The View Was Exhausting

By: Mikaella Clements, Onjuli Datta

Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues

Daisy Jones and the Six meets Crazy Rich Asians in this swoon-worthy novel of a famous actress embroiled in a fake tabloid romance, confronting the challenges of being a woman of color in Hollywood - and the notion that she might actually be in love.

“A pure delight! Effortlessly cool, razor sharp, and crazy fun - I couldn’t put it down.” (Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times best-selling authors of Daisy Jones & the Six)

"The complex, Hollywood love story we've all been waiting for - I couldn't get enough." (Emily Henry, New York Times best-selling author of Beach Read)

Faking a love story is a whole lot easier than being in love....

The world can see that international A-list actress Whitman ("Win") Tagore and jet-setting playboy Leo Milanowski are made for each other. Their kisses start Twitter trends, and their fights break the internet. From red carpet appearances to Met Gala mishaps, their on-again, off-again romance has titillated the public and the press for almost a decade. But it's all a lie.

As a woman of color, Win knows the Hollywood deck is stacked against her, so she's perfected the art of controlling her public persona. Whenever she nears scandal, she calls in Leo, with his endearingly reckless attitude, for a staged date. Each public display of affection shifts the headlines back in Win's favor, and Leo uses the good press to draw attention away from his dysfunctional family.

Pretending to be in a passionate romance is one thing, but Win knows that a real relationship would lead to nothing but trouble. So instead they settle for friendship, with a side of sky-rocketing chemistry. Except this time, on the French Riviera, something is off. A shocking secret in Leo's past sets Win's personal and professional lives on a catastrophic collision course. Behind the scenes of their yacht-trips and PDA, the world's favorite couple is at each other's throats. Now they must finally confront the many truths and lies of their relationship, and Win is forced to consider what is more important: a rising career, or a risky shot at real love?

The View Was Exhausting is a funny, wickedly observant modern love story set against the backdrop of exotic locales and the realities of being a woman of color in a world run by men.

©2021 Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta (P)2021 Grand Central Publishing

Critic reviews

"An absolutely stellar debut with tension that crackles and prose that sings, The View Was Exhausting is the complex, Hollywood love story we've all been waiting for. Clements and Datta have crafted a book that's as heartfelt and earnest as it is sharp and surprising - I couldn't get enough." (Emily Henry, New York Times best-selling author of Beach Read)

"Married couple Clements and Datta use a playful trope to confront weighty issues in their excellent debut, a romance that's as timely as it is heartfelt. Readers will come for the swoon-worthy romance and stay for the beautiful prose." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

"The View Was Exhausting sweeps you up into the tilt-a-whirl of Hollywood relationships. This richly drawn romance is, crucially, also a journey through the unjust rules forced upon women - especially women of color - who dare to play the fame game. It's timely, touching, and a tantalizing love story." (Jessica Morgan & Heather Cocks, best-selling authors of The Royal We and The Heir Affair)

Performance was excellent

The book was longer than it needed to be but I really enjoyed it. Perfect for a long road trip!

Indulgent

Enjoyed the listen, wasn’t sure how I felt about the main character, she was a bit too much for me in the egotistical side. With that said it was a nice getaway for 12 hours.

SOOOOO GOOD!

Don’t sleep on this book. Beautiful history and amazing narration, can’t wait for what the writers are going to do next! 100% fan here.

Dazzling and Compelling

I heard about this book from one of the authors’ article on how writing wealthy characters provides a special form of escapism. I was impressed and intrigued, so I decided to give it a shot. I was NOT disappointed. This book is wonderfully written, beautifully narrated, and plotted so thoughtfully that could hardly believe it. I set out thinking it would be impossible for the authors to get me to sympathize with the rich, famous characters, but they did it effortlessly. A fantastic and beautiful experience all around!

Fun summer read was just what I wanted.

This book was a fun summer read for me. I liked the characters and the story.

Disappointing

FINALLY finished this. Woof.

Celebrity fake dating. Bleh.

Didn't like it. I mean, the cover is gorgeous. But it's like...Taylor Jenkins Reid wanna be writing. At one point, I thought the main timeline (there are two sort of timelines, present and how they met) was a couple years but then it turned out to be just a couple weeks or maybe months? I really don't know. I kept spacing out and had to literally walk away and listen to other books then come back because I *hate* not finishing books.

He's a trust fund baby. She's a starlet ingenue who needs a date to make her look good and help save her career. They fake date off and on for something like seven years before it all implodes and the public is outraged but wait! They've caught feelings and oh no!

I mean, they do show up for each other in great ways, and do the big romantic gesture thing, but their communication is terrible after seven years, and that could have saved a LOT of time.

Too many words and kinda boring and too long. I was looking forward to this one, too. Boo. Definitely not what I was expecting, so I was pretty disappointed.

The book was exhausting

This has to be the worse book I’ve tried listening to. It drags on so much. I found I didn’t look forward to my listening as I normally would. I literally stopped at chapter 9 and decided I couldn’t do more hours of this. It just was not for me.

Don’t waste your time or $

Redundant. The story goes nowhere and slowly. Unimaginative and predictable. You want there to be more and keep waiting for the hook but it never comes.