Lucy Parker’s Headliners flows out of the events of London Celebrities #4, The Austen Playbook, and the goodness of the former flows like honey out of the latter’s wonderfulness. (Did I maybe love it because it cleansed the reading palate with joy after my dour Jean Brodie read? I don’t think so.)

Parker cleverly situates the great betrayal, in this case committed by the hero, in Playbook‘s events. Journalist Nick Davenport exposed Sabrina Carlton’s father and grandmother’s deception in a news “scoop”, showing the artistic London world that Sabrina’s grandmother was the plagiarist of a famous play, The Velvet Room, a fact her father kept secret and benefitted from. It’s hard to fault someone for doing their job well, but the innocent hurt parties, journalist Sabrina and her actor-sister, Freddy, were the media circus’s reputation-destroying skills’ sacrifices. Nick isn’t proud and he is apologetic. He too lost something: his best friend, theatre critic “Griff” Ford-Griffin, in love with Freddy and now her fiancé. When Headliners opens, however, it isn’t only Sabrina’s career that has nose-dived; Nick’s night-time serious news program is gone. Sabrina and Nick are given an opportunity for career redemption when they’re asked to co-host a flagging morning show. If they can keep their tempers in check, not hiss and snap at each other, they can revive their careers and return to prime-time fame out of the morass of media notoriety. Two long-time rivals have to cooperate for the sake of their formerly successful careers. Can they do it, can they keep volatility in check?

Like her literary ancestress, Parker isn’t as interested in plot as she is in characterization, banter/dialogue, setting/atmosphere, and the exercise of her ample writing chops, which manifest as snappy, witty, and laden with tea-snorting-gaffaw-inducing metaphor. She is one of the rare romance writers whose metaphors I linger over and reread. Witness: “The man had a jawline that could slice a diamond”; “Her tone reminded Sabrina exactly of the head teacher she’d once had, whose disciplinary stare could wither a cactus from fifty paces”; and my favourite, because Parker nails metaphor and allusion all-in-one, “Freddy turned to look at her fiancé, who was talking to his dad. Her face immediately went full Barbara Cartland, and Sabrina was surprised the smoke drifting from the candles on the table didn’t turn pink and form heart shapes.”

Parker’s adept hand at setting, just as grand. An oft-neglected aspect of romance-writing, world-building is key to capture this reader. I thought I would miss Parker’s theatre-setting, one of my favourites, and the morning-talk-show scene, one of my least. But no, there was enough humour, including the bickering hosts taking an accidental dip into the freezing Thames, and atmosphere and secondary character shenanigans to render this as dee-light-ful as London celebs one through four.

Rather than linger on snooze-inducing puerile plot and info-dumping, Parker keeps her narrative moving with adept scene changes and then uses them for maximum humour effect. One of my favourites is Nick and Sabrina at a celebrity resort-wedding in the French Alps. The sight of a gingerbread-house-like structure lures Sabrina into the cold night by its cuteness; she ventures in, only to have the door snap shut behind her without a way out. Guess who she finds there, in turn weak on the cuteness-lure front? Turns out the gingerbread-house was the hotel’s cava and before you know it, two ole enemies are slugging back the housewares and “snogging” … but Parkeresque witticism never wavers: “Assuming that we will make our return flights tomorrow, and the staff don’t eventually open the door in a couple of decades to discover a roomful of empty bottles and a pair of middle-aged alcoholics, maybe I’ll come back sometime,” says Sabrina to Nick.

