This book made me laugh quite a bit, even if I didn’t like everything about it.

The setup for the story is pretty good. Clara takes a job cleaning out storage units after losing her job in publishing, and stumbles across evidence that a famous actor, Caspian Tiddleswich, worked for an escort service. Although she could use the money, Clara doesn’t sell the info to a gossip site. However, she does drunkenly contact Caspian to tell him his secret is safe, which of course freaks the man out. A visit to her apartment leads to further complications, and the two of them wind up pretending to be a couple.

The first half of the book is the most fun. The sniping between Clara and Caspian is amusing, and I enjoyed their back-and-forth insults. Although I wish the author employed the name Tiddleswich to its full potential. I mean, I would have been calling the man “Mr. Tiddles” every chance I got, because Mr. Tiddles sounds like an incontinent lapdog. It’s PERFECT.

Once they get their initial misunderstandings straightened out, the story loses a little bit of its steam. The romance aspect doesn’t quite develop enough to substitute for the loss of the bite of the early part of the novel. Also, Caspian does an emotional about-face toward the end of the story that I didn’t believe in, because it seemed too extreme. The whole episode felt manufactured to complicate the plot rather than realistic for the character.

Even if I found the story a bit bumpy, it’s a reasonably funny light chick lit read, worth taking a look at if that’s your jam.

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

Crashing the A-List, by Summer Heacock, is a romantic comedy populated by engaging characters and filled with laugh-out-loud moments. Not only are the protagonist and her nemesis/love interest hilarious, so is the back-up cast. Essentially this is a girl meets boy romance wrapped in a highly improbable plot. Nonetheless, it was completely entertaining from the first page to the last. It is a quick read -- perfect for a trip, the beach or an afternoon at the pool. Be forewarned…you are going to laugh, and people will look at you! Don’t expect great literature, but this book is worth it!

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin-Mira for the opportunity to read an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Crashing the A-List started out as a cute, fun romantic comedy. However, the second half of the book essentially repeated the plot of the first half, without including any significant character growth.

When I first started this book, there were several moments that made me laugh out loud. Clara was a fantastic narrator and I loved her wry sense of humor. Plus she was quite relatable. And I did get a good chuckle out of the fact that the love interest's name is Caspian Tiddleswitch. The plot moved along at a good pace and it was fun to see how the relationship between Clara and Caspian slowly changed from antagonistic to more. Cici, Clara's best friend, was one of my favorite parts of the book. She was unconditionally supportive of Clara, although she did call Clara out when it needed to be done. If Heacock decides to write another book in this universe, I hope it focuses on Clara!

Now onto the parts that didn't work for me. For some reason, the author decided to essentially repeat the plot of the first half for the second part of the book. So, rather than seeing Caspian and Clara's relationship develop and grow, it essentially went back to square one. Instead of being willing to listen to Clara and trust her, Caspian reverts to his evil persona (at which point I began questioning if it was actually a persona). As the reader, we're supposed to believe that Caspian is this sweet, kind man. But we never actually see him behave that way to Clara. At that point, I stopped rooting for the romance because of how horribly Caspian treated Clara. There was absolutely no reason for him to behave that way again and I felt like the author wrote off how emotionally traumatizing those situations would have been in order to achieve a happy ever after. By the end, I was honestly hoping that Clara would walk away from him and find happiness with a man who respected and trusted her.

Overall, Crashing the A-List was an okay book. It started off strong but the plot repetition really did not work for me. Although I initially loved the romance, I wasn't really a fan of it by the end because of how the second half of the book unfolded.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

After four months of unemployment, former book editor Clara Montgomery is still stuck sleeping on her little brother’s ugly couch in Queens. Determined to keep her minuscule savings account intact, she takes a job clearing out abandoned storage units, but is in no way prepared for stumbling upon dead snakes or trying to identify exactly where the perpetual stench of beets is emanating from.

When Clara comes across a unit that was once owned by an escort service, she finds the brothel “résumé” of a younger Caspian Tiddleswich… an astonishingly famous British actor. Her best friend thinks she should sell the gossip to a tabloid to fund her way off the couch from hell, but Clara instead manages to track down Caspian’s contact info, intending to reassure him that her lips are sealed.

