are essentially forced to come out by their partners, but I felt like Cara's coming out felt natural, without any pressure from Ali. She is introduced as a character wanting to live authentically, becomes distracted from that goal when her fame skyrockets, and returns to her original ideals after realizing her life in the spotlight isn't worth losing out on a great relationship. Coming out is such a nuanced issue, and having personally dealt with dating closeted partners before, I greatly empathize with Ali's struggle dating Cara and believe it's one of the most realistic depictions of internalized homophobia I've seen in a while.

My only gripes were that, one, I wish the age different were a little less drastic. 25 and 35 isn't "wrong," per se, but as a 26-year-old, I have no interest in dating someone in their mid-30s. However, seeing Ali and Cara's relationship play out, this stopped being an issue for me shortly in. Also, I do feel at times this book is very info-dumpy, especially near the beginning of the novel. All I can hear in my head are my creative writing professors yelling "show, don't tell!" and while I initially was perturbed at this novel for breaking that rule, I quickly let go of that criticism as well, as we all have different writing styles, and I think Laskey employed this writing method in a way that served the story well, especially since Ali is a character haunted by the ghosts of her past.

I will happily be purchasing this when it hits the shelves in a few days, and I would thoroughly recommend this novel to others as well!

you had me at early 2000's hollywood romance!!!

ali is a publicist at a pr firm in LA in 2005. although it's not her true passion, ali climbed the ranks at her firm and has a long list of big celebrity clients that entrust her with their public image. when she't not juggling other peoples lives, she sticks to a routine she's had for months now - walking her dog, pulling the same food from her freezer, and falling asleep every night to episodes of frasier. in the safety of her routines and what she can control; she doesn't have to obsess over the loss of her partner who died in an accident a year ago, or her extremely complicated past with her mother, who also has passed away.

in comes cara - a young and hungry actress on the brink of stardom. the catch? her entire personality is being gay - and it's hollywood in 2005. cara's team brings their business to ali's firm, where it has become the norm to convince clients to stay closeted for the sake of their careers & success. cara is starring in her big breakout role, a romcom that is highly anticipated to do great at the box office. ali is tasked with the job of going on the world promotional tour as cara's pr agent, and making sure cara doesn't accidentally come out & risk her career in hollywood before it has even taken off. initially, cara is completely turned off by the idea of not being her authentic self, but as time goes on and she gets a taste of what success looks like in the industry, she begins to understand where ali & the rest of hollywood is coming from.

through getting to know one another, ali and cara are able to open up to each other in emotionally vulnerable ways that they've never been able to do with anyone else. they begin to heal from their pasts while on the tour - but will all of that carry over once they get back to real life in LA?

okay - i was so excited to read this book!! i feel like i could read ten more with a similar plot, early 2000's hollywood and the LGBTQ+ community within it. i think the starlet & pr agent was genius and messy and beautiful. i almost wouldn't say this is a romcom - i did laugh, but it touched on many deeper topics that enhanced and gave depth to the characters & i think romcoms stay a little more surface level. i LOVED the aspect of the world tour, i've been to most of places they stopped and i think it was done so incredibly well. i truly wanted in detail chapters of every city, i was eating those chapters up! i also felt like if we got a few more of those chapters, we would have been able to experience more of cara and ali's initial connection. i also loved gradually watching ali gain the courage to create change within her life - whether with her father, her career, her friendships, or the way she views herself.

i loved this book and will definitely recommend it to friends!! thank you so much for allowing me to read it in exchange for a review!

I think I expected Cover Story to be more of a romcom than it was, but thoroughly enjoyed it none the less

This book has possibly my favorite cover of the year, so I wanted to LOVE it. And I almost did, but it fizzled into more of a like. I appreciate a romance with more serious themes and the depiction of OCD and mental illness resonated with me as a reader with OCD. However, the pacing never quite got me hooked and I think some of the grounding in 2005 got a bit distracting occasionally. Still, the writing was solid and I know this will be a hit, especially with that gorgeous cover.

I’m not the right audience for this book. I’m a rom-com fan. This book is very dark and grief-focused, even though it’s described as “hilarious.” DNF.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Set in the not too distant past of 2005 this is the story of Ali and Cara. Ali is a Hollywood successful, hardworking publicist working with A list stars. Ali still grieves for her partner of 11 years who died unexpectedly. She also is physically and emotionally recovering from a car accident a few years previous and from a difficult childhood. But work is where she knows how to succeed. Her newest starlet is Cara Bisset. Cara is an up and comer who is on the verge of stardom. Her new film is a romantic blockbuster that will generate money and awards.

