Summer in the City: A Novel

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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Alex Aster comes her adult debut novel Summer in the City—a swoony, fast-paced contemporary rom-com set in New York City in which a screenwriter and a sexy tech CEO go from lovers to enemies and back to lovers again…

Twenty-seven-year-old screenwriter Elle has the chance of a lifetime to write a big-budget movie set in New York City. The only problem? She’s had writer’s block for months, and her screenplay is due at the end of the summer.

In a desperate attempt at inspiration, Elle ends up back in the city she swore she would never return to, in an apartment she could never afford (floor-to-ceiling windows, skyline views, and a new coffee shop to haunt included). It’s the perfect place to write her screenplay…until she realizes her new neighbor is tech “Billionaire Bachelor” Parker Warren, her stairwell hookup from two years ago. This complicated lovers-to-enemies situation is about to get even worse.

When seeing him again turns into a full night of hate-fueled writing, Elle realizes her billionaire enemy might just be the twisted muse she needs to finish her screenplay... if she can stand being around her polar opposite. She writes anonymously, and he’s on the cover of every business magazine. He frequents fancy red carpeted events, and she doesn’t like leaving her emotional support five block radius.

One summer. One wall apart. He needs a fake relationship during his company’s precarious acquisition. She needs to write a movie around a list of NYC locations. Both need a break from their unrelenting schedules, and a chance to rediscover the skyscraper glimmering, pizza crusted, sunlit charms of the city.

This summer romance is just an agreement. It’s all pretend. Promise.

Until it isn’t.

• Forced Proximity: He's her new neighbor in an apartment she can't afford, and her stairwell hookup from two years ago. Now they're just one wall—and a whole lot of unresolved tension—apart.
• Billionaire Romance: She's a screenwriter with writer's block; he's the "Billionaire Bachelor" on the cover of every business magazine. He needs a pretend girlfriend for a business deal, and she might just be desperate enough to play along.
• Opposites Attract: He attends red-carpet events while she prefers her emotional-support five-block radius. But this summer in the city, they might just be exactly what the other needs for inspiration.
• Second Chance Romance: Their first encounter was a disaster that left them as enemies. But with one summer to get things right, their hate-fueled writing sessions might just turn into something real.