I don't understand where all the ??? is coming from. This FL has ALWAYS been silly. The premise of this story is about a female editor who makes a dumb romance novel even dumber by insisting on a slew of ridiculous changes... And now she has to live it. She thinks she's smart but is actually just overly opinionated.
You don't get inner monologing from Ares or the others because this is about her misunderstanding the plot and the bizarre tweaks she inserted. Her assumptions and not thinking through what she does are what's causing most, if not all, of the problems in her own life. She's always trying to outplay herself when she was never playing with a full deck to begin with.