I saw this on a fellow Bookstagram page and had to get it and am so glad I did. As a huge fan of Daisy Jones, I was hoping this one would be a little deeper for me but in that same musical vein and it was! I loved this powerful book.
This book follows Cassidy Holmes from the start of her music career to her success with a pop girl group. Cassidy battles her insecurities and the loss of her true self. I loved the darker content this book had and how it wasn't afraid to dig deep into the abusive world of pop stardom.

Thanks to Netgalley for my advanced ebook copy.

Dealt with some triggers for me but I LOVE the cover and it was very well done. However, I can’t give it my full rating as it’s again, got triggers for me that I couldn’t deal with...

I love books with plots about the entertainment industry - Hollywood, rock stars, or reality tv are going to be an automatic interest for me.

I received a @netgalley for The Unravelling of Cassidy Holmes from @harpercollins and @williammorrowbooks, and boy did the plot make me excited.

✅ POP Girl Group famous in the 2000’s
✅ Reality TV program
✅ Drama, infighting, relationship chaos
✅Famous people behaving badly
✅ Tabloids and Paparazzi

This book had all the crazy that I love about famous people’s lives, plus some really impactful themes around teenage pressure, depression and the consequences of living a public life.

My only minor flag in this one is that the ending felt rushed. I would have loved another chapter looking out 3 months (I am that person who loves full closure).

Great read (I finished in 2 days!!), especially if you love a good music industry drama!

Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers/William Morrow Paperbacks + NetGalley for the ARC!*

From the time I read the blurb, I've been DYING to read this book. It was a little bit Daisy Jones & The Six with a dash of #freebritney and it's exactly what you want in a book about a pop star.

This is a story mostly about Cassidy - aka: Sassy Gloss, of one of the biggest girl groups to ever happen - and is told in both the past and present day. The majority of the book is told from Cassidy's perspective, but we get POVs from her Gloss group members and a few surrounding people, creating a super robust narrative. Honestly, I loved this book. The character development is there, we get to see the ups and downs of stardom, and (especially right now, with #freebritney taking off again) it feels almost too realistic.

I also deeply appreciated the trigger warning placed at the beginning of the book letting readers know that the story features physical and sexual abuse. I often see those warnings on book reviews, but don't often see them placed where every reader will see them, and it was appreciated!

This was a really good book. I read it in a few hours because I couldn't put it down. The characters felt real and, despite knowing how the story ended, I really rooted for Cassidy. I do feel though, however, that the book could have been a little longer to wrap up some loose ends.

The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes is a strong novel that delves into the manipulative and abusive world of pop stardom. It follows the career of “Sassy” Cassidy Holmes from her start on a singing competition reality show and subsequent success with girl group, Gloss. Ever the outsider, Cassidy battles her insecurities, misplaced trust, and loss of her “true self”. The book has a cinematic quality to it and mirrors the dark side of pop culture: tabloid rumors, paparazzi, #metoo, and duplicity at every turn. I recommend it for fans of the novels, Daisy Jones and the Six, or Grown. Some readers may struggle with darker content, multiple narrators, and a nonlinear timeline.
Rating: 4.5 stars

Advanced copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger warnings: abuse, depression, suicide, eating disorders

If Daisy Jones and The Six is Vh1, then The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes is MTV. They’re both told from multiple viewpoints and feature musical groups, but that’s about where the similarities end. And, as someone who lost a friend last year to suicide, this quote at the end really got me... “It’s just, her mind fought against her. Had it been another day, if she hadn’t felt a certain despair already, if Penny hadn’t died of old age, if she’d read a different book, if she’d heard a different song on the radio, would she have reconsidered her plan? Would she still be here now?” A great read and one you’ll fly through to find out why Cassidy Holmes unraveled.

A Spice Girl-like pop group falls apart in this novel about the continuing cost of fame.

The author skillfully conveys the distrust, danger, and betrayal that isolate talented singers unprepared for dizzying success. The late-1990s details seem realistic.

A central relationship comes out of nowhere (from half a book of hostility to instant intimacy), and non-linear narration undercuts suspense.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

17 year old Cassidy is talked into auditioning for a reality singing show by her good friends. Coming in second she realizes she likes performing and wants to do so for a living. Cassie’s big break comes a few months later as she’s tapped to be the 4th member of the girls group GLOSS. But the reality is nothing like the fantasy as she’s pushed to diet and exhaustion and constant travel in order for the group to make it. And they do, becoming the hottest pop group on the planet along with everything that encompasses. But instead of joy, their fame brings nothing but problems for her.
The story opens with Cassie’s suicide fifteen years after walking away from the group in the middle of tour with no explanation and at the height of their fame. Told in alternating times, the present, and at the start of their career through the eyes of all 4 of the girls, we find out what happened back then.
I found it a very sad book with all four of the girls and those surrounding them, ( except for Emily their assistant) selfish. I felt sorry for Cassies depression but the book leaves you with a huge gap between the time Cassie left the group and fifteen years later that never adequately explained what was going on in her life during those years and why she still felt the need to commit suicide.

This book was definitely interesting and I found myself weirdly attached to learning more about Cassidy but also really enjoying Merry's perspective more than the other girls even though they each played such a unique and different role in Cassidy's life. I just think the chapters could've been shorter when I felt like I was getting such little information in them and even though it starts of with the death of Cassidy 15 years after the end of the the girl group "Gloss". But it felt like it took too long to get to the funeral and to the end of the story.