Parker even moves her narrative to one of my favourite places in the world, the city of York! And there, in a lightning moment of revelation, akin to Austen’s heroine’s realizations, Nick recognizes his up-to-now-uncomfortable feelings for Sabrina: “It was a strange moment, on a cobbled street in wintery York, outside an old-fashioned café, his ear numb with cold, to finally, properly, acknowledge that he was in love with her.” Parker balances her characters’ self-acknowledged feelings for each other with the incipient fact of their relationship. She doesn’t shortcut to misunderstandings, or slapstick. Two incredibly likeable people getting to know and like one another more and more and more … with really beautifully hot love scenes organic to their relationship and feelings. Given their career history, given their vulnerabilities, both with difficult relationships with their fathers, their slow movement towards commitment and occasional rifts, make sense. They’re not cataclysmic, but they work through them by talking, by being honest, and by caring about the other’s feelings. Wow. Refreshing. I loved every second of Headliners and the only bee Parker has put in my spinster’s bonnet is that I have a hard time choosing my favourite among her books. Please read Headliners: you’ll laugh, be moved, and cheer for Nick and Sabrina.

Lucy Parker’s Headliners is published by Carina Press. It released on January 20 and you should rush to your favourite vendor to read it if you haven’t yet. I am eternally grateful to Carina Press for an e-galley, via Netgalley.

Headliners is the fifth and final installment of the London Celebrity series by Lucy Parker. I have thoroughly enjoyed the series, and Headliners is no exception. Sabrina Carlton and Nick Davenport have been rivals for a long time, hosting competing evening shows on rival networks. Now that their networks have merged, they are thrown together to host a morning show. Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite romance tropes and Parker does it justice. This is a cute ending to a cute series!

This book was everything I’d hoped it would be and more!! I adored Sabrina and Nick’s story and how it all played out. I wasn’t sure how they’d overcome all their animosity but I should have had more faith in Lucy Parker! This story is a bit of a slow burn but also not as part of their dislike was always because they were just in denial of their attraction. *lol*

I hated to put this one down and I loved all the little cameos from past characters in the series. I also loved the wee little mystery that was woven into the storyline as well. I’m not sure if there will be more London celebrity books (though there are still enough characters for Parker to make it happen) but if we don’t then this would be a great way to end the series. But as always I want more as I love this world that Parker has created. I love her characters - well maybe not Sadie but really, does anyone other than Sadie like her? Lol

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

Headliners is ridiculously charming!

This is book five in the interconnected London Celebrities series from Lucy Parker. Each book can be read as a standalone. However, spoilery reasons would have me suggest that you start with book four, The Austen Playbook, if not from the beginning of the series because it lays out more of the history and the big conflict of the main characters in Headliners.

Lucy Parker has the ability to make me smile from cover to cover. This enemies/rivals to lovers, office romance is everything I love about contemporary romance! The story is sweet and funny with a lot of great banter, and the characters are simply amazing and have an undeniable, natural chemistry.

Nick and Sabrina are an A+ couple! They made me feel E V E R Y T H I N G! I felt the dislike. I felt the tension. I felt the uncertainty. I felt their relationship slowly changing. I felt their connection. I felt it all right alongside them!

Overall, I absolutely recommend Headliners. Contemporary romance fans will love this book, and Lucy Parker is a solid author if you’re a newbie to the genre.

*Thanks to Harlequin Publicity Team, Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book. Please note that it, in no way, had an effect on my opinion or review.

I have loved the other West End books by Parker and this book doesn't disappoint. I liked that it was somewhat closely linked to the last book, but having read that some time ago didn't keep me from quickly remembering the plot (enough was recapped that even if you hadn't read book 4, you would be fine). I do love a good enemies to lovers device, and this coworker drama didn't disappoint. And who wouldn't love a frigid wine cave as a setting for a turn to romance? Four and a half swoony stars for this turn from the London stage to London TV. I was all in for it.

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

Full review to come

5 stars

This is so witty and romantic. I love the chemistry and the love/hate relationship and the setting of London. Lucy Parker always manages to make me fall in love with her characters and this was no exception. A lovely romance

This was such an enjoyable read! I listened to the audio version (highly recommend) and it was the perfect accompaniment to my walks and crafting during this #stayathome time.