Unfortunately, Caspian misinterprets Clara’s attempt at altruism and shows up on her doorstep, accusing her of blackmail. When the paparazzi capture a photo of them together, Caspian’s PR team sees an opportunity to promote his latest film—and if Clara wants to atone for her “crimes,” she’ll have to play along. Pretending to be Caspian’s girlfriend seems like it will be a tolerable, if somewhat daunting, penance… until their fake romance becomes something more than either of them expected.

WARNING: this story is impossible to put away once you start reading.

Clara, Caspian, Cici, Tom, Trina and Momma Montgomery are addictive and memorable cast of characters who will grab your heart with laugh-out-loud love.
Each character's shenanigans in the story was hilarious and great to spend time reading for several hours. This is why I love the story so much. Even when Clara and Cas are not together, they have so much charm interacting with the secondary characters. And you really can't refer to them as secondary.
Clara is not having a great few months and trying to get back on her feet. Her simple but unemployed life gets very complicated with a fail "pretend" attempt to blackmail PEOPLE's most sexiest man, Caspian Tiddleswich.
When they first met, their is no attraction, no love or lust at first sight. Trust me its just blind fury toward each other. Heacock has gifted readers with a pure enemies to lovers romance. I was very doubtful these two would get together, like seriously. Caspian is a romance hero you will love to hate. He was horrible and treated Clara unfairly with no benefit of doubt. I really wanted to throat punch him many times.
And we all can relate to life giving us roadblocks, sleeping on your family's couch because under no circumstances you will not and can not moved back to your parent's house. Its the ultimate failure and Clara will take the crappiest job to replenish the savings and get back on track. That's why I love her so much. She was an inspiration to not give up, make goals, and achieve success on her own merit.
Filled with delicious wit, Crashing The A List is a great romantic comedy for enemies to lovers die hard fans of romance. Get ready to laugh your heart out, swoon with fury and fall in love unexpectedly with the entire gang.

Cleaning out abandoned storage sheds to earn some much needed money, Clara lands on a goldmine that could change her monetary situation. But, it ends up changing her life in this topsy-turvy novel. There are some really funny sections that will make you roll your eyes in humor.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Clara is an out of work editor who is camping out on her brother's couch and clearing out storage units as she waits for the zillion resumes she's sent out to get a hit. When she discovers black mail worthy material, will she succumb to the lure? or will she pass and find that her good deed does not have quite the outcome she expected? Caspian Tiddleswich is a successful A List actor with a past he desperately wants to forget. When a drunken phone call brings it all back and has him haring to confront the blackmailer in person. Through a series of interesting events the tables are turned and while Clara never intended to blackmail him she finds herself on the receiving end. As she becomes Caspian's very public girlfriend suddenly the doors of every large publishing house are opened to her. Not quite how she wanted to get a job but can beggars be choosers?
Caspian of course I wanted to consign to the deepest end of the ocean but he does have redeeming characteristics especially in how he deals with Clara's mom. A superb cast of supporting characters especially Clara's best friend CiCi, I hope the author has a future story in plan for her.
All in all a great summer read with laugh aloud moments and nice touch of mystery to keep all the senses

Crashing the A-List by Summer Heacock is a new contemporary romance. This one is a romantic comedy that brings together a pair of opposites that engage in a fake dating plan.

Clara Montgomery had lost her job as a book editor and only with the help of her brother and the use of his couch had so far managed to stay in the city and continue looking for work. In the meantime Clara had taken on a not so glamorous job of cleaning out storage units to make some quick cash.

When Clara and her best friend stumble upon a storage unit full of boxes of paperwork that seem to have come from a escort agency over a decade before Clara’s friend encourages her to look for famous names to sell to the media. Clara however can’t bring herself to profit from others misery so when she finds the name of a famous actor she vows to destroy the paperwork. Before doing so though she makes a drunken confession of her discovery to Caspian Tiddleswich which gets taken as a blackmail attempt.

As usual I’m a sucker for a good old fake dating trope and Crashing the A-List is just another of those. The humor in here was what really had me liking this one the most although I did enjoy Clara and her best friend too. The one downside was Caspian wasn’t that likable during a lot of the story, had he been showing his good side more I’d had probably raised my rating. Overall though it’s still a fun read.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This wasn't my favorite. I love rom-coms but this one took a little too long to get started. I thought it could have benefited from some editing cuts of some of the more unnecessary parts.

