This was my first book by Emma Mills and I would definitely read more from her.  The book told a sweet tale of growing up in a small town and the steps one takes to reach goals.  The relationships between characters were well developed and relatable.  There were several reveals that I did not see coming and some that I did but all were believable.  I would definitely recommend as a "clean"er read for high schoolers.

Thank you, Macmillan, for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

You won't stop meaning something to us just because you think you're temporary. —Sophie

After reading a bunch of fantasy novels, it's nice to finally return to reality. Also, it's been a while since I gave a contemporary book four stars. Ugh, most YA contemporary novels these days do not hit the mark. With that in mind, I'm thrilled that my first Emma Mills novel did not disappoint me. If you want to read a book that is equally serious and hilarious, you're in for a treat.

Compared to its peers, this book is less about romance and more about friendship. Gleaning from the book's title, Sophie is a girl who lives in a small town. Her social circle is unsurprisingly tiny, but its members (Terrance, Dash, Brit, and Flora) are undeniably priceless. After knowing each other since childhood, Sophie and her friends have become thick as thieves, practically siblings. One day, a new guy named August moves into town and gradually becomes a part of their tight-knit group. And even though he seems so detached and unwilling to form meaningful connections, Sophie wishes that he's here to stay.

I gave Famous in a Small Town four stars mainly because of Sophie's very amusing conversations with her friends. I think I started laughing as early as page 3. The author's dry, sarcastic humor complemented the personalities of her relatable characters. I particularly resonated with Sophie's goal-oriented approach to her education, Dash's serious demeanor, and August's reserved attitude. Moreover, the dialogues were written in such a casual way that it was like watching a slice-of-life anime. If this book had 400+ pages, I probably wouldn't notice the length because I would be too busy smiling and chuckling.

In light of its genre, I didn't expect this book to have plot twists, let alone remarkable ones. One of the conflicts involved a country star named Megan Pleasant, and I immediately assumed that she had a history with August, who often became quiet or nonchalant when Sophie and the others talked about her. I laughed when I learned that my hunch was so far from the truth. The second plot twist was much more confounding. Several chapters were about Sophie's interactions with a particular character, whom I had assumed was still...alive. Hahaha. Kudos to the author for deceiving me through the format or sequencing of her work.

Regardless of my enjoyment, I couldn't disregard the relatively shallow romance. Indeed, I liked that it wasn't the highlight of the story. Still, Sophie's decision to "like" August was too quick (page 52). It came to the point that she took hold of the reigns and initiated a DTR moment. When August kindly placed Sophie in the #FriendZone, I didn't feel sorry for her at all. She should've taken more time to evaluate the depth of her feelings instead of rushing to enter a romantic relationship. As for August, it would have been better if he had been clearer about his intentions. That way, both of them could've avoided emotional turmoil. 

In totality, Famous in a Small Town is a fascinating story of friendship. It delineates how it's better to have a few best friends than a multitude of mere acquaintances. You can look forward to meeting a charming cast of characters who will make you laugh and reflect on important things. If you don't mind the instalove, you'll enjoy the book more than I did.

As with Emma Mills's previous books, the friendships in this book are the best part. There was a large cast of characters, but every one of them was perfectly fleshed out with their own personalities.  I highly recommend this one.

4.5 rounded up. Emma Mills is a master of dialogue and slice-of-life realistic fiction. A half star knocked off only because I thought it followed a similar plot pattern as This Adventure Ends. Still, I finished this in one day and stayed up late to do so, and at the end my heart just felt so full.

This was an interesting read, clearly Taylor-Swift-inspired but I liked the main character's schemes and I enjoyed the twists along the way. fans of Sarah Dessen or Morgan Matson might enjoy this read.

Writing:  4 Plot: 4.5 Characters: 5

A beautifully written book about the strength of friendships. 

Sophie loves everything about her small Illinois town of Acadia — the Yum Yum Shoppe with its fourteen flavors, the school marching band, and the music of their one famous singer / songwriter — Meagan Pleasant.  Most important is her close friend group, encapsulated in their WWYSE (where will you spend eternity) group chat — though newcomer August is a pretty intriguing addition.
 
