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NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT

by Annabel Monaghan ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 7, 2022

A light romance that’s heavy on self-care and acceptance.

A romance writer’s successful screenplay shows her what she really wants out of relationships—and life.

When her husband left her, all Nora Hamilton felt was relief. A newly single mom with two kids and a mortgage, she poured her feelings into a screenplay, and, instead of selling it to The Romance Channel as she usually does, Hollywood comes calling—and they're going to shoot the movie right in Nora’s house. Between school runs and errands, Nora tries not to watch actors Naomi Sanchez and Leo Vance, the hottest leading man in Hollywood, reenacting the end of her marriage in her backyard. When production wraps, Nora is ready to have her life back only to wake up and find Leo still on her porch. He doesn’t seem eager to go back to his own life, so he offers to pay her $1,000 a day if he can stay for a week; despite her hesitation, Nora could use the money, so she accepts. Now she’s trying to live her daily life with a movie star following along at her heels, her kids excited but confused, and the other moms at school incredibly jealous. And she’s starting to like it. Monaghan takes a fairly basic rom-com plot (average person spends time with famous person and they fall in love) and flips it on its head by making the focus not the love story but the inner growth of the heroine, Nora. While Leo is, of course, very important, Nora’s discovery of her own needs and desires, especially in contrast to the person she had made herself into when married to her ex, is the driving force of the narrative. Because the romance isn’t the focus of the novel, there is a noticeable lack of scenes showing Nora and Leo actually falling in love—a few more could have made the second half of the novel stronger, but it’s a happy trade for more Nora.

Pub Date: June 7, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-593-42003-4

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022

ROMANCE | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE | GENERAL ROMANCE | GENERAL FICTION

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New York Times Bestseller

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.

When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781250178633

Page Count: 480

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | GENERAL FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

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THE FOUR WINDS

by Kristin Hannah

THE GREAT ALONE

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The Vietnam War Revisited, Through Fiction

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Film Adaptation of ‘The Women’ in the Works

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A LITTLE LIFE

Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2015

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National Book Award Finalist

A LITTLE LIFE

by Hanya Yanagihara ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2015

The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.

Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.

Yanagihara ( The People in the Trees , 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.  

Pub Date: March 10, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8

Page Count: 720

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015

GENERAL FICTION

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book review nora goes off script

Reading Ladies

Nora goes off script [book review].

June 7, 2022

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan (cover) Image: graphic image of a young woman carrying a cup of coffee across a green lawn towards a small house....a man stands in the doorway

Genre/Categories: Women’s Contemporary Fiction, RomCom, Romance, Family Life

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary:

Thank you #Netgalley @PenguinRandom @PutnamBooks for a complimentary e ARC of #NoraGoesOffScript upon my request. All opinions are my own.

Nora is a romance scriptwriter (think Hallmark Channel). Nora’s husband has walked out on her and their two children, and Nora uses her real-life experiences as the basis for her latest script. Because of the unique “tea house” setting, the movie is being filmed in her own home. Leo, recently named “sexiest man alive,” is cast as the husband and Nora’s life is changed forever. After the shooting wraps, Nora finds Leo on her porch offering her a thousand dollars a day to rent her “tea house” for one week, Movie making intersects with real life, and It all gets complicated!

My Thoughts:

Writing and Characters: I adore fast-paced, lively, and witty writing and a story with a cute premise! Nora Goes Off Script is warmly told and, in my opinion, the best part is the likable characters. Nora is relatable, Leo is endearing, and the children are winsome! These are characters you can cheer for! The predictable miscommunication/misunderstanding trope makes an obligatory appearance but it comes from an unexpected source which makes it forgivable. This story is also meta in that it’s a romance about a romance writer (also Nora is a nod to Nora Ephron).

 Some Steam: There are a couple of steamy (open door romance) scenes that are easy to skip or scan if this is not to your taste.

All in All , I think this would be a fun and engaging beach or pool-side read this summer. I’m recommending Nora Goes Off Script for fans of romance and women’s fiction (chick-lit). Perfect for your beach bag!

My Rating:  3.5 Stars (rounded to 4)

twinkle-twinkle-little-star

Nora Goes Off Script Information Here

Meet the Author, Annabel Monaghan

Author Annabel Monaghan

Is Nora Goes Off Script on your TBR or in your beach bag?

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22 comments.

i was just looking for a light beach read of sorts! this seems perfect.

It’s a good one! Enjoy! 🙌

Great review & I love your graphics!

Thanks Gina! 🙌😍

Like the sound of this Carol, it sounds fun!

This sounds cute! I love a good romance.

It’s a fun and page turning read!

By the way I love your blog name and always appreciate a side of Hygge! 😍😍😍

Not quite my genre but sounds fun!

I have to read a occasional chick lit to keep my bookstagram account in good standing! 😂

Sounds like the characters are done so well, my favorite!

likable characters for the win! 🙌

[…] Reading Ladies […]

Thanks for tagging me! 🙌😍

[…] Genre: Women’s Contemporary Fiction, Romance(ARC: Pub Date: 6.7.2022)***UPDATE: 3.5 Stars. Enjoyable and entertaining. My review of Nora Goes Off Script here. […]

Great review Carol. I am glad the characters were well done and enjoyable.

Something was just really likable in this story!

I had not heard of this one, so will need to see if my library has it.

Nice review. I’ve seen this one show up on some Editor’s Picks lists recently.

[…] ReviewLast Summer on State Street ReviewA Place to Hang the Moon ReviewRed Sky Over Hawaii ReviewNora Goes Off Script ReviewBook Lovers ReviewSecret Daughter ReviewThe Messy Lives of Book People […]

[…] Summer After which I felt “meh” about (even though others love it). However, I loved Nora Goes Off Script by the same author and I knew I had to give her new release a try. In my opinion, the execution of […]

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Book Review

Nora goes off script by annabel monaghan.

by Shana · Apr 11, 2023 at 4:00 am · View all 16 comments

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

Nora Goes Off Script

by Annabel Monaghan

June 7, 2022 · G.P. Putnam's Sons

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Genre: Contemporary Romance , Romance , Women's Fiction

Theme: Small Town

Archetype: Actor/Actress/Celebrity , Single Parent/Guardian , Writer/Author/Librarian

I was mildly annoyed the whole time I was reading Nora Goes Off Script but I also enjoyed the heck out of it. I’m not sure how to grade a book that’s simultaneously pleasurable and grating.

