In “One-Star Romance”, an Author Walks Down the Aisle With Her Harshest Critic — Read a Sneak Peek Here! (Exclusive)

Laura Hankin's latest rom-com asks: What if your maid of honor and best man hate each other because of what one wrote online? Read an excerpt here.

Just in time for wedding season comes a new book about a bridesmaid who has to walk down the aisle with a man she'd rather punt there like a football.

One-Star Romance by Laura Hankin, out this June from Berkley, is a wedding run-in story for the digital age. When the chaotic and artsy Natalie meets the cranky, rigid academic Rob, they initially have nothing in common except their love for their respective best friends. And when those BFFs announce they're getting married, Rob and Nat realize they may not have the worst time as best man and maid of honor thanks to the little sparks that flutter between them at first.

But that's before Nat finds out Rob posted a one-star review of her new novel. And before Rob can tell Nat the heartfelt reason why he did. Over the years that follow, Rob and Natalie find themselves thrown together for all of their friends' life milestones, triumphs, failures and everything in between. As time goes on, do their feelings for each other soften?

We've got an exclusive excerpt below, to help pique your interest.

At the store, Nat and Rob loaded pallets of bottled water into a cart with silent efficiency. “I’ll look for umbrellas,” Nat said, terse.

“I’ll find fans,” Rob said with a grunt.

On her way to meet back up with Rob, having cleaned out the umbrella section, Natalie passed the books aisle. She couldn’t stop herself. A siren song called her to check for her own. It wouldn’t be here — this was a small selection, made up mostly of bestsellers and mass‑market paperbacks — but still, there was a chance, and how nice and validating that would feel.

Clutching her armful of umbrellas, she scanned the shelves, looking past what felt like a million copies of The Girl on the Train, All the Light We Cannot See and Refractions, that sophomore effort from Young Male Intellectual that had gotten breathless reviews in every newspaper of note, that nobody except Nat and f---ing Addison K seemed to think was overrated. But not a single copy of Apartment 2F. Of course not. Because it was a one‑star book. She felt her chest deflating. She’d put her whole self into this novel, all the most interesting thoughts she’d ever had, and if that wasn’t enough...

Stop that! she told herself. Don’t let this random stranger destroy your sense of self. Then, But maybe strangers are the only ones whose opinions you should trust—

Rob wheeled the cart up to her, now crammed with boxes of battery‑operated fans. “We should get going,” he said.

“Right.” She shook herself out of her funk. His eyes briefly landed on the Refractions display, and he made that scoff‑like noise that seemed more natural to him than laughter.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer , from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said. Then, after a brief pause, “That’s one of the most pretentious books I’ve ever read.”

“Yes, thank you! I could barely get through it. And whenever I hear anyone else talk about it, I feel like I’m living in an alternate reality!”

He shrugged, a flush coming over his face, then turned the cart toward checkout.

As Rob began to bag up their items and the cashier told them their total, Natalie pulled out her wallet. “Okay, can we put the $80 on the debit card here, then the remainder on this credit card? Oh, but if the remainder is over a hundred, actually, I should put the last bit on a different card instead.” She fumbled around in the mass of cards and receipts. “Hold on, I have it in here somewhere.”

“Stop,” Rob said. “Just put it on mine.” He took his wallet from his back pocket, pulled out a card, and handed it to her as he continued to bag their umbrellas.

She glanced down at the card as she passed it over to the cashier. Simple, black, with his name printed on it: Robert Addison Kapinsky.

ROBERT. ADDISON. KAPINSKY. She froze with the card still in her hand, the cashier reaching out to give it a tug. She was barely aware of letting go; her mind began to spin.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

Addison was not the most common name in the world. That opinion about Refractions was not the most common opinion. And not that many strangers had heard of her book. It made sense that Rob would use his middle name and no profile picture for something like a Goodreads account — he was a private person who didn’t even have social media. It was him. It had to be.

She thought back to the timing. He’d submitted the rating shortly after their strange encounter at the rehearsal dinner.

She looked at him as he continued to bag, a great rage rising up in her.

What the actual hell? This was a mistake. It had to be. Right? Because people were allowed to rate books any way they wanted. Of course they were! But polite society dictated that you didn’t savage a book by someone you knew. Unless you knew them because they were your nemesis or your high school bully or had stolen your dog.

But when you were maid of honor and best man at a wedding together? When you would literally have to walk down an aisle arm in arm while people watched and took pictures? It was the height of incivility! (“The height of incivility”? Who did she think she was, a Jane Austen heroine?) Fine then, rude. Not only rude but idiotic, showing a startling ignorance of how people should treat one another.

Related: PEOPLE’s Most-Anticipated Summer Books: Best Beach Reads, Thrillers, Fiction, YA and More

But then again, this man hadn’t shown himself to be a model of social grace up until this point.

She followed him back to the car in stunned silence.

Maybe this was why he’d been so brusque with her at the dinner. Her work had been so bad, had created such offense to his taste, that he didn’t even want to look her in the eyes.

No. She refused to let this man steal her pride in all that she’d done. What had he ever done? (Most of a PhD, apparently. But that was different!) Cold, pretentious Robert Kapinsky did not get to decide her value as a person.

The Fiona Apple album started up again automatically when he turned the car on. So, Rob thought that some women were allowed to express their feelings in art. What would he rate this album? He left it on this time, apparently thinking that they wouldn’t have much to say to each other, but she pressed pause. Being extremely pleasant wasn’t enough anymore. She would kill him with kindness. Yes, she would absolutely murder him.

She made her smile so full and enthusiastic that she could feel crow’s feet forming as a result.

“Robert,” she said, “you didn’t ask me what I’ve been up to for the past two years.”

A moment of silence, then he forced the words out. “What have you been up to?”

“Oh.” She waved a casual hand through the air, her tone light. “I published a novel.”

“Your DIY graduate school worked out for you, then.”

“Thank you, yes. I’m proud of the book.” She beamed at him, even if the beam didn’t reach her eyes. “And it’s doing well. By and large, people really seem to love it. Especially the people whose opinions I respect, so that’s nice, you know?”

The more she talked about it, the tighter his hands clenched on the steering wheel. If she kept talking, perhaps he’d leave dents in the leather. That, or his knuckles would explode. The prospect held a certain appeal.

It was almost fun, almost delicious, to see the discomfort she was causing him. Almost.

He pressed down on the gas, finally going that 10 miles per hour over the speed limit that she’d been wanting. “Well, congratulations,” he said, then turned the music up as they sped back to the wedding.

Natalie sat back, staring straight ahead.

Let him give her life’s work one star. She couldn’t care less. He could have whatever opinion about her book that he wanted and share that opinion with whomever. For instance, he could tell his mother. He could tell strangers on the street. He could even tell Satan, because Robert Kapinsky could go to hell.

Excerpted from ONE-STAR ROMANCE by Laura Hankin, published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2024

One-Star Romance by Laura Hankin comes out on June 18 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.