› Clara was an assistant editor at a "Big Five" publishing house in Manhattan, now she's crashing on her little brother's couch (which Clara named Gertrude) after losing her job. Her goal is simple: get back on her feet before her brother's wedding in four months. In the meantime, she gets a job working at a storage place, using a truck named Brutus to clear repossessed units.

› Clara's best friend Cici would move mountains for her friend. She's hilarious, supportive, understanding, and smart. I absolutely love Cici and I admire the strong relationship she has with Clara.

› Caspian Tiddleswich, yup, you read that right, TIDDLESWICH - he's a famous actor. While clearing out one of the storage units filled with boxes of papers Clara and Cici find proof that Caspian was once an escort. Yeah, they joke around about sharing it with a celebrity gossip website, but they're good people, so instead Clara uses her editor contacts to get his phone number and make a drunken call leaving a voicemail detailing that she knows about his past and will keep it safe. Caspian takes this as a threat and ends up on her doorstep intending a little payback. He makes a deal with Clara that he won't go to the police as long as she pretends to be his girlfriend while he's in town promoting his new movie.

› Crashing the A-List is HILARIOUS. I actually laughed out loud a few times (IE: while reading the lunch scene with Clara's family).
› Clara and Cici's friendship is my favourite part of this book! I'd love to read another book perhaps based around something that happens in Cici's life. Their banter is just the best.
› I'm not a big fan of the first-person narrative, and it took me a little bit to get into it. Once it sucked me in, that was it, I couldn't put it down.
› Caspian was a complete jerk. I'm not sure if he really won me over by the end, but I did really like how Clara stuck to her guns and didn't let him treat her like a piece of crap.
› I wanted a little bit more secondary character development. I mean we met Clara's brother, Tom, and his fiance, Trina, but we didn't really get to know them at all. Plus there was the talk of the wedding plans, Clara tries on her dress, but we don't get to be at the wedding! ARG! It also would have been great to know more about Cici, her goals, motivations, relationships.

› Enemies to lovers, fake dating, embarrassing moms, fun parties, this would make an awesome rom-com movie! If you liked Red, White & Royal Blue you're gonna love Crashing the A-List. I must go read Heacock's debut The Awkward Path to Getting Lucky and then read everything else she writes!


Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

I wasn’t sure what to think about this book at first. The set-up seemed a little bit far-fetched, even for a RomCom. But the more I read, the more I was swept up in the story. It is quite apparent who the hero is based on, solely by name if not description, but that didn't bother me too much. There were some genuinely funny moments, but also a couple of passages of political commentary areas that added nothing to the story but took me right out of the comedy – wasn’t a fan of that. Overall, however, it was a fun read with some genuinely heartfelt moments, and I do recommend it, especially as a summer beach read. Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Mira Publishing, and the author for a complimentary pre-release digital ARC of this book.

What a fun, witty, and clever book! After a string of thrillers and historical fiction novels, I absolutely needed this book. It provided a ray of sunshine through the heaviness.

Crashing the A-List is about a girl who's down on her luck. The publishing house she works for gets bought out and she loses her job. She ends up desperately taking a job cleaning out storage units that have been abandoned (think reality TV's Storage Wars). And she stumbles upon some interesting stuff that might just change the course of her life. In an instant she finds herself blackmailed into being the fake girlfriend of a heartthrob celebrity and the rest is hilarious history.

Summer Heacock injected the perfect amount of humor into this story. There were so many times I stumbled upon witty sentences that took me a second to process, but then made me chuckle uncontrollably. I thought the funny moments were infectious. The romance was cute and not too terribly predictable.

Is the book super realistic? Maybe not so much. But I did feel like while I was reading, a rom com movie was playing in my head. I could totally see this being taken to the big screen.

Overall, I loved this one and appreciated some reprieve from the dark and sinister I've been reading lately. A perfect book for light summer reading if you're looking for a few laughs.

-I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Summer Heacock, and MIRA Books for the opportunity to review.-

I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. .

