That’s Not How It Happened by Craig Thomas

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That’s Not How It Happened by Craig Thomas

Contemporary fiction

That’s Not How It Happened

by Craig Thomas

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Quick Take

While a mother’s memoir is being adapted into a Hollywood movie, the real family drama hilariously unfolds off-screen.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Multiple_Viewpoints

    Multiple viewpoints

  • Illustrated icon, Family_Drama

    Family drama

  • Illustrated icon, LGBTQ_themes

    LGBTQ+ themes

  • Illustrated icon, LOL

    LOL

Synopsis

Paige didn’t set out to be a stay-at-home mom, but when her husband’s screenwriting career took off right before they had a son with Down syndrome, the decision was made for her. Now, with their children nearly grown and unsure what’s next, Paige writes a memoir about the challenges of raising a child with a disability. When a major actress-turned-producer shows up at her door eager to make her “inspiring” story into a movie, she’s shocked, excited, and a little terrified.

This movie just might be the comeback opportunity her husband, Rob, desperately needs. His career has fizzled in recent years. But the movie is going to need a screenwriter, and who better to adapt his wife’s memoir than him?... Meanwhile, their son, Emmett, doesn’t understand why people think his Down syndrome is the most important thing in his life (that’s definitely his girlfriend, Amy)—but he hopes his newfound fame might somehow get him closer to meeting his idol, Eddie Vedder. Their daughter, Darcy, couldn’t care less about the whole thing because she’s hardly even in their mom’s book. The “normal” child who nobody ever worries about is feeling more forgotten than ever as her love life implodes and college decisions loom.

As their lives are chewed up and spit out by the Hollywood machine, triggering old resentments and launching new betrayals, will any of them even recognize the “inspiring” family in this film? Or will this “feel-good” movie be the end of them?

LGBTQ+ themes
That’s Not How It Happened
Town & Country
To the Moon and Back
So Gay for You
The Goldens
A Family Matter
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
Every Sweet Thing Is Bitter
Gifted & Talented
Oathbound
Liquid
Our Infinite Fates
We Could Be Rats
The Bones Beneath My Skin
Sister Snake
Isaac’s Song
The Three Lives of Cate Kay
I Might Be in Trouble
The Last Hour Between Worlds
High School
The Pairing
Under Your Spell
The Stars Too Fondly
The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye
Spitting Gold
Darling Girls
The Haunting of Velkwood
The Other Significant Others
Interesting Facts about Space
Gwen & Art Are Not in Love
Alice Sadie Celine
The Future
Let Us Descend
Stars in Your Eyes
Masters of Death
Just Kids
Pageboy
Ink Blood Sister Scribe
The London Séance Society
Really Good, Actually
The Light Pirate
Kiss Her Once for Me
Foul Lady Fortune
Siren Queen
Yerba Buena
Love & Other Disasters
Afterparties
Razorblade Tears
One Last Stop
Honey Girl
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Girl, Serpent, Thorn
Red, White & Royal Blue
Wayward Son
This Time Will Be Different
The Red Scrolls of Magic
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
LGBTQ+ themes
View all
That’s Not How It Happened
Town & Country
To the Moon and Back
So Gay for You
The Goldens
A Family Matter
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
Every Sweet Thing Is Bitter
Gifted & Talented
Oathbound
Liquid
Our Infinite Fates
We Could Be Rats
The Bones Beneath My Skin
Sister Snake
Isaac’s Song
The Three Lives of Cate Kay
I Might Be in Trouble
The Last Hour Between Worlds
High School
The Pairing
Under Your Spell
The Stars Too Fondly
The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye
Spitting Gold
Darling Girls
The Haunting of Velkwood
The Other Significant Others
Interesting Facts about Space
Gwen & Art Are Not in Love
Alice Sadie Celine
The Future
Let Us Descend
Stars in Your Eyes
Masters of Death
Just Kids
Pageboy
Ink Blood Sister Scribe
The London Séance Society
Really Good, Actually
The Light Pirate
Kiss Her Once for Me
Foul Lady Fortune
Siren Queen
Yerba Buena
Love & Other Disasters
Afterparties
Razorblade Tears
One Last Stop
Honey Girl
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Girl, Serpent, Thorn
Red, White & Royal Blue
Wayward Son
This Time Will Be Different
The Red Scrolls of Magic
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo