Layla finds out that being famous in her little corner isn’t easy!

Layla Beckett had finally gotten her foot in the door getting a job with a music magazine doing social media. Layla has a small secret that she runs a large fan site for some of her favorite bands because she has been to some concerts that she likes. She gets to chance to actually meet some of the members at a cookout but she connects with the drummer. Drummer Shane Morgan has always been the band member that most people don’t remember since he’s behind his drum kit but when he met Layla at a cookout, he became interested after talking to her and finding out she liked him more than his bandmate.

Layla is kind of famous in her small area of the internet but when she tries to keep her job, the fan site and her dating separate everything starts to fall apart.

Kind of Famous is a fun look at working at the music magazine and dating someone you know a lot about without letting them know that you are one of their biggest fans.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

DNF at 30%

I did not enjoy this.
The main character moves to NYC for a job, immediately gets offered to stay in the guestroom of a coworker the first day who also happens to be friends with the leadsinger of mc's favorite band who she meets the second day.
Love interest calls it love at first sight after 2 days.
MC calls herself a 'true fan' bc she's 'in it for the music'

Not my cup of tea.

This hits the spot for rockstar romance! This is the first book I’ve read of Marlowe’s and even though it’s not part of a series, I need to read about Adam and Eden’s story as well as Jo and Micah’s!

Kind of Famous reminds me of my teenage years. When I used to feel overwhelmingly infatuated with boy bands. Come on, who didn’t dream of marrying one of the Backstreet Boys? I could totally relate to you Layla!

Layla runs a popular fan site for a band name “Walking Disaster”, has a kickass job and after moving to NYC made some famous connections. I like Layla, she had a firm belief in what she deserved in a relationship and wouldn’t settle for anything less.

Shane is the slightly insecure drummer for the band “Theater of the Absurd.” A band Layla knows and follows. Layla and Shane instantly have a connection! (One that, back in the day, I totally would have killed to have with Aaron Carter 😉).

I must say though, some things I found a bit unrealistic or lacking:

#1 Layla did not bring up her website once she started seeing Shane. If she didn’t want this to bite her in the butt later, it should have been one of the first things discussed or at least agonized over.

#2 They fell into the relationship too quickly. I get insta love but I didn’t even get that vibe from them. It just didn’t feel as organic as I would have liked. Their love lacked depth.

#3 It was focused on the main characters so much, the friendships formed seemed, again, lacking of any depth and not plausible for how quickly they formed.

Overall a great, light romance read I would highly recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC!

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

Unfortunately, this was another book that I was really looking forward to until I discovered it was written in first person.

I find it really hard to connect with characters written in first person and there are very few books in this narrative that I enjoy.

I did try with this book but it's another on the DNF pile, I gave up at around 40%

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I really enjoyed it. I’m definitely going to check out her other ones.
It was a fun, fast paced read that had me laughing at some of the things that happened. I was pulled back to my teen years and my fascination/stalker habits I had with my favorite group. This has a bunch of steamy 🔥 scenes that are descriptive so I wouldn’t classify it as YA but definitely geared toward a younger audience. But with me being in my 40’s I still enjoyed it!.
If you are looking for a book to take your mind off everything crazy going on in the world I highly suggest this one!

The premise seemed promising, but the actual story fell a little flat. Everything falls into place a little bit too neatly for the main character, Layla from the start. She meets famous people, finds a great place to live, and gets herself an insta-love boyfriend (Shane) in a matter of days after arriving in NYC. After you get over the speed of which everything takes place, the actual book is an overall a quick read. There are some cute scenes between Laya and Shane, A decent read for the beach.

So this one is a bit tricky. There are a few things that I could really rag about but also I simply enjoyed the story.

This is an insta love between Layla, music lover extreme, and Shane, drummer in a rock band. They meet one time and suddenly have to be together. Like it's love in a week. Also I feel like they are teenagers versus 28 her and 31 him. Like take ten years off of them and that's the maturity level.