Nora is a single mom and a Hallmark-esque screenwriter who just had her big break—her depressing script detailing her recent divorce from her self-absorbed husband sold for a bunch of money. The book opens just as the movie crew shows up to film at her ramshackle house in rural New York. Nora’s ex always hated living in the sticks, and she’s ambivalent about having her carefully constructed life disrupted by a bunch of charismatic stars. Nora awkwardly watches as Leo Vance, the most famous movie star in America, recreates her loveless marriage, opposite a gorgeous actress who he seems to be ignoring in favor of teasing Nora and playing with her two school-age kiddos.

Nora is looking forward to getting back to her normal life when the film ends, but Leo begs to stick around for a bit, seemingly lost and a little sad. She agrees to rent him a room for an exorbitant amount of money, and despite her attempts to keep him at arms length, Leo continues to wiggle his way into her daily life. Nora is supposed to be working on a new saccharine romance script, but it’s hard for her to concentrate with People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive showering across the hall. Is she misinterpreting his newfound love of the small town simple life? And even if Leo falls for her, why on earth would he want to live in nowheresville?

This book straddles the line between Women’s Fiction and celebrity romance. The part of the story that’s about Nora healing from divorce worked for me. I was rooting for her to get her groove back. But the romance evokes the fantasy of being associated with fame with an intensity which left me unsettled and annoyed.

Nora is living an incredibly predictable life until Leo shows up. Her days revolve around her children’s activities and she craves the comfort of a rigid schedule. She drops the kids off, goes for a run at the same time on the same route, cooks the same meals every week, and has the same cheap glass of wine after putting them to bed. The most luxurious part of her life is the light-filled tea house in the garden where she writes from precisely 10am-2pm each day. I appreciated how Nora’s divorce is presented not as tragic, but as reclaiming her peace after a poorly fitting marriage. She has a full life of kids, friends, and a career that she knows she’s fabulous at.

As much as Nora’s post-divorce life is oriented around structure, it is also focused on frugality. She worries about money constantly, and is only willing to accept the chaos of a film shooting on her property because of the cash infusion and the chance to wow her neighbors. But solving her financial worries upsets her careful schedule. When the film crew shows up, Nora tries hard to maintain her regime: tacos on Tuesday, meatloaf on Wednesdays, homework, bathtime, bedtime etc. But Leo is an irritant. He appears in her kitchen at odd times, drinks her coffee, is mesmerized by her chicken roasting technique, charms her kids, and drunkenly falls asleep on her porch.

Once the film’s crew leaves and Leo decides to take a vacation in her backyard, he continues to ingratiate himself into Nora’s life. Leo happily slides into her school pickups and grocery runs. He marvels at the bananas at her local supermarket. Despite growing up in New Jersey to a “normal” family, he’s awed by the minutiae of family life, has never seen meatloaf, and doesn’t know how much food costs. I found this both entertaining to read and also confusing. It was as though Leo was birthed as a fully formed movie star. I enjoy secret nobility tropes where a slumming prince discovers how hard it is to be poor, and this book has similar energy. But in Leo’s case it didn’t make sense.

Nora’s two children play a large role in the plot and he offers a first taste at what it’s like to have a little help from another adult. Nora starts to fall for Leo when she sees him enjoy playing with her children and occasionally providing for the family by ordering takeout. But I frequently felt like Nora’s standards for a partner were extremely low. That became a running frustration for me, especially in the early parts of their romance, when Leo came across as selfish in small ways, like stealing her daily crosswords puzzle before she could get to it. Or entering her home during filming breaks to drink all her whiskey and eat her food without asking. Leo sometimes felt like a manchild she was responsible for, and he never apologizes for imposing himself in Nora’s life. Meanwhile, Nora is grateful to have a functional adult around for the first time in her adult life, which is both understandable but also a little sad.

Still, Leo’s love for the children and their hijinks together was ultimately what made me start to like Leo. He has a parental love story arc with both children (instalove with the daughter, enemies to wary love with the son) that parallels Nora’s. At the start of the book, Leo is unmoored after the recent death of his mom which is part of why he’s such a mess. It only takes a few days with Nora’s family to ground him.

I appreciated the centrality of Nora’s role as mom as she navigates falling in love. She’s self aware and snarky as we see her trying to sneak around and find time with Leo, without letting her kids know. It added to the swooniness of their romance, and I felt like the book encouraged me to open up and learn to trust Leo, just as Nora was. I couldn’t put the book down during the first half.

But at the same time, I grew increasingly annoyed by their relationship. This book leans unapologetically on the fantasy of wielding the social power of knowing a celebrity. Nora’s social circle bends before Leo. Instead of being seen as the sad divorcee, her neighbors begin to envy her. Leo vanquishes the mean frenemy. The other moms at school dress up in the hopes of catching Leo’s attention, but she’s the only one he wants. As divorcee revenge fantasies go, this book is a fun one. But it also made Nora seem shallow, as though the idea of being Leo’s love interest was more intoxicating than anything about Leo himself.

Yes, part of this fantasy is about power, but a fair bit is about money. Leo adds little luxuries into Nora’s life. He buys her fancy towels, has NYC pizza couriered to her house in upstate NY, and replaces her cheap wine with delicious expensive varieties. If she stays with him, she’ll never have to worry about money again and will have servants to make her meatloaf. Reading this, I realized that I prefer Celebrity romances where we see the celebrity at their job. We see very little of Leo’s work, just the social benefits. This felt like a missed opportunity to show Leo as a good fit for Nora, since her ex-husband’s unwillingness to work is presented as his major character flaw.

Leo doesn’t have much of a personality beyond celebrity-ishness. He is charming and entitled. He does the bare minimum to contribute to the household, ordering dinner occasionally, helping her son with his school play, but mostly listening to her. Which Nora is BLOWN AWAY by. A man who listens to her? She’s in love, babes.

Her ex husband never appears in the book, but his influence on Nora lingers throughout the story. The ex was a selfish little rich kid who never learned how to work, and who endlessly fails at his attempts to start a business. He belittles Nora for funding their life through “stupid” romance movies but one of my favorite things about Nora is her backbone. She is sheepish about her line of work, but is also proud of her talent, offering succinct and accurate recipes for a successful rom-com. She likes being the person who kept her family together all these years thanks to her hard work, and her hustle felt realistic. I loved seeing her finally gain success and financial stability through her movie scripts. This book is more about writing than acting, and my favorite takeaway from the story was that life gets messy when you fictionalize your life for everyone else to read/watch.

