Mars Darling has always dreamed of being a novelist. She talks to imaginary people and creates fantasy worlds (with sexy immortal heroes) in her head. She takes her undergraduate writing class very seriously.

West Emerson can’t quite relate to Mars’s enthusiasm for the course. West is just here for class credit. But it isn’t long until Mars learns that West can write—so well, in fact, that he beats Mars out of a spot in a coveted creative writing seminar.

What starts out as a friendly rivalry in the classroom turns into a best friendship. And then—for a time that felt all too brief—a romance.

Thirteen years later, Mars and West aren’t on speaking terms. Until they find themselves face-to-face, back on their old college campus. Mars became the YA romantasy writer she always dreamed she would be. And West is a literary fiction powerhouse. Is a reunion at an on-campus literary festival some form of poetic justice? Is it the perfect setting for a second draft? Can the pair rewrite their love story, or is this the end of the book?

Purchase Link: Penguin | Amazon

Meet the Author

Kara McDowell is the author of romantic comedies for adults and teens. She lives with her husband and three sons in Mesa, Arizona. When she’s not at a baseball game, she divides her time between writing, baking, and wishing for rain.