HEADLINERS is a true enemies-to-lovers story (none of this ‘he was secretly in love with her the whole time’ nonsense). I loved how Sabrina and Nick’s relationship developed from ‘just barely tolerating each other’ to a deep and supportive connection. The banter between the two of them as they navigate their working relationship as hosts of a new morning TV show is great. There is a bit of mystery to the story, too, as someone is sabotaging their show causing many a mishaps to occur.

Lucy Parker has quickly become a go to for me whenever I need a pick-me-up or help getting out of a book slump. Even while reading this one I went and searched for her backlist so I could add more to my TBR. I quickly realized I had already read all her books 😩 but the good news is she has a brand new series (Palace Insiders) coming soon as well as another book in this series (London Celebrities). .
Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable read that’s a perfect escape, particularly for now.

Honestly, I should have reviewed this book when I read it but I just… I wasn’t blog motivated. That’s my bad because now all the brilliance of this book isn’t fresh in my mind. It’s fine, I know I’ll reread this book so many times but I’m still sad I can’t remember is better to convince you guys to read it too (which, if you haven’t, why not?).

Lucy Parker is an absolute fave of mine. She can do no wrong, she just writes the best books. That being said, I always hold my breath a little when I start a new book from any author I love because it’s like ‘is this gonna be the book which lets me down’ and every time I feel like slapping myself. Of course, it’s not! And this book did not let me down.

Sabrina and Nick were introduced in the last book and those pair had some history going on. I mean, Nick was a no-good dirty dog airing Sabrina’s family’s dirty laundry on his show for ratings and to give him a boost for a job he was competing against Sabrina for. He had a lot of work to do to redeem himself in my eyes, and Sabrina’s. Luckily for him, from the very start, you just know he had deep regrets about the events of the last book. It was a mistake, someone was going to do it but he shouldn’t have aired the story for a step up. He knew he had done wrong and his guilt about that was obvious. It didn’t redeem him but it meant I was willing to let him work for my forgiveness.

And Sabrina? She’s overcoming heartbreak, family drama, and now she’s fighting for her job. She’s in luck, though, because Nick opens his big mouth at the wrong time and gets in the bosses bad books so they end up having to work together on a morning breakfast show competing to stay on their network and stay employed.

At first, they hate one another and I loved that snarky banter. Hate was probably a strong word, I don’t think Nick ever hated Sabrina, but she’s certainly had a little bit of a grudge. We all know where snarky banter and hate goes in a good romance book, don’t we? These two had sparks flying all over the place and I was so ready for them to get together they were just the best. If I had been in this world I would have been all over social media shipping them hard.

And this book was funny! I was smiling so much when reading and that is definitely the kind of book we all need in our lives right now, isn’t it?

Anyway, Lucy Parker does no wrong and you deserve this book in your life. I need to get around to buying a paperback copy of it because I have the rest of them and there’s nothing more satisfying than a complete series now is there?

Lucy Parker is a favourite, and this is another excellent book in the London Celebrities series. Sexy and highly readable.

ELLA: Hey Lara! I am so excited to chat everything Headliners with you! We’re both such fangirls of Lucy Parker’s books and I know you were just as excited as I was for Headliners. There are so many things I want to talk/scream about but the first thing I’m really eager to discuss is the TV setting in this book! I was OBSESSED with how much fun it was to read about and now want a million books set in this setting. What did you think?

LARA: Lucy Parker is definitely one of my favourite authors and I was SO excited for Headliners (sidenote: thank you for introducing me to her). I LOVED the TV setting. I really wasn’t sure of how I’d feel about it (I’m not good at change and this was a bit different from the other books in the series), but it worked out so well and really provided an awesome setting for the two main characters to interact.

ELLA: Couldn’t agree more, Lucy managed to pull it off with such effortless flair. What did you think of the “mystery” element and how it fit into the story/book? I personally enjoyed the mystery in Headliners more than I did the one in Lucy’s previous book, The Austen Playbook, but that’s just me. I really enjoyed how the mystery added an interesting plot element (although I knew who the person was behind the accidents pretty early on haha).

