Cover Story

By: Celia Laskey

Narrated by: Sarah Beth Pfeifer

From the author of Under the Rainbow, a hilarious, emotional love story about an anxious publicist who's tasked with keeping an extremely gay starlet in the closet—but ends up falling for her instead.​

It's 2005, and Ali is a publicist for Hollywood's biggest stars. Part of her job entails keeping gay celebrities in the closet—which is pretty ironic, since she's a lesbian. When Ali is assigned a new gay client, Cara Bisset, who's breaking onto the scene with a (hetero) romantic blockbuster, keeping Cara's sexuality under wraps becomes Ali's biggest challenge yet.

Cara is unruly and unpredictable, and hates that she has to hide her identity. After a series of increasingly close calls, Ali is sent on the worldwide promotional tour for the movie to help keep Cara in line. Instead, she finds herself drawn to Cara's confidence and bravery. For the past year, Ali has been mired in grief after losing her partner in a freak accident. But with Cara, Ali's fears about the world subside, and she begins to question the Hollywood closeting system she’s helped perpetuate.

As Cara's fame continues to rise, both Ali and Cara have to decide which is more important: maintaining the status quo, or risking it all for another chance at love.

©2025 Celia Laskey (P)2025 Grand Central Publishing

Critic reviews

"An endearingly funny and propulsive look at the ever-changing nature of celebrity, second chances, and what it takes to be our most authentic selves. (And if that's not enough, there's a dog that will steal your heart.) A beautiful reminder of how far queer people have come, in part by bravely telling our stories. I am a Celia Laskey fan."—Steven Rowley, New York Times bestselling author of The Guncle

"Deeply emotional and tender, COVER STORY is the perfect time machine to the absurdity and nostalgia of 2000s Hollywood, celebrity culture, and the not-so-distant struggle of being out in America. Deftly told with contemplative and often hilarious prose, this beautiful, hot, and heartfelt sapphic love story had me cheering and wiping tears by the end.”—Carlyn Greenwald, author of Director's Cut

"Celia Laskey’s Cover Story is romance at its best: marvelously entertaining and profound. Cover Story is sexy, adorable, and laugh-out-loud funny. The protagonist, Ali, is immensely relatable, both in her struggles and her strengths. I was rooting for Ali from the first page. The love interest, Cara, is refreshingly frank. (My new book “boyfriend” is Cara, hands down.) I was delighted that the narrative didn’t rely on characters’ misunderstanding each other or hiding their feelings. Laskey shows us how love should be, tender and full of open communication. And while Laskey invites us to laugh, she also explores themes of grief and anxiety, lightening the story with humor but never belittling her characters or making them the butt of the joke. Laskey’s writing is witty. Her observations are so on-point, I found myself underlining something in every chapter. I found myself in every chapter. At one point in the story, Ali’s father says “grief and joy can sit right beside each other, sometimes. And you might as well give yourself more opportunities for the joy to sit down.” Cover Story is a joy to read and a tribute to the healing power of love."—Karelia Stetz-Waters, author of Satisfaction Guaranteed