My Unscripted Life

My Unscripted Life is by Lauren Morrill.

Sometimes love stories go off script.

Another sultry Georgia summer is about to get a lot hotter. Dee Wilkie is still licking her wounds after getting rejected by the precollege fine arts program of her dreams. But if she'd gone away, she wouldn't have been around to say yes to an unbelievable opportunity: working on the set of a movie filming in her small Southern town that just happens to be starring Milo Ritter, the famous pop star Dee (along with the rest of the world) has had a crush since eighth grade.

It's not like Dee will be sharing any screen time with Milo—she's just a lowly PA. And Milo is so disappointingly rude that Dee is eager to stay far away from him. Except after a few chance meetings, she begins to wonder if just maybe there's a reason for his offensive attitude, and if there's more to Milo than his good looks and above-it-all Hollywood pedigree. Can a relationship with a guy like Milo ever work out for a girl like Dee? Never say never. . .

The Breakdown:
1. I loved this book.  I read it in 4 hours on a flight from Atlanta to LA, which left with no book to read on the flight back. (Thank goodness for autobooks.) The story was fun and engaging.  The characters were all fantastic. Plus the setting was just perfect.  Morrill captures small town life in the south so wonderfully.  At one point, Milo talks about how nice a small town must be where you can be unknown, and Dee has the perfect response.  There is no anonymity in a small town, everyone knows everyone and they never forget any antics that happen.

2.   Dee was such a wonderful character, easy to relate to.  What person has not had the disappointment of rejection, but she overcame it so beautifully, and found a new passion.  And I think that everyone as a teenager had that one crush that they got a little crazy about like her best friend Naz described her doing.

3. I liked that Milo had layers to him, and that he was not sweeping Dee off her feet at the first meeting.  In fact, he was a bit of a jerk.  I enjoyed getting to see Dee get him to let his guard down and give her private smiles and laughs.

4. Morrill has a fantastic cast of supporting characters.  From Dee's best friend Naz, who tells it like it is. Dee's parents are fantastic, too.  Then the other members of the production crew, like Benny trying to make the color war a thing to Carly acting as the older sister. Plus loved that a. Naz's family had two old bassets that were mentioned, and b. that Dee has a dog adapted from the shelter.

To Read or Not to Read:
Read