India, Aug. 5 -- Sometimes all you want is a book that feels like gossip, and Summer in the City by Alex Aster is exactly that kind of rainy day read. It's hot, dramatic, occasionally stupid, and full of decisions you would never make in real life. At the centre of this little mess is Elle, a 27-year-old screenwriter with writer's block and a shot at the movie deal of her dreams. She's house-sitting in a fancy Manhattan apartment (as one does) and panicking about her deadline. Enter Parker - former acquaintance, current nemesis, and unexpected muse. He's rich, hot, mysterious, and emotionally unavailable. You know the type.

Their dynamic tries to encapsulate the steaming, hot tension of enemies-to-lovers but falls deliriously short. Elle...