Kelsey Rodkey has crafted a delightful high school romance that is realistic, which is a rare occurrence. The narrator is superb, masterfully crafting voices for each character so that they stand out and convey all the emotions of angsty teenagers. Saine and Holden were childhood best friends but grew apart as so many childhood friendships do, when fate brings them back together. If you are a fan of quintessential high school romances with cheerleaders and the quirky artsy quiet guy this is the one for you! Rodkey does a brilliant job of making each character engaging with full backstories and real complications. Listen to this book is you are an adult interested in YA or a teen looking for a YA romance this is a good selection for you!

A Disaster in Three Acts is a YA contemporary romance that follows Saine, an aspiring documentary filmmaker, and Holden, her childhood ex-friend and current nemesis. Saine has a chance to get into her dream program, but she needs to make a compelling documentary first. The only problem is, her subject is Holden, rom com drama ensues.

The book is full of snarky banter, awkward moments, and unresolved feelings. Saine and Holden have a lot of chemistry, but they also have a lot of baggage. Their relationship is complicated and messy, but also sweet and genuine. I really liked the family and friend themes from this book but, found some of the central documentary plot points brought me some secondhand embarrassment. Saine’s constant combination of ambition and manipulation of while important as a driving force in the plot didn’t feel grounded a lot of the time.

Overall, I would give this book 3.5 stars out of 5. It was a fun and entertaining read that will appeal to fans of rom-coms and friends-to-enemies-to-lovers.

Saine Sinclair’s ex-best friend has just become her current best friend’s ex-boyfriend. And in a wild turn of events, she’s partnering up with Holden (ex-best friend) for a documentary that she’s going to make.

One of the things that I enjoyed the most about this book was how connected the main character was to her grandma. That was something that I related to as someone who would live with her grandparents for a period of time before they passed away. I also am a huge sucker for second-chance romance. Or childhood friends to enemies to reluctant friends to lovers. I also love the way that this book incorporates games and film into the storyline.

This was a voicegalley so I cannot comment on the narration or the quality of the completed audiobook.

This felt like a typical high school to me, in the fact that it all felt normal. Teens not discussing their feelings or their troubles honestly, leading to misunderstanding and fall-outs of friendships/relationships. I love the story arc of the main character, there was a lot of growth shown as she learned how to communicate properly with the people in her life.

This was cute! I really enjoyed that the main character was plus size and a cheerleader but it wasn't a thing people harped on. I enjoyed the push pull relationship and it kept me entertained. I'll be sure to keep this author on my watch list.

This book was adorable. It helped me remember why I love YA so much!

This book is separated into three “acts” which lines up with Saine’s focus of creating a documentary. But when her plans go awry and she must pair up with her childhood-best-friend-turned-enemy, everything instantly becomes both more complicated and awkward.

To begin with, Saine has always liked Holden – until he rejected her when they were twelve. And then he ended up dating Saine’s best friend. And now they’re spending all of their time together and there are things neither of them has been courageous enough to talk about. But it’s hard to hide the truth when a camera is in your face.

I honestly loved Holden’s character – as well as his entire family (Mara needs her own book!!). Saine was the epitome of miscommunication and afraid of her own feelings and I was glad to see her grow up a bit by the end of the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. I was grateful to receive access to the audiobook from Harper Audio, but it was a text rendering and made it difficult to enjoy the story. I ended up buying the book and reading the rest of it on my own.

Oof. I had to pause this one more than once because I was so stressed by all of her poor choices! I kept screaming, GAH! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?! But also, it was a great depiction of grief in that sense because when you’re grieving, you have no concept of others, honestly. I did still enjoy it!

This was also autogenerated, so it was a little harder to get into, but I still enjoyed the story!

I loved the cute high school romcom that this turned into. What a cute title and the cover--I could die. I know so many students who will pick this title up just for that alone and will love the content inside!

I’m confused that it asked me about the narrator because it specifically told me it was just a robot narrator for the sake of reviewing the book. It wasn’t great narration for an actual audiobook if anyone needs to know. But they said that straight off, and I don’t think it’s actually something I’m supposed to review. Anyway, the concepts were fine via audio.