I’ll be honest: from my perspective Nora’s life seemed really boring. She eats the same thing, every week, and it all sounds very unseasoned. But Leo and Nora both talk a lot about how her life is “real” and how he loathes his regular actor lifestyle. Leo wants a “real person” and doesn’t see his pre-Nora life as real. The repetition of this theme annoyed me. Being famous doesn’t make you inhuman.

But Leo loves the rigidity of Nora’s structured life, which I found kind of cute. Less cute is how Nora revels in being less normal by proxy once she’s having daytime quickies with Leo. For example she actually thinks:

“I am not a normal person. I’m Leo Vance’s girlfriend.”

Leo seemed to be falling in love with Nora’s highly structured life more than anything unique to Nora. He rhapsodizes about her schedule, and eagerly looks forward to running all of her errands with her, like an eager puppy. All this made it hard to feel emotionally invested in their romance. Leo loves Nora’s regimented and structured daily routine; Nora loves being Leo Vance’s’ girlfriend. Why exactly does Nora love Leo, besides his ability to listen and dispatch pizza long distances? Not sure. Why exactly does Leo love Nora? We don’t really know, and she doesn’t either, which makes the book hum with her constant low level anxiety that he’ll leave her, just like her ex.

I wanted Nora to be happy after her shitty marriage, so I was reluctantly #teamLeo because it made her happy. But I would have been a happier reader if the two of them had more substantive conversation, or if I didn’t have to read about Nora’s lackluster cooking.

And then there’s the second half of the book, which I can’t really discuss without spoiling:

The second half of the book is about the fallout from Leo’s attempt to resume acting, and the two spend a LONG time broken up and pining, which is one of my pet peeves. Could this have been resolved by a conversation? Yes. Did the resolution take too damn long because they let a misunderstanding get out of control? Also yes.

Nora Goes Off Script made me laugh out loud, and offered a soothing fantasy about discovering your humdrum life is someone else’s perfection. The parts of the story that focused on Nora’s growth and healing after her divorce were very fun to read, and I was cheering her on. While Leo was charming, I wasn’t as into the social power of dating a rich celebrity, but others may enjoy that aspect. It felt more like women’s fiction than romance, and I found myself wishing for more flavor in the love story, and in Nora’s meatloaf.

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Add Your Comment →

So…he acts like a helpful manchild she’s responsible for, and he just lost his mom?

Relevant to nothing but I think “pleasurable and grating” describes 90% of my contemporary romance reading. I feel like it’s me and not the books? Or I haven’t yet figured out what I like, and how to find that from unreliable book blurbs. (And also why HR is a more reliable genre for me.) Anyway thanks for the opening paragraph of this review, it resonates A LOT!

Thanks for this review, @Shana. I really appreciate how well you articulated your reaction to the different aspects of the book, and it sounds like I’d have similar feelings! I don’t think I’ll pick this up right now, LOL. I can certainly get behind the fantasy as much as the next reader, but the issues that annoyed you would definitely be grating!

Yep, this is a C-leveler for me, too.

@squee_me Totally relate. For me, I do know what I’m looking for, but I perform way below chance at finding it from unfamiliar authors, and although this is true across sub-genres, you are right that it’s worse with contemporaries somehow. It’s so weird! I don’t have this problem with SF/F or psychological suspense, just romance, and tbh it’s caused me to read much less romance than I did a few years ago.

Shana: does Nora – or anywhere in the book does it – address the humongous red flag of Leo’s active alcohol abuse? Is there any indication of it affecting the kids?

That question, in addition to other smaller semi-nit-picky ones I have (i.e., huge influx of $$ for the script yet Nora’s still drinking the glass of cheap wine…?), and most of all, your fabulous, well-considered review all point me in the direction of steering clear of this book (I have a feeling I would have ended up throwing it at the wall at some point, anyway). Thanks!

@squee_me: I think it’s because with historicals there are more rules/agreements with the reader around norms, politics, social strictures, etc., but also, we don’t live in those times so there’s things we can excuse or not worry about because we know it’s not real, it “happened” in the past, things were different, etc. Contemporaries just offer way too many opportunities for the reader to have a personal opinion/experience with a topic. For example, the way anxiety is treated in a historical is going to be very different than how it’s treated in a contemporary. I just often find contemporaries to be insufficiently escapist.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Shana. I agree that the book had shortcomings; however, when I started it one evening last year I one more chaptered until I finished it! Overall, I enjoyed it.

Echoing everything flchen1 said. Thank you for your service, Shana!

@FashionablyEvil: “Insufficiently escapist” hits the nail right on the head!

Gosh….I am surprised at this rating…I gave it 5 stars on goodreads and it was one of the more enjoyable books I have read so far this year. We all know our reading tastes and experiences can be so different ( sometimes it depends on the mood you are in!) so I respect the reviewer’s perspective …I just had a different reaction!

I’m with @Pat m. I absolutely loved Nora Goes Off Script and have recommended it highly to friends. I’ve also been anxiously awaiting its release in paperback. I listened to it in audio (library loan) and wanted a printed copy to keep but had a limited budget. I read a lot of romance (and a good amount of women’s fiction), and I agree with the reviewer that to comment on the second half of the book would be to spoil it. Suffice it to say, I had NO clue how the author was going to pull off a “romance” ending, but she did, and it worked.

Also I didn’t mean to “yuck someone else’s yum” with my comment. I think a lot of my frustration is with unreliable blurbs and cover art misdirection, which I know are frequently debated among romance readers. And the list of things I don’t like in contemporary romance is looong. But I also probably do expect a lot more from characters in contemporary vs historical romance. All of this is why I rely on helpful reviews like this one. And I’m also glad that even when I don’t like a book, plenty of others readers do. It’s great to see authors find their audience!

When I first started reading historical romance, in the days when 350 pages was standard, I often felt the books would be better with 100 pages cut. Now I think historical romances have gotten shorter, while contemporary romances seem to have gotten longer and often have repetition or middles that drag. (Voice recognition ended that sentence with “Middlesex drag” on the first try.)

Petition to name the draggy, slow, repetitive middle of a book the “Middlesex drag” in honor of this excellent voice typo.

This book was enjoyable and everyone I recommended it to agreed.

Don’t let the C+ review put you off…I laughed out loud at page, 203. The FMC’s mom took the words right out of my mouth.

If you liked Katherine Center’s The Bodyguard, you’ll probably like this too.

