PRIME TIME ROMANCE
by Kate Robb
When a birthday wish goes wrong, a 30-year-old woman finds herself transported into the world of her favorite teen soap opera.
Brynn Smothers thought she’d found her happily-ever-after, but instead she finds herself celebrating her 30th birthday divorced, miserable, and living with Josh, a roommate she barely knows. Her one constant is Carson’s Cove, a Dawson’s Creek–like teen drama from the 2000s. Every problem in Carson’s Cove has a way of working itself out by the end of the episode—it’s a place where, as Brynn puts it, “the worst fight can always be fixed with a grand romantic gesture.” That’s nothing like real life, and Brynn longs for things to be that easy. Which is why, when she blows out the candle on the birthday cake that mysteriously gets delivered to her front door, she wishes to finally get her own happy ending. The next thing she knows, she and Josh are waking up in Carson’s Cove…but they’re no longer Brynn and Josh. Brynn is Sloan, the good girl who loves sundresses and bike rides and should have ended up with the town heartthrob, Spencer. Josh is Fletch, the quintessential town bad boy who works at a bar. And they’re stuck in Carson’s Cove until Brynn makes sure that Spencer and Sloan get a happy ending instead of the cliffhanger the show ended on. But now that Brynn’s living inside her comfort watch, she can’t help noticing that things in Carson’s Cove aren’t as perfect as they seemed on TV. As she and Josh try to find their way out of the show and back into the real world, their feelings for each other develop into something that could wreck the entire town…or, maybe, change it for the better. Anyone who watched the teen shows of the 2000s will find much to appreciate here, including lots of easter eggs from Robb, who's clearly a devotee of the genre. The magic that brings Brynn and Josh to the Carson’s Cove universe gets a little confusing if you think about it too hard, so it’s best to simply enjoy the ride. Brynn and Josh have smoldering chemistry and plenty of heart, making this an incredibly entertaining and smart romance.
A fun and nostalgic ode to our favorite teen dramas (with a welcome dose of reality).