ARC Review: Unscripted by J.R. Gray

From the Blurb:

Movie star 101: A smile hides all pain. 

Quellcrist King has been playing a part his entire life. The more famous he becomes, the more he hides. The only person he ever let see the real him rose with him from nothing to the very top. 

They were the king and queen of Hollywood— and then she wanted a divorce. The only way to survive his depression is to bury himself in work. If he can be a character, maybe he won’t have to remember himself. A gay role can’t be any different than playing a straight one, can it? 

But instead of finding solace in the character, he finds it in his costar. Hale becomes his best friend, his lifeline, the light in his darkness. Quell is forced to examine everything he thought he knew about himself while filming intimate scenes with Hale that feel more real than anything ever has before. 

He’s lived his entire life following the script. What would life be like unscripted?

Ky's rating:

Quell and Hale started off as co-stars that slowly evolved to friends and confidantes before they eventually became a couple. The UST during the first 50% of the story was unbelievable between them, especially considering that their characters had a complicated romantic relationship in the series.

When they met, Quell was an already known and highly paid actor, while Hale struggled to make ends meet with whatever part he could score so he wouldn't have to work a second job to support himself.

Their personal lives didn't have that much in common either. Quell was separated from his wife and trying to get his feet under him while at the same time he was realising who his soon-to-be ex-wife really was. Hale was just single and not looking for anything serious.

Some of the dialogues - especially at the beginning - needed a bit of polishing because they were very simplistic but other than that I liked the writing style.



I was enjoying the story up until they got together but that's a common occurrence for me so I'm not surprised to find yet another story where it happened. All the tension and the struggle of them trying to fight their attraction became lukewarm talks and sugar so I was disappointed by how the second half of the story progressed.

I wish that the whole book was as good as the first half. I'll still give it four stars because the author gave his characters the time to get to know each other and develop feelings in the course of a few months instead of trying to squeeze everything in a couple weeks.


*An ARC of this book was kindly provided to me in exchange for an honest review. *

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