Typecast (𝐞𝐀𝐑𝐂) — 2.5 ⭐️

𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: September 13th

𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: Sadly, I felt like the book was only okay. The story dragged, and it didn’t pull me in. Plus, there were some comments that were made that did not sit well with me. Overall, I didn’t connect with the characters, and I wasn’t excited to keep reading.

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐟 —
👩‍🏫 You enjoy being a teacher
🎨 You’re an artsy person
👗 You rarely treat yourself to nice clothes
💕 You have a love/dislike relationship with your sister
😰 You wouldn’t know how to handle your ex writing a movie about you

𝐓𝐖: infidelity, miscarriage, divorce

Thank you, NetGalley and Girl Friday Productions, for providing me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a little out of my typical genre, I don’t usually read a lot of women’s fiction. I thought overall this was a good book and enjoyed reading it. It still isn’t my favorite genre of books, but I want to keep expanding and reading more of it. I thought when I read the synopsis that it sounded like a good one to read and wanted to see what would happen.

The book was a dual timeline, Before and After. I liked how mainly you are getting the current story of Callie’s life, but then you see some glimpses of her past relationship with her ex and how that is shaping how her life is now. Even with the look into the past the story still flowed well and I think it was a good edition. The story is more about Callie figuring out what she wants next in life and not so much about Romance, even if she finds some on the way it isn’t the main focal point of the story. Instead, it to me seems more than Callie is finally looking at her life and how she doesn’t want what happened in the past to keep controlling how her life is now. I think a lot of people can relate to that in real life, even if in different circumstances than what Callie was in.

The characters were pretty well written. I like Callie, although sometimes I wanted to be like stop doing what you are doing and get with it. However, I also felt her who wouldn’t get annoyed with a date that constantly was leg jiggling the entire time?! Her sister made me sometimes want to be like stop being so harsh and putting your sister down, but in the end, I think the experience was good for both of them and they grew closer. I thought it was cool that there is even the supporting character of a child’s parent from her class and how she is helping that family out during a tough time. Of course, I liked Ben right away and was definitely rooting for them.

I think overall this was a fun read and I am glad that I got the opportunity to read it before it was released. Definitely check it out when you are able to buy it.

I love it when Bookstagrammers become authors! This was a perfect debut. I loved Callie and her growth throughout this book. Can you imagine your ex writing a screenplay about your breakup? Mine would actually be hilarious…

Through dual timelines - before and after- we get to see Callie and Ethan’s relationship but most importantly how Callie grew. There were just enough characters that I could keep up with. Callie was definitely a funny character because her inner thoughts had me cracking up in the middle of the night. Ben was also a great character and I’m glad he was a love interest. His maturity was greatly appreciated!

Nina, what a sister! I feel like having a sister like Nina would also make me go crazy but she did have her good moments and that’s what matters. In the end, she was a decent sister to Callie and helped her grow.

In the dual timelines, Ethan was a prominent character. I hated him even before I knew where it all went wrong. I saw snippets of his controlling behavior and how Callie lacked confidence in telling him no. The “adult” version of Ethan was just as annoying. It was sad to know that he never changed and I truly hoped he did. The sad reality is that some people don’t realize that they are the bad person.

In books like this where the past matters so much I’m glad it wasn’t disappointing. It broke my heart to see Callie suffering in silence and she was mature to end a relationship that was causing her pain.

I enjoyed the writing and as a debut, I think this is pretty fantastic! I hope I get to read more of Stein’s works and I hope she continues writing. I recommend this to everyone in their 30s but honestly, this should be read by everyone who is starting out their adulthood.

Normally, I am not a fan of cheesy romance but surprisingly, I enjoyed reading this book a lot!

Callie Dressler is a thirty one year old pre school teacher. When her ex-boyfriend Ethan from college is making a movie based on Callie's relationship with Ethan, Callie is suddenly facing her own issues as to why she cannot move forward.

The story divides between the present when Callie is living with her pregnant sister Nina and Michael and Zoe and how Nina parrots Callie that she needs to grow up and make her own decision and the past, when Callie was dating Ethan in college. The story starts getting interesting towards the middle, when Ethan gives her a choice of moving to the west with him, after graduating from college, which might be the reason as to why their relationship suddenly ended. And there are some funny parts in the book as well as real life situation, Callie's relationship with her sister and of couse with her overprotective mother and I actually liked the ending. Each character has a unique personality and I really like all the characters in the story, which actually made me enjoy the book more.

So if you are looking for a fun read romance, Typecast is highly recommended--worth 4.5 stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

What would you do if your ex boyfriend from college wrote a movie about your relationship? No thank you sir. I would die. But that’s the basic premise here, so I knew I had to read this and find out how Callie would handle things because I know I would not handle it well myself. This flips back and forth between the present day and back when Callie and Ethan dated all through college and you slowly find out what went wrong in their relationship. I really had no idea how this would end and that’s always a fun bonus in a non mystery/thriller read. As much as Callie’s old relationship is a catalyst for things that happen in the book it’s about way more than an old romance. There’s some family drama and interesting dynamics between her and her sister Nina. It was truly about Callie herself and her path to letting go of the past and finally being able to move on with her life. It gave me Camille Pagan vibes at times so if you like her books definitely give this a try!

