HOLLYLAND

An academic meets a movie star in this contemporary romance.

Dee Schwartz is an arts researcher who likes to push the envelope. Her publisher thinks her latest manuscript is too controversial (“on page one, there’s an explicit oral act in the balcony of a church”). She meets film star Ryder “Rye” Field one night at a bar in Los Angeles. Rye has a checkered past; Dee’s friends warn her about him because there’s a lot of gossip swirling around the actor. She goes out with Rye anyway. They bond over the fact that they both lost their mothers at young ages. There’s a lot of talk on that first date, as they tell each other their entire backstories before they sleep together. Soon, he invites her as his date to a business dinner in which he tries to iron out the specifics of his next movie. Dee impresses everyone at the dinner. After just a few days, Rye and Dee declare their love for each other and everything seems blissful. Some fun secondary characters, a well-drawn setting, and an exciting eleventh-hour kidnapping plot propel Leavy’s story. The author also offers rich details about Rye’s Hollywood world and Dee’s opinions on art (“I love art more than anything; it’s sacred to me. Artists need to be free. Art shouldn’t have to apologize for itself. It should provoke, inspire, unsettle, and disrupt—or at least aspire to”). Unfortunately, there’s no conflict at all between Dee and Rye, which feels like a missed opportunity given the actor’s dramatic backstory and the constant presence of paparazzi. Instead, they are just happy and in love, which comes across as more cloying than romantic. Dee is also a little too perfect. Everyone is completely dazzled by her; Rye’s Hollywood friends all know about her work and, on meeting her, want her input on their projects. In one scene, a hip-hop artist asks Dee to comment on her music. Dee demurs, saying she doesn’t know anything about hip-hop. But then she listens to a song and immediately figures out how to fix it. She is suddenly an expert on trap music, which will strain readers’ credulity.

An intriguing but improbable romance.