LARA: I think I preferred the mystery in The Austin Playbook, but I totally agree that the one in Headliners fitted both the story and the genre a lot better. Honestly, I had no idea until right before the reveal who the person was behind the sabotaging, but I’m pretty useless when it comes to predicting things like that. I’ll blame the fact that I was too tied up in obsessing over the romance to pay any attention to anything else.

ELLA: I think the mystery in Headliners was so much smaller compared to the one in The Austen Playbook which is why I preferred it as it didn’t take over or take anything away from the romance, but I can totally understand your point! Talking romance, let’s move onto the most important part of the whole book! I bloody love how good Lucy is at writing enemies to lovers and it was perfection in Headliners.

LARA: Lucy Parker is the best. She is the reason that romance was my most read genre last year (coming from someone who used to avoid contemporary and romance like it was the plague). And if it’s done well the enemies to lovers trope is SO much fun to read… Needless to say, Lucy Parker absolutely smashed it.

ELLA: Yeah, I think romance might’ve been my most read genre of 2019 as well! I’ve still yet to find contemporary romances as good as Lucy Parker’s, though not for lack of trying. (She’s just too good!) I’m also not the biggest fan of contemporary but now that I’m officially in my twenties (ahhhh), I think I’m reaching for it a bit more. But one of the reasons I’m such a big fan of Lucy Parker’s work is how FUNNY every one of her books are! It’s one of the reasons why her books work so well for me as the humour is so cheerful and uplifting.

LARA: One thing I love about Lucy Parker is how good she is at writing in hilarious, snarky and sassy leads without making it seem forced or annoying. Sabrina and Nick had the best banter (that’s the only way I can think to describe it?) and reading their dialogue was so much fun.

ELLA: YES! I really, really loved Sabrina. And Nick and Sabrina’s dialogue was A+++. I felt genuinely really sad when I got to the last page of the book and knew that that was the end of their story! I really would like to see a novella about these two as I think their story could definitely be carried on for a bit longer (or maybe that’s just wishful thinking).

Also, I just LOVE how Lucy Parker writes her grumpy heroes! They never go into abusive or mean/unkind territory which is something that I come across a lot in romance, especially with the enemies to lovers trope. I hate when it goes down that track as horrible behaviour should never be framed as sexy or heroic or like part of a hero’s/love interest’s personality, y’know? Anyway, I really love how Lucy Parker avoids going down that track.

LARA: Ugh I totally understand what you mean, I can’t stand characters like that and it’s made me DNF books in the past. Give me a soft grumpy hero anyday over the ones that just turn out to be assholes and that’s their entire personality.

ELLA: I’m trying to nail down my *favourite* parts and moments in the book and it’s so hard! I don’t want to spoil anything for people that haven’t read it yet but one of my fav moments of the whole book was the Thames dip. I knew as soon as I got to that part of the book that HEADLINERS was going to go on my favourite books of 2019 list!

LARA: Honestly I don’t even know where to start with my favourite parts, but I think you’re probably absolutely spot on! If you want to know what Ella’s talking about you’re going to have to read the book.

Headliners was a book I randomly requested for review on Netgalley because I was trying to explore a few more contemporary romance books and authors (after jumping into the genre in 2019) and it sounded kind of fun, especially since it included the enemies-to-lovers trope, which I adore. I didn't know too much about the book or the author before requesting it and it sat on my Kindle for a while before I picked it up. Interestingly enough, it was #LoveOzYA author, Jodi McAlister, who unintentionally gave me the incentive to pick up Headliners (and later the first book in the series, too) with her romance reads recommendations, and she was definitely right - Lucy Parker's books are great!

Rival TV presenters, Nick and Sabrina, have one chance to save their imploding careers - work together to salvage a morning talk show that no-one watches. They have until New Year's Eve to turn around the show that has poor ratings, while trying to learn how to work with one another and amidst a series of odd occurrences that happen on set and undermine any progress that they make.