3.5 ⭐️’s rounded up!
I thought this debut novel was really well done. In this novel our main character Callie is a preschool teacher who discovers years after their break up her ex, Ethan, has written a movie based on their lives together. I related a lot to Callie’s job as a preschool teacher and I’m really happy to have had that to be a part of the storyline. Typecast is a story about self discovery and I enjoyed seeing Callie grow throughout this book as well.

Thank you to the author for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Callie is a 31 year old who is living in her parents' house (sans her parents) in the suburbs of NJ when she finds out her ex from college has written a screenplay for a movie that is about to come out -- based in large part of their failed relationship. This story navigates Callie's emotions as she grapples with love/love lost, family dynamics, what it means to be single and 31, and regrets. Overall this book is enjoyable but nothing about it overly wowed. I was a little put off that the tense changes from third person to first person throughout the novel, and feel that could have been more consistent. Also there is a lot of description of day to day/mundane stuff that I didn't think was needed, but without it I think the book would have been about 100 to 150 pages shorter. Maybe that would have been okay?

The characters are pretty great -- at least Callie, Nina, Zoe, Michael, Ethan, Ben, and Tess seem well developed. I kept forgetting how Jenna fit into the picture, and there were a couple of others in the beginning that I was like "Who?" This is not an overly steamy book, and has more YA kinds of romance scenes, which I was fine with. Very much "heavy petting and then we crossed the edge" sort of stuff. But that's not the point of this book. The point is more finding yourself and asking "is someone the one who got away or not". I do feel that the reveal for why Ethan and Callie broke up in college took a bit too long to get to (85% mark). And it's a bit of a doozie.

If you're looking for more of a coming of age in your 30s with friends and family, this will serve that. Trigger warnings for cheating and miscarriage/challenging pregnancies.

𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 |
𝗨𝗽𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗿!

Callie thought she'd put her past where it belonged - behind her. But when her ex-boyfriend, Ethan, brings their break up to the big screen, she can no longer deny that their history has been looming over her all along.

I was approached by @ajstein to read an advanced copy of her debut novel “Typecast” and I'm so glad I did! I absolutely love to champion a new author and this book was just a delight to read!

Told in a dual timeline, I thought it was really interesting how the past chapters were written in the first person and the “now” in third person. It felt like Callie's character struggled to identify with herself in the present. She was more of a closed book, her life stagnant since the break-up ten years ago.

She lives rent-free in the house she grew up in with her parents, wears the same clothes she wore 10 years ago, eats like a college student and finds any little excuse to not see a date again. And quite frankly, her family and friends have had enough of it. They don't know why she broke up with Ethan but it's clear to them that Callie is still hung up on him, despite her protestations.

Soon, Callie is thinking that maybe she needs to go back in order to move forward..

Reminiscent of a Paige Toon/ Heidi Swain romance, it was beautifully written and I loved the story, the characters and the love interests.

It was well paced, left me wanting to read more and I binged this in two sittings!

If you love a light romance read then you'll want to give this one a try! Typecast will be released on the 13th September!

TW: miscarriage

Quick, fun read! I felt that the author gave a lot of insight into Callie and Ethan’s relationship. Also liked the satisfying conclusion.

This was a good story that seemed like it was going to be about second-chance love, but was really about finding yourself and coming to terms with your past and present - who you are and what you actually want.
Overall, an enjoyable and fast read.
Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are any own.

3.5 rounded up
I loved the dual timeline.
I was drawn in and couldn’t stop reading even when I got frustrated with the characters.
Those Sleepless in Seattle references-loved it!

Spoilers ahead…
At the beginning I thought this was going to be a second chance story, but as the “Before” timeline progressed I started really hoping she wouldn’t get back with Ethan.
It wasn’t so much a love story, but a story of someone making the right decision, carrying out the decision in a way that wasn’t great, and therefor feeling guilty about all of it for years-both the decision and the method. And the ending? Perfect. .

I’m sorry that I didn’t love this book as much I’d hoped to, I found it very hard to feel connected to the characters.

Wowowow I put off reading this because the cover was kind of meh but omg I did not expect this story. Callie’s been living in her parents home rent free for 7 years and she’s happy, she thinks. When her pregnant sister and her family moves in while their house is being remodeled and she finds out that her ex boyfriend wrote a movie based on their relationship Callie is forced to reconcile with the fact that being content and being happy May not be quite the same thing.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this story.

I loved this book for many reasons, but especially how it depicts the characters as human; flaws and all. Some of the flashbacks were a bit jarring but overall a good story.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

Love, love, LOVE this book!  I was hooked within the first few pages.  The characters and the writing is so relatable and honest.  I felt like I KNEW these people.  Loved the exploration of family dynamics and the theme of making peace with yourself and your past.  A wonderful journey from start to finish!  Can't wait to read more from this author!

