Author: Tash Skilton
Narrator: Johnny Heller, Neil Shah, Cindy Kay, Catherine Ho
Publisher: Kensington Books
Publication Date: May 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible
Description: Online Dating Ghostwriting Rules to Live by:
· Do not present a “perfect” image. No one will trust it. Nor should they.
· Think of your quirks—such as cosplaying B-movies from the 1980s—as a “Future Honesty.” Save these as a reward only for those who prove worthy.
· Never remind the client you’re their voice. Once you’ve attracted a good match, let the client take over ASAP.
Dumped by his fiancée, not only is Miles couch-surfing across New York City, but downsizing has forced him to set up shop at a local café. Also, he no longer believes in love. Not a good look in his line of work…helping people find love as a ghostwriter for a failing dating site.
Zoey’s eccentric L.A. boss sent her packing to New York to “grow.” But beneath her chill Cali demeanor, Zoey’s anxiety makes her terrified to venture beyond the café across the street into the big city…
Finding themselves competing for space at Café Crudité, the only thing Miles and Zoey think they share is their daily battle for last day-old biscotti and a mutual dislike of each other. They don’t know they’re both writers, creating “authentic” profiles for rival online dating services. They think they have absolutely nothing in common. . . . until they meet anonymously online while pretending to be their clients and sparks fly.
As they become more deeply connected online, their mistaken identities get more complicated when their clients experience a dating disaster IRL. Once they find out their lives have crossed in more ways than one, will their online connection be the real thing—or vanish into the ether?
My Thoughts: Fans of You’ve Got Mail will enjoy this book’s familiar charm: a Manhattan setting and two people who click online but clash in person. Zoey and Miles work as ghostwriters for competing dating agencies, helping clients create profiles, make initial contact, exchange messages, and arrange dates.
I did wonder how this arrangement would work outside the story. Wouldn’t a potential match notice differences between the person they had been chatting with online and the one sitting across from them at dinner?
I liked Zoey and Miles, especially their daily competition for the best table at the café where they spend so much time. Their contrasting relationships with New York add to the dynamic: Zoey is new to the Big Apple and struggling to adjust, while Miles knows the city like the back of his hand. Neither realizes who the other is online, which makes their in-person rivalry all the more charming.
I enjoy the online dating trope, and this book did not disappoint. I was eager to see how things would unfold once Zoey and Miles discovered each other’s identities. The supporting characters added to the fun.
My Final Verdict: Ghosting: A Love Story is a charming romance with likable leads, a fun café rivalry, and an online connection that kept me eager for the big reveal. Although I questioned how dating ghostwriting would work in real life, I enjoyed the story and its supporting cast. I recommend it to fans of You’ve Got Mail and readers who enjoy online dating romances with a mistaken-identity twist.
Thank you to the publisher, Kensington Books, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.
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