Dolly All the Time: A GMA Book Club Pick

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK

A hardworking single mom returns to her seaside hometown and stumbles into a fake dating situationship with a wealthy, workaholic scion, from the New York Times bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script.

“A luminous story of love, duty, and the tension between the two, Dolly All the Time is less like a novel and more like a place I never wanted to leave. This might be my new favorite!” —Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author

If they start by pretending, can they end with something real?

Dolly Brick has never met a problem she couldn’t solve. Not when her mom left when she was twelve, and not at thirty-nine when she moves with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to keep her dad and brother from losing the family home.

So when she comes across Stewart Whitfield—annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family—with a flat tire and at the wrong end of a very public, very humiliating breakup, it’s in her nature to help. But Stewart’s proposed arrangement ends up being more than either of them bargained for, because as public dinners and high-society benefits turn into sunset boat rides and kisses that hit her bloodstream like a ghost pepper, Dolly starts to feel something more than helpful. She’s never relied on anyone besides herself—can she really start now?


“This book is like a spicy margarita…sweet and a little salty, tart and hot…I have fallen in love with Dolly and with funny, fizzing Annabel Monaghan!” —Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich

Annabel Monaghan is the New York Times bestselling and Library Reads Hall of Fame author of It’s A Love Story, Summer Romance, Same Time Next Summer, and Nora Goes Off Script, as well as Does This Volvo Make My Butt Look Big?, a selection of laugh-out-loud essays. She lives in Florida and Connecticut with her family.

"Dolly All the Time" is a warm, funny, and emotionally grounded romance about a woman who has spent most of her life carrying everyone else’s problems and finally has to face what she wants for herself. The story centers on Dolly Brick, a single mother and hardworking woman who has always been the family fixer. Her life has been shaped by responsibility from a young age, especially after her mother left when she was a child. Since then, Dolly has learned to keep going, solve problems quickly, and put other people first. She is the kind of person who does not wait for help because she has never really expected it.

When the novel begins, Dolly is back in Whitfield, Rhode Island, her seaside hometown, for the summer with her teenage son, Gus. She has returned to help her father and her developmentally delayed brother Christopher after a small fire and the discovery that the family home needs a new roof they can barely afford. The situation is serious enough that losing the house becomes a real possibility. Dolly, who already juggles work and family responsibilities, immediately steps into problem-solving mode. She is determined to find a way to save the home, even though it means putting her own life on hold again.

Whitfield is not just any town. It is dominated by the wealthy Whitfield family, whose name is everywhere and whose business influence shapes the place. Dolly and the Whitfields come from very different worlds, and that contrast is part of what gives the novel its charm and tension. Dolly lives carefully and practically, while the Whitfields live with money, status, and expectations. The family’s heir apparent is Stewart Whitfield, a man under pressure to prove that he can step into a leadership role and handle both business and public life without scandal. He is polished, controlled, and apparently the opposite of Dolly in almost every way.

Their lives collide in a small but memorable moment when Dolly helps Stewart with a flat tire after a very public and humiliating breakup. A photographer captures them together, and the image sparks gossip and speculation. Stewart sees an unexpected opportunity in the misunderstanding. Since he needs to convince both his family and the public that he is stable, respectable, and ready for responsibility, he asks Dolly to pretend to be his girlfriend for the summer. In return, he offers enough money to solve her family’s roof problem. Dolly is not interested in pretending to be anyone’s romantic partner, but the financial pressure is real, and the offer is too practical to ignore.

What starts as a business arrangement quickly becomes more complicated. Dolly and Stewart enter a fake-dating setup that is meant to be temporary and strategic, but their time together begins to feel less like a performance and more like a genuine connection. They attend public events, family gatherings, and social obligations together, but they also spend time away from the spotlight, where the masks start to slip. Dolly begins to see that Stewart is not just a rich, careful man trying to protect his image. He is burdened, lonely, and more thoughtful than he first appears. Stewart, in turn, discovers that Dolly is strong in ways he had not expected. She is not dazzled by wealth, and she is not easily impressed. She is steady, observant, and deeply loving in a way that has been shaped by years of putting others first.

The novel’s emotional core lies in the way both characters slowly learn that they have been living for duty rather than desire. Dolly has spent so long taking care of her father, her brother, her son, and everyone around her that she has forgotten how to ask what she wants. Stewart has also spent years living under expectations, trying to meet the demands of his family and protect his future. Their connection gives each of them something neither expected: the feeling of being seen without judgment. The romance grows through small moments, shared vulnerability, and the quiet realization that they are more alike than they first believed.

Dolly’s relationship with her family remains central throughout the story. Her father and brother are important parts of her life, and her son Gus gives the novel warmth and heart. Gus is bright, loving, and observant, and his presence reminds Dolly that she is not only a daughter or a woman on the edge of romance, but also a mother trying to build a stable life for her child. These family ties ground the story and keep it from becoming only a light romantic fantasy. Dolly is not just choosing between men or between love and money. She is deciding whether she can finally stop carrying everything alone.

As the summer unfolds, the fake relationship begins to challenge both characters in ways they cannot control. The line between performance and reality blurs, and the emotional stakes rise. Dolly has to confront her habit of handling everything by herself, while Stewart has to decide whether he is willing to risk his carefully managed life for something real. Their attraction is not based on simple opposites attracting, but on the deeper comfort of finding someone who understands responsibility, loss, and the cost of being the dependable one.

By the end, Dolly All the Time becomes a story about love, family, and the courage to let someone help. It is about a woman who has spent years being useful to everyone and slowly learns that she deserves joy too. With its seaside setting, emotional honesty, and romantic chemistry, the novel offers a tender look at what happens when two people from different worlds discover they have been carrying the same kind of loneliness all along.