I adored the whimsical And yet captivatingly serious flow of this book. It reminds me heavily of Beach Read by Emily Henry, and is perfect for the rising romantic comedy fan base!

This book is amazing. I love Nora as a person. She’s trying to make the best for herself and her kids. I love that she’s learning to stop pleasing and apologizing to others for being herself.
I’m in love with Leo. The way he acted with Nora’s kids melted my heart. I like that he just jumped into their daily lifestyle.
I really liked Nora’s kids. A lot of people don’t like that in romance books the kids are always perfect and this book is not like those. I like that the author portrayed the kids as those who would act when their parents got divorced.
The story is perfectly paced and I loved watching Nora grow in life. I also really liked that the celebrity romance was believable.
The only thing I didn’t like was that the major conflict. Leo promises to return but yet never answered Nora’s calls or texts. How is she supposed to be reassured when he isn’t talking to her. Other than that this book is beautiful.

Read if you like:
Heroine’s POV
Single mom trope
Celebrity trope
Small town trope
Closed door romance

I thought this was a delightful read! The writing was witty, funny, engaging. The cast of characters were a hoot. It had a bit of a Hallmark movie type of feel, but considering Nora is a romance movie screenwriter that was appropriate. I usually avoid Hallmark as being too sappy, but this was not that. I would read more from Monaghan!

I think this book will appeal to those who are looking for a woman’s fiction novel. This is quick and enjoyable. This one fell flat for me as I felt that I was not the right audience for this novel.

Completely different rom-com than I’ve read in the past and it’s wonderful. Couldn’t put it down & just Loved Nora & Leo and the rest of the characters. Excellent & highly recommend ❤️❤️

An advance copy of a book described as "Evvie Drake Starts Over meets Beach Read"? Sign me up! I was so pleasantly surprised by this book, and sped through it in a day. While a few of the plot devices were just a litttttle over the top, I genuinely loved most of the characters and the small town feel of Laurel Ridge. It definitely felt like a cozy Hallmark movie, which was perfect for this time of year. The big misunderstanding in the middle dropped my rating down a little bit, but I ultimately enjoyed seeing Nora's growth and her relationship with her kids, along with all the descriptions of the sunrises! Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a light, fun read, and am excited to see what the author does next. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Plot: I loved the voice of this book, it was bright and entertaining, even while dealing with difficult topics.

Characters: I liked the colorful cast of characters, and I thought the romance between Nora and Leo was well done!

The Cover: It's very bright, which I like!

Overall: This was a good Adult novel that I enjoyed reading!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

3.5 stars

Nora Hamilton is a 39 year old single mother and screenwriter for The Romance Channel. Her scripts always feature the same good old romance plots—successful big city person goes to small town for reason and falls in love with the local insert-job-here. There’s always a HEA guaranteed, unlike her real life, where she was married to a soul-sucking asshole for ten years. Fortunately her latest project based on her shitty marriage gets picked by a Hollywood studio and is being shot on site at her house in rural town in upstate NY.

Leo Vance is a big Hollywood actor known for his talent and intense smoldering looks. He’s been cast to play the character inspired by Nora’s dirtbag ex-husband. After filming wraps, he seeks “real life” and decides to stay on as a guest on Nora’s property. During which he integrates himself into her family’s life, grocery shopping at the discount supermarket, chatting up locals around town and even helps out with the school play. No surprises here but obviously Nora and Leo fall in love. After three weeks, Leo abruptly leaves to go to LA for an audition, promising to be back in a week. Spoiler alert: he doesn’t come back and everyone is just… sad emoji face.

