The Write Escape

Author: Charish Reid

Publication Date: 30 September 2019

Genre: Adult Fiction – Contemporary Romance/Romantic Comedy

Pages: 291

Publisher: Carina Press

Take one heartbroken Chicago girl

Literary editor Antonia Harper had it all—the career, the man, the future. That was then. Now Antonia is jobless, alone and at a crossroads. What better time to travel the world? A solo honeymoon on the Emerald Isle will be like hitting the reset button. No distractions, no drama.

Add some luck o’ the Irish

Aiden Byrnes may be a literature professor, but words fail him when he meets the woman staying in the cottage next door. Tully Cross is meant to be a sleepy little village, and he’s meant to be on a working holiday—not a vacation, and most definitely not with his beautiful neighbor.

And you get some mighty good craic

They say laughter is the best medicine—and as it turns out, superhot sex isn’t so bad either. Antonia and Aiden’s spark quickly grows into what could be something special, if they’re willing to take the leap. Ending up an ocean apart is unthinkable, and when real life comes calling, there’s no ignoring that leap anymore…

Have you ever read a book that was exactly what you needed in a certain moment? That’s exactly how I felt about reading The Write Escape.

Antonia is in the midst of planning her dream wedding (with a frustrating mother in law) to her fiancé Derek while dealing with the high stress of her publishing job, which is in serious threat of going under. Four days before her wedding, Antonia’s mother makes it known that she doesn’t approve of this union since she doesn’t quite trust Derek, and she didn’t work as hard as she did for her daughters to marry guys like him. After convincing her mother that Derek was indeed a fantastic guy, she finds out that he had been cheating on her the entire time they were together…to make matters worse, he wasn’t even apologetic for his abhorrent behavior.

Rather than wallow in the embarrassment, Antonia (with A nudge from her sister Octavia) decides that she’s going to go on her honeymoon trip to Ireland solo, and she’s going to use this time to finally getting back to pursue her passion of writing. The main character in her unfinished novel is Augusta, and for once, Antonia decides that she wants to live her life as Augusta would…full of confidence and chasing her dreams rather than subduing her interests at the expense of others.

Once in Ireland, Antonia decides to embrace the beautiful countryside as well as stock up her cottage with some items from the local grocery store. At this point, she literally crashes (her grocery cart) into the gorgeous Aiden. He thick Irish accent makes a girl weak in the knees (No? Just me? Fine.) Watching their meet cute unfold was awesome because the banter between the two of them was gold. Both could dish out some verbal sparring, which I always love to see in romance novels. However, will their immediate chemistry be enough to overcome the baggage that each one brings to the table?

So now for my opinions on the book. I loved Antonia as an MC because I could definitely see a lot of myself in her. She has golden brown skin with curly hair, and that definitely describes myself. She battles with the expectations that have been placed upon her from her mother, which again, I can totally relate to. There are plenty of instances that her black culture and identity comes to the forefront in Aiden’s presence, and they must work together through the cultural differences (something I also have in common being in an interracial marriage), which isn’t as easy as the movies make it seem.

Overall, I loved this incredibly charming and hilarious debut. I loved seeing the cultural differences of Antonia and Aiden coming together, but not being diminished for each other’s sake. This book is full of laughs. Seriously, the banter between these two is something off of Comedy Central. Oh, and don’t think that this one is without steam because let’s just say…ya girl needed some ice cubes to cool down after some of those scenes. I can’t wait to see what’s next for this author.

Thank you to Charish Reid for providing an eARC. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

Pre-order your copy of The Write Escape here.