Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Book Review: "Love Scenes" by Bridget Morrissey

When love blossoms on a film set, is it for real or just for the cameras? Bridget Morrissey's fun, new rom-com Love Scenes tries to find out.

Even though she comes from a famed Hollywood family, Sloane’s experience on one movie almost made her quit her acting career. Her love interest, hunky Irish actor Joseph Donovan, was utterly unprofessional and horrible to work with, but because he was the bigger star, he convinced everyone the problems were Sloane’s.

Now, with her successful stint on a series over, her family gives her a made-up producing job on their WWII-era movie. Her sister is directing, her stepfather wrote it, her mother is the executive producer and a supporting player, even her brother composed the score. How did they neglect to mention that the male lead is being played by none other than Joseph Donovan?

When Sloane sees Joseph, he promises he’s changed. And when she gets roped into helping him rehearse his lines, she starts to see that he may be telling the truth. Little by little they let their guard down with one another and grow closer. So when the lead actress gets fired, it seems only natural that Sloane step into the part, one her family wanted her to take originally anyway.

As expected, Sloane and Joseph’s chemistry onscreen is intense, mirroring their relationship offscreen. Sloane is determined that they keep this a secret from her family. But how much of what they feel is real and how much of it is acting?

When you grow up in a dysfunctional Hollywood family with every relationship overanalyzed, and you’ve had a bad track record of relationships, it’s hard to let yourself go. How do you know when you might be missing out on the real thing?

I love the movies and behind-the-scenes stuff, and of course, I love rom-coms, so I really enjoyed Love Scenes. As you might expect, the characters aren’t always the most sympathetic but they’re fascinating and you find yourself rooting for them—and the movie!

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