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Review: Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

November 3, 2022 Angela Reviews , Romance , Women's Fiction

Review: Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

Nora's life is about to get a rewrite... Nora Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance channel screenwriter, it's her job. But when her too-good-to work husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage's collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life. No one is more surprised than her when it's picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne'er do well husband Nora's life will never be the same. The morning after shooting wraps and the crew leaves, Nora finds Leo on her porch with a half-empty bottle of tequila and a proposition. He'll pay a thousand dollars a day to stay for a week. The extra seven grand would give Nora breathing room, but it's the need in his eyes that makes her say yes. Seven days: it's the blink of an eye or an eternity depending on how you look at it. Enough time to fall in love. Enough time to break your heart. Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is the best kind of love story--the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen.

Gobble, gobble, gobble. That’s the sound of me eating up Nora Goes Off Script . I loved everything about this feel-good romance.

Don’t you just admire a woman who is underestimated? Nora’s ex-husband has always belittled her job as a romance writer for a Hallmark-style TV channel, despite the fact that her career has supported her family—if only barely. In a departure from her typical stories, her latest screenplay—based on the breakdown of her marriage—is a huge success and has been turned into a major motion picture. After the movie crew finishes filming at her house, movie star Leo Vance asks to stay on and rent Nora’s tea house for a few weeks. Nora—now a single mother with a deadbeat ex—is in need of money, so she agrees.

The way Leo marvels at Nora’s ordinary, day-to-day life, is adorable and fun. Nora’s life is rigidly routine, and it’s sweet the way Leo softens her tough edges. Through Leo’s eyes, we see that normal is underrated, and Nora is able to see that fun isn’t a bad thing.

The romance between Nora and Leo is heartwarming. Nora’s kids are so lovable, and I enjoyed how quickly Leo becomes an integral part of all their lives.

Nora Goes Off Script is a funny and satisfying story that is sure to brighten your day. This is Monaghan’s debut novel. I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

Recommended for fans of: Single parent romance Hollywood stars Sunrises

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About Annabel Monaghan

author Annabel Monaghan

My debut adult novel, Nora Goes Off Script, is coming out on June 7, 2022 from G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Writing it was probably the most fun I’ve ever had. Pre-Nora, I wrote fiction for young adults and a column for not-so-young adults.

I grew up in Los Angeles, and nearly every one of my relatives still lives in Southern California. I attended Duke University where I studied English. I have an MBA from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania and a brief history as an investment banker. I also used to teach novel writing at the The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. I now live in the suburbs of New York City with my husband, three sons, and a little dog who sheds.

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Great review! I loved this one, as well.

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Great review! I added it to the top of my TBR.

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Gobble gobble gobble? I love it! I need to put this on my list. It souds fabulous.

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Thanks. I hope you enjoy it too!

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Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, nora goes off script.

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If you’re someone who secretly (or not so secretly) binge-watches the kind of feel-good movies that air on Hallmark Channel, you’re sure to encounter more than one laugh-out-loud moment in Annabel Monaghan’s adult fiction debut, NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT.

Monaghan’s titular heroine has made a name for herself by cranking out connect-the-dots screenplays for the fictional Romance Channel. As Nora Hamilton puts it, “My superpower is methodically placing a man and woman in the same shiny town, populated by unusually happy people with maddeningly small problems. They bristle at first and then fall in love. It’s all smiles until one of them leaves, but then comes back immediately after the commercial break. Every. Single. Time.”

"If you’re someone who secretly (or not so secretly) binge-watches the kind of feel-good movies that air on Hallmark Channel, you’re sure to encounter more than one laugh-out-loud moment in Annabel Monaghan’s adult fiction debut, NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT."

Nora herself lives in upstate New York, in one of those small towns that feels almost too quaint to be real. She resides in a picturesque but ramshackle old house, complete with a picture-perfect “tea house” that she has converted into a writing studio. Now, in the wake of her overdue divorce from her narcissistic ex-husband Ben, Nora has been struggling even more than usual to keep up repairs on the old place. Fortunately, one of her scripts has been picked up unexpectedly for a feature film release. This one is based on her own failed marriage. Despite how painful it might be to see that story play out on the big screen, the Hollywood-sized paycheck will come in handy, and it’s undeniably exciting to have the movie’s co-stars film on location at her home.

When they arrive, Nora (and every other straight woman in the vicinity) is instantly attracted to leading man Leo Vance. Despite the fact that he’s playing Nora’s ex in this fictionalized version of her life, Nora finds herself drawn to him --- especially when he winds up parking his trailer on her property during filming and immediately establishes a generous, caring rapport not only with Nora but also with her two children, both of whom are still grieving the end of their parents’ marriage in their own ways.

After filming wraps, Leo surprises everyone by asking if he can continue staying at Nora’s place, renting her tea house for a few days (at a seemingly outrageous rate of $1,000 per day) while he spends some time unplugging from his regular life. Almost immediately, Leo is making himself part of Nora’s small-town life, endearing himself to her children and even offering to help co-direct the school production of the musical “Oliver.” Nora feels like she has fallen inside one of her own sparkly screenplays as Leo seems genuinely smitten with her too. But when he is called back to Hollywood and then disappears without a trace, does it prove that, like made-for-TV movies, their love affair was too good to be true?

Monaghan previously has written YA fiction and a collection of humorous essays for adults. Her new novel is definitely funny, too --- full of Nora’s self-deprecating observations and snappy dialogue. Some readers may grow impatient with the circumstances that precipitate the story’s central crisis, and they may be frustrated by the lack of Leo’s perspective, which at times renders him fairly opaque. But (without giving away too much) that air of inscrutability is kind of essential to the plot.

At the end of the day, although she might be a romance writer first and foremost, NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT is, at its heart, about Nora’s ability to trust and value herself.

Reviewed by Norah Piehl on June 17, 2022

book review nora goes off script

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

  • Publication Date: February 28, 2023
  • Genres: Fiction , Romance , Women's Fiction
  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
  • ISBN-10: 0593420055
  • ISBN-13: 9780593420058

book review nora goes off script

Reading Reality

Review: Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

Review: Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

Nora's life is about to get a rewrite... Nora Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance channel screenwriter, it's her job. But when her too-good-to work husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage's collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life. No one is more surprised than her when it's picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne'er do well husband Nora's life will never be the same. The morning after shooting wraps and the crew leaves, Nora finds Leo on her porch with a half-empty bottle of tequila and a proposition. He'll pay a thousand dollars a day to stay for a week. The extra seven grand would give Nora breathing room, but it's the need in his eyes that makes her say yes. Seven days: it's the blink of an eye or an eternity depending on how you look at it. Enough time to fall in love. Enough time to break your heart. Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is the best kind of love story--the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen.