I liked the story and thought it was very sweet and romantic. I enjoyed the way Nora and Leo joked about her highly predictable romance writing, it is pretty spot on for anyone who’s ever watched the Hallmark Channel. What I did not like, was the misunderstanding that caused their break up. This is a major pet peeve of mine. Seriously, just TALK to each other, ffs! It was so frustrating I swore out loud and shook my fist at my kindle. That said, I can see that without it and the resulting break up, both characters wouldn’t have taken the time to heal old wounds, find their own independent happiness and reset their minds to ensure an actual happy ending. Still, I wished the author found another way instead of throwing in the miscommunication wrench into the works.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

“Nora Goes Off Script” is a heart-warming romance by Annabel Monaghan. Nora, a screenwriter for a Hallmark-like channel has plenty of experience writing love stories. Yet, when her husband divorces her, she decides to write something different and her script is optioned by a major studio. Filming takes place at her house, which helps Nora afford to be able to stay there. And like a page from the scripts Nora used to write, hunky, Leo Vance, is cast as her husband. Will the filming a more “real life” movie lead Nora to a happily ever after, especially when falling in love with Nora will mean Leo will have to accept (and be accepted) by her kids as well?

I didn’t realize how much I needed this book until I was halfway through it. Omicron is running rampant and the fear of catching COVID is higher now than at the start of the pandemic. Hence, it was great to be able to simply escape into a world where positivity rates and vaccination mandates do not exist. But this book isn’t as fluffy as many romances appear to be. Nora is a well-developed character that you cannot help but root for and Leo is more than swoon-worthy. I don’t necessarily think finding “the one” is always the solution, but the novel’s ending, while expected, was still satisfying.

A solid four stars.

My thanks to publisher, the author and NetGalley for this sweet book.

An entertaining afternoon read to curl up to and escape for the day. Thanks for the opporuntity to read in advance.

I feel like I have been on a Hollywood book kick lately. I overall enjoyed Nora Goes Off Script but it did feel kinda choppy at some parts. Almost like something was missing. I don’t know how to explain it. I still would recommend the book it was a decent read. I love a hero named Leo, it’s like in my top 5 names.
This review will be posted on my social media closer to publication date!

I seem to be on a Hollywood-novel-NetGalley binge recently and I'm not complaining; Nora Goes Off Script is the latest addition to what has been a truly amazing string of novels about celebrities and those caught in the celebrity crossfire. Monaghan's novel is a beautiful, earnest look at motherhood, second love, and relationships in today's world. I found myself crying often, grinning from time to time, and always on the edge of my seat—not an easy thing for a contemporary romance novel to incite. Monaghan writes deftly, with an elegance that comes naturally and perfectly captures the vicissitudes of life. When Nora mourns her past, the reader mourns with her; when Nora contemplates her future, the reader is neither exasperatedly ahead of her nor perplexedly lagging behind her—they run exactly parallel to her track.

The entire cast of characters in Nora Goes Off Script is perfect, from the impossible-to-hate Nora to the heart-on-his-sleeve Leo to even the despicable Ben, who will be so unfortunately familiar to any reader. And, of course, this review would be incomplete without a mention of Nora's two adorable and three-dimensional children, Arthur and Bernadette, who will worm their way into any reader's heart. The one critique I had after finishing Nora was that I felt the novel should have been longer—if only to prolong my time with Nora and Leo, to delay my goodbye.

In short, this is a novel for anyone who needs confirmation that they are deserving of love and for anyone struggling to love themselves.

​Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP, Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Overall I did enjoy this book. I liked the real-life messiness that surrounded the main character, Nora. Between her house falling apart, her kids needing attention, her career, and her financial concerns, she represented every other frazzled mom out there. I thought the writing style was good overall and the story arc was interesting. I liked the characters of Bernadette and Arthur, the children of the main character. They were funny, witty, and compelling.

But despite these positives, I felt like there was something MISSING from the story. Especially the first half, where Nora is getting to know Leo. I can't explain it except to say that it seemed like there were huge chunks of the story that were left out, or maybe the story was just too choppy. There wasn't that natural flow that sucks me into a book. The second half of the book was better in terms of flow. I also really struggled with suspending reality and believing that a huge movie star who was People's Sexiest Man Alive would fall for a middle aged single mom. But I guess that's why we read, isn't it? To suspend reality for a moment and get sucked into the impossible? In that way, this book was a great escape.