There is plenty of plot — some romance, some adventure, and some revenge planning along with a well-paced unfolding of surprising secrets. However, the real attraction of the book lies in the characters themselves — likable kids dealing with the realities of life in ways that are focussed, but not dripping with drama.  The dialog is natural and (very) funny.  There were several points where I teared up reading inspired descriptions of the importance of friendships and family in life.  While there is little of the grit present in some urban YA novels, it doesn’t shy away from elements in the environment that today’s teens may be exposed to:  blended families, drug use, casual sex, single mothers, open sexual preferences, and even relatives in jail.  Acadia isn’t a fairytale locale but a very real place where teenagers are simply trying to grow up and understand what is important to them.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The dialogue was realistic and funny, and the characters were dimensional. It was easy to get invested in the outcome of this story.

More Emma Mills, please! I loved this gentle, yet impactful YA with super memorable characters. The romance was also very interesting.

This is the second novel I have read by Emma Mills and I enjoyed it just as much as I did her first.  This is the story of Sophie who lives in small town America.  Through Sophie, Mills paints a beautiful portrait of small town living and as someone who lives in a small town, it was nice to see the benefits highlighted.  When August is added to the mix of Sophie's friends one summer, she finds herself changing and growing to see her world a little more clearly.  This is a story of relationships and growth, while the teenagers are trying to get the attention of a famous country singer who called their town home once, to try and help them raise funds for the marching band. I really enjoy the way that Mills writes, her style and her connection to teenagers.  This story has layers and it really was a good read.  Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

A good book to cry and laugh at, who wouldn’t want all of that in a book? It’s very hard for me to find humor in a book and this one did it all. Famous in a Small town is a young adult realistic fiction book that has a positive theme. You’lol love Sophie and the sweet romance involved.

This was a solid contemporary story focusing on Sophie and her mix of friends. While it was good, it wasn't a stand out. It might be popular with my middle school students who seek out mild romances.

Like the other book by Mills I've read, This Adventure Ends, Famous in a Small Town is a sweet, realistic fiction YA that has a positive theme in it. It's an enjoyable story with just enough slow burn and feels to check the boxes, but it's not anything super special. 

Sophie and her friends live in a Acadia, a small town in Illinois. They love hanging out, inside jokes, and (marching) band. This summer, everything seems to be going as expected except they've added a new guy, August, to their group. (August is the half-brother of the young family Sophie babysits for, who has just moved in with Kyle, Heather, and the babies.) There's some kissing, some exploring, some drunkenness and teen parties, a scheme to get the-only-good-thing-to-have-gotten-out-of-Acadia to come back to town for a fundraising concert, and friendship ups and downs. 

Give Famous in a Small Town to your middle schoolers who want to read YA, as well as to your teens who want to sweet romance featuring the boy and girl next door.

Teens will enjoy this realistic look at a group of high school friends trying to balance ambition, grief, work, and romance as they go about day-to-day life in their small Midwestern town and brainstorm ideas for funding their marching band's participation in the Rose Parade. Main character Sophie is everyone's "nice girl," so intent on making others happy and fulfilled that she sometimes overlooks her own needs -- but as the story unfolds, the plot twists make clear that there is more to Sophie than this. Note: The publisher supplied an advance readers copy via NetGalley in exchanger for a fair and unbiased review.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 
If you have read any of the author's other novels, you know she has quite a bit to live up to with new books. She really captures her character's stories in a relatable way for anyone. Everyone can relate to someone in the book, because all of her characters are so diverse, they aren't just cookie-cutter characters. The story was enjoyable, quick paced, and witty in just the perfect way.

Emma Mills has a way of making real life storylines completely interesting.  Famous in a Small Town is no different.

Sophie is a planner.  She has her copy of the College Collective that's keeping her on track.  She's also a band geek that is trying to find a way to help raise money so that the band will be able to go to the Tournament of Roses Parade.   She has a great group of friends.

