Any Trope But You
A bestselling romance author flees to Alaska to reinvent herself and write her first murder mystery, but the rugged resort proprietor soon has her fearing she’s living in a rom-com plot instead in this earnestly spectacular debut by a stunning new voice.
Beloved romance author Margot Bradley has a dark secret: she doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Not for herself, not for her readers, and not even for her characters, for whom she secretly writes alternate endings that swap weddings and babies for divorce papers and the occasional slashed tire. When her Happily Never After document is hacked and released to the public, she finds herself canceled by her readers and dropped by her publisher.
Desperate to find a way to continue supporting her chronically ill sister, Savannah, Margot decides to trade meet-cutes for murder. The fictional kind. Probably. But when Savannah books Margot a six-week stay in a remote Alaskan resort to pen her first murder mystery, Margot finds herself running from a moose and leaping into the arms of the handsome proprietor, making her fear she’s just landed in a romance novel instead.
The last thing Dr. Forrest Wakefield ever expected was to leave his dream job as a cancer researcher to become a glorified bellhop. What he’s really doing at his family’s resort is caring for his stubborn, ailing father, and his puzzle-loving mind is slowly freezing over—until Margot shows up. But Forrest doesn’t have any room in his life for another person he could lose, especially one with a checkout date.
As long snowy nights and one unlikely trope after another draw Margot and Forrest together, they’ll each have to learn to overcome their fears and set their aside assumptions before Margot leaves—or risk becoming a Happily Never After story themselves.
My thoughts:
This was a pretty by-the-numbers, fairly predictable romance, but it was still a nice palette cleanser.
Margot is a bestselling romance author with a secret. She doesn’t actually believe in happily ever afters. She’s been secretly writing alternate endings where her couples break up instead of getting married. When that document gets hacked and released to the public during a live podcast taping, her readers cancel her and her publisher drops her. How’s that for, “We got your back no matter what?”
She needs to keep supporting her chronically ill sister Savannah, so she decides to pivot. No more romance. She’s going to write murder mysteries instead. So Savannah books her a six-week stay at a remote Alaskan resort to write her first one. Margot shows up and immediately runs from a moose, leaping into the arms of Forrest, the handsome resort owner. Forrest used to be a cancer researcher, but left his dream job to run the family resort and take care of his stubborn, ailing father. His life is on hold. He doesn’t have room for another person he could lose, especially one with a checkout date in six weeks, so he’s most certainly not going to fall for Margot. But of course, long snowy nights and one unlikely trope after another throw them together and Margot realizes that she’s living through the very tropes she doesn’t believe in.
I didn’t hate this. I actually enjoyed the setting and really liked the characters. The Alaskan resort is a nice backdrop and the fact that Margot is taking care of her sister and Forrest is taking care of his ailing father made them more than rich, spoiled, unlikeable characters. They at least had a heart.
The writing is competent and it does what it needs to do. But the tropes and the expected beats left it all lacking any sort of surprise. You know exactly where this is going from page one.There’s nothing wrong with that if that’s what you’re looking for. But if you want something unpredictable, this isn’t it.
The romance itself is sweet. Margot and Forrest have decent chemistry and their reasons for resisting each other make sense. But nothing about their relationship surprised me. It unfolds exactly how you’d expect a romance between a jaded romance author and a reluctant resort owner to unfold.
Would I recommend it? Sure. Especially to romance lovers who are fans of the familiar and expected. If you like knowing exactly what you’re getting and you just want a cozy, predictable love story set in Alaska, this will work for you. Would I read it again? Probably not. It’s a sweet read, and one that’s good to cleanse the palette between heavier books, but it’s not memorable enough for a reread.
If you’re a romance reader who loves tropes executed exactly as expected, pick this up. If you’re looking for something fresh or surprising, skip it.
