Would Like to Meet

Winters’s charming debut combines tropes from classic romantic comedy films to hilarious effect. Ambitious 29-year-old Evie Summer is tired of being an assistant, but to advance in her job at a TV and film talent agency she must convince narcissistic screenwriter Ezra Chester, the agency’s top client, to fulfill his lapsed contract and write the rom-com he owes to his movie studio. Ezra, disillusioned with romantic clichés, refuses to meet his deadline unless Evie can convince him that real relationships can be just like the movies. He gives her three months to find a man via “meet-cute” and fall in love; if she can’t, then he won’t deliver his script and Evie will be in hot water with her boss. The subsequent whirlwind of contrived meet-ups that Evie arranges, each inspired by a different film, is a laugh-out-loud disaster. Her first romantic failure happens to be witnessed by shy single dad Ben, who, along with his precocious daughter Annette, becomes Evie’s audience and provides a grounding influence in her chaotic life—even as Annette attempts to set Evie up with him. Winters employs self-aware, genre-savvy characters to expertly balance humor and heart. This adorable romance is a love letter to cinephiles. Agent: Rebecca Ritchie, A.M. Heath Literary Agents. (Dec.)