First off, it grew on me. I had a hard time connecting to it, but it could have been just a slow start. After some time I enjoyed being in Saine’s head. She kept messing up and lying “like a lying liar” (I loved that line), and that’s just the kind of thing you do. When you’re young or scared. Overall, a good lesson to learn, not to use your friends, not to think so selfishly, to look outside yourself, and really, to be honest. I also like that there is a slow forgiveness. It wasn’t a magical “all is well now.” It took time (is taking? It’s still being worked out for them) for them to fully trust her again. Which is realistic, and important in a YA story, And the slow fall romance was well done, in that they slowly liked each other more and more. Or had feelings and showed them more and more. In either case, it was believable. I liked it.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4
I love reading authors’ sophomore novels to see how they compare to their debuts! A lot of the things I loved from Kelsey’s first novel, Last Chance Books, were present in this book as well—a plus-sized main character, diversity, romance, friendships, and family drama.
Some key parts of the book:
Saine was very refreshing as a main character. I loved that Saine was fat, but this wasn’t a story about her being fat. It wasn’t a plot point or a big topic—she just was, and it was nice to see. She was also pretty selfish, which I had mixed feelings about. I liked seeing her be driven, and I enjoyed the way the story turned out, but I wasn’t always okay with her choices. And maybe that was the point. The whole thing seemed real, and it wasn’t an easy fix for her.
The romance was just… ok. Holden and Saine used to be friends before a spin the bottle mishap ruined their friendship. They end up spending time together unexpectedly, and we see their relationship change over time. But… I don’t know. It seemed like the shift just came out of nowhere? But! That could be because I listened to a voice galley of this, and I tend to space out at some parts so take that with a grain of salt.
Aside from the romance, I loved the other relationships in this book, especially the family relationships. Saine and her mother are grieving the loss of Saine’s grandmother, and we got to see how they both handled that. I also loved Juniper, Mara, and Kayla, Saine’s interactions with them, and their personalities.
I didn’t totally love Saine’s friendship with Corrine… It was kind of messed up and sort of toxic? Like Corrine seemed to unintentionally hold all the power in the friendship. I liked reading it because it was different, but I wish there was more of a resolution with this.
If you liked Last Chance Books, I definitely recommend picking this one up!
Thank you Harper Collins and Netgalley for the ARC!

Rodkey does witty banter like no one else! This book was even funnier than her debut and readers who loved Last Chance Books will devour this one. I loved the clever premise and how the characters felt like real, relatable teens. I'll read everything by this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

A Disaster in Three Acts fell flat for me. I'm not sure if it was the synthesized narration or just that the story did not grab my attention. The friends to enemies then back to friends romcom usually entertains me, but sadly this was just okay for me.

A Disaster in Three Acts is super cute and relatable to young adults. Saine having to make a documentary with her ex best friend to get in to college even after he humiliated her at a party and is now also her best friend's ex-boyfriend turned into a really good premise for a book. These teens dealing with real life grief, loss and illness makes it even better. The banter between the characters is hilarious and there is so much heart interwoven amongst the teenage angst as they try to process their emotions. Enjoyable story by a new to me author.

I'm looking forward to hearing the audio again this time with a real narrator, although the computer generated narration was not bad at all.

Thanks to NetGalley/Voice Galley and the publisher for this advanced audio copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harperteen for the advanced reading copy of "A Disaster in Three Acts" by Kelsey Rodkey. I am new to this author but did hear some buzz about their prior book "Last Chance Books" so I was eager to give this a-go.

I enjoy the escapism that young adult and stories about young adults provides. This story transported me to my more awkward high school days and allowed me to sit on a perch and watch as Saine navigates feelings, emotion, and ambition. I found myself cheering (pun intended) for her throughout.

While to story bounced around a little, and at times issues were wrapped up a little to easily-i reminded myself its fiction and to let go and enjoy the story.

I absolutely loved this book. I thought it was fun and sweet and sad - so many emotions all wrapped up in this incredible YA rom-com.

Saine is frustrating and flawed, but so real, trying to deal with tough situations and tougher decisions.

I loved Holden and thought his character was so loveable - the perfect love interest.

Will definitely read Kelsey Rodkey again.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!

It was cute - I wish I didn't have to listen to the robot generated audiobook, otherwise it's a nice story that I might give a chance in the future if I have a copy of the book, or better audiobook.

The narrator on this audio book wasn't that great, it sounded very robotic and the voice didn't match what I had envisioned the narrator to sound like in this book.

For a girl who is supposed to go to college next year, the main character is extremely immature, She is also manipulative, and her story just feels exhausting. I stopped at 60%. I wouldn't recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for the ARC.

I really shouldn't do these reviews so far after reading them. This was okay. I appreciated the use of band and the theater kids and how they worked together to achieve their goals.

DNF for me. I couldn't connect with any of the characters or any part of the story. I normally like YA, especially as a middle school teacher, but this wasn't the book for me.