A Must-Read, Opposites Attract, Found Family Romance
Down for the Word Count
Unlucky in Love (Book 3)
Contemporary Romance
Querque Press
November 16th, 2023
ebook, paperback
380
With a single phone call, I swapped my life of movie scripts and paparazzi for bedtime stories and skinned knees.
I always dreamed of having a family. As my two childhood friends settled down with partners of their own, I worried it was too late for me.
Until her. The beautiful woman who chased me down and stole my heart.
And to think she accused me of stealing.
After that awkward encounter, I thought I'd lost her for good. Then months later, I showed up at the only home I'd ever known to find the mystery woman, a precocious child in tow, and my aging father figure in desperate need of supervision. This incredible stranger took on more than she ever bargained for and needed help.
There was only one thing to be done.
Now I'm a single-sort-of-dad to a child who isn't my own and she's a kind-of-sort-of mom to her niece in need, as we work together to care for the man who helped raise me. I want nothing more than to take this role of a lifetime and make it last.
But this isn’t Hollywood and I’m just an actor.
I’m doing my best to support them all, but can my help ever be enough?
Down For The Word Count is a full-length, found family romance, can be read as a standalone, and is the third book in the Unlucky in Love Series.
“Good luck with the kleptomania,” she said, keeping her voice as friendly as before but already walking backward away from me.
Piper Sheldon’s Unlucky in Love series is genuinely one of the best celebrity romances that I’ve read in recent years. The amount of love, thoughtfulness, and effort that is palpable on each page is incomparable. Down for the Word Count is the third and final book of the series and will easily win over readers with the tender emotions, the depth of the characters, and the heartfelt storyline.
Told in dual points of view, Down for the Word Count follows our reluctant hero, Harrison as he navigates his stardom following the 10th Anniversary Reunion of his childhood TV series Terraformative. Whereas our heroine, Frankie is also navigating a new chapter in her own life…but it’s one that she’s struggled with on her own for far too long. Both Frankie and Harrison consider author, George, a mentor. While Harrison grew up in front of the camera, Frankie came to George as a foster child with her sister. Now, years later, Frankie is raising her niece while helping George come to terms with the onset of dementia and needing to fulfill his writing obligations as a ghost writer.
His arms were strong, and I’d never felt as tethered to the heart. His body was hard and flat. All my softness felt like it was designed to melt against him.
There really isn’t a pairing from Piper Sheldon that I haven’t loved, but Frankie and Harrison well and truly won me over. Harrison and Frankie both grapple with inner demons, as well as attempt to balance their insecurities with the love that they have for each other as well as for George, and darling Colette. How can an accomplished actor have a learning disability? How can a woman raise a child when her own mother abandoned her? How can you attempt to hold someone’s world together when you feel so many pieces slipping through your hands?
I loved how Sheldon weaves in difficult life situations into this romance. By the end of Down for the Word Count, I felt like I knew Frankie and Harrison. I loved with them, I laughed with them, and I felt each hurt. Piper Sheldon is such a uniquely talented author. I’ve never been disappointed by romance with Piper at the helm of the story.
“I can’t explain it, really. I felt like something in me recognized something in you.”
Down for the Word Count is a forced proximity, opposites attract, celebrity romance with an ending that was both a whirlwind and completely enjoyable. Out today, I highly recommend that you give this series a shot, and if you need a place to start, simply choose a book. You cannot go wrong. Although I do recommend starting at the beginning, as this series is absolutely bingeable. Congrats on a phenomenal series, Piper!
Jes is a self-proclaimed bookworm, who recently moved from the PNW back to the Midwest. When her nose isn’t in a book, she’s spending time with her husband, two kids, and her three fur babies, or exploring the globe. She also firmly believes that you should start the day with coffee, and end the day in bed with a good book.
