Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

This was okay. It was a low angst, lighthearted rom com featuring a quirky manic pixie dream girl and a cinnamon roll hero. The premise was cute: an aspiring screenwriter and a model team up to create content in order to make money so that she can pay rent while pursing her dream of writing a rom com. Is it far-fetched? Sure. I think I would have been more into it if I’d connected with the heroine more. She was your standard version quirky girl who doesn’t have her life together. There wasn’t anything inherently complex about her, which was a shame because there was a missed opportunity to really delve into her fear of abandonment and her relationship with her mother. All we get is surface level, and it wasn’t engaging enough for me to be invested in her journey.

The hero was a sweet and patient man, and I did really enjoy their flirty banter. While they had chemistry, it felt more like a platonic relationship. Once they got together the pace started to drag for me, especially given the push and pull from the heroine. Dash was an amazing and earnest guy, and I felt like he could do better than Mariel.

Overall, an interesting storyline, but the execution fell short for me.