This initially anti-romantic Nora actually writes those made-for-TV-sponsored-greeting-card-company romances that the Nora in yesterday’s book initially believed cast her as an unfeeling villain in every single outing. Unlike the romances that either of them reads, writes, agents or even watches, the particular script that this Nora is dealing with when this story begins is the story of her own life, and it’s about to be filmed in her very own picturesque but slightly run down home.

Or rather, it’s about to be filmed on her lawn and in “The Tea House” on the grounds where she does her writing. It’s a bit of art imitates life imitates art, as that Tea House was her emotional escape from an emotionally abusive but otherwise absent husband. It was the place where she wrote the scripts that literally kept their life afloat – because the asshole was just too “good” – at least by his own definition – to go out and get a damn job to contribute to the household.

Which also wasn’t good enough for him in any way, shape or form. Not Nora, and not their two kids. So he upped and left and she was actually pretty damn happy about it. She chose not to be a victim of any of her circumstances, and that’s her story and it sold and it’s being filmed and just the fees from using her house for part of the movie shoot is going to get her out of the debt the asshat left her in.

But her asshat ex is being played by the Sexiest Man Alive, and Nora is just a bit smitten. Or at least her fantasy life has suddenly taken on some new dimensions. Still, Leo Vance’s invasion of her life and occasionally her house is just a bit of excitement in her otherwise pretty ordinary and pretty contented life.

And she can’t wait for the film crew to be gone so she can get back to writing. But when the film crew leaves, Leo decides to stay. And stay. And STAY.

That’s where what was merely a blip – although a pretty damn big blip – of excitement turns into a whole lot more. Leo doesn’t just camp out in her tea house, he becomes part of her life and the lives of her two kids, Arthur and Bernadette. In a few short weeks, they become a family.

It’s easy for all of them to fall for him. He’s more involved in all their lives than the asshat EVER was. And it’s not an act. He’s not playing a part. So when Nora and Leo finally give in to the simmering tension between them, it seems like something that shouldn’t be possible might be possible after all. They might, just maybe and possibly, have some kind of future. No matter how much that seems like a fairytale.

But just when they do – they don’t. Leo gets a call, jets off to LA and then to Asia to film a big movie, and he ghosts the whole family. He misses all the things he promised he’d come back for and just disappears out of their lives if not out of their hearts.

Howsomever, this isn’t Nora’s first time on this particular merry-go-round. She wasn’t a victim before, and she isn’t going to be one now. She knows what to do. She writes her pain. She picks up the pieces and moves on. She survives.

It’s then, and only then, that the truths finally come out. The only question is whether or not it’s too late.

book review nora goes off script

And Nora is as surprised as anyone – if not a bit more so – that it might possibly work. So she’s not surprised at all when it doesn’t. Heartbroken this time around, but not surprised.

One of the things that makes celebrity romances so much fun – especially when they work as well as this one does, is that we’ve probably all had that daydream at least once or twice – if not a whole lot more times. It’s not remotely likely or even plausible, but it’s fun to dream.

But to make it work as in a novel that dream has to at least seem like it might possibly come true in this one particular case. ( Spoiler Alert and All the Feels , both by Olivia Dade, also play with this idea but in a completely different way.) And it does seem to be working in Nora Goes Off Script – at least from Nora’s perspective.

Howsomever, because the story is told entirely from Nora’s point of view, we get why it works but we also see exactly how much she questions whether the relationship has ANY long term potential whatsoever. She knows she wants it to, but she’s realistic about wondering whether it can. That we don’t see things from Leo’s point of view means that we share her doubts and totally get why, when he disappears it’s disappointing but not as surprising as either she – or we – want it to be.

(Some of the folks in my reading circle saw these events as a giant misunderstandammit. While it’s true that the mess might have been cleared up by a conversation or a series of texts in their particular case, because of the agency in the middle of things it was easy to see that that conversation actually couldn’t happen. YMMV, as theirs obviously did.)

book review nora goes off script

Nora Goes Off Script is the author’s debut adult novel, although she has previously published both YA fiction and grown-up nonfiction. I’m so very happy that there is more where this one came from, and I’m looking forward to reading her sophomore adult romance, Same Time Next Summer , coming out THIS summer!

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Book Review: Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

Posted June 9, 2022 by WendyW in Book Review , bookblogger / 31 Comments

book review nora goes off script

***I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.***

Evvie Drake Starts Over meets Beach Read in this heartwarming and hilarious novel about a divorced romance channel screenwriter whose script about her marriage’s collapse just might help her reclaim her life and find love.

Nora’s life is about to get a rewrite…

Nora Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance channel screenwriter, it’s her job. But when her too-good-to work husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage’s collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life. No one is more surprised than her when it’s picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne’er do well husband Nora’s life will never be the same.

The morning after shooting wraps and the crew leaves, Nora finds Leo on her porch with a half-empty bottle of tequila and a proposition. He’ll pay a thousand dollars a day to stay for a week. The extra seven grand would give Nora breathing room, but it’s the need in his eyes that makes her say yes. Seven days: it’s the blink of an eye or an eternity depending on how you look at it. Enough time to fall in love. Enough time to break your heart.

Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is the best kind of love story—the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen.

book review nora goes off script

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan was very interesting as well as entertaining.  It made me laugh but had some very emotional parts as well.  I don’t normally enjoy books with movie stars as the main character, but this was a bit different, and I enjoyed it very much. 

Nora Hamilton is a busy, recently divorced, screenwriter for The Romance Channel.  When her lazy husband leaves her and their two children, she writes a script that could never be shown on The Romance Channel, as it’s the opposite of romance.  Nobody is more surprised than Nora when a movie production company buys the rights and decides to make a film right there in her home.  Most of the movie is filmed in and around The Tea House she has in her backyard.  

After filming is complete, Leo, the hot movie star who played her husband in the movie, decides he wants to stay for another week.  He offers her $1000 dollars a day, for seven days so he can stay in her tea house.  She refuses at first but needs the money. He sleeps in the tea house and just seems to want to do normal things with Nora and her two children, Arthur and Bernadette.  Can all this time together allow Nora and Leo to fall in love?

I really enjoyed this book.  I loved all the characters, I don’t usually like the big movie star characters, but Leo was a bit different.  He was reflecting on his life and his choices and enjoys the simple life at Nora’s house.  Nora is just a bit quirky and a lot normal.  It’s so easy to warm up to her, as she’s very easy to like.  Her children, Arthur and Bernadette are adorable, but also realistic and not perfect (like most kids!).  

