First published 2024
At 26, failed screenwriter Advika Srinivasan bartends A-list Hollywood events to pay her bills and distract from her twin sister's recent death. At the 2015 Oscars afterparty, she meets Julian Zelding, a legendary film producer fresh from his fifth Best Picture win. Despite their 41-year age gap, Advika falls for his charm and they elope after a whirlwind romance. Julian loves discussing his famous friends and achievements but deflects questions about his past relationships. A month into their marriage, Julian's first wife, actress Evie Lockhart, dies and leaves a shocking bequest: one million dollars and a film reel to "Julian's latest child bride," but only if Advika divorces him first. Shaken from her romantic haze and unsettled by Julian's sudden desire for children, Advika investigates her husband through his ex-wives' perspectives. She reads his first wife's biography, listens to his second wife's confessional albums, and watches his third wife's reality show. These revelations expose how little she knows about Julian and reveal she married for the wrong reasons. Armed with insights from his former wives, Advika devises a plan to escape her marriage.
Genres: fiction, drama, contemporary, adult-fiction, 21st-century, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water, second-chance
Setting: Hollywood
Period: 2015
416 pages · Paperback · Grand Central Publishing
Content warnings: mental-illness