Read if you:
--Still think about your first love
--Have a complicated relationship with your sister
--Like hunky architects and witty banter
--Have ever felt a bit stuck in life and unsure how to get out of your comfort zone
--Have had an ex write a screenplay about your breakup
--Have a brother-in-law who's a total tool

At the beginning of the book, I was very invested in finding out what happened with Ethan and Callie. But as the book went on and the red flags about Ethan kept popping up, I became more invested in the Callie of the present and her budding attraction to Architect Ben. I think Stein did a good job of taking the reader along this journey with Callie as she discovered that the past she can't get over is holding her back from being truly happy in the present. I loved the ending too.

Thank you to Net Galley, Girl Friday Books, and Andrea J Stein for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

What would you do if your ex-boyfriend wrote a movie about your breakup? That is what Callie Dressler has to figure out in Andrea J. Stein's Typecast. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book through Andrea and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Callie seems to have finally figured out the rhythm of her life. Is it ideal that she lives in her parents' empty house (while they live their retirement out in Florida)? No. But she loves her job and is generally happy with her life. That is, until her Type-A pregnant sister Nina and Nina's husband and four year old daughter move into the house with Callie while theirs is being remodeled. To make matters worse, her college boyfriend Ethan's feature film debut is coming...and the movie seems to be about their tumultuous breakup the summer after college ten years prior. Now Callie has to revisit her previous relationship with Ethan and work through any lingering feelings while trying to figure out what she wants out of life (and dating) in the present.

The premise of this story completely hooked me the second I read it. I mean, could you imagine your dirty laundry being aired out on the big screen like that? I would die.

The more I read of the story, the more I could relate to Callie. At one point, I messaged Andrea and (jokingly) asked if she had been stalking me and if Callie was actually based on me (she's definitely not, but the similarities made me chuckle). While she can be incredibly frustrating at times, I felt like that added to the relatability factor.

Callie's sister Nina is marketed as Type-A and I don't know if I've ever met a more Type-A character in my life. It's easy to feel the tension between Callie and Nina because they have such different temperaments and, at times, I really disliked Nina. But as with all good characters, Nina is fully fleshed out and isn't defined by her need to control every situation.

Throughout the story, it is made clear that Callie never told anyone (including Ethan) why she broke up with him, which of course caused me to create theories in my mind. As time went on, I felt I had a very solid theory of how the story would end, but I was pleasantly surprised when it is finally revealed. I love a good surprise!

The story is told from the POV of Callie and jumps from the past to the present, which worked really well with progressing the story forward. However, the chapters that take place in the past are written in the first person and the chapters that take place in the present are written in the third person. I thought maybe there would be some deeper meaning for this choice, but nothing stands out to me after having completed the book. That's not to say that there isn't some deeper meaning, but I personally did not feel that it was necessary to switch between the two (and it's entirely possible there is a deeper meaning that I just did not pick up on).

All of the relationships in this story were believable and felt very grounded in reality. Each character (including side and supporting characters) felt fleshed out and like a person I could just meet off the street. The story flowed smoothly (though there's some slow burn and I didn't know I hated slow burn until this moment because I am the most impatient human in the world) and the ending was incredibly satisfying.

Typecast is available for preorder now and hits shelves September 13, 2022.

𝔸ℝℂ 𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨
ℙ𝕌𝔹 𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝟡/𝟙𝟛/𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟚
𝙏𝙮𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙩
by Andrea J. Stein

Trigger Warning 🚨🚨
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

.

Miscarriage and cheating on a partner


I really enjoyed this dual-timeline plot of Callie coming to terms with the break up of her college love and the new movie he has written about their relationship. I found the snippets of their relationship to be relatable and helped to understand everything that led to the break up. I really connected with and identified with Callie. I think it can be so easy to lose ourselves in a relationship and not even know it happened. The book really surprised me with just how close it was to "regular life" and situations that we would/could encounter but yet I was so drawn into Callie's life. From her family life, to her job, friends, dating, and dealing with her own guilt and self discovery. It was relatable but easy to escape into the book. The plot and the characters felt unique, but felt so familiar, which I loved. I found that I couldnt put it down and was so excited to pick it back up!

10 years ago Callie broke up with her college boyfriend. Now she finds out he wrote a movie that is seemingly about their breakup.

😬😬😬

I hate to say it, but I did not enjoy this like I had hoped that I would. I went in thinking this would be more of a romcom, but this ended up being a coming of age story (which I'm not really a fan of). On top of that, I really struggled to like Callie and found her kind of annoying.

Overall, the book just isn't memorable.

The author reached out to me and sent me a copy of her new book! After reading the synopsis I couldn’t say no! Typecast is a novel about Callie who is in her thirties and working as a teacher when she finds out that her ex boyfriend from college wrote a movie about their breakup! Overall I enjoyed this book. It’s a women’s fiction coming of age story told in dual timelines. I liked watching Callie find herself and let the struggles of her past go. Not my usual genre I go for but this was enjoyable.