The book starts out and pulled me right in.  I was intrigued by the behind-the-scenes look at a film production at Nora’s house. Right away I was swept up in Nora’s world and enjoyed every minute of my visit with her, Leo, and her kids.  

I highly recommend Nora Goes Off Script to anyone who enjoys romance. I received a complimentary copy of this book.  The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

About Annabel Monaghan

book review nora goes off script

My debut adult novel, Nora Goes Off Script, is coming out on June 7, 2022 from G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Writing it was probably the most fun I’ve ever had. Pre-Nora, I wrote fiction for young adults and a column for not-so-young adults. Since you’ve gotten this far into my website, you probably knew that already.

I grew up in Los Angeles, and nearly every one of my relatives still lives in Southern California. I attended Duke University where I studied English. I have an MBA from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania and a brief history as an investment banker. I also used to teach novel writing at the The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. I now live in the suburbs of New York City with my husband, three sons, and a little dog who sheds.

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book review nora goes off script

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31 responses to “ book review: nora goes off script by annabel monaghan ”.

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This one sounds good! I’ll have to check out. Great review! https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/

' src=

This sounds so cute and like such a fun read. I love the sound of Nora and that Leo’s movie star character is done a bit differently from the normal. Adding this one to my TBR.

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This sounds like it was a wonderful story. Great review, Wendy.

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I’m really interested in this one. I read a few by Monaghan years ago when she was writing YA, and I’m really intrigued about her move into adult fiction.

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I never read any of her YA books, but I sure enjoyed this one.

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Great review!

Thank you, Bonnie!

' src=

Nice review, Wendy! This sounds like a good read.

Thank you, Jolene!

' src=

Interesting setting. Not big into the movie stars, but this does sound like you enjoyed it for the most part. Great review!

Thank you, Kimberly

' src=

I just started this one and am really enjoying it so far!

I hope you continue to enjoy it!

' src=

I already like Leo! This one sounds like a fun summer romance. 🙂

He’s a sweetheart! Thank you, Lark!

' src=

Glad you enjoyed, great review 💕

Thank you, Jenny!

' src=

This one sounds so good!

Thank you, Carrie!

' src=

Thanks for sharing your review. This look like a nice read.

Thank you, Kate!

' src=

Excellent review, Wendy!! It sounds sooooooo good!!!!

Thank you, Cindy

' src=

Oh why didn’t I grab this one?🤦‍♀️Excellent review Wendy!🤗📚💜

Thank you, Susan!

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Glad you enjoyed this one.

Thank you, Rosie!

' src=

I love that this book included some more emotional and reflective parts. Sounds like a lovely story with a very interesting setting. Excellent review, Wendy!

Thank you, Tessa!

' src=

I’m with you on the big film star characters; I’m not usually a fan either so glad Leo was done differently. Sounds a nice warm read, with a nice peek into the movie world.

Thank you, Mallika.

book review nora goes off script

Annabel Monaghan

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan – Review

book review nora goes off script

⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3) 🎧🎧🎧 (3)

Genre: Romance {fade to black} Format: Audio via Libby

Published: June 7, 2022

Soundtrack: Austin – Dasha

book review nora goes off script

If you want a romance novel with main characters in their late 30s/ 40s, this fits the bill! Our story begins with 39-year-old screenwriter, mom of two, and divorcé Nora Hamilton, whose life is interrupted when a film crew descended on her home to film the movie she wrote about the end of her marriage. Enter Leo Vance famous actor and heartthrob. When the filming ends, Leo wants to stay in suburbia, so while stealing Nora’s booze, he offers to pay her to let him stay. Read the book to find out more… 

While I loved the first half of this book, the third-act break-up just made no sense to me. l spent the last 25% of the book waiting for someone to grow up and say how they feel. It took away from my enjoyment in the book’s earlier parts. Overall I enjoyed this quick read and it was a cute fantasy of normal mom meets Hollywood star. Perhaps it reminded me of Bodyguard by Katherine Center. 

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  • Nov 1, 2022

Review of Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

Sink into this light-fiction escapism; Nora Goes Off Script is romantic and satisfying in its outlandishly satisfying resolutions, convenient events, and happy endings.

book review nora goes off script

In Annabel Monaghan's light fiction Nora Goes Off Script , Nora Hamilton is a scriptwriter for a Hallmark-style romance channel--and an expert in crafting the perfect romantic storylines and happy endings, according to her tried-and-true formula.

Meanwhile, her own love life is a mess and she's reluctant to be vulnerable again (her ex was a selfish, immature, entitled jerk who isn't involved in the kids' lives anymore).

Nora's focused on her work, her small-town life, her kids' sports and their school play, and her longtime friends.

But when the movie of her latest script is filmed at her house (side note: I'm not clear on how that sequence of events was meant to make sense), handsome and insufferable movie star Leo Vance shows up--and upends everything Nora thought she knew about love.

Nora's ex is presented as such a full-on loser, it's hard to believe in their dating-to-marriage story ever occurred, but this black and white, good and bad view of the characters and their blame dramatically simplifies a reader's expected loyalties.

Is it too silly and nitpicky to suggest that the most unlikely element of the whole book was not that a movie star falls in love with a lovely small-town mom, but that Nora's (and others') duties related to the looming, extremely involved school play (wrangling children, lines/blocking/rehearsals, creating costumes, juggling schedules) seem so effortlessly achieved?

Sink into this glorious escapism, because (spoiler alert!) you can be sure that if, for example, something outlandishly amazing might happen, it will (a nomination for a Major Award; a celebrity romance; a monetary windfall; a face-saving, revenge-worthy, incredible success story).

Nora Goes Off Script is fun redemption for mom readers (movie stars want what we've got: roasted chickens, Taco Tuesdays, weekend sports schedules, and more!) and is joyfully satisfying in the happy endings Monaghan provides.

book review nora goes off script

Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book?

Annabel Monaghan is also the author of Sometime Next Summer and other books.

Two other light fiction books I've reviewed that involve the celebrity-love trope are Very Sincerely Yours and The Bodyguard .

If you like light fiction, you might also like the books on my Greedy Reading Lists Six Great Light Fiction Stories and Six More Great Light Fiction Stories . Or you can search for light fiction reviews on the site.

