Summer in the City

Finished May 7

Summer in the City by Alex Aster

This novel is centered on 27-year-old Elle, a screenwriter with a contract for a big-budget movie that has leased several locations in New York City. Elle used to live there, but left for Los Angeles several years ago for work. Just before she left she had a bad encounter with a man and she fed off that anger for a while in terms of creativity. She has had writers block for a while, and while she had hoped to avoid going to New York with a screenplay set there and due at the end of the summer she really should. 

She agreed to housesit an apartment that is undergoing renovations and oversee the renovations, while living there. It is a beautiful large apartment that has only her bedroom and bathroom finished, and only her bedroom furnished. She will end up spending a lot of time on the living room floor planning out her script. It also has amazing views of the city, and there are only two apartments on that floor. 

Elle likes to work in coffee shops, and soon finds a great coffee shop with the right vibe, great coffee, and luscious pastries. But then she discovers that her new neighbour is "Billionaire Bachelor" Parker Warren, the man who incited first lust and then hate after assumptions he made when they met two years earlier. He's been her muse ever since. 

This new encounter and subsequent meetings break her writer's block and she is inspired again. 

When he makes a deal with her to take her to every location her screenplay requires, with her being his fake date for the summer for events he has to attend, things begin to change. He provides appropriate clothing for the fancy events she attends, and soon gets her out running in the mornings with him. 

Elle's career is a secret as she writes her screenplays anonymously and we only discover why late in the novel. She was raised by her mother to be independent and not to be beholden to any man who might want to control her. Her mother died when she was in college and she misses her a lot. The only person that knows her identity as a screenwriter is her best friend and roommate Penelope, who also knows her history and about her previous encounter with Parker. 

As Elle finds herself deviating from her usual reclusive behaviour when she writes, she finds herself making new friends in the city. She also finds that she and Parker keep surprising each other with details about their lives, personalities, habits, and actions. 

This is a story of second chances, but also a story of control and reaction to that control. Neither Elle nor Parker is perfect and we see issues with both of them arise here. Elle has always wanted to be in control of her own life, not beholden to favours from anyone, and this has led to some of her problematic issues. I found it very interesting to see her come out of her shell.