Unscripted

by Claire Handscombe

Nobody is a bigger fan of actor Thomas Cassidy than Libby. Nobody. That's why she's totally going to marry him.

She’s going to write a novel, name the main character after Thom, and find a way to get it to him. Intrigued and flattered, he will read it, fall in love with her prose, and ask to turn it into a movie. She will pretend to think about it, then say, ‘Sure, but can I work on it with you?’ Their eyes will meet over the script… and fade to black.

But with four interwoven lives in play, can anything be that simple? Thoughtful, quirky, and moving, Unscripted is a story of friendship and second chances, and asks the question: how far can you take your dream?

• ISBN13: 9781912618941
• Publish Date: 4 April 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 12 July 2023
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Unbound
• Imprint: Unbound Digital
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Language: English

Reviews

[zooloo1983]

I kept seeing the cover for this book and when I read the blurb I knew I had to read it as soon as I could. A story of a fangirl crush and whether it would come true, yes, please. I know I have said before in another review (of another book) that every girl in one stage of their lives has had a crush on a celeb, minor or otherwise, and envision meeting them and having a fairytale life. I mean…I still do! Oh, Kelly Jones! *swoon* Ahem….moving on! The problem with Libby’s crush is she beyond obsessed, in an endearing way but she is willing to give everything and one up just to meet her crush!

I admit I found Unscripted a little hard to get into, maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, but I carried on and the next thing I knew I was hooked on Libby and her tale of Thomas Cassidy. A fairy tale dream of writing a screenplay with him for 3 months in Pasadena. Perfect chance for her to get him to fall in love with her and live happily ever after! Or does she? More importantly…can I go instead?

We live a tale of love, unrequited love and obsession through four sets of eyes, Libby, Thom, Ebba and Dan. Libby the girl with the crush, Thom who she crushes on, Ebba the ex-girlfriend of Thom and Dan, lovely Dan who is so totally in love with Libby but she is too blind to see it.

All these stories are tied together in different ways. The what could have been and what we still can have. To me, this book was so much more than girl meets celebrity and they fall in love. It is realistic with how life really is when you meet your star crush. You have the mundane, you have the repercussions of life decisions and it did not have the airy-fairy feel to it. It has real insecurities and feelings that we have in these surreal situations and it added a depth to the book. I mean if I managed to somehow get the opportunity to write music with Kelly well there would be tumbleweed on this blog so I completely got Libby and the way she felt, even though she was a little bit cray-cray at times. She is a likeable character but she can’t see outside her bubble which made me not like her a little bit, however, can you blame her!!

I am glad I got to read Unscripted because I do love the elements that dreams could come true and I still will hold my hope out…WOW, I’m sounding a little bit like Libby now! The writing has an edge to it, it a realistic vibe and at the end well I may have got a bit choked up and the words may have got a bit blurry to read. Damn you! Although I had my reservations at the beginning I found I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to stay with the characters and not leave their side and it was bittersweet and I am wanting to go back and meet them all over again!