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Nora Goes Off Script

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48 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-8

Chapters 9-15

Chapters 16-26

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

Nora Goes Off Script is Annabel Monaghan’s first novel for adults. First published in 2022, it is a story of love, heartbreak, and resilience. When the protagonist , Nora Hamilton , falls in love with the movie star playing her ex-husband in a movie she wrote, she feels like she has entered a world of pure fantasy. Their love story plays out just like one of the romance movies she usually writes, until he leaves to film his next movie. However, through her heartbreak, Nora rediscovers her independence and emerges stronger than ever. A number of sources named the novel one of the Best Beach Reads of 2022, including The Washington Post , USA Today , and Book Riot .

This guide references the 2022 G. P. Putnam Sons paperback edition of the novel.

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Plot Summary

The novel is narrated from the protagonist Nora’s first-person point of view . Though Nora, 39, usually writes Hallmark Channel–style movies for the fictional Romance Channel, she has written a serious drama, The Tea House , based on her marriage to her ex-husband, Ben. A Hollywood crew comes to her home in Laurel Ridge, New York, to film the final breakup scene, which takes place in the stone teahouse located on her property.

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The Tea House stars two of Hollywood’s biggest actors, including the former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance , 40. Leo makes a bad first impression on Nora; he is rude, and does not say hello when he sees her. Nora goes to pick her kids up from school, and when they return, she is surprised to find Leo in her kitchen, drinking her beer and solving the crossword puzzle she was saving.

When the shoot wraps, Leo asks Nora if he can stay in her tea house for a week longer. He tells her he needs a break from the city and offers to pay her $7,000 for the stay. Hesitantly, Nora agrees. Her daughter, Bernadette, 8, is delighted to have a movie star staying at their house, but Nora’s son, Arthur, 10, is more unsure.

As the week passes, Leo and Nora become closer, and they develop a sexual relationship. Leo becomes like part of the family; he volunteers to direct Arthur’s school play, Oliver Twist , goes grocery shopping with Nora, and helps around the house. He has never lived this kind of normal life before and finds it fulfilling. Nora cannot believe their romance-plot love story could be real, but Leo confesses that Nora is the first woman he has been in love with, and she starts to imagine their future together. Just then, Leo is cast in a new film, Mega Man . He leaves for LA but promises to return for Oliver Twist ’s opening night.

Leo has to stay in LA longer than anticipated and misses the opening night of Oliver Twist . Then, he stops returning Nora’s text messages. A few days later, she receives a package with $21,000 to cover the cost of Leo’s stay. Nora is devastated and believes this proves their relationship was a fantasy. She goes to New York to return the money to Leo’s assistant, who tells Nora that Leo is in a relationship with his beautiful co-star, Naomi Sanchez.

Heartbroken, Nora writes a new script, Sunrise , which tells the story of her and Leo’s romance. She tries to write it as a silly movie for The Romance Channel, but her agent tells her to write a real drama; The Tea House was successful, and now Nora is considered a serious screenwriter.

In January, The Tea House is nominated for four Oscars, with Nora being nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Leo is nominated for Best Actor, and the two briefly text each other again. Leo tells Nora he sent her money so it would seem like he was renting the tea house. Nora doesn’t understand his explanation but is so caught up in the excitement of the Oscars that she doesn’t ask any more questions.

Nora wins the Oscar, and the night passes like a happy dream. She speaks with Leo for the first time since he left, and he tells her that their affair mattered to him. Nora takes this as a long-overdue break-up speech, which she decides is better than nothing.

One day, Arthur goes missing from school. Nora tracks him to New York City and calls Leo, who promises to look for Arthur. When Nora arrives at Leo’s apartment, Arthur confesses that on the opening night of Oliver Twist , he texted Leo to tell him that Ben had returned and was back together with Nora. Leo stopped communicating because he didn’t want to intrude on Nora’s life with Ben.

The following day, however, Nora finds Leo on her porch. He is leaving the country for a film shoot, but before he goes, he and Nora confess their love for each other. Leo gives Nora a ring, telling her they are married, so she knows he’s returning. When Leo comes back, the two are officially married in front of Nora’s tea house, and they start their life together.

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Nora Goes Off Script, a review by Shelley

book review nora goes off script

G.P. Putnam’s Sons Publication Date: June 7th, 2022 272 Pages Goodreads | Amazon |  Bookshop.org

This was an adorable romance about a couple of people of a certain age and it was so refreshing to have middle-aged leading characters. Nora is a single mother and screenwriter for The Romance Channel and gets her big break when she writes a script about her divorce. It becomes a big-time movie with big-time Hollywood stars. Parts of the movie are filmed at the Tea House in her yard and I loved the meet cute of Nora and movie star Leo. Leo realizes he needs a break from the hustle and bustle of the big cities (L.A. and New York) and he wants to stay in Nora’s Tea House. Nora lets him hide out there because she can use the rent money. Not only does Leo invade Nora’s home but he also invades her heart and the hearts of her children.

I loved how sweet this romance was with enough touch of the serious so that it wasn’t too schmaltzy or saccharine. I liked the realness of all the characters (especially the kids) and that realness is what makes a great book in my opinion. The way their relationship started and the slow build-up made this a winner in my eyes. It’s a fairly short read and did not drag at all. I related to Nora as a single mom with a falling-down house she loves and having to be budget-friendly all the time and I appreciated that she pretty much stayed the same even after her luck changed.

One thing that stops me from giving this four stars is the lack of communication between Leo and Nora when he has to go away for a bit…a simple text or phone call would have prevented the entire problem and that was super annoying. As much as the miscommunication frustrated me I did enjoy this for the most part because it was very charming and heartwarming.

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Nora Goes Off Script

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Annabel Monaghan

Nora Goes Off Script Paperback – February 28, 2023

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  • Print length 304 pages
  • Language English
  • Publisher G.P. Putnam's Sons
  • Publication date February 28, 2023
  • Dimensions 5.1 x 0.65 x 8 inches
  • ISBN-10 0593420055
  • ISBN-13 978-0593420058
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  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ G.P. Putnam's Sons (February 28, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593420055
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593420058
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.1 x 0.65 x 8 inches
  • #299 in Contemporary Women Fiction
  • #336 in Women's Domestic Life Fiction
  • #2,527 in Contemporary Romance (Books)

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IMAGES

  1. Nora Goes Off Script [Book Review]

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  2. Book Review: Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

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  3. Nora Goes Off Script A Hilarious And Heartwarming Romance For Summer

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  4. Nora Goes off Script by Annabel Monaghan, Paperback

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  5. Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

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  6. Nora Goes Off Script review: Annabel Monaghan's feel good romance feels

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COMMENTS

  1. Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

    Skipping the summary--many wonderful reviews cover it. Nora Goes Off Script was such a fun and much-needed escape read. While the novel doesn't go off script regarding women's fiction, Nora's character makes it stand out. I loved Nora's character. She was a little much to take at first, but I quickly adapted and found myself rooting for her early.

