Love Unscripted

Summary (from the publisher): Ryan Christensen just wanted to be an actor. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever think that accepting a role in an unknown film would toss his career into overdrive. His new fame has cost him dearly; anonymity is no longer an option. His fans stalk him, the paparazzi hound him, and Hollywood studios all want a piece of him. Despite all of that, Ryan Christensen craves the most basic of human needs - to have love in his heart and privacy in his life.

Taryn Mitchell, the story's protagonist, is a realist. She's been feigning contentment, running the family pub in Seaport, Rhode Island, while quietly nursing her own internal heartaches. Her feet are fairly glued to the ground and she doesn't buy into all the hype that has descended on her tiny, coastal town. In her world, men are safe if they're kept at a distance.

Fate has other plans for these two when their paths cross one sunny afternoon. A group of female fans has attacked him, leaving his shirt torn, his face cut, and Ryan in obvious distress. Bonds between them form from the most dramatic of circumstances while jealousy, insecurity, and the stress of his celebrity life try to tear them apart.

Through all the tabloid lies, secrecy, and pressure, can Taryn's peace and Ryan's high-profile insanity live together in harmony?

Review: I received a copy of this book from Net Galley.

Usually, even when a book is popular chic lit, I totally see what all the hype is about. But this book? Ugh. This was 600 pages of  inane chatter. It was basically hundreds of pages of "oh i want to trust you" "but can you ever trust me" "I could see myself with you forever" "and I'm falling for you" "i want to pay for this" "no, i want to pay for this myself" blah blah blah blah. The sex scenes weren't even anything to write home about, so I don't really understand why this has such high ratings, and rave reviews. I want to understand. I just don't.

Granted, this novel still had some things in its favor. I really liked the premise of an average woman actually getting to fall in love and be with a famous actor. Who hasn't dreamed of that? But on the other hand, I liked that they didn't glamorize fame and made the reality of the lack of privacy and crazy fans evident.

BUT. But. The melodrama of this novel was just too much for me. I found it hard to believe that both Ryan and Taryn have crazy creeper stalkers pining away for them. And the whole final plot of Taryn thinking Ryan was cheating on her was just absurd in its execution. As was their continual hashing out of their relationship and the need for them to reaffirm that they did indeed both love each other and want to be with the other every other durn page. (I was secretly pleased when Taryn's friend slapped her for being delusional about Ryan being in love with her. Hellooo, thank you for slapping some sense into her after several hundred pages of that crap.) And it was a bit difficult to believe that Ryan just loved to act sooo much and that he didn't like the fame at all and was just yearning to be a regular guy with a wife and kids. 

Even for me, a person who admits to reading and enjoying popular low brow fiction like Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey, this was just too poorly written and melodramatic to be enjoyable. My best guess is that this just helps women step into the shoes of a woman who gets to be with the rich and famous? But if this is what that life is like, count me out. 

Stars: 2