Everything just kinda falls into Layla's lap. She moves to New York for a music magazine job. Instantly becomes friends and is offered a place to stay after one meeting with this photographer she idolizes. And meets soon to be boyfriend all in one night. Like we all wish life was this easy.

So the negatives aside, this a quick read. It definitely has cute moments and steamy parts, and funny things. I wouldn't race out to get this book right away but kindle unlimited and a rainy afternoon...sure.

I loved this book! It was funny, with characters that you can't help but root for. From the first page I was hooked. I laughed, and cheered while the story unfolded. I learned a little about a world I have never really explored and found it fascinating. If you have looking for a fun and witty book give this one a chance.

1.5 stars

Dating Sim games an be awesome if you choose the right path and make the right choice. You usually have a lot to pick up from, and eventually, you go for the guy you think is safest, because in real life we don't want the douchy assholes we read about.

This book felt like a dating sim game. The MC (Layla) is surrounded by super hot rockstars because circumstances (which were extremelllllly convenient) and she gets into an insta-relationship with one of them, a drummer who has a much personality as my rag carpet. The twists are dull and dumb, there was no actual climax, the writing was shallow and factual. At some point, it even felt like the Sims, when Layla was looking around trying to think how she should react, then acting when (someone clicked the mouse) gave her a creepy smile or look.

In short, I was all down for a good, quick-paced, exciting chick-lit romance that is at the very least written decently. I wouldn't even mind shallow characters and soapy romance stories, but dear author, don't make me read 300 where basically nothing happens. Please, and thank you.

Kind of Famous revolves around Layla, our main character who manages life between her passion music and her job working around famous people for a magazine. Layla at times, sounded immature for the her age depicted and the story has a lot of emotions, which i felt confusing sometimes. It was hard for me to keep reading and to get into the story. The other characters Jo and Shane were good and I really loved how supportive Jo was towards Layla. The ending was heartwarming. Honestly, the story has a lot of potential of being a good novel, but it fell rather short on the narration part.

This book has a lot of great things going on. The plot has a fun and fresh angle and I loved learning about online band fan sights. The characters are interesting and diverse. It’s got great pacing, sexy sex and many chapters that made me laugh, smile and seriously consider joining a fandom.

My only advice readers: leave your reality hats at the door because things fall into place pretty easily in the opening chapters for the MC. I.e. She walks into her first job, has a brief conversation with a stranger who invites her to live with her and her sexy famous musician boyfriend and shenanigans ensue.

That being said, some of the cutest books come from less than realistic premises (if every book was true to life, we’d be seriously lacking in the secret princess book section.)

If your looking for something light and fun (especially when life is not so), add this book to your read list.

Honestly, ended up not finishing the book. I read the first 10% and I couldn't stand the main character. She felt about a decade younger than she actually was, more like a girl in her young teens than a woman. While I was excited to read someone that was as part of the internet community and it affecting their real life, the way she almost felt like a spy on the group felt weird to me. It was also too unbelievable to me that the girlfriend of the rock star invited her to stay with them after knowing her for just a few hours. Who does that?

This is my first novel by Mary Ann Marlowe but I'm looking forward to reading more! The characters were likeable and well written, I loved the secondary characters as much as the main which makes for the best read! Layla and Shane are both great characters and so good together.

This book was so good! The characters were so well rounded, you felt like you actually knew them! The plot was so good you didn't want the book to end!

***Thank you to NetGalley and Mary Ann Marlowe. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own.***

I loved the premise of Kind of Famous, but unfortunately the story fell flat for me. Layla gets her dream job at a music magazine and tries to keep the band fan site she runs hidden. She struggles to find balance between the famous people she’s meeting and her secret pastime, especially with the drummer she’s falling for.

