I liked this book but I couldnt say I loved it. The characters frustrated me alot. It was also repetitive in parts.

Olivia is struggling with her writing career when she receives an offer she can’t refuse – ghostwriting. Ash, a millionaire, claims Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca is plagiarised from his late grandmother and he hires Olivia to write the ‘truth’. Olivia is soon living with Ash in his Malibu mansion and living her own Rebecca-like life, with Ash showing her a bit too much attention, Ash’s housekeeper giving her the evil eye, drugged drinks, suspicious fires, and speculation that perhaps Ash’s first wife did not die in a car accident as claimed.

I think you need to be at least familiar with Rebecca to read this. I’ve not actually ever read the book but I’ve seen the Hitchcock movie a zillion times (it’s a personal favourite, so the question is, why haven’t I ever read the book?) as well as the other couple of filmed versions (just once, they weren’t awful but nothing like Hitch’s perfection), so I’m very familiar with all the details. There was some clunky writing involved here though. I mean, ‘last night I dreamt I went to Malibu again’ doesn’t really have the same ring to it as the original. My teeth grinded every time I read, ‘my cousin’ used in an apparent attempt to keep one of the character’s identity secret. And, seriously, you could play some sort of drinking game with the amount of times Cantor mentions the characters drinking wine (and you would be adding another level of meta maybe).

Yes, this book is so meta, I became a little lost as to which was was being broken in the end. However, after I finished it, I didn’t stare off into space and think, ‘wow, that was so clever’. Instead, I basically just stared off into space and thought, ‘what.ever, gf’.

I had issues with the romantic/sexual aspect of the book. Ash was like a Maxim DeWinter you ordered from Wish, and Olivia’s other two potential loves are pretty insipid and almost invisible for the bulk of the book.

But!!!! I still found the book oddly compelling and I sped through it quickly in a trashy, car crash I couldn’t stop looking at, kind of way, which makes my rating difficult. Mmm… 3 out of 5 maybe, but I can easily see some readers loving it or hating it much more.

This was my first Jillian Cantor book and I am now a huge fan. The Fiction Writer sucked me right in from the start with its clever storyline of an author being recruited to write a book for a billionaire and that's all I'm going to tell you. I loved this book. I haven't read Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca but after reading this book, I might just have to!

Love the premise, but this didn’t live up for me. Olivia is an incredibly irritating character and overall I felt like the ghost writing thing has been done time and time again, and this didn’t provide anything new.

Olivia Fitzgerald was once a rising writer but things aren't going so well now after a failed novel and no publisher. Her life isn't going according to plan so she jumps at a chance to become a ghost-writer and heads to Malibu for an interview with a billionaire with a secret.

This is a book of twists and turns, and to and for from present day to back in the time a manuscript by an unknown women is written. It is intriguing yet a bit slow and in parts repetitive and as the story is not just a single tale but a weaving of numerous tales it can get a bit confusing at times.

All in all a good book but I can't say it was a favourite. The ending was a bi strange but the writing is good. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Australia) for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I enjoyed The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor though the end let it down a little for me. I mean, I liked where it finished... but then Cantor went a bit further, and for me, it was one twist too far. That said, this is an intriguing book - several tales within a tale. Within a tale. Or in some ways... fan fiction run amok!

This book dips back and forth between Olivia in the present and a manuscript by an unknown woman, and Cantor does a great job at hiding that author's identity - giving us several options.

There are elements of this that are predictable. Olivia goes out of her way several times to tell us how 'plain' she is, yet Sexiest Man of the Year winner several-times-over is seemingly enamoured by her... before he spends time with her. I mean, I get that people are attracted to whoever, but Ash is falling over himself so it seems obvious there's another agenda being played out. And many of his excuses for delaying their project seem a tad dodgy so we expect the worst, even though I hoped the trend was bucked and he ended up being genuine and sweet.

That being said, I liked Olivia and liked the amount of insight Cantor gives her here, questioning her own behaviour as well as those around her. She also pauses to consider her own past and some of the baggage she's lugging around.

As someone who reads a lot and engages a little in the industry I liked the commentary around writing and publishing. On being a writer and its challenges, and the foibles of the publishing world.

Although it's easy to get a sense of where this is going, Cantor's ability to keep our manuscript author's identity a secret as well as mysteries in Ash's past and that of his grandparents kept me turning page after page. Eager for answers.

3.5 stars

Thank you very much for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I will review soon on platforms

Four stars rounded up. I found this novel slow going for the first half but I really like how it came together and the writing in the novel within a novel excerpts from ‘The Wife’ is very good. The story revolves around Olivia, a novelist whose first book was a success and her second, a retelling of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, ‘Becky’ is a flop. She is offered a ghost writer job by a rich widower in Malibu who wants her to write his grandmothers story which he reckons is the real Rebecca and that du Maurier stole the story from her. It’s a clever pretext as du Maurier was taken to court for plagiarism by another novelist. So within the story there is a lot that revolves around where stories come from and how often they are repeated anyway. I enjoyed the read, particularly the second half where the twists seem to multiply.

This is an interesting concept - about an author of a modern retelling of Rebecca in a retelling of Rebecca. It reminded me of Colleen Hoovers Verity in concept but is 'Rebecca.'
I enjoyed it even though I'm not usually into retellings. A slow burn of rising dread rather than a creepy gothic.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Fiction Writer was well written, intriguing and mysterious. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I would definitely be interested in future novels from Jillian Cantor.

Olivia was a great main character, who had real depth and wasn't a pushover or gullible like many female characters are in thrillers these days. She was strong, determined and very likable.
Ash was mysterious and changeable. I didn't know whether to trust him or not.

The twists were pretty good and it kept me guessing right up until the end, managing to shock me with the final twist.
I highly recommend.

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️