By The Book

By: Danielle Smyth

Many thanks to Beyond The Books PR for the ARC of this book!

Scarlett Sinclair is a romance novelist. Her first book was fantastic, but her second one isn’t going so well. Her editor wants her to write another book like the first, and she’s not feeling it. She meets Jonathan Levine at a book reading for a fellow author. He’s also the lawyer for the publishing company. He normally follows the rules, but not when it comes to Scarlett. As things heat up between them, Scarlett wrestles with whether or not to break her contract. On top of that, there is family drama for Scarlett. Scarlett is now tasked with figuring out what’s the best path forward for her.

This was a cute read. It’s part of the Ghost Writing series, which I have not read. I did not feel like I was missing out on anything not having read any other book in the series. Overall, I liked the book, but there were some things about it that kept me from being able to give it a rating higher than 3 stars.

The dedication was “For anyone who has ever been told they are too much” and I thought I was going to connect with the book. Unfortunately, the idea that Scarlett is too much was repeated over and over in the book. It almost felt like she was looking for Jonathan to keep reminding her that she wasn’t. It felt a little immature at times. Scarlett felt immature to me at times.

What amounted to Scarlett being “too much” was possibly undiagnosed ADHD. I am ADHD and both my kids are ADHD. While I appreciate what the author tried to do here with the neurodivergent rep, I struggled with some of the reactions to the possibility of ADHD. It felt like a step back in overcoming the stigma.

This book does have a lot of higher reviews, so take what I say with a grain of salt (like I always say!). Give this one a try if you like reading romance books!

Publish Date: June 3, 2026
Find the book here.
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