Cara doesn’t want to live closeted but listens to the advice of those around her, especially Ali, that she can’t come out. That isn’t how the Hollywood world works and it will be detrimental to her career. Ali is asked to go on a world wide promotional tour for the new film allowing the two to get to know each other. But as Cara’s stardom rises, Ali feels she is being left closeted as Cara’s secret gal pal.

I enjoyed the story. It is more Ali’s story and journey (roughly 65% Ali, 35% Cara) making it read more like women’s fiction. It is also told from her POV. But the romance is there including spice. I liked during intimate times there were moments of laughter but also reflection on grief. It makes Ali feel more real. There are a lot of the early aughts that make it into the story. Everything from music, pop culture, Hollywood and more. Some of it was fun and other times it took me out of the story and I wondered if it was adding to the book. At closer to 400 pages it is longer than most romances I read. There were several times when one paragraph filled my entire screen on my Ipad. That tells me there is a lot of detail being told to me. I liked the women more when they were talking, often very honestly, to one another. I also would have screamed at how poorly the two children were portrayed in the story if that hadn’t gotten resolved in the book.

Overall I liked the characters and storyline but I would have liked a little more editing. But I’m happy to see more mainstream publishers including f/f romances in their catalogs. (3.5 Stars)

This was a book I really tried taking my time with and focusing on. When reading the description, I was immediately hooked. The pacing of the book was well executed and it really did keep me working to finish it. I loved how the book depicted living with grief and the challenges of moving on. Would definitely recommend this book to others.

3.5 stars <3

This book and I have been on a wild journey together — because all the way back in 2023, Celia Laskey’s tweet randomly came across my Twitter, celebrating the sale of her book! This very book, in fact. So I can confidently say that I’ve been eagerly awaiting “Cover Story” and chomping at the bit to get my hands on this WLW masterpiece longer than 95% of its readers.

It’s a truly delightful, original concept, and I want to sit down with Celia Laskey and pick her brain for hours. I loved reading about Cara and Ali’s relationship, ups and downs and middles and all. Something I didn’t know or expect going into this was the heaviness of the topics discussed — anxiety, mental illnesses like bipolar and OCD, grief and trauma, losing loved ones, etc. This is not a light read, but its heaviness doesn’t take away from the buoyancy of Cara and Ali’s love…it actually enhances it.

Example: “All I can say is. . .grief and joy can sit right beside each other, sometimes. And you might as well give yourself more opportunities for the joy to sit down.” This is just one of the many excerpts showing how carefully and empathetically the novel handles grief. I have to say, one of the best I’ve seen.

The whole concept of closeting in a fundamentally homophobic society really hit home for me, as a queer girl who briefly dated another girl who refused to kiss her in public (mind you, in a California college town). It makes you feel so small, so othered. The fear of being who you are, in case people don’t accept you or it ruins your life/career, doesn’t just stop in places like California. It’s everywhere, all the time. I felt that the tension this created between Cara and Ali was very realistic. There’s never a perfect way to handle a situation where someone is ready to come out and one isn’t.

Lastly, this would make such a delightful rom-com (albeit one on the more serious side). Someone, please produce this as a movie!!! OMG!!! I would pay a million bucks to see it. I can already imagine all the 2005 L-Word-esque fashions and the beautiful montage of different places from the world press tour. And although this book wasn’t crazy spicy, it was delightfully steamy, and I felt their chemistry burning through my screen.

However, in the name of total honesty, here are some things I didn’t vibe with as much:

