Cover

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR
By Any Other Name

“Reading Lauren Kate’s By Any Other Name is like watching a Nora Ephron movie. It makes the day seem brighter, the world seem more hopeful, and happiness seem possible for everyone. This book is a buoyant celebration of love.”

—Jill Santopolo, author of The Light We Lost and More Than Words

“I devoured this book in one sitting. Delightful, optimistic, and with a perfect dash of bookishness, By Any Other Name is the rom-com the world needs right now.”

—Julie Buxbaum, author of Tell Me Three Things

“A smart imaginative rom-com that had me turning the pages.”

—Abby Jimenez, author of Life’s Too Short

“A behind-the-scenes look at publishing that feels both realistic and totally fun—I wish I could read Noa Callaway’s books in real life! It’s a joy to watch Lanie get the courage to go after what she wants, and the supporting characters (like her hilarious best friends and her irreverent grandmother) leap off the page. An incredibly romantic love story that’s full of surprises, By Any Other Name is perfect for anyone who dreams of happily-ever-afters.”

—Kerry Winfrey, author of Waiting for Tom Hanks

“By Any Other Name is a beautiful, emotional, slow-burn love story with an ending that will leave you with the biggest smile. Lauren Kate shows she can write heartfelt contemporary romance just as deftly as every other genre she’s mastered.”

—Sarah Smith, author of Faker

“By Any Other Name is impossible to put down or to forget. A sharp, moving, and hilarious love story, it feels like being in the company of a close friend.”

—Maria Kuznetsova, author of Oksana, Behave! and Something Unbelievable

Novels by Lauren Kate

The Orphan’s Song

Young Adult Novels by Lauren Kate

TEARDROP SERIES

Waterfall

Teardrop

FALLEN SERIES

Unforgiven

Rapture

Fallen: Angels in the Dark

Fallen in Love

Passion

Torment

Fallen

The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove

Dedication

For Elizabeth Nusbaum Epstein, my BD

Epigraph

Those you love come at you like lightning

—Dorianne Laux, “To Kiss Frank . . .”

Chapter One

“Peony Press, this is Lanie Bloom—” I say, barely getting the phone to my ear before the voice on the other end cuts me off.

“Hallelujah-you’re-still-at-your-desk!”

It’s Meg, our senior publicist, and my closest friend at work. She’s calling from the Hotel Shivani, where, four hours from now, we’ll be hosting a blowout wedding-themed book launch for Noa Callaway—our biggest author and the writer who taught me about love when my mom couldn’t. Noa Callaway’s books changed my life.

If experience is any guide, we’re just slightly overdue for all our best-laid plans to go up in flames.

“No sign of the signed books. And no fucking pun intended. Can you see if they were sent to the office by mistake,” Meg says, a mile a minute. “I need time to arrange them into a five-tiered, heart-shaped wedding cake—”

See? Best-laid plans.