Dream On, Ramona Riley

A small-town waitress and a Hollywood star’s worlds collide in this new romance by Ashley Herring Blake, Once upon a time, Ramona Riley was a student at a prestigious art school, with dreams of landing in Hollywood as a costume designer to the stars. But after her father’s car accident, she had to quit and return to her small New Hampshire town, Clover Lake, to help take care of her younger sister. Twelve years later, Ramona is still working at the town’s café, all but given up on her dream. But when a big-budget romantic comedy comes to Clover Lake to film, she wonders if this could be her chance. There’s only one problem--Dylan Monroe, her first kiss and Hollywood’s favorite wild child--is the star. Dylan Monroe has always lived an unconventional life, having famous rock icons for parents. But she wants to prove that she’s not some chaotic, talentless nepo baby, that she has actual skills, that she’s just a normal person. To do that, Dylan takes on a project at a charming lake town--she even works at the town’s café (very quaint), shadowing a local waitress there (very cute), and asks her to take Dylan around to do Normal People Things. But Dylan soon realizes it’s not just some small-town waitress she’s getting to know--Ramona Riley is someone she’s met before, someone who remembers her even more vividly. Before long, however, reality hits them, and both women must decide if the spark between them can fan the flames of their individual dreams, or if it will extinguish their light.

Autorentext

Ashley Herring Blake is an award-winning author. She loves coffee, cats, melancholy songs, and happy books. She is the author of the romance novels Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail, Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date, and the forthcoming Make the Season Bright. She’s also the coeditor on the young adult romance anthology Fools in Love. She lives on a very tiny island off the coast of Georgia with her family.

Zusammenfassung
"Ashley Herring Blake writes sweet, sexy romances with a supporting cast of queer found family like no one else. In Dream On, Ramona Riley, I was so invested in Ramona and Dylan rediscovering the fireworks they'd felt with each other even as far back as an early teenage encounter. Set in a Schitt's Creek-esque small town filled with homey diners and gossip and secret places, this book is such a breath of fresh air. I can't wait to spend more time in Clover Lake!" Alicia Thompson, USA Today bestselling author of *With Love, from Cold World

"Dream On, Ramona Riley is another winning sweet, sexy, sapphic, small town romance from Ashley Herring Blake. As always, Blake gives readers two complicated but lovable heroines to root for and fall in love with as they fall in love with each other. I ate up the behind-the-scenes movie-making that descended upon Clover Lake, the family drama swirling throughout the narrative, and of course the beautiful and sexy! love story between Dylan and Ramona." Amy Spalding, author of On Her Terms and For Her Consideration*

"Dream On, Ramona Riley is a lovely romance about finding the person who makes you want better for yourself. Dylan s and Ramona s respective heartaches are fully captured on the page, and yet the story still felt as cozy and comforting (and, occasionally, scorching hot) as a cup of tea in a small town café." Rachel Runya Katz, author of Whenever You're Ready

"Blake enchants with this sapphic second-chance romance...The ensuing relationship is equal parts sensual and sincere and the exploration of ambition, aspiration, and resilient bonds adds heart. This is a winner." Publishers Weekly, starred review

"This contemporary fake-dating romance is multilayered, with plenty of deep emotion, revealing backstories, humor, and steamy scenes that scorch the pages. Blake s fans will be over the moon at this series launch, while newcomers will find a new favorite author to follow." Library Journal, starred review

"The book is steamy while also being a sweet and sensitive look at the complex feelings of the characters, exploring how difficult it can be to trust others when you don't trust yourself. It's a fantastic start to Herring Blake's Clover Lake queer-romcom series." Booklist, starred review

Leseprobe
One

Ramona Riley wasn't prone to astrological panic.

She wasn't prone to any kind of panic, really. In her thirty-one years, she'd learned that everyone's life-including her own-ran a lot smoother when she kept both feet planted on the earth. So the fact that April-her best friend since fourth grade-was currently reading Libra's fate out loud for the second time in ten minutes with her eyebrows vaulted into her short crimson-streaked hair did very little to stir Ramona's sense of urgency.

"Did you hear that?" April asked, tapping at her phone from her perch on a desk in the backstage area of the Clover Lake Middle School auditorium.

"I heard it," Ramona said as she pinned a ribbon of teal lace onto a twelve-year-old's shoulder. "Camila heard it too."

"I did," Camila said, fiddling with the lace and smiling at herself in the mirror. Her long dark hair was hoisted into a high ponytail, and her all-black-and-teal costume-torn jeans, ornate lace, glittery teal lipstick and eyeshadow-had turned her into a perfect steampunk Peter Pan, if Ramona did say so herself. "You're going to have a life-changing week."

"How exciting for me," Ramona said, winking at Camila and moving on to securing the black belt covered in soda bottle caps with a seat belt buckle around her waist. It hung low, and with the girl's lanky frame and big stomping Doc Martens, she looked fucking badass.

Not that she'd ever say such words in front of one of her father's preteen students, but she could think it.

"Okay," April said, crisscrossing her own black-jean-clad legs on the desk and folding her heavily tattooed arms over her chest. "Clearly, neither one of you were actually listening. Madame Andromeda's uncanny insight into Libra this week does not involve anything life-changing."

"Life-affirming?" Ramona asked.

Camila giggled. "Life-giving."

"God, that sounds like I'm going to get preg-" Ramona froze, meeting Camila's precocious expression in the mirror. "You know what, let's go with life-affirming."

"It says," April said, tapping violently at her phone again, "and I quote, This week, as Venus moves into Cancer, be prepared for challenges and opportunities that could shift your perspective and deepen your understanding of your life's purpose."

Camila shrugged. "Sounds life-changing to me."

"Of course it does!" April said, throwing up her arms and letting them flop back down onto her thighs. "Of course it's life-changing, but Madame Andromeda didn't say life-changing. She said could. And could is what you make of it, isn't it?"

And with that declaration, April let out a huffy breath and went back to scrolling through her phone.

"Is she okay?" Camila whispered.

Honestly, Ramona wasn't sure, but she didn't want to get into the intricacies of how her BFF thought Ramona was wasting her life in Clover Lake, New Hampshire, with a middle schooler, now or ever. She'd had plenty of experience with the age group, from her own sister Olive's tumultuous time at Clover Lake Middle to her father's position as an eighth-grade English teacher and drama club director, and Ramona had learned that this particular species of human didn't exactly do nuance.

"She's fine, love," Ramona said, then took Camila's hands and held them out. "And you, Peter Pan, look amazing."

Camila beamed, then skipped off to stage right to join her Lost Boys, a gaggle of students that Ram…