Love Scenes

the lack of co-star romance books in this world will be my 13th reason

I wanted to give this book 3.5 stars but alas, that's not allowed.

Love Scenes is about Sloane Ford, Joseph Donovan, and Sloane's famous family. Sloane is an actress who has been out of work for a while after she was let go as a character on a TV show. She's feeling a bit stuck. However, her famous family hires her to be a sort of production assistant/whatever they need on the set of their movie. Her sister is the director, her step-father is the writer/producer, her mother is a producer/actress, and her brother works on the music. Though she's not excited about her job, as she would rather be acting, she takes the job. Unfortunately, her least favorite former co-star is the male lead of this period romance piece, and he's flopping. She decides it's her job to make sure that he doesn't ruin the movie.

Sloane then becomes the female lead of the movie, due to an unexpected mishap with the lead actress. This forces her to work alongside a very sorry, Joseph. Their story truly begins there.

The family aspect of this book was great, I really enjoyed how it was true to real family life. It's complicated, messy, and sometimes shitty. The aspect of fame adds a great spin to it as well. The author gives flaws to all the family members, including Sloane, which makes it so much more like reality. However, at some points, it became confusing because of how large her family was. Her mother and father had three kids including her. And then her father remarried. Twice, which gave her two different stepmothers, and one half-sister. And then her mother got remarried as well. It seems like some of the family was forgotten at some points in the book and then brought back up again. Also, there were some unresolved conflicts that we see once or twice and then are never brought back up again.

And as for the love story, I liked it. It was an enemies-to-lovers/coworker romance. However, the hatred was one-sided because Joseph had no issue with Sloane. Sloane's hatred does have bearing though as you read on. As she learns more about him, they become friends and slowly start to fall in love. It's a slow burn, but not too slow. And then a bombshell is dropped by Joseph and shit hits the fan. They argue. And they finish the movie cordially but stay away from one another.

We then see Sloane realize a lot about herself and her life, and how broken she really is. After something happens with one of her family members that makes her rethink her life, she meets with Joseph (through her mother's pushes). They rekindle their romance.

I'm happy the two of them ended up together, I am. And I believe they did so in a really healthy way as well. However, I was left wanting more. This book was realistic in its portrayals of the ups and downs of life, yet the ending felt rushed and almost too on the nose. Maybe a view into their future was what I needed.

All that being said, it was a good book with great writing.