Three years ago friends Katrina and Nathan together wrote a breakout bestselling novel. Shortly after publication their writing partnership was kaput amidst much speculation and silence from the duo. Now, they’re forced together again, back to the Florida bungalow where the magic happened to fulfill their contract and produce one last book together. But more than flowery prose is blooming by the last page.
I recall quite a bit of hype surrounding The Roughest Draft at one time followed by some lackluster reviews.
TL;DR: it was a bit of an uneven read for me but I didn’t hate it!
First, this book gives off major beach read/rom-com vibes, yeah? I mean, GREAT cover, but it doesn’t fit this book at all. It’s a romance, but a pretty melancholy one, not what I’d expect to be sporting a happy pink cover.
Second, it’s blurbed by Lyssa Kay Adams of Bromance Book Club fame. The style is not at all congruent with Adams’. Not a good tone to set.
I think The Roughest Draft is suffering from marketing related issues.
The Roughest Draft has rom, but no com. It’s more of a rom-dram(a).
Nathan and Katrina are struggling with both professional doubt and their romantic feelings for one another. The chemistry abounds between these two and the story is very character driven. I think the problem (other than the incongruent marketing) is this character driven story lags in the middle due to lack of development. We never really get to know Nathan and Katrina outside of their couple dynamic and without a strong plot to propel the narrative it just kind of spins its wheels for a bit. Maybe the story could have benefitted from more editing?
That said, I quite liked the beginning and end and I really dug the way the MCs communicated through their fictional writing. With proper expectations The Roughest Draft isn’t bad, I found it refreshingly different within the romance genre.
Also, the book is written by a husband and wife duo and it was really interesting reading about dynamics of co-authoring. While reading I was wondering how much of themselves they wrote into this story.
That Bookish Life 