I just didn’t enjoy this book. I can’t put my finger on exactly why but it just wasn’t enjoyable. The writing wasn’t my favorite. I doubt I’d pick up anything by Charish Reid again.

The Write Escape (Carina Press) by Charish Reid is a book after my own heart! In it, an editor/writer falls for an Irish literature professor in a charming rural village in Ireland.

Antonia Harper had it all: a career in Chicago as a literary-book editor, a rich fiancé, and a passion for writing romance. Then she loses her job and discovers her future husband is cheating on her, and everything unravels. She decides to take her honeymoon alone and escapes to a quaint village in Ireland, hoping to sort out her problems, finish the novel she’s writing, and start over.

Aiden Byrnes is a literature professor from Galway who happens to be staying in the cottage next door. He’s dealing with work pressures, but he is immediately smitten by the beautiful African-American woman. She’s equally intrigued by the handsome Irish academic, which sparks a holiday romance — and some fascinating conversations about literature, culture, history, and race — after an awkward but amusing start.

Antonia and Aiden bring their own personal and professional baggage to their budding relationship, which they manage to sort out like grownups. The secondary characters do an adequate job moving the story along, but it’s the setting that really makes this romance so swoon-worthy! The Write Escape is pure escapism — and perfect reading for a chilly autumn night! (Reviewed for Washington Independent Review of Books)

This was wonderful scenic romantic getaway to Ireland. If your looking for an escape, I highly recommend.

The best thing about this book is definitely the fact that it surrounds the love story in words. A publishing professional and an English Lit professor. Yes, that's where I'm going immediately! I was really excited for this book, and while it lived up to my expectations in some ways, in others, it didn't. I felt that the first part of the story dragged too much and it definitely took away from the story because I had to constantly fight to just continue reading. But then things got better and I enjoyed it.

*~~*ARC kindly provided from the publisher/author to me for an honest review *~~*

Full review to come

5 stars

The Write Escape is about publishing professional Antonia whose life is upturned when she discovers her fiance is cheating on her. She breaks off the engagement and cancels the wedding, but she goes on the honeymoon anyway. There, she meets Aiden and he's charming and adorable, and he encourages her with her writing. As a reader who is also a writer, I felt so giddy over this plot. I loved how Aiden's sexiness came off as something soft and endearing. He is the kind of hero who will give you soft vibes. Antonia is at a point in her life where she needs to figure out the next step.

I picked up The Write Escape because I heard many great things about it by bloggers and I personally love Carina's contemporary romance releases. Also, Charish Reid gives you so many tender, heartfelt moments that will make your heart turn to goo.

I began reading this at a very difficult time in my life and it worked to keep me occupied.

Literary editor Antonia Harper had it all—the career, the man, the future. That was then. Now Antonia is jobless, alone and at a crossroads. What better time to travel the world? A solo honeymoon on the Emerald Isle will be like hitting the reset button. No distractions, no drama.
Aiden Byrnes may be a literature professor, but words fail him when he meets the woman staying in the cottage next door. Tully Cross is meant to be a sleepy little village, and he’s meant to be on a working holiday—not a vacation, and most definitely not with his beautiful neighbor. They say laughter is the best medicine—and as it turns out, superhot sex isn’t so bad either. Antonia and Aiden’s spark quickly grows into what could be something special, if they’re willing to take the leap. Ending up an ocean apart is unthinkable, and when real life comes calling, there’s no ignoring that leap anymore.
This was a cute, life is at a crossroads story that I enjoyed. I liked both main characters and enjoyed following them on their journey. I highly recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

This was positively adorable and it's something I'd recommend for anyone needing a book that'll pick them up out of a slump. My issues were minor, mainly with the pacing and emotional resolution with some side characters.

I did not like this one all that much, I felt that the writing was rushed and I didn't care that much about the characters getting together, which is kind of the point of a romance.

In Charish Reid's The Write Escape, this contemporary romance is so wonderfully written and moving and would take you on an amazing journey. For Antonia Harper, she's planning her wedding, working on a historical romance novel, and stuck in her editing job at a small literary press in Chicago. With a shake-up at work, she discovered her fiance Derek Rogers has been cheating on her. She breaks up the wedding and went on an escape to Ireland where she would've spent her honeymoon. During her stay at Tully Cross, she runs into Professor Aidan Byrnes, a hot Irish white male, at Supervalu, and also her next-door neighbor in the small village, who became her friend and didn't mind she was an African-American woman. Besides his sexy Irish brogue, he had lost his inspiration for his conference paper to get tenure at the college. But Antonia had helped him find it, when they discuss their own emotional baggage issues, and be inspired by each other to pursue their literary dreams. But they had some hiccups along the way if they want to be together in the end. But they followed their hearts and thier dreams to find their own HEA in a blissful way.

