Hot Mess

Why it is on our radar

A public performance of intimacy gives Steiner's opposites-attract romance a useful pressure point: the contestants can control the image they sell more easily than the feelings behind it.

About the book

Lifestyle influencer Birdie Keller enters a reality dating competition to build her business. Mechanic Cypress Briggs needs the prize for an auto shop. Their mutual irritation threatens both ambitions until they agree to perform a romance for the cameras, making it harder to tell strategy from attachment.