British author Phaedra Patrick has a gift for writing stories about characters discovering the unknown in their own history or in the history of someone they love. She did this in novels like “The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper” and “The Library of Lost and Found,” and she does it again in “The Messy Lives of Book People” (2022).

Liv Green, a woman in her 40s with two sons in college, works as a cleaning lady for a famous novelist, Essie Starling. She once aspired to become a writer herself, but she has settled for working for one and reading every one of Essie's bestsellers over and over again. Her husband, Jake, is part of a family that owns a book publishing business.

Essie's sudden death comes as a shock. An even bigger shock comes when Liv is told that Essie, fearing her death, had declared that Liv should finish writing her 20th novel. She is given six months, until Nov. 1, to complete the task. And not until that day will Essie's death be announced to the world.

Liv recognizes that Essie's main character, Georgia Rory, represents Essie herself. To properly complete the series of novels, she feels she must dig into Essie's past and and try to discover the identity of her one true love.

Discovery follows discovery as she researches Essie's history, which shockingly intersects with her own history. The mystery of why Essie chose her cleaning lady, of all people, to complete her final novel becomes clear at last.

Liv must keep her work a secret, even from Jake, and this puts a strain on their marriage. The fact that her research puts her in close contact with Essie's attractive former lovers doesn't help her home life. Thus things do get messy for these book people. But Liv is a cleaning lady, or now a former cleaning lady, and she knows something about cleaning up messes. ( )

This was a comfortable easy read. I really liked the beginning, got super annoyed with the character a little more than halfway through, and felt the story and main character were redeemed by the end. When I got chances to read amidst the busyness, I didn’t want to put the book down, but it still wasn’t my favorite. The story was dragged on to get to a rushed ending which didn’t sit right with me. So 3.75 ⭐️’s. ( )

A book loving Olivia cleans for a living. She has always loved books and her favorite writer Essie Starling becomes one of her regulars. Essie has written 19 books about her charaacter, Georgie Rory. She has been out of the limelight for 20 years. Just as she and Liv begin talking about books and writing Essie dies. In her will she has asked Olivia to complete her 20th novel that is only half done and to keep her death a secret for 6 months. Thus begins Olivia?s quest to write this final novel and to find the love of Essie?s life. It is a difficult situation, but also rewarding as she begins to find herself and become stronger. In the end, she finishes the novel with rave reviews for Essie and begins her life again with confidence and the respect of her husband and family. A good read. Goodreads: Mother of two Liv Green barely scrapes by as a maid to make ends meet, often finding escape in a good book while daydreaming of becoming a writer herself. So she can't believe her luck when she lands a job housekeeping for her personal hero, megabestselling author Essie Starling, a mysterious and intimidating recluse. The last thing Liv expected was to be the only person Essie talks to, which leads to a tenuous friendship.But when Essie dies suddenly, a devastated Liv is astonished to learn of her last wish: for Liv to complete Essie's final novel. But to do so Liv will have to step into Essie's shoes, and as Liv begins to write, she uncovers secrets from the past that reveal a surprising connection between the two women--one that will change Liv's own story forever...

The Messy Lives of Book People follows Liv, a cleaner for a local author named Essie Starling, through her daily life working and taking on more and more tasks with the author. She is asked to complete Essie's last book following her death, and in the time before it is due, she uses Essie's name to do things she otherwise never would have been able to do under the guise of finishing her novel.

I am glad I listened to this as an audiobook, as it was quite slow at places, which made it hard to understand the goal. Most of the novel was a 3 to 3.5 star. I thought it was fine, but not particularly interesting. It also felt quite repetitive, cycling through the same plot points over and over again. While Liv is essentially a ghostwriter for Essie, the book did not address ethics of ghostwriting or model how it is usually done. It was good enough to keep me listening until the end, but that's about it.

Then we got to about chapter 30. The last several chapters of the novel (starting at around chapter 30) felt abrasive. Themes were just stated as if the author did not expect the adult listeners to put together a deeper meaning to the plot; several new and major plot points were introduced and barely touched; and details did not seem to make sense.

First, how did Liv not know the date of her dad's death when she had grown up with him and had seen her parent's marriage as perfect? Second, how was her dad teaching university in the United States at the same time as living in the UK? Or, why did Liv never mention moving from the United States to the UK with her family later in life? Third, how did Liv not realize that Essie would have written her will months before her death and that having Liv finish her novel to earn her inheritance could not have been in the will to begin with?

Additionally, Liv mentions at one point that she has a husband and children, something Essie did not. While that is true, the way Liv said it makes it seem like she thinks she is morally superior to Essie for having a husband and kids, which left me feeling icky.

I don't regret reading it, I just don't think it was a particularly good book for what I like to read. ( )

Liv works as a cleaner. Her favorite client is Essie Starling, who also happens to be Liv's favorite author. Essie is a noted recluse, and Liv is one of the few people she talks to. When Essie dies, Liv is astonished to discover that Essie has left her the monumental task of finishing her last novel. Liv has six months to polish the manuscript and write the final chapters, and during that time, she is required to keep Essie's death a secret. Liv feels she can't finish the novel without a deeper knowledge of Essie, so she tracks down certain people who played important roles in Essie's life -- but she can't tell them that Essie is gone! Also, there's a journalist poking around...

I'm often intrigued by books with authors as characters, though reading about the act of writing is not always exactly enthralling. In this case, there's enough sleuthing going on as Liv delves into Essie's past that it's not all about the writing. Liv makes some savvy choices as well as some foolish ones, and there's a good bit of interpersonal tension as her marriage feels the strain not just from her own secrets, but from the things her husband is hiding as well. All in all, if you like a character-forward book about writing and the publishing industry, give this a go. ( )