I loved it. I stayed up too late on consecutive nights to read this.

Maggie was fired from her job as a high school drama teacher for directing a play a parent objected too. Through twists of fate, she finds herself as the intimacy coordinator for a historical drama set in Scotland. Cole was a teenage heartthrob whose career has been steady if not high profile and who is deeply bothered by missing the signs of a toxic situation in his breakout role. Now he's ready to make a comeback as the star of the historical drama.

This is a story about Maggie and Cole, of course, but it's also a story about the things wrong with show business and the people working to make them better. I love how Maggie rises to and embraces the challenge of her new role, remaining professional despite her profound physical and emotional attraction to Cole. I love how Cole desperately wants to do the right thing for the people in his life. And I love how they both realize they love the other but absolutely cannot say a word because it would be unprofessional.

There's a major storyline dealing with Cole's best friend and her confronting trauma from an early role. And that trauma coming to confront her. It felt well handled yet was still completely gut punching. Maybe check content warnings if this pings for you.

Emma Barry is so deft at managing a story with internal emotion and lots of external plot. It was simply a joy to read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.