  2. NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT

    Because the romance isn't the focus of the novel, there is a noticeable lack of scenes showing Nora and Leo actually falling in love—a few more could have made the second half of the novel stronger, but it's a happy trade for more Nora. A light romance that's heavy on self-care and acceptance. 7. Pub Date: June 7, 2022.

  3. Nora Goes Off Script [Book Review]

    Writing and Characters: I adore fast-paced, lively, and witty writing and a story with a cute premise! Nora Goes Off Script is warmly told and, in my opinion, the best part is the likable characters. Nora is relatable, Leo is endearing, and the children are winsome! These are characters you can cheer for!

  4. Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

    Book Review Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan. by Shana · Apr 11, 2023 at 4:00 am · View all 16 comments. ... Nora Goes Off Script made me laugh out loud, and offered a soothing fantasy about discovering your humdrum life is someone else's perfection. The parts of the story that focused on Nora's growth and healing after her ...

  5. Review: Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

    Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is the best kind of love story--the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen. Gobble, gobble, gobble. That's the sound of me eating up Nora Goes Off Script.

  6. Nora Goes Off Script

    Nora Goes Off Script. by Annabel Monaghan. Publication Date: February 28, 2023. Genres: Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction. Paperback: 304 pages. Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN-10: 0593420055. ISBN-13: 9780593420058. Nora Hamilton, a romance channel screenwriter, turns her marriage's collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life.

  7. Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Nora Goes Off Script

    Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Nora Goes Off Script at Amazon.com. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. ... Nora Goes Off Script › Customer reviews; Customer reviews. 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5 out of 5. 14,339 global ratings. ... Book reviews & recommendations : IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities: IMDbPro

  8. Review: Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

    Enough time to break your heart. Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is the best kind of love story--the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen. My Review:

  9. Nora Goes Off Script

    About Nora Goes Off Script "The perfect escape." —USA Today "Readers who loved Emily Henry's Book Lovers are sure to savor Nora Goes Off Script."—Shelf Awareness Named one of the Best Beach Reads of Summer 2022 by The Washington Post • USA Today • Cosmopolitan • Southern Living • Country Living • Business Insider • Buzzfeed • Book Riot • The Augusta Chronicle

  10. Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Nora Goes Off Script

    Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Nora Goes Off Script at Amazon.com. Read honest and unbiased ... reading the kindle version should be prepared that the kindle percentage showing how far you've made it through the book may throw you off. I was pacing myself wrong because it turns out the book ended at the 87% mark since ...

  11. Book Review: Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

    Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is the best kind of love story—the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen. Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan was very interesting as well as entertaining.

  12. Nora Goes Off Script: Monaghan, Annabel: 9780593420034: Amazon.com: Books

    Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is the best kind of love story—the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen. Print length. 272 pages. Language.

  13. Nora Goes Off Script

    Nora Goes Off Script is sexy, heart-warming, and intelligent, and I loved it!" —Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party "Filled with hopefulness, wit, truths, and tons of heart, Nora Goes Off Script is everything a reader wants in a charming and laugh-out-loud romantic comedy. I loved hanging out with Nora… her quirks and kids, her ...

  14. Nora Goes Off Script

    "The perfect escape." —USA Today "Readers who loved Emily Henry's Book Lovers are sure to savor Nora Goes Off Script." —Shelf Awareness Named one of the Best Beach Reads of Summer 2022 by The Washington Post • USA Today • Cosmopolitan • Southern Living • Country Living • Business Insider • Buzzfeed • Book Riot • The Augusta ChronicleNora's life is about to get a rewrite ...

  15. Review: Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

    Nora Hamilton is a wife, mother, and screenwriter for the Hallmark Channel. When her marriage collapses and her life turns upside down, she looks to her writing as a way out. Her next script promises to become a big-screen hit, and is being filmed at her own house! Movie star Leo, playing the character loosely based on her ex, twists himself ...

  16. Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

    Our story begins with 39-year-old screenwriter, mom of two, and divorcé Nora Hamilton, whose life is interrupted when a film crew descended on her home to film the movie she wrote about the end of her marriage. ... Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan - Review. Posted on March 20, 2024 March 29, 2024 by Jeanna. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3 ...

  17. Nora Goes Off Script Kindle Edition

    Nora Goes Off Script is sexy, heart-warming, and intelligent, and I loved it!" —Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party "Annabel Monaghan's first foray into women's fiction is the book every one of us needs right now. This delightful, marvelously meta story will charm even the most cynical of readers.

  18. Review: Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

    A book review of Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan, a closed door romance novel between a screenwriter and actor, with a twist on the typical Hallmark love story. ... I've been loving books that I feel "in" on, so that has meant lots of books about actors, writers, readers, and book lovers. Nora Goes Off Script is no exception! It ...

  19. Review of Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

    Sink into this light-fiction escapism; Nora Goes Off Script is romantic and satisfying in its outlandishly satisfying resolutions, convenient events, and happy endings.In Annabel Monaghan's light fiction Nora Goes Off Script, Nora Hamilton is a scriptwriter for a Hallmark-style romance channel--and an expert in crafting the perfect romantic storylines and happy endings, according to her tried ...

  20. Nora Goes Off Script Summary and Study Guide

    Nora Goes Off Script is Annabel Monaghan's first novel for adults. First published in 2022, it is a story of love, heartbreak, and resilience. When the protagonist, Nora Hamilton, falls in love with the movie star playing her ex-husband in a movie she wrote, she feels like she has entered a world of pure fantasy.Their love story plays out just like one of the romance movies she usually ...

  21. Nora Goes Off Script, a review by Shelley

    ☕️☕️☕️1/2 NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT Kira Peikoff. G.P. Putnam's Sons Publication Date: June 7th, 2022 272 Pages Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop.org. This was an adorable romance about a couple of people of a certain age and it was so refreshing to have middle-aged leading characters.

  22. Nora Goes Off Script: Monaghan, Annabel: 9780593420058: Amazon.com: Books

    "The perfect escape." — USA Today "Readers who loved Emily Henry's Book Lovers are sure to savor Nora Goes Off Script."— Shelf Awareness Named one of the Best Beach Reads of Summer 2022 by The Washington Post • USA Today • Cosmopolitan • Southern Living • Country Living • Business Insider • Buzzfeed • Book Riot • The Augusta Chronicle Romance channel screenwriter Nora ...