Blisteringly sharp, hypersmart, and compulsively readable―meet Isabel Kaplan’s searing debut novel about a young woman trying to succeed in Hollywood without selling her soul.
From the outside, the unnamed protagonist in NSFW appears the vision of success. She has landed an entry-level position at a leading TV network that thousands of college grads would kill for. And sure, she has much to learn. The daughter of a prominent feminist attorney, she grew up outside the industry, better versed in gender dynamics than box office hits. But she’s resourceful and hardworking―what could go wrong?
At first, the high adrenaline work environment motivates her, yet as she climbs the ranks, she confronts the reality of creating change from the inside. Her points only get attention when echoed by male colleagues. She hears whispers of abuse and sexual misconduct. Her mother says to keep her head down until she’s the one in charge―a scenario that seems idealistic at best, morally questionable at worst.
When her personal and professional lives collide, threatening both the network and her future, she must finally decide what to protect: the career she’s given everything for or the empowered woman she claims to be.
The Review
NSFW by Isabel Kaplan
In NSFW, we’re following an intern at a television network in bustling Los Angeles.
This book is very LA. That is not a compliment, completely.
Overall, I was disappointed in how the ending was handled. This may have been a case of wrong reader-right book because according to Goodreads this rates about four stars.
On the back of the book, there are blurbs referencing the smart humor and I completely missed that. However, the original title “The Feminist Guide to Getting Ahead”, might have been a more appropriate title than NSFW, which stands for Not Safe For Work.
I appreciated some of the commentary however mousy it was conveyed. I could handle a lot more clarity and a better tied-up ending.
I think given the nature of the themes it would be warranted.
NSFW…⭐️⭐️⭐️
Evvie Drake Starts Over meets Beach Read in this heartwarming and hilarious novel about a divorced romance channel screenwriter whose script about her marriage’s collapse just might help her reclaim her life and find love.
Nora’s life is about to get a rewrite… Nora Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance channel screenwriter, it’s her job. But when her too-good-to work husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage’s collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life.
No one is more surprised than her when it’s picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne’er do well husband Nora’s life will never be the same.
The morning after shooting wraps and the crew leaves, Nora finds Leo on her porch with a half-empty bottle of tequila and a proposition. He’ll pay a thousand dollars a day to stay for a week. The extra seven grand would give Nora breathing room, but it’s the need in his eyes that makes her say yes. Seven days: it’s the blink of an eye or an eternity depending on how you look at it. Enough time to fall in love. Enough time to break your heart.
Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is the best kind of love story–the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen.
The Review
NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT by Annabel Monaghan
Her POV: he’s a movie star. 😍
His POV: she feels like coming home. 🥰
This is the most adorable love story. It features Nora (😃) and Leo.
Nora is your everyday local suburban mom with two kids who happens to write romance television movie scripts.
Leo is a movie star who needs a bit of respite and care and also seems to like the idea of acting out his own romance movie.
The question is will the two of them find love acting out the roles that were written for them or will they write their own love story.
I really liked this one. I bought the relationship and really appreciated the build-up. The blurb says it’s a mix between Evie Drake Starts Over and Beach Read which feels pretty accurate.
I also really enjoyed the pov of the main character. It’s always nice to see characters in their mid-life where the focus isn’t centered around them being old and destitute.
I think this would be a great book to read poolside. It’s a real quick read and the pacing is done well.
NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT…⭐️⭐️⭐️
A sharply intelligent novel about two college students and the strange, unexpected connection they forge with a married couple.
Frances is twenty-one years old, cool-headed, and darkly observant. A college student and aspiring writer, she devotes herself to a life of the mind–and to the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi, her best friend and comrade-in-arms. Lovers at school, the two young women now perform spoken-word poetry together in Dublin, where a journalist named Melissa spots their potential. Drawn into Melissa’s orbit, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older woman’s sophisticated home and tall, handsome husband. Private property, Frances believes, is a cultural evil–and Nick, a bored actor who never quite lived up to his potential, looks like patriarchy made flesh. But however amusing their flirtation seems at first, it gives way to a strange intimacy neither of them expect. As Frances tries to keep her life in check, her relationships increasingly resist her control: with Nick, with her difficult and unhappy father, and finally even with Bobbi. Desperate to reconcile herself to the desires and vulnerabilities of her body, Frances’s intellectual certainties begin to yield to something new: a painful and disorienting way of living from moment to moment.
Written with gem-like precision and probing intelligence, Conversations With Friends is wonderfully alive to the pleasures and dangers of youth.”
The Review
Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney
I’m reading this book with a very small adaptations book club. Now that I’ve read it, I’m a little nervous about our upcoming discussions.
However, you’re here to talk about the book.
CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS is a contemporary fiction novel. In some circles, it is considered a romance novel and is a favorite amongst Sally Rooney fans.
In the book, we follow Frances who is an aspiring writer. She is written in a way that you are fascinated by her and her choices.
She is smart and aware and yet so young and still learning.
To be clear, the characters in the book, including and most importantly Frances, weren’t necessarily written to be liked.
In fact, I think the beauty in the book is that I hated every character and knew those emotions were drawn by Sally Rooney’s great writing.
It’s a great book for discussion and I’m very excited to see how the show, coming May 15th on Hulu, is received.
Have you read CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS?
I thought it was great and gave it…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
