Review: Not in the Script by Amy Finnegan

Not in the Script by Amy Finnegan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's UK
Publication Date: October 7th 2014
My Rating: 3 stars 

Millions of people witnessed Emma Taylor’s first kiss—a kiss that needed twelve takes and four camera angles to get right. After spending nearly all of her teen years performing on cue, Emma wonders if any part of her life is real anymore . . . particularly her relationships. Jake Elliott’s face is on magazine ads around the world, but his lucrative modeling deals were a poor substitute for what he had to leave behind. Now acting is offering Jake everything he wants: close proximity to home; an opportunity to finally start school; and plenty of time with the smart and irresistible Emma Taylor . . . if she would just give him a chance. When Jake takes Emma behind the scenes of his real life, she begins to see how genuine he is, but on-set relationships always end badly. Don’t they? Toss in Hollywood’s most notorious heartthrob and a resident diva who may or may not be as evil as she seems, and the production of Coyote Hills heats up in unexpected—and romantic—ways. This novel in the deliciously fun If Only romance line proves that the best kinds of love stories don’t follow a script.

After reading Famous in Love a few months back, I really wanted to read a book which dealt with characters who were actors, and more on how it was like for them being famous and under the radar all the time, and so when Nick suggested giving Not in the Script a go, I was hoping that it was exactly what I was after.

Emma was an easy character to relate to, she was a famous actress, however despite having all this great success, there was always something bringing her down, lately it had been her bad string of boyfriends, who also tended to be actors. The paparazzi’s as usual blow things out of proportion when things go down with her boyfriends, without even knowing the truth about what really has gone down. Emma’s last relationship didn’t end in the best way, but she decided to keep headstrong about things and feels the only way she can move away from this image the press has created about her is not to date another co-star. However this becomes one heck of a test when Emma ends up landing a role alongside long term crush Brett and relative unknown Jake who her best friend Rachel has had the hots for.

What I liked about Not in the Script was how Finnegan threw the assumptions and ideas you had of a person on their head. I honestly thought that I had these characters sussed out within the first few pages, but I was taken with how much they went on to surprise me. For example take Brett, this big star and icon; I assumed that as Emma had this crush on him, it would be cute to see him and Emma get together, isn’t it always every girls dream to end up with her crush?  And even though Emma had sworn off her co-stars, Brett did genuinely come across as the guy that could look after her, he was a funny guy and took care of her when her past had come back to haunt her. But Finnegan went on to show that what you see with everyone is not what you get. It’s always a knock to your confidence when you make this mistake with a person in real life, but when you’re an actress and don’t have that many real friends around you or your family are faraway, who can you really trust? Let me say that I was wrong about a lot of characters in this book, some really ended up surprising me in the end, where as others I wanted to smack upside the head multiple times. I’m glad we had this nice balance of some genuinely nice characters coming through and making up for the self absorbed egotistical ones. Not in the Script had a lot of things to offer; it provided a detailed story of how the life of an actress/actor could be, the whole series that Emma was taking part in had such a authentic feel about it, that I found myself invested in Emma’s real life but also her character’s story are in the show Coyote Hills. The sort of love triangle/square really didn’t come across in this way at all, when our two characters met on set, I kind of knew that I wanted them to be together in the end despite the numerous obstacles and crossed wires that got in the way. Finnegan knew how to create one gorgeous irresistible character honestly; he had me melting in all the right places! 

Overall Not in the Script was a super cute read, when in the mood for something fun which will bring a smile to your face, give this book a go.