As this story opens, Olivia “Liv” Green, is working multiple jobs as a cleaner while her husband Jake (and his sister Katrina) are also trying to keep the family business, Paper Press, a small publishing firm, afloat. But one of her cleaning jobs is for the famous (and Liv’s favorite) author, Essie Starling. While Starling had become an intimidating recluse over the last few years, she was best known for her book series about Georgia Rory, an intrepid and adventurous heroine. But sadly, the quality of Starling’s work had been declining recently and, in a rare conversation, Liv told Essie that she thought the Georgia Rory character seem tired and might have lost her spark.
After Essie passed away unexpectedly, Olivia learned two unexpected things. The first is that she must keep Essie’s death a secret until the release of her next book some months away. The second is that Essie wanted Olivia to finish writing that book. Although Olivia had always wanted to be a writer, trying to step into the big shoes of Essie Starling would be a daunting task, especially with the looming deadline for its publication. In addition, keeping Essie’s death a secret would strain her relationship with Jake, who was already under pressure from financial commitments to his family business. But Olivia persevered and learned that she and Essie had a lot more in common than she knew.
This was a fun story, and enjoyable to read. At the same time, it was inspirational, suggesting that one should be true to oneself, and not give up on dreams.
