Tropesick, Lauren Okie (Review by Amanda Heethuis)

Thoughts: Thank you to @avonbooks , @librofm and @theglossbookclub for the physical and audio copy of this amazing book. I’ve seen some mixed reviews on this one, and I’ve just gotta say I loved it. I started eyeball reading it and was immediately obsessed. I did end up doing an immersive read with both the audio and the physical copy, and I found both to be great. We love a dual narration. This book is about grief, writing, second chances, and so much more. Not only are these characters writing a book using as many tropes as possible, but their story is also mimicking the one they’re writing, thrust into close proximity, brother’s best friend, and grumpy sunshine tropes of their own. There’s a bit of an unexpected twist that was necessarily my typical jam, but it worked. This is a perfect summer read! Synopsis: “Katie Caruso is a completely normal twenty-five-year-old girl. At least, for the past eight years, she’s tried to be. She likes glitter and sequins and flirting with cute boys at New York City bars. She’s also a ghostwriter for Meredith Bradford, the bestselling romance novelist of all time. But then Tyler McNally walks back into Katie’s life, and that bedazzled facade crumbles at her platform-sneakered feet. Katie and Tyler haven’t seen or spoken to each other since the overdose death of Katie’s older brother, a standout MLB pitching prospect. Tyler was her brother’s best friend, and Katie—naturally—was the girl next door. But now, Tyler is a sleeve-tattooed, Ivy League-educated aspiring literary fiction novelist, nine years sober . . . and Katie’s writing partner for the summer. As genre conventions require, Katie and Tyler soon find themselves removed from Manhattan and instead writing their love story in “forced proximity” at Meredith’s isolated Southampton home. As the summer unfolds, the tropes Katie and Tyler have written into their novel begin to play out in their own lives. Call it destiny, fate, or magic It’s clear their love story is unfinished. This time, though, they’ll fight for their happy ending.”