YOU BEFORE ANYONE ELSE

Two fashion models in New York City try not to fall in love but can’t help it—yet secrets from the past might tear them apart.

Finley wants only to make money so she can reopen her late mother’s dance studio, but she’s having trouble getting modeling jobs because she looks “too sweet.” Eddie, on the other hand, starts getting major jobs just by walking in the door. At a party, Finley decides that a one-night stand might help change her image. She chooses Eddie for her overnight partner, hoping to remain unattached, but the two beautiful 18-year-olds keep encountering each other. Once they realize they’re in a real romance, Eddie encounters problems. A secret from his past demands action, but Eddie wants to resist his domineering father’s demands. His secret might completely disrupt his romance with Finley just as Finley’s family has accepted him. Meanwhile the two teens work on modeling jobs for such fashion luminaries as Marc Jacobs. Can Eddie escape his past and find a future with Finley? Can Finley make the right decision about her career? Using the same alternating-narration format as in predecessor Halfway Perfect (2015), Cross and Perini hit all the buttons for the chick-lit crowd, although here they de-emphasize the fashion aspect of the story in favor of romance. Of course, all characters are model-gorgeous (and all the major ones appear to be white).

Romance trumps industry detail in this fashion follow-up.