Normally I LOVE celebrity romance type chick lit, but this one just didn't do it for me. Maybe that's because the romantic lead was modeled after Benedict Cumberbatch (who I'm not opposed to, I just don't get all of the hype for him #sorrynotsorry) I liked the main character, Clara, for the most part, but I hated the back and forth between her and Caspian. Also, I could hardly take his name seriously through the whole book. I know that was the point because of the jokes about Benjamin Cucumber's name, but come on now. When it got to the end and he just wanted to explain to her what happened and she just walked away all I could think was for the love of God just listen to him so that this can all end!

The best friend CiCi, however; can I get a book about her? She was my favorite throughout the whole book, and I loved the friendship with her and Clara because it reminded me a lot of my best friend and I. Also, there were a few weird breaks in the typing that made it hard to follow, but I won't hold that against the book because I'm sure it will be fixed before the final copy goes out. This wasn't a horrible book, despite how my review might sound, but I actually enjoyed it and would read more from the author.

I really enjoyed this book. It was funny and romantic-- just as it was advertised to be. I thought the characters stayed in character and didn't suddenly change to fit the plot. It was an entertaining book!

Clara is an out of work editor who stumbles upon a popular British actor’s embarrassing secret. When she contacts him, he takes it the wrong way. I loved the interaction with Clara and Cici! The humor in this book will keep you turning the pages! This is the first book I’ve read by Summer Heacock but it will definitely not be the last.

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

This was a hard one to rate. Though I do believe a solid 3 is the best I am going to give it. I really did not like Clara for most of this book. I also couldn't stand the actor and his horrible name. I just couldn't understand how Clara could take all that abuse for most of the book. I finally liked her when she got a backbone and stood up for herself. I really think the story should have ended there but as this is a romance this did not. Though again I am glad she stood up for herself a second time. Even after the apology I still don't think she should have taken him back. If you expect different then you didn't know you were reading a romance book. There are funny parts at the beginning. There are also time I do like Cas but it's so little that it doesn't make up for how much I didn't like him.


*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

I thought this was a good read. This enemies to lovers story contains a blend of humor, drama, snappy banter and a touch of madcap zaniness. I liked Clara and Caspian. I thought they had good chemistry and I liked the sparks they generated. As fun as this was, I did feel that the book lagged sometimes, especially in the beginning and my attention would wander on occasion. Still, for a first book, I found it enjoyable and I would definately try more books from this author.

Crashing the A-List is a perfect light, fun read, with delightful characters, amusing misadventures, and a happily ever after ending that will bring a smile to your face.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.

Crashing the A-List is a fast-paced story filled with memorable characters, awkward misunderstandings, laugh-out-loud humor, cringe-worthy moments, witty banter, and a hero who, through much of the book, I wanted to drop from a plane without a parachute. Without going into detail, I'll just say that Caspian's character has a lot of growing to do. Which he does, eventually, with a hero-worthy grand gesture and a very satisfying and sincere mea culpa. I love a good grovel.

There have been times in my life when I've wondered (okay, fantasized) about dating an A-List actor. None of those fantasies in any way resemble what Clara endures as a result of a drunken phone call that didn't go at all the way she had intended. She really is a nice person with a good heart but things aren't going so well for her. Downsized out of her job, she's living on her brother's couch, fending off her mother's repeated attempts to bring her home to Buffalo, earning money by cleaning out abandoned storage units for her future sister-in-law's uncle who may or may not be a mob boss, and for the cherry on top of that life sundae, forced into indentured dating with the movie star she may have accidentally attempted to blackmail (drunken phone call). I adored her, was cheering her on the entire way, wanted to hug her, encourage her, and tell her to stand up for herself. She's worth so much more than she seems to think. (She eventually wakes up to that fact and when she does, it's oh so good!)

Heacock has created a secondary cast surrounding the main couple that's all that and more. Cici is the best friend everyone should be lucky enough to have. I don't know if Heacock has any future plans for her but I'd sure buy that book. I haven't seen nearly enough of her! Clara's mother is the family member I'd move to another continent to escape but can't get enough of in books. The scenes between Cas and Mama Montgomery are hilarious! And, the rest of the vividly depicted secondary characters all add richness and flavor to the story.

If you're looking for a light, fun, laugh-out-loud book this summer that will have the people around you asking what you're reading, check out Crashing the A-List by Summer Heacock.

*Advance reader copy received via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.