Nora Goes Off Script – A Book Review

Last updated on September 4th, 2024 at 06:52 am

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan is the latest addition to the loveliest books I’ve read. It’s a romantic comedy set in a small town on the outskirts of New York. It is one of Amazon.com’s Best Books of 2022 So Far.

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Here’s my review.

Summary

Nora Hamilton is a divorced mom of two grade school kids. For a living, she writes screenplays for a romance TV channel, which are short romantic stories with lots of meet-cutes and definite happily ever afters. 

After her divorce, though, she verged away from the usual and wrote a sad story with an even sadder ending that’s mostly based on her past married life. That story got picked up for a movie script and made into one by a major film company.

Leo Vance, on the other hand, is a forty-year-old A-List Hollywood superstar portraying the main male lead role in the movie. 

Nora and Leo meet when some of the movie scenes were shot in Nora’s home. Bothered and lost Leo was supposed to leave after the shoot, but instead asked to stay for a few days, offering compensation for the trouble. Nora, a struggling single mom, agreed as she needed the money.

Then started Nora and Leo’s journey to a happily ever after, with some sprinkling of laughter and heartache in between.

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My Take

I love Nora Goes Off Script. It’s one of the books that took me out of a long reading slump, which is saying a lot since I’m the pickiest of picky readers there are.

What I Liked

Nora Hamilton

First off, I liked Nora. She’s a main female character easy to like because she is nice, down-to-earth, grounded, and strong.

She’s a single mom of two who was abandoned by her husband, yet she managed to pull her and her kids’ life together, doing great with not only surviving but creating a quality life for all of them.

I also like how modest and cool she is. She can laugh at herself and just go on.

Writing

I love Annabel Monaghan’s writing style, which I find easy and breezy to read. It made me smoothly turn the pages for more.

I also like how insightful and introspective the writing is. Some lines had me realizing some universal truths.

The conversations among the characters aren’t contrived and seem like real conversations in everyday life.

Comedy

I love how funny this novel is. Nora’s self-deprecating humor and insightful thoughts had me laughing a lot. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much while reading a book.

Leo and Nora Together

I love Leo and Nora together–their easy dynamic, their friendship, the camaraderie they share. I love their romantic chemistry, too, which was natural, swoon-worthy, and goes to a deeper level. The way they bonded over watching the sunrise was symbolic and profound.

Also, I love that this is a middle-aged romance between two adults who’ve experienced… life. Romances between middle-aged couples in books are far and few in between, so it’s a breath of fresh air to read about mature characters whose perspective about life is richer. Usually, the romance you get from a couple like this is stronger and lasting.

Leo With Nora’s Kids

I like the way Leo bonded with Nora’s kids. He knew how to approach and treat each one differently.

He understood that he had to tread carefully with Arthur, Nora’s son, so that he did.

From the outset, he sensed that Bernadette was a happy and well-adjusted kid despite her parents’ break-up, so he was open and fun with her.

I love Leo’s relationship with them and how he became the adult male they needed in their lives.

Bernadette Hamilton

I also love Bernadette, Nora’s eight-year-old daughter. She was funny and well-adjusted for a kid coming from a divorced home. Her adoration for Leo is cute. Her dialogues and her actions were so adorable.

Setting

The setting of the story is Laurel Ridge, maybe a fictional town, on the outskirts of New York. Annabel Monaghan paints a nice picture of a cute, small town that appearance-wise and character-wise was stuck in the past. It doesn’t welcome big businesses, with a small main street that sports the same mom-and-pop shops of long ago. I love towns like this that have that cozy feel.

Plot

The plot isn’t new, but Ms. Monaghan’s writing and presentation give Nora Goes Off Script a fresh vibe. It is far from the rehashed romance you often see nowadays. 

Maybe one reason I’ve been in such a terrible book funk is that most of the romance books I’ve picked up lately were cookie-cutter types, where it seems that the only new thing in them are the names of the characters, heh. They (books) seem to be so alike that I had a hard time distinguishing one from the other anymore.

Nora Goes Off Script, though, has a different kind of feel to it. It is heartwarming, cozy and such a feel-good read—much like a warm chocolate drink on a cold winter weekend that would turn your inside into this wonderful kind of warm and fuzzy. 

It is a comfort read, despite the tear-jerking moments in the later part.

What I Didn’t Like

There really isn’t anything I did not like about the book. Well, maybe I just wish the misunderstanding in the later part didn’t take too long, but otherwise, the book was almost perfect.

Final Thoughts

I love Nora Goes Off Script. It was the feel-good, romantic book that I’ve been longing to read for a long time, so I was so glad that I found it.

So I recommend Nora Goes Off Script to those looking for a romance book that feels fresh, yet still romantic, funny and heartwarming. I hope you give it a chance and enjoy it as much as I did, if not more.

Get Nora Goes Off Script here.

Happy reading!

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