Semi-Scripted--A Wanderlove Novel

September 15, 2016
A Nicaraguan nurse visits the United States to compete for a grant and ends up meeting an aspiring television writer from Illinois who's interning on a tanking late-night show.In this follow-up to her debut novel, Heger (Without Borders, 2016) launches into a screwball comedy that sustains its madcap energy for much of the exposition. Marisol Gutierrez is in LA to win funds for a grass-roots medical organization--and try out for her favorite game show--when she bumps into Evan Abramson, an intern at the disastrous So Late It's Early Show. She agrees to be in its sparse audience but finds herself in a skit with him instead; their chemistry results in a ratings spike, and they're tagged as a couple on social media (#Marivan). Despite some misgivings, Marisol trades additional appearances on the show for the promise of its crew's help in professionalizing her grant presentation. As she and Evan film a series of dopey interactions where she plays his dating guru, they start to fall in love. There are some funny episodes involving Marisol coaching Evan through bad pickup lines and staged dates against campy backdrops; others flesh out their individual histories and family dynamics. But the attempt to show the clueless bigotry of non-Latinos can edge into caricature, and the grant competitors who try to sabotage Marisol's application come across as unfortunate stereotypes of bitchy women. While the comic pace slackens in the last third of the book, the question of how the romance and the grant will turn out keep the reader's interest. A lightweight novel with a Latina heroine, a supporting cast of game-show contestants in Halloween costumes, and props that include fake dog poop--think Katie MacAlister meets Jimmy Fallon.

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October 1, 2016
Evan Abramson is an intern at the low-rated So Late It's Early Show. Marisol Gutierrez is in Los Angeles to compete for a grant that would fund her mother's clinic in Nicaragua. On a day off, Marisol decides to go to a taping of the late-night game show. Evan sees her in line, talks her into doing a skit with him, and all of a sudden, the show's ratings zoom up. They're asked to do more skits, and the media decides they're a couple, dubbing them Marivan. Marisol can't get used to the fans and the paparazzi. She just wants to get her grant and go home. Unfortunately, it looks as though PUBE (People United for Body Euphoria), with its proposal to teach obese Brazilian children to dance, is a lock-in for the grant. Heger's romance is light and funny, with lots of breezy banter. And there's a neat twist to the second novel in her Wanderlove series, following Without Borders (2016): the diabetic heroine displays an insulin pump, demonstrating that people with serious conditions can lead adventurous lives.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)