Just Stab Me Now

De: Jill Bearup

Narrado por: Jill Bearup

A desperate mother. A dubious escort. And a deranged author who won’t leave them alone. Caroline Lindley is determined that her new romance novel will be her best one yet. Fantasy! Formal gowns! Fencing! And, of course, a twentysomething heroine to star in an enemies-to-lovers plot with all of Caroline’s favourite tropes.

But Lady Rosamund Hawkhurst is a thirty-six-year-old widow with two children, her sole focus is facilitating a peace treaty between her adopted nation and her homeland, and she flatly refuses to take the correct approach to there being only one bed. What’s an author to do?

Based on her popular Fantasy Heroine YouTube Shorts series, Jill Bearup’s debut novel brings us the best of worlds both meta- and medieval-inspired. Terry Pratchett aficionados will enjoy the political intrigue paired with convivial, tongue-in-cheek satire. And then there's the slow-burn, fade-to-black romance too…

If you loved Stranger Than Fiction and The Princess Bride, you will soon find yourself cheering on enemies-to-BFFs Rosamund and Caroline as together they learn what it means to be the hero of your own story.

©2024 Sword Lady Ltd (P)2024 Sword Lady Ltd

Perfectly chosen narrator

I found Jill Bearup's YouTube channel because of the video series that became this book. I am so glad the series was fleshed out into this book. I like my romance novels to be an adventure first and a romance second, so this book was right up my alley. The frosting on top was the meta-humor of an author struggling with her characters and with the real wolrd.
Despite all the technical difficulties Jill worked through to narrate her own book, I am grateful she persevered. No one could have done the narration better. 🥰

must read!!

of you haven't watched the YouTube series This book is based off of I have no to pod way of explaining the plot of this bookm if you have watched the YouTube series it is all that with even more tender and humorous details.

Phenomenal Characters

The reader, who also happens to be the author, does a marvelous job bringing the characters to life. Each has their own accent and personality and it is easy to tell who is speaking in each scene. That helps immensely in this medium, and makes following the plot much more enjoyable. The story is fantastic as well. We all love a good trope, don’t we? Absolutely recommend this story, no matter how you get it — audio, paperback, digital, or borrowed from a friend. It’s worth every moment.

I like author reading it

I am glad it was read by the author I was worried that it wouldn't have been what I expected from YouTube but it was

loved the heroine, who flat out refused to be stupid

I haven't read a more sensible heroine in quite some time and it was refreshing. I loved her attitude and quite frankly her age. I loved the slow burn the fade to black. I loved everything about it. Thank you Elizabeth Wheatley for the recommendation!

first new book I've read And finished And loved in months

Jill Bearup is AMAZING!

Great book, great read! Thanks Jill. And cheese! Cheese is a basic human need. I love Jill. And cheese.

loved it!

I loved the shorts on YouTube and loved the audio book. The story is refreshing and I'm glad she turned it into a book. I hope she continues writing.

So fun!

I loved this book. It will definitely be a repeat listen for me. I look forward to listening to it again!

A Phenomenal first book for a new writer. It's Good, full stop.

I've watched Jill for her YouTube videos before this skit series started and watched through it with great anticipation. But taking my biases out and being objective about this book, it is a well rounded story that does very well to make the characters (in both "book-world" and "semi-real-world") feel as though they are complex 3-dimensional real-people.

My only significant constructive critique is to have a more defined transition between book-world and semi-real-world. Type-set and font is good to convey the change in visual books, as lighting might be used in theatre to change tone or focus, but a replacement is needed for audiobooks. The changes were so sudden and unexpected that I had to backtrack some to get my bearings. (Readers: it's manageable, just know they come up anywhere in the chapter.)

While I realize this story sounds like everything is wrapped up for Lady R and Leo, I would love to revisit them in a sequel. (Free Brainstorm for author: A third country manipulated/helped Lord MW with his doings, and now they are being more of a direct problem?)
Or perhaps a prequel seeing a younger Lady R and Heugo navigate court, noble new parenthood, and the prospects of war. (And would love to see expanded world building!)

All and all, this was a book I devoured in less than 48 hours (very unusual for me) and it gave the perfect balance of action-anxiety and cute-couple-overwhelm without going too far into detail description when not needed. I wish it was longer. Will be re-reading.
(And my theatre brain thinks there's possibilities for a stage production)

Only 1 reference to cheese?

Glad to finally be able to get a copy. I wonder what Lavender Cheese tastes like.