By any other name

This book review contains no spoilers!

Author: Lauren Kate

Series: standalone

Audience: YA

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Synopsis

With a successful career as a romance editor, and an engagement to a man who checks off all ninety-nine boxes on her carefully curated list, Lanie’s more than good. She’s killing it. Then she’s given the opportunity of a lifetime: to work with world-renowned author and her biggest inspiration in love and life—the Noa Callaway. All Lanie has to do is cure Noa’s writer’s block and she’ll get the promotion she’s always dreamed of. Simple, right?

But there’s a reason no one has ever seen or spoken to the mysterious Noa Calloway. And that reason will rock Lanie’s world. It will call into question everything she thought she knew. When she finally tosses her ninety-nine expectations to the wind, Lanie may just discover that love By Any Other Name can still be as sweet

– Goodreads

Writing Style

By any other name is told from the first person. Lauren Kate has a smooth writing style. I did think that it was a bit chaotic at times because the jumps between the present and the past were not always clear.

Characters

Lanie

Lanie is the main character and works at her favourite publisher, Peony Press.

Noa Callaway

Noa is the mysterious bestseller author. No one knows what Noa looks like in real life.

Meg

Meg works at the publisher, just like Lanie. She’s Lanie’s friend.

Rufus

Rufus is a friend of Lanie and Meg.

Ryan

Ryan is Lanie’s boyfriend.

BD

BD is Lanie’s grandmother.

Romance

This is a feelgood novel so of course there’s romance!

What I liked the most

I really liked the ending! I can’t say too much but it did have an unexpected turn for me.

Conclusion

I was lucky enough to be selected by the Hebban reading club (a Dutch reading club). Thank you so much for the book Hebban!

Lanie thinks she has a perfect life. She works at her favorite publishing house, has a fiancé and gets to work with THE Noa Callaway, the bestselling author of Peony Press. What else can you wish for?

Lanie gets a promotion, but it’s not entirely clear yet if she’ll get it. She will become a publishing director with one condition. Getting Noa Callaway to turn in the manuscript for her next book within three months, which is late for the first time.

No one knows who Noa is, including Lanie. She only has contact with Noa via email so that makes solving a writer’s block difficult. Lanie does everything she can to help Noa but then she learns a big secret that changes everything.

I really liked By any other name! I got quite some information in the beginning, but after that I got into the story. It was a bit predictable here and there, but that didn’t bother me at all. Lanie’s perfect life takes an unexpected turn and slowly falls apart when she learns a secret. The romance in this book was not what I expected but that’s what made it so interesting. I also thought it was a nice detail that Lanie is a book lover and works at a publishing house!

The ending of the book was perfect for me. It suits the story. If I had to describe this book in three words I would choose romance, books and writer’s block!