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  • Published: 23 July 2024
  • ISBN: 9780593438213
  • Imprint: Berkley
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $36.99

One-Star Romance



A struggling writer is forced to walk down the aisle at her best friend’s wedding with the man who gave her book a very public one-star rating in this fresh romantic comedy from Laura Hankin.

A struggling writer is forced to walk down the aisle at her best friend’s wedding with the man who gave her book a very public one-star rating in this fresh romantic comedy from Laura Hankin.

Natalie and Rob couldn’t have less in common. Nat’s a messy artist, and Rob’s a rigid academic. The only thing they share is their devotion to their respective best friends—who just got engaged. Still, unexpected chemistry has Natalie cautiously optimistic about being maid of honor to Rob’s best man.

Until, minutes before the ceremony, Nat learns that Rob wrote a one-star review of her new novel, which has them both reeling: Nat from imposter syndrome, and Rob over the reason he needed to write it.

When the reception ends, these two opposites hope they’ll never meet again. But, as they slip from their twenties into their thirties, they’re forced together whenever their fast-track best friends celebrate another milestone. Through housewarmings and christenings, life-changing triumphs and failures, Natalie and Rob grapple with their own choices—and how your harshest critic can become your perfectly imperfect match.

After all, even the truest love stories sometimes need a bit of rewriting.

  • Published: 23 July 2024
  • ISBN: 9780593438213
  • Imprint: Berkley
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $36.99

About the author

Laura Hankin

Laura Hankin has written for McSweeney’s and HuffPost, among other publications. The viral videos that she creates and stars in with her comedy duo, Feminarchy, have been featured in NowThis, The New York Times, and Funny or Die. She grew up in Washington, D.C., attended Princeton University, and now lives in New York City, where she has performed off-Broadway, acted onscreen, and sung to far too many babies.

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Praise for One-Star Romance


Praise for One-Star Romance

“One-Star Romance will go down in history as the most ironically named novel ever. I give five giant stars to this funny, twisty and emotionally authentic story of true love and long friendship. I absolutely adored it.”—Annabel Monaghan, bestselling author of Same Time Next Summer

“Laura Hankin takes a nightmare premise for any writer—the dreaded one-star review—and with her signature charm and humor weaves it into a perfect dream.”—Steven Rowley, New York Times bestselling author of The Celebrants

“ALL OF THE STARS! Is it mean to take so much pleasure in two characters bumbling their way through life? If so, call me a monster because I fell HARD for Natalie and Rob. These two imperfect humans trying (and often failing) to figure out this whole adulting thing felt so real and relatable. Flat-out fun, laugh out loud funny, and voicey as hell, this is the book I will be shoving into friends’ hands this summer and demanding they fall in love with these characters, too!”Becca Freeman, author of The Christmas Orphans Club