Hilarious, campy, musical and moving, this book provokes you to ponder: If I steal a few hearts, can I still get into Heaven?
When a failing radio station’s morning show starts stealing, sampling and remixing ‘90s pop songs in a Hail Mary attempt at attracting an audience, virtuous virgin Japheth is forced to team up with Rino, a dangerously charming Italian car dealership heir with advertiser dollars to spend and maybe-mafia vibes, and their enemies-to-lovers romance threatens to become the station’s biggest scandal and its only salvation.
At WWJD Radio in Greater Napanee, salvation is off script. The phones are ringing off the hook, the fax machine is spitting out cease-and-desist letters from every boy band of the ’90s, and Trinity, the trio of accidental evangelists, are stealing pop songs “for the Lord.”
There’s Rebekkah; the breathless true believer who, though 30, still refers to herself as an ingénue. Her best friend Japheth; virtuous and still virginal. Ronald: poly, pan, and building an ark in his backyard.
Together with Carrington (part receptionist, part stylist, part chaos incarnate), Suwarna (HR, in charge of keeping her new station owner alive and not ‘disappeared’), and everyone's new boss, Emma-Lou (an heiress with a talent for panic and bangs that weren’t her idea) they’re keeping WWJD barely afloat.
Until it burns down. Literally.
Their only shot at salvation comes from Rino Ferrari: a devastatingly charming Italian car-dealership heir with too much money, too many secrets, and maybe a little mafia energy. Unfortunately for Japheth (romantic mess and professional overthinker), Rino is also the last person he wants to need… and the first person he can’t stop thinking about.
As scandal, suspicion, and undeniable chemistry collide, Japheth and Rino tumble from enemies to lovers in a rom-com where faith is flexible, temptation is tailored, and the guy you’re supposed to hate is the one who makes you feel alive.
Is local car dealer Rino Ferrari a mobster, or just a surprisingly generous Christian with body bags of money to give away? Why did Emma-Lou’s parents really “disappear” in the Bermuda Triangle? And will Trinity rebuild a new station on a floating ark, or sell out to dirty money for fame, tote bags, and a studio album?
Outrageously funny, shockingly tender, and just heretical enough, Bless This Hot Mess will jump-start your heart.
