Never Date an Actor

Set against the restless backdrop of 1967, *Never Date an Actor* is a coming-of-age story about ambition, desire, and the cost of choosing yourself in a world determined to define you.

Susie Harper is a nineteen-year-old working-class girl from a small town that expects its women to marry young, stay quiet, and never ask for more. But Susie wants words-stories, ink-stained fingers, and a life shaped by her own voice. When she defies her family and enrols at Riverside University, she steps into a world alive with protest, creativity, and possibility.

There, she finds herself caught between two intoxicating forces: the promise of becoming a writer and her growing attraction to Daniel Hartman, a charismatic theatre student whose charm is as dangerous as it is magnetic. As Susie navigates friendships, creative failure, artistic awakening, and first love, she must confront a truth shes been warned about since childhood-some passions uplift you, and others consume you.

Rich with period detail and emotional honesty, *Never Date an Actor* explores female ambition, artistic identity, and the delicate line between loving someone and losing yourself. It is a story about finding your voice-and learning when to protect it.