The Write Off
Two rival authors are forced to confront a decade of love and heartbreak on the campus where it all started in this captivating debut romance by Kara McDowell.
It’s been thirteen years since Mars Darling first met West Emerson on a bench outside their writing class. What started out as a friendly rivalry turned into a best friendship and then, for a brief time, a romance. Now over a decade later, as Mars stands at their college campus as a once-esteemed YA fantasy author, ready to take on a book festival, she comes face to face with West—the muse behind her infamous trilogy’s heartthrob hero, the man who betrayed her in the worst way.
Mars is determined not to let her comeback tour be ruined by the fact that West is also at the festival as an author. But the longer they are on the campus that holds so many shared memories, the more time they have to untangle their past, and Mars starts to question if maybe it’s not only her writing career that deserves a second chance.
Told in two unfolding timelines—Mars and West’s frenzied college days where they grapple with their undeniable connection, and their tension-filled present of heartache and familiar yearning—this charming romance shows that while you can’t rewrite the past, it’s never too late to chase your happily ever after and get back the one that got away.
Bio
Kara McDowell earned a BA in English at ASU in 2011.
Praise for this book
[Mars and West’s] chemistry is intense, even as their own stubbornness keeps them apart. Their very human flaws are on display as West struggles with feelings of inadequacy and Mars places her sense of self-worth solely on her success as a writer. Their youthful foibles make it easy to see why their relationship struggled, and McDowell expertly shows how they’ve grown and changed over the years. A delightfully bookish second-chance romance with plenty of angst.
Kirkus, starred review
The Write Off' is a second chance love story that is just as swoony as it is beautifully devastating. I was hooked from the very first page, and I couldn’t put it down for a single second. Let it be known: Kara McDowell is creating absolute art.
Julie Olivia USA Today bestselling author of "If It Makes You Happy"
