Published 7th May 2026 by Aria.
From the cover of the book:
When Emmy Miura falls asleep reading a newly purchased romance novel (after her visit to a sex psychic her sister swears by), the last thing she expects is to wake up in the protagonist's bed the next morning. Emmy doesn't want to disrupt Will Barrett's world - even if he is fictional. He is clearly content with his life in idyllic and not-actually-real Cobalt, Massachusetts. He has good friends, steady work as a nurse in the paediatric wing of the local hospital, and an adorable house he inherited from his grandfather.
Understandably, he doesn't take it well when she manages to convince him none of the things he knows and loves are real. While Will is reeling at the implications of Emmy's revelation, Emmy is frantic to get back to the real world. The problem is that she is, against all her best efforts, falling head over heels in love with Will.
Will has feelings for her, too - much to the chagrin of the woman who was supposed to be his love interest - and he is determined to go with Emmy when she finds a way out of the book. Neither Emmy nor Will know if they can make a real life together that's based on fiction, but together they are willing to try.
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Getting over a bad break-up is hard, especially when your ex has taken an obscenely short amount of time to find a new girlfriend, and your sister is just about to marry the man of her dreams. So when Emmy Miura's sister persuades her she needs the guidance of the sex psychic who helped her find love, she decides to give it a go - even if she is a sceptic.
Post weird tarot reading, Emmy settles down with a cheesy romance novel that the psychic persuaded her to buy. After reading about the hunky, male nurse protagonist Will, Emmy finds herself drifting off to sleep... only to wake up the next morning in Will's bed. Somehow, she is now a character in the rom-com she had been reading the night before, and she is about to disrupt the entire story by displacing Will's intended love interest. Close proximity soon has the obvious attraction between them developing into love, but how can they ever be together?
This enchanting story drops Emmy into a romance novel, where her appearance has unintended consequences. Emmy suddenly has to negotiate multiple meet-cutes with an array of handsome, rom-com trope hunks while trying to find a way back to the real world, before she misses her sister's wedding.
Managing to convince Will the cosy, small town life he has been living in fictional Cobalt, Massachusetts, is just the plot of a novel gives him an existential crisis. However he agrees to help Emmy find her way back to the real world if he can. Getting back home proves to be no easy feat, and the more time they spend together, the fewer reasons they have to want to be parted.
The delightful mix of rom-com tropes in Cobalt give a lovely tongue-in-cheek vibe to this story, which works so well with the developing (and super hot) romance between Emmy and Will. Along the very enjoyable way, Goos manages to explore a feast of heart-felt themes that echo between the fictional setting and Emmy's real world dilemmas - touching on family dynamics, unhealthy romantic relationships, true love, racism, and having the courage to follow your dreams.
Goos' writing is very engaging, the premise is so much fun, and the story sparkles with plenty of humour and tender moments. I was so invested in Emmy and Will's love story, desperate for them to find a way to be together, even if it seemed impossible - and the ending hits the 'ahh' hot-spot perfectly.
Full of Hallmark vibes, this was just the escapist gem I needed!
Falling for the Protagonist is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Aria for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
Rebecca "Bex" Goos has several years of experience ghost-writing and editing romantic short stories and novels. Her short story, "Can't Wait to Stay", was included in the romantic compilation Friends to Lovers, Volume 1, released by Violet Gaze Press in 2021.
Prior to Covid, she was a high school English and creative writing teacher (students aged 15-18), and she currently lives in Fargo, North Dakota with her husband and two sons.
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