Nora Goes Off Script is everything it promises! It’s extremely fast paced for sure. At first, I’m like oh gosh this is predictable. Then, I was SHOCKED! I laughed out loud many times and GASPED at the twist. I was so surprised!

I loved the whit that the characters had and had an extra special place in my heart for Arthur! I would absolutely recommend this!

Tired of everything in the news? Dreaming of an island getaway? Look no further than Nora Goes Off Script, an uplifting novel that will leave you satisfied with a smile. Nora Hamilton has the perfect formula for her Romance Channel movie scripts: successful city man or woman goes to small town on business, meets charming man or woman, love followed by problems, separation, lovers reunion. She has no idea that she’ll be living that progression when her latest script, a more serious one about her divorce, films scenes at her house. Then Leo Vance, the hunky star playing her loser husband, decides to stay with Nora and rent space in her farmhouse for a week. And longer, and longer…until…

And that’s all without spoilers. Please read this book. You’ll love as much as I did. It’s well written, funny, with well described characters, especially Nora’s children, and will make your heart happy. What more do you need? And Annabel Monaghan, I hope you are writing another book! 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam and Annabel Monaghan for this ARC.

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

I thought I knew exactly what I was getting when I started NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT: Hallmark Channel-esque movie writer falls in love with an actor who comes to her small town, they fall in love, have a miscommunication or some sort of conflict that results in a breakup or separation, reunion, kiss, roll credits. Basically a made-for-TV movie about a made-for-TV writer in book form. And, at its most basic sense, that’s what NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT is, but Annabel Monaghan wrote this novel in a way that was fresh, unexpected, and had me so thankful that I can’t resist the allure of any sort of Hallmark/Lifetime movie likeness.

I absolutely loved getting to see the parallels between those movies Nora writes to keep a roof over her children’s heads and her life on track both while married to a man who grew up rich and never learned how to be any other way, and after when their breakup inspires the blockbuster hit that brings Leo into their lives. Getting to see how the story essentially follows those formulaic plot points was comforting and, again, had me thinking I knew exactly how the story would go. But when we get to see the long aftermath of the standard conflict in Nora and Leo’s own love story, that’s where I knew this would be a five star read.

NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT was as equally heartbreaking as it was beautiful, but ends in the way all good made-for-TV movies do: with a Happily Ever After and the promise that the next one will be just as satisfying.

I had so much fun with this book. The characters are so genuine, sweet and adorable. This is definitely one of the best motivational feel-good novel which should be reread many times to brighten your mood, feed your soul with positive energy. Congratulations Annabel Monaghan , you did a hell of a job!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for providing me with an eARC.

This book took me by surprise, in the best way! First of all, I could relate to it as a 40 year old women with two kids. Such a relief! Not your typical romance, in fact my only gripe is I wish there was MORE romance! Overall I enjoyed it so much. Thank you to netgalley for the ARC!

Nora's life is about to become an honest to God Hallmark movie. Just like the ones she writes for the Romance Channel. She's just been through a divorce after a very disappointing marriage. She's now a single mom and sole provider for herself and her two kids. She supports herself as a screenwriter mostly for somewhat cookie cutter romance channel movies. Except for her most recent scripts - which is essentially the story of her relationship. She's agreed to let the movie film at her house for some of the biggest scenes. With that comes Leo - leading man and Hollywood's hottest actor. Their meeting is one of the most memorable I've read - if only for its simplicity and Leo's first words to Nora.

There are parts of this story that just ripped my heart out. There are other parts that are so funny I almost peed laughing. Mostly, though, I just loved it. I loved Nora's honest, forthright, straightforwardness, I loved her loose but actually incredible detailed schedule. I adored how Leo totally found his true home and just moved right in. I even loved how the second half of the book showed how important it is not to ghost people and to ask questions and communicate.

I highly recommend this one - it is a must-read.

I was very very lucky to receive this as an ARC, but these opinions are all my own.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! I will read anything by Annabel Monaghan! She gets right to the heart of humanity - moms, in particular - and brings us through heartache and joy with humor and unsentimental emotion. I've already recommended this to a bunch of people to preorder and will again once it's pubbed.