This was a really fun and easy to read contemporary romance book. It includes a lot of romance tropes - enemies-to-lovers, celebrity-romance, forced proximity - and they all just added to the story, which itself is driven along by two very strong characters.

Sabrina and Nick have a lot of chemistry - both when they're fighting and falling for one another - and reading the progression of their relationship was really entertaining. You can tell that Lucy Parker had a great time writing the two of them. Their passion for arguing with one another at the beginning of the book makes the development of their relationship all the more compelling and satisfying, especially since it's a series of unfortunate events that brings them closer together as they try to salvage what's left of their talk show careers.

I liked that their profession was a big part of the story, too. Both Nick and Sabrina have worked hard to get where they are, and it highlights the fickle nature of being in the public eye - when any small incident can cause everything you've worked towards to come tumbling down. It's as much a part of the story as Nick and Sabrina and it was really interesting to read about the morning talk show/television industry in this way.

Overall, I had a great time reading this, and can't wait to read other books in the London Celebrities series.

This was another well written and entertaining installment in this series. I enjoy the way this author writes and I think she does smart women well. This is a series I definitely recommend if you enjoy contemporary romance.




**ARC provided through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Author Lucy Parker captures all the things I want in a contemporary romance and once again she's provided a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining story! No one I've read recently does the enemies to lovers trope as well as she does, and Sabrina and Nick's story has the spark of conflict from the start, quickly leading to other sparks. Forced to work together to salvage their reputations and careers, they discover that what they think of each other is tempered by how they really are in private. Nick isn't just the jerk who ruined Sabrina's family by outing their grandmother as a plagiarist; he's also surprisingly thoughtful and kind and remorseful, which goes a long way to improving Sabrina's opinion of him. They have a vested interest in getting their morning show to a successful position in the ratings, hampered by a saboteur, motive unclear, that they work towards uncovering over the course of the story. Sexy scenes, medium angst (nothing too heartbreaking but a few scenes that bring a bit of tears to the eye), plenty of sexual tension, interesting characters (some familiar from previous stories in the series) you wish you could meet in person - really, just an all around gem. Highly recommend it, and the whole series!

This is the fifth book in the London Celebrities series by Lucy Parker which can be read as a standalone novel. I have given this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Can we just appreciate this gorgeous book cover, it's so pretty and looks so magical!
Onto the book review... holy guacamole, all the sexual tension was in this book and it had me thriving!
This book follows two rival tv presenters, Sabrina Carlton and Nick Davenport. They have been paired together to host the morning show called Wake Me Up London, which they couldn't be more annoyed about. Will they be able to make it work or will their careers crumble on national tv?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was everything I needed and more! The two main characters were very likeable and I found myself rooting for them to be together so badly! I thought Parker's writing style was very descriptive and helped to set the scene perfectly as well as picturing scenes clearly in my head.
The enemies to lovers trope is definitely one of my favourites, especially in this story! You can tell from the gorgeous book cover and the description of the book above that Sabrina and Nick are going to become lovers. One of my favourite things about the enemies to lovers trope is the sexual tension you start to feel between the characters, all I want is for them to be together from the moment I understand their relationship about one another.
I loved the relationship growth and build up between Sabrina and Nick, especially when they start to knock parts of their walls down as they start to say cute, unexpected remarks about one another and realise that they have more in common than they originally thought.
Parker definitely knows how to write a romantic, intimate scene! I could feel my heart beat quickening it's pace whilst reading over the steamy passage in the book. Very detailed scenes which allowed me to imagine the whole interaction and I loved it. There are so many realistic qualities to this story which I really enjoyed, especially when condoms and showers are involved during the intimate scenes as nine times out of ten you're going to use a condom for safe sex and you're not going to go straight to sleep once you've hit cloud nine, you're going to clean up and get ready for bed which a lot of books and normally movies leave that quality of realism out.
I hope to read the other standalone novels under the London Celebrity series soon and hope that their each as good as this book. I would highly recommend this book to fans of contemporary romance with a hint of mystery.