This book was exactly what I needed at the moment. The relationship between Aiden and Antonia was real. They both had emotional baggage that they worked through and accepted about each other. The backdrop of the Irish countryside gave it just enough whimsy. The literary references and jokes were *chef's kiss*. Can't wait to read what Reid writes next.

Sadly I wasn't able to finish this before it was archived. I really adored what I got a chance to read! I'll be picking it up methinks :)

Literary editor Antonia Harper has lost her job and her guy. The guy was her fiancé and after talking to her sister she decides to go on the trip to Ireland anyway. Her sister deals with the cancelling and the ex, her mother did not like the guy anyway and after she found out he had been cheating for who knows how long Antonia just wants to begin a knew. She also decides to pull out her book that she has stopped and started over the years hopping that she can finally finish it and maybe get it published.
When she arrives in Ireland her ex had cancelled her reservations so she is stuck with finding another place. After finding one she makes the drive and starts to settle in. Her neighbor is Aiden Brynes a literary Professor. So, they are both in a place named Tully Cross, but the chemistry between them starts when they first meet and does not stop. There are plenty of funny moments, and some serious. Each are having to deal with past relationship issues in order to move on. The sex scenes are hot and you feel that the two of them are made foe each other until there not. Will they be able to fix it? I liked all of the characters, from the guys in the pub, to his mom and niece. I enjoy interracial relationships because I am in one so I could understand. This is a very good book and the ending was good and a little different than the norm which I liked. Very much worth the read.

The first thing that caught my eye with this book was the great cover and the clever title. The Write Escape - for a literary editor and a literature professor. So perfect! This is the first book I have read by Charish Reid, so I am glad the title caught my eye. I also love Ireland, so it was hard to resist. Antonia Harper just had her heart broken and she needs to escape her life for a while. She decides that Ireland will be a quiet and peaceful place where she can get some writing done and maybe ponder the direction of her life.
Enter Aiden Byrnes, our hot and sexy professor. He also has some things to get in order in his life. There is some post-relationship stuff he needs to work past in his professional life. His mentor and colleague gave him the advice to get out of town for a while. What better place than the small village of Tully Cross.
Aiden and Antonia meet, chemistry is there, sparks fly, hot sex ensues. This book is the perfect escape for a weekend. The conflict occurs in that Antonia lives in Chicago and Aiden lives in Ireland. Once they leave vacation mode, the decisions are tough. I think the author did a great job with diversity in this story. Aiden is white and Antonia is black and there was a discussion of real life problems but the story didn’t dwell on it. I think that interracial couples are becoming more common in the romance genre and they are reflecting our society in a more real way. Overall, this book has the right amount of romance, great setting and characters and the HEA that I want in my books.

Aiden and Antonia both need a bit of a writing escape. Aiden needs to make sure he's track for tenure at the university where he teaches and has to finish a conference paper ASAP. Throw in an unexpected sighting/conversation with an ex-girlfriend and he needs a break. Antonia is reeling from a broken engagement and a massive layoff at work. These two meet in an idyllic town in Ireland and in the midst of their writing adventures fall in love.
I liked the novel well enough but the pacing was a bit too slow for me and it took a while to hold my attention. Aiden and Antonia were also characters that while I didn't mind reading didn't necessarily reel me in.
A writing escape is a really good idea that I wouldn't mind doing, now whether I'll find love on the trip is up for debate but a girl can try, can't she? :)

The Write Escape is a charming vacation story set in a small village in Ireland far removed from all the mod-cons of big city life. It is a place where you can relax into a slower rhythm of life and take each day as it comes without having an agenda bullying you to scurry hither and tither.

The Write Escape is tightly focused on interleaving the inner discovery of the individual and the outward discovery of the other person. Reid has endowed her protagonists with the perspicacity of observation that allows them to understand each other despite their short acquaintance. People rarely take unpleasant news in stride, but how each person processes unwelcome remarks is unique to them, and I liked how Reid had her characters explore this. They’re mature people in their thirties who have dealt with ups and downs in life, but they still have things they need to learn and to work on. I liked that Reid doesn’t have her characters too set in their ways and not willing to make concessions to another person, but rather, be humble and exploratory.

