“Her lips were crusted with salt. Her hair was slicked across her forehead in bedraggled strands. The life jacket was too loose and, as she floated, the shoulders pushed up to her earlobes, all but enveloping her chin. She’d never felt less alluring, but the way Hayes was looking at her made it easy to believe she was an epic sex kitten.”
Not How I Pictured It is another great story from Robin Lefler.
Twenty years after Turning Tides went off the air, the beloved TV show about teenage romance and angst is back. No one is more surprised than its former star, Agnes “Ness” Larkin, that she’s agreed to step back into the role of Hailey Grant. After her father/manager took off with her earnings, Ness ran away from the spotlight in shame. But maybe it’s time to stare down her past, and her castmates, in their discreetly Botoxed faces.
That enthusiasm lasts until the first table read, which, in co-star Coco’s words, is “like a high school reunion without the dim lighting or booze.” Ness assumed her old fling Hayes Beaumont would be too busy doing Big Hollywood Things to take part, but there he is, seated beside her, exuding pheromones and success.
En route to the deluxe Bahamas resort where they’re to start filming, the cast gets stranded by a storm. Stuck on a tiny island with a paltry cache of food and quite possibly the most useless survival group in history, Ness tries to reconcile her youthful dreams with where she’s ended up—figuratively and literally. The producers wanted drama on and off-screen, and they’re going to get it, but where will Ness be when it’s all over?
Be still my heart, Robin has created an incredible cast of characters with all the drama, juicy backstories, and backstabbing my Beverly Hills 90210 (the original though, not the remake) loving self could handle. I loved everything about it.
Folks looking for the usual romance formula will be disappointed though, this is not that. There is definitely a romance element, but I’d say this is more women’s fiction than romance. And that’s just fine by me. It also has a mystery that unravels over the course of the story. Don’t worry though, we still get our HEA.
I loved the concept of the book. It’s just so bonkers. The cast of a teen serial drama reunites twenty years later for a reboot, only to get shipwrecked on a deserted island. An island with a deserted castle. And while I personally would love to get stranded on a tropical island, this particular group has barely any survival skills. Not a scout or camp counsellor among them. With little food and no idea when they will be rescued, old feuds, rivalries, and flames ignite to create delicious drama and conflict.
It’s not all hijinks and drama though, each of the characters is struggling with their own issues from anxiety to alcoholism that helps them seem more like real people and not caricatures. Robin did a great job at fleshing out the characters and giving them more depth than I was expecting.
Main character Ness is great. She’s sort of the odd woman out here, as she’s the only one that didn’t stay in show business. And she burned a lot of bridges on her way out. That’s the thing about fires, the scent lingers for a loooong time. Her castmates are definitely not over it. But Ness is resilient and she certainly tries really hard. She’s had to create a whole new life for herself after her manager father took off with all her money. I found myself rooting for her.
Overall, another great read from Robin. I can’t wait to see what she writes next.
Thank you, HarperCollins for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