The characters, relationships, and dialogue are completely believable and enjoyable.  It is just the subtle nuances that make this a great book.

I have loved Emma Mill's books in the past, and this was no exception. This book is adorable. Sophie is a likeable, relatable character, and her relationships with her friends run deep. We also see the depth of her relationship with her family. August, aside from having a terrible name, is also likeable, and it's very interesting to see him develop as a character through Sophie's eyes. In many ways, the story unfolds in a predictable way. Girl meets boy. Girl develops a thing for boy, etc. But in other ways, it surprises you. There is a revelation about one of Sophie's relationships toward the end that tethers her more deeply to August, but it was not what I was expecting at all. I liked being a little surprised. I liked that I thought I knew where this was going, but it took a detour. I still arrived at the destination I was expecting, but I didn't get there the way I assumed I would. I also LOVE that these characters were band geeks, and I appreciated the diversity of this group even though they were in a small town in the Midwest. I think that the fact that her friends were so different and yet were loved so well made Sophie much more likeable for me. Overall, I liked this a lot, and Emma Mills is becoming a writer that I recommend on the regular.

Sophie lives in a small town and she meets the new boy, August, and is intrigued by him.  August has a lot of baggage and refuses to settle in. A famous country singer is from the small town, but has left without looking back and Sophie makes it her mission to have the singer at the fundraiser.

This is the first book I have read by Emma Mills and I will definitely be reading the rest.

Each character has their own story and you want to get to know each one of them.  You find out where August comes from and how the country singer is connected to the group.  Sophie has a back story also.  So many emotions wrapped up in one book. Highly recommending this!

This was super cute, super fun, and super quick to read. I'm a huge fan of Emma Mills and I've enjoyed every book I've read by her. Her books are always delightful and they have really great relationships, both platonic and romantic. In Famous in a Small Town there's also a really nice family dynamic going on with one of Sophie's friends. The friend group was my favorite part - the love between the characters is so obvious. They don't always agree, but they're always there for each other and it was such a nice dynamic. This also had a couple heartbreaking moments among the usual Emma Mills hilarity, which I greatly appreciated.

I would've rated this five stars, but unfortunately there's a moment between Sophie and one of her friends that bugged me:

"Screw that, do you love how small-minded and racist people can be sometimes?"
"There's no racism in Acadia."
"Sophie." Brit gave a harsh bark of a laugh. "Fuck. Just because you've never experienced something doesn't mean it's not happening."
I blinked.

That's all that happens. It's meant to show how much Sophie loves her town and how she's got rose colored glasses on about her town, but c'mon. All she does is blink. There's no examination of how wrong she is, there's no apology, nothing. This is an ARC, so I really hope this either gets addressed more in the final copy or it's completely edited out.

Other than that unfortunate moment, I really did enjoy this book.

As always with Emma Mills books, I really enjoyed it, but it did fall a little flat for me. Coming after Foolish Heart, which was probably one of my favorite books last year and which did so many things in a small book, this just didn't live up to that. It wasn't hard to get into the book, but I did find myself bored during the first half. The one things that I had the hardest time getting into was August. I just did not find anything about his character interesting and I only found myself rooting for him because I had to, not because I wanted to. I also had mixed feelings about Sophie's friend group. I did definitely find some of their conversations and interactions very fun to read, but for the longest time I had trouble telling them all apart, and while some start to grew on me by the end of the book (Brit), I still felt like I didn't really know anything about the other 3. 
While I definitely had problems with the first half, that last half (maybe closer to last fourth) of the book did bring it back for me. I finally started to connect with some of the characters, and there all the emotions that I aspect to be provoked by an Emma Mill's novel started to happen, I just wish the whole book would have been like that, not just the end.

Emma Mills weaves a story that will have you crying and laughing..not necessarily in that order and maybe even sometimes at the same time. Though it did take me awhile to get fully invested, once I was there, y'all! A sweet romance, a twist I didn't see coming, life lessons, family dynamics, and friendships abound! Don't miss it!