1. The characterization of Ali’s best friend Dana as a mother — so unnecessarily negative, it kinda gave me the ick. “How depressing it was seeing what Dana’s been reduced to” was…certainly a sentence. The whole point of being a girl’s girl is supporting your friends’ choices, so why is Ali putting down Dana for having kids? Having kids is perfectly acceptable, and so is not having them. Children are always discussed in a strangely negative light. I did appreciate their honest discussion about it towards the end.
2. Ali’s disillusionment with Cara’s fame seems unfair, since Cara was honest with her from the start about the fact that she wanted to be famous and successful. It’s not as if Cara’s love of attention and stardom came out of thin air. Honestly, Ali acts or thinks in a way contrary to reality a lot of the time — like concerning everything with Cara’s costar. It seems as if she switches her mind on things, then expects everyone else to instantly switch with her, even if she was the one who orchestrated the original plans. In fact, it makes her seem like a hypocrite — like when she says that Cara’s moral compass has skewed since they first met. Girl…if her compass is skewed, then so is yours!
3. Re her costar situation, I feel like it did not have to be taken as far as it did for everyone involved to garner good publicity. Like it drags on and on into a longterm thing to the detriment of everyone involved…
4. The book tries very hard to be grounded in 2005, with countless oblique references to stars of the time, relationships of the time, current events of the time. Sometimes this very much took me out of the story. Also, sometimes this book gives the Twitter “solo polyamorous hijabi amputee” meme. As in, every single diversity marker has to met. Sometimes, certain characters or scenes felt like they were only there to reaffirm Ali or Cara as “perfect” liberals.
5. The fact that Ali and her dad reconcile decades of hurt with one ten-minute conversation seemed a bit unrealistic. Same goes with her and Dana.
6. I think this book could've been edited down to 3/4 of its length and still deliver the story in a meaningful way...some scenes felt unnecessary and didn't add anything to plot or development (i.e. felt like repetitive filler).

Thank you very much to NetGalley, Celia Laskey, and Grand Central for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review <3 It will also be posted on my Storygraph under the same username!

I have some mixed feelings about this, I'd put it somewhere around 3.5 stars! I thought the 2005 setting was so well done. It wasn't over run by pop culture references but rather the actual culture and news around that time. Some side plots were a bit too long and/or went into more detail than I personally enjoy though.

Cover Story is the story of Ali, a young publicist and recent widow. When she is tasked with keeping her new client’s sexuality in the closet, Ali reluctantly agrees, knowing that - unfortunately - it will only help the actress succeed in her career. She’s done this before, so she knows the drill. What she doesn’t know is that she and this client are about to fall in love.

This novel is a Time Machine back to early aughts Hollywood — the details are dead on. I did struggle with the third person narration and the pacing, though. Ultimately the book wasn’t for me but I do think for the right reader it could be a different experience!

I requested this book on NetGalley after a friend suggested it and I am really glad I did!

I really enjoyed this one! Honestly for most of it, it was hovering more towards a 5 star rating but a few elements changed my rating to the still respectable 4 stars.

I really loved the romance in this book and how it also dealt a lot with other topics such as grief and anxiety. I did feel pretty frustrated with the MC at times because of her lack of willingness to get help for her severe anxiety. She was always going to doctors for physical elements but refused to address her mental health. I did also find the deep dive into anxiety at times stressful to read about.

But overall, this is such a sweet book about finding love after the death of your spouse and honestly so much more! I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes romance, especially LGBTQ romance.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!

Cover Story is a love story about Ali, a talented but anxious publicist for celebrities, and Cara, an actress about to have a major break out role. Ali has been put in charge of Cara's publicity for her new film and has to fight her growing attraction to Cara on the publicity tour even as her position requires her to keep Cara quiet about her personal life.

The 2005 setting was fun for me, because of all the fun blasts from the pasts it involved, and how much reading this really does highlight how different things already are now, 20 years into the future. The book is set in a time where celebrity gossip blogs were still new and coming into their own. In addition, it talks about how few celebrities were out at that time, which was so surprising to me, but also, as I was reading, the story jives with my memories of the time period and which famous actors were out.

I really liked both Ali and Cara. Ali's partner Natalie died a year prior, and she is still very much struggling with her anxiety and grief. Cara is younger than Ali, and is warm and extroverted. The two characters are great together, though I missed a bit in the chemistry of them getting together initially. In spite of the vibrant, fun cover, I would not classify this as a romcom type book at all. The emotion runs pretty deep in this one. Ali and Glen (her dog) are a super sweet pair, and this book is written with so much detail that really make both of them feel very real. Ali struggles quite. a bit, and her push to find herself at home in the world is a story worth following as well.

The question of whether Cara can or should conceal the fact that she loves women to further her career is talked about in depth through the whole story, and the 2005 setting makes the issue seem so much more pressing. I would definitely recommend this story for anyone who loves emotional romances. Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC of this book.

The grief of losing a long-term partner, extreme anxiety over the death, the expenses of being closed off in Hollywood, and the life of a Hollywood actor are the main subjects of this book. drama! A little bit of everything! What a fantastic book!