I missed the opportunity to get an advance reader copy of Erin Connor’s debut, Unromance, so when I saw an advance listener copy offered I grabbed it. I enjoyed it, plot, characters, and narration. Mia Hutchinson Shaw and Lee Osorio do a great job bringing Erin Connor’s story to life.
Sawyer Green is a romance writer who had a big early success, but now she’s in danger of being let go by her publisher because she can’t write. Mason Alvarez, an actor known professionally as Mason West, has just been dumped again and the press is questioning why he can’t keep a girlfriend. She needs inspiration to write. He needs to learn how to not fall in love. They have a meet cute in a stalled elevator where she explains romance tropes to distract him from his elevator anxiety (shoutout to Jasmine Guillory’s The Wedding Date and Alexa’s purse cheese). Later they have a mind blowing one night stand. Because this is a romance novel, they run into each other again at a Christmas market and Mason proposes a pact – they work through a list of romance tropes and settings to give her inspiration and kill romance for him.
This is the kind of plot that you know never happens in real life, but Conner grounds her characters so well that it all makes sense. If you’re looking for tropes, this one is the black cat x golden retriever variant of grumpy/sunshine, they have a contract specifying that they won’t catch feelings, a little secretly famous, and a dash of High Fidelity (asking your exes why they broke up with you). The scenarios they come up with to ruin romance are fun. You know that feelings are caught before they even start. They are also incredibly horny for each other, so the no sex rule was never going to last. What makes it all work is that Sawyer and Mason are able to put down their masks and get to know each other as their real selves.
I hope Erin Connor plans to write more books, because I kept going to her author page to see if she had previously published the stories of some of the other couples in the book. I really enjoyed the contrast of Sawyer’s matter of fact horniness and Mason’s sweeping romanticism. I need more of this in my life.
Audiobook narrators can make or break a listening experience for me. Mia Hutchinson Shaw and Lee Osorio imbued the text with warmth and humor. I enjoyed both of their voices and performances. After looking at what else they have each narrated, I put a few more books on my wish list.
I received this as an advance listener copy from Hachette Audio and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.