Headliners is the story of Sabrina and Nick, who are rival presentations who have a lot of bad blood between them ever since Nick broke out the story of how Sabrina's grandmother plagiarized her most successful play. But that's water under the bridge...not. Especially since they have to work together during a morning show. Wake Up With London is the set on which they have to put their differences. Or maybe not. Because as soon as they start work, so do the embarrassing incidents. Sure, the first one, where Sabrina falls into the Thames with Nick following closely was entirely blamed on lack of coordination, but every other one reeks of sabotage. Nick and Sabrina have to work together and find out who is trying to ruin their chance at a permanent contract. Amidst their very complicated relationship. In this book, you will find an exquisitely paced rivals-to-lovers of the slow-burn variety. I enjoyed every word of Headliners, especially the bit where I fell for Sabrina and Nick. You will laugh, cry, and ugly-snort because these two? They're precious.

I enjoyed this addition to the London Celebrities series. The relationship built at an understandable pace and it was fun watching Sabrina and Nick go from hating each other to loving each other. Parker does a great job including personal growth in her stories and this is no exception.

I read this through an e-ARC from Netgalley.

4 stars. Liked this one way more than the last two books in Lucy Parker’s London Celebrities series.

Headliners features Sabrina Carlton, TV host and sister of Freddy Carlton, a West End actress from The Austen Playbook. This book deals with Sabrina and her nemesis, co-presenter Nick Davenport. Nick and Sabrina have spent years exchanging barbs, but their rivalry takes a really bad turn when Nick revealed serious family secrets that affect Sabrina and Freddy and their reputations. The fallout from this means that Sabrina hates Nick even more, and frankly, Nick is regretting his decision to bring those secrets to light. The plot gets even thicker when the two TV presenters are taken off their nightly shows and given the three weeks before Christmas to work together to turn around Wake Me Up London, a morning show, so they can keep their jobs in the new year.

At first, it seems that this is an impossible task for the two rivals, but there’s a lot more simmering beneath their perfect host smiles than meets the eye. Sabrina and Nick very quickly band together and their emotional journey and support for each other is what kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. This isn’t a slow burn in any way, but I felt like I kept wanting more more more in terms of connection and love scenes from these two. They just SPARKED on the page, and not only is their banter funny and witty, but their emotions are real and honest and they’re both dealing with family legacies handed down to them. It’s just awesome to see how much they learn to slowly care for one another amidst the craziness of their jobs, which includes a saboteur, a Christmas children’s toy gone wild, and some very steamy scenes in fairy tale locations.

Aside from the romance, there are also awesome cameos from some of the previous characters we met, and so much delightful British/London stuff.

I had so much fun reading this one, and I’m so glad to say that Parker’s writing that I fell in love with in Act Like It and Pretty Face is back in this book. I can’t wait for the next instalment.

Lucy Parker's latest book Headliners is an excellent enemies to lovers book. Sabrina and Nick are both in tough spots, some of which comes on the heels of actions taken in the previous title, "The Austen Playbook." When they're forced to work together by taking on a morning talk show we're left wondering how the fallout of past deeds is going to be dealt with. Watching them come together while navigating work, family, and each other is well worth the price of admission. Expect antics and some serious chemistry.

First off, I really liked this book. However, I wish I had been caught up on the whole series before reading it as I felt like I might have been missing out at certain parts.

I LOVED the enemies-to-lovers trope this book has. I am addicted to this trope and it makes me so happy. What that says about me, I don't know ;) The characters, though, were fantastic and I loved them both in their own ways. I was really invested in both characters and felt they were well written and fleshed out. There were also some familiar faces and I wish I had recognized more of them (my bad for not being completely caught up).

This book actually convinced me to go back and get caught up on this series and maybe do a reread of this book so I can have the full experience!