Last updated on 07/26/2026
A NOVEL LOVE STORY meets LOVE IN THE TIME OF SERIAL KILLERS in this rom-com following Roxie Mitchell, an adventure-loving romance reader who finds herself trapped in a meet-cute turned murderous
When Roxie makes a tongue-in-cheek wish to live out the plot of her favorite author’s next novel, she has romance in mind—namely, the sweet, safe, swoon-worthy storylines Anna Matthews is known for. It should be a dream come true when her wish is granted and she finds herself swept into a first date with a handsome stranger who seems designed to take her breath away.
Except for one little hiccup: That handsome stranger tries to take her breath away. Literally. With a knife. The thing is, Roxie may be the new Anna Matthews protagonist—but this time, Anna is writing a crime thriller.
Thrown into a perilous genre she’s never read, Roxie is desperate for help. So when her escape takes her straight into the path of Grant Hoffman, an anxious English professor with a convenient love of crime novels, she decides that kidnapping a grown man is a small price to pay for her own survival. Together, Roxie and Grant navigate a madcap story where the lines between fiction and reality blur. They’ll find out if they have what it takes to make it to The End—or maybe even Happily Ever After.
Review:
This was such a fun ride! I LOLed so much while reading–be careful if you like to sip a favorite beverage while you read, your screen/pages might definitely be in danger 😉
Roxie is such a fun heroine–a rom com lover with snark for days, her inner and outer dialogue were responsible for at least 75% of my LOLing and pretty much all of the related snort laughing.
Though poor Grant, trying so hard to be the voice of reason and reality–he was probably contributed another 10-15% of the LOLs himself with quotes like
“That’s not science. And honestly, I’m not convinced you know anything about cosmology.”
and
“Again, not true. Seriously, where are you getting your dream facts from?”
and
“Oh my God. You are operating from such a grotesque misunderstanding of how story structure works.”
Poor guy, he tries so hard. LOL
Ms Eberle definitely knows her tropes–both romance and mystery/trillers–and wields them with wild abandon to create an absolutely crazy story that was so much fun. Are there some awfully convenient coincidences, some that help Roxie and some that definitely don’t? Yes. Did I care? Not at all. Likewise the side characters, many of whom bordered on caricatures. Did it bother me? Nope. They 100% added to the book’s overall charm.
Even though Roxie might believe she’s a cautionary tale for the axiom be careful what you wish for, her ill-advised wish gave us one heck of a story. I was blown away to realize that this is a debut novel. I can’t wait to see what she writes next==absolutely no pressure, Ms Eberle! 😉
Rating: 5 stars / A
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.