Reid, thus, takes two protagonists who are at a low point in their lives, rudderless and sinking, and puts them together in a small place where they cannot but be in each other’s space to see what would happen. The Write Escape then springs from these two people, their psyche and their situation. It is fascinating to watch how they end up supporting each other and building each other up while also shoring up their own inner esteem. The book is escapist and heartwarming all rolled up together.

https://frolic.media/book-of-the-week-the-write-escape-by-charish-reid/

Antonia Harper, a beautiful thirty-something editor based in Chicago loses her job and her fiancé on the same day. Overwhelmed by her intrusive mother, meddling sister and a lot of wedding plans to undo, Antonia decides to finally focus on the novel she began but set aside long ago. Winding up on her honeymoon in Ireland alone, Antonia finds herself in a quaint village rental next door to Aiden Byrnes, a charming literature professor chasing his own demons. As their push pull friendship slowly turns into more, Aiden and Antonia both learn lessons that open their hearts to the most unlikely possibilities. Filled with laughter, hope and a hot guy with a great accent - this is an adorable romantic journey (of two book lovers!) to one of my favorite places.

This was a decent read. The heroine breaks up with her fiance and then goes off on an adventure in Ireland. The hero is a professor who is stuck in his ways. They meet and chemistry is there and they end up being neighbors. Sexy times happen. It’s dual POV so we get insight to each of these slightly broken people as they find their HEA.

It was a quick read but it wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be. The heroine doesn’t really deal with her broken engagement, she leaves it to her sister and a friend. It felt weird, but a rather minor thing. The biggest thing in this book that didn’t work for me was that the heroine and hero don’t meet until after the 20% mark. Like close to 30%. That is a long time to keep me interested in a love story that hasn’t even started yet. That was my biggest issue. I do applaud the author for doing something outside of the norm in romance. I will definitely read more from her.

Charish Reid’s novel, The Write Escape is a heartwarming and hilarious book. When Antonia, the heartbroken heroine takes her honeymoon trip alone to Ireland and meets Aiden, a handsome professor—things get interesting. While Antonia and Aiden get closer, they have many roadblocks ahead of them. Reid does a great job with romantic pacing and humor.

The Write Escape is a delicious vacation romance with a heroine who runs away to Ireland as her life is falling apart. This had everything I need from a travel story:

Evocatively described location? Check.
Handsome local who charms you off your feet? Check.
A heroine in need of a fresh start? Yep.
Entertaining characters who subvert cultural stereotypes? Oh yeah.
Flirting using literary references? Did not know I needed this, but YES

Antonia is an editor at a Chicago publishing house that is *too important* to publish romances like the novel she secretly writes in her spare time. She has a boss who ignores her ideas and a wealthy fianceé, Derek, who thinks she should give up her writing “hobby” to be his housewife. Derek helpfully cheats on Antonia, allowing her to extract herself from a relationship that has trained her to be a doormat. She immediately cancels the wedding, and that same day her publisher dissolves, taking her job with it. Antonia is not having a good day, but these twin disasters inspire her to take a solo honeymoon to rural Ireland, use it as an opportunity to finish her book, and have a taste of adventure. Her arrival in Ireland is marred by the discovery that Derek has cancelled all her travel arrangements. After a series of mishaps, she meets Aiden on the way to a new vacation rental off the beaten path.

Aiden is a literature professor in Galway who’s lost faith in his teaching skills after an ex dumps him for his lack of ambition. Originally from a working class family, Aiden has a serious case of imposter syndrome, and is starting to burn out from his efforts to get his tenure bid back on track. He heads to western Ireland for some R&R and chats up a gorgeous American, Antonia, at a grocery store along the way. When they discover they’re both staying at neighboring guesthouses in the same tiny town, their initial attraction rapidly blooms into a summer romance.

This was a lighthearted story with just enough personal growth, and intervention from helpful family members, to keep things interesting. Aiden initially thinks Antonia is beautiful, and tries to flirt by prattling nonstop about James Baldwin in Paris—fully aware of how ridiculous he is being but unable to stop. At their second meeting, in a pub, it’s Antonia’s turn to be nervous and distracted by her attraction to him in an environment where he’s confidently at home. By the time he sweeps her into his arms to keep her from being crushed by a lolling drunk, I was swooning alongside her...