I’m a huge music fan and there was so much about Layla for me to relate to. Only strangely, I didn’t. Layla and Shane seem really immature for 28 and 31 respectively. Layla made bad choice after bad choice checking the board at work or while she was with Shane. Her priorities were so messed up. I really didn’t understand why her friend at the board, Ash, who was helping her run things couldn’t do the simplest thing like asking people to be respectful or locking a post to prevent further comments. She had to contact Layla every time. For that matter, why the heck did Layla always have her volume up on her phone, especially if she was trying to keep her online activities hidden? It was incredibly unprofessional to me, as was the taking time off so quickly into a new job and arriving late for the morning meetings. She wasn’t much better in her personal life. I get being a little starstruck when she meets famous bands, but there’s a difference between starstruck and ogling. And she did it in front of Shane numerous times.

Shane was no picnic either. His intensity came across as a bit much to me. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy, but also a bit of a smotherer. I thought his insecurities were well explained, but it was hard to overlook his enormous overreaction to finding out about Layla’s website. Maybe that was part of the problem for me. Everyone’s reactions seemed exaggerated, from Noah’s stormy behaviour and inappropriate, often mean comments, to Ash’s behaviour with regard to taking advantage of her connection to Layla, to Gabe’s ever-present come-ons, assumptions and insults, not to mention the depths he resorted to trying to get his way. It was all too much and made the story feel immature and slightly disjointed.

I really liked Jo. I liked how quickly she adopted Layla as part of her family and supported her unconditionally. I think she was my favourite character. I thought the ending was completely adorable, and loved that Shane and Layla came to terms with the situation independently, both doing what they could to make things better.

I got a copy of the book from Netgalley and here is my review.
This is my first book by Mary Ann Marlowe. It's definitely different than other romances nowadays. She makes it a lot more realistic by showing all the H and h faults and imperfections. I really enjoyed that. I'm getting so accustomed to these idealistic relationships where fights between the couple just serve to prove how perfect they are for each other and the h is always this perfect and sexy human being and the H is sexy, rich and moody. This book diverges from this model for sure. I guess there could be a little more balance between showing their personality faults and also making us believe in their love. I didn't believe the h liked the H that much. Their romance seemed like it was a stepping stone for her to find her true love in a few pages after. I don't know if that is a consequence of reading so much of the new model romances or if the story should have developed their relationship in a deeper way. Another thing that I noticed is that was never mentioned how she got the job at the magazine and what she used to work with before (maybe I missed it). We know she monetized her page, but the magazine didn't know she was the admin. Overall, I would give this book two stars. I intend to read more books by this author to make up my opinion about her writing style.

Thank you to Netgalley for the preview of this book. It was an okay read. I found the characters to be immature & very hard to relate to. It was hard to get into this book also as I felt the plot was slow & unrealistic

I was in a mini reading slump and this book pulled me out of it! I've read one of Ms. Marlowe's books before and I wasn't impressed by it but I was determined to give her books another chance and, oh boy, am I glad I did.
The story was interesting and kept me reading well into the night. I liked the heroine, Layla, but what really made this book a 5 star read for me was the hero, Shane. I really, really loved him. He's a breath of fresh air in the flood of aplha jerks authors try to convince us are romance heroes these days. He wasn't perfect and he definitely didn't have if figured out, but this flawed hero just did it for me. I fell IN LOVE with him. Layla was a great character too. I loved Layla and Shane as a couple. They were so similar in some aspect but at the same time so different. They were perfect for eachother. The chemistry between them was blatant. The building of the romance wasn't paced as good as it could be but that doesn't take much out of the story. Oh, and the grand gesture HEA ending was just what I wanted and needed.
Can I say it again? This book was really, really good! I loved reading it and I can't remember when was the last time I stayed up all night reading but I did for this book.

Thank you for allowing me to read a preview copy of this book.
I’m afraid it wasn’t for me though. I found Layla to be way too childlike and naive.
Not a book I enjoyed I’m afraid which is a shame as the description sounded as though it would be a book I would enjoy.

Thankyou for the ARC of this book.
This was a light easy read, but unfortunately one I will forget easily. I didnt connect with the characters and found Layla and Shane very immature.