acting like love
Emmy Harper is the daughter of Hollywood royalty who took her experiences and became a brilliant screenwriter of romantic comedies. But when her father died suddenly, she wrote a darker movie that ended up winning her an Oscar. And now she’s back to rom coms, with a new one that has revived the rumors of her being the next Nora Ephron. No Reservations will be directed by her best friend Liz and star a hot actor they both adore. Or it was going to, until their male lead goes snowboarding and has to spend a couple of months in a cast for his broken leg.
They’d been having a lot of trouble casting the female lead, until Liz finally wore Emmy down and got her to agree to taking the part. Her read through with the original lead had been pitch perfect, and no other actress they had auditioned had come close to Emmy’s performance. So she agrees, despite not having acted since she was a teenager. Her parents had refused to let her become part of the industry before she was ready, so Emmy was 15 when she’d acted in her first movie. It was a romance staring Grayson West. And it had been bad. After their first on-screen kiss, Emmy’s first kiss, Grayson had made some disparaging remarks about her kissing, and about her acting, and about her only getting the job because she was a nepo baby. Emmy had been destroyed. She stopped acting and turned to writing instead.
Now, over fifteen years later, with an Oscar on her shelf, Emmy is ready to try acting again. But what she doesn’t find out until she’s on the set is that the male lead is not who she thinks he is. The new lead is none other than Grayson West. And not only is he there, in her face, but he says he doesn’t remember who she is. Immediately, Emmy is livid. Should she quit? Should she get him fired? Liz convinces her to give it a try, but the read-through of the script doesn’t convince Emmy that everything will work out. Grayson is natural in scenes with the other cast members, but the scenes with Emmy has him sounding like a robot.
Things don’t get better when the camera starts rolling. Grayson is just as wooden in his scenes with Emmy, and she reciprocates with iciness. It doesn’t make for a great rom com, to have the two leads hating each other so obviously. So Liz changes the schedule. She clears a couple of days and brings in an intimacy coordinator, to film the sex scene next.
Emmy and Grayson are forced to face the fact that they have to find some chemistry for their characters, as well as to find enough respect for each other as actors, to film these scenes. And as they shed their fears and insecurities, and actually talk to each other about what’s going on in their heads, the chemistry between them flares into a flame and they create the best scenes of the film so far.
They choose to keep the chemistry going between them, a costars with benefits arrangement, but when Emmy finds herself falling into feelings for Grayson. she has to decide if she will let the past come between them again. Is she ready to move forward and create a new future, or will she repeat her past mistakes and find herself alone all over again?
Right on Cue is the latest rom com from Falon Ballard, who is clearly having fun writing stories about love and forgiveness, about courage and healing. This one brings a thoughtful romance to the world of Hollywood, internet gossip, and a life on display.
I have loved Ballard since her first novel, and this is another fantastic read. The characters are smart and interesting, the plot is like candy, and the steam between these characters is hot. From the beginning, you can tell how spicy the romance will be, once Emmy and Grayson get out of their own way, and the writing just sparkles on the page. I am a fan of Hollywood stories, and is is a good one, with the famous parents and the paparazzi and the internet trolls. If you’re missing the good, old-fashioned rom com movies that you could watch over and over with your best friends, then this is the perfect book to pick up to scratch that Ephron itch.
Egalleys for Right on Cue were provided by G. P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley, with many thanks.
