Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Jodi McAlister, Simon & Schuster, $19.99.
“For everyone who dove headfirst into an ambitious lockdown project, whether they finished it or not.”
The implication of this dedication is worth consideration. Situations that lead us to commit to certain projects. It is easy to be influenced by reality television which has an effect on behaviours of people in society.
When Cece James agrees to be cast as a ‘Juliet’ on the next season of the hit television show Marry Me, Juliet, it’s certainly not for the right reasons. She’s knee deep in debt and desperate for the associated pay cheque.
At the audition for Bachelor-style reality program she said: “I came on Marry Me, Juliet for one reason … to find true love.” As soon as she said this, Cece realised that this was clearly an enormous lie.
“I had not evaluated all the available evidence and decided that moving into a mansion with 20 other women and a million cameras was the best chance I would ever have to find the man of my dreams. This is how I actually ended up as a contestant on the nation’s favourite dating show.”
The last thing on her mind is the hunky ‘Romeo’ waiting for her at the end of the gravel driveway. On the other hand, Dylan Jayasinghe Mellor isn’t your usual fame-hungry TV star. An Olympic gold medallist with calloused hands, kind eyes and a propensity for panic attacks, it turns out he’s not here for the right reasons either. As spokesperson for a men’s mental health foundation, and the franchise’s first non-white male lead, Dylan’s got a charity to plug and something to prove.
Author and academic, Jodi McAlister ‘never fails to deliver humour, wisdom, and heart.’
This is a reassuring romantic comedy that examines how the improbable of loves can blossom in – well, the most likely of places!
