I love romantic comedies, and this novel grabbed my attention. Ellie is a writer/tv producer that is forced to go back to her high school reunion, even though she hated high school. This novel kept me guessing about what was coming next. I always enjoy a slow burn with a second-chance romance. I liked Mark, but sometimes it felt like Ellie was a little mean. This was the first novel I have read by this author, and I liked it.

As someone who absolutely does not under any reason want to go back to their high school reunion I was really hoping for the drama but honestly I wasn't feeling much of that. I really wanted to like this book but I kinda struggled to get through it and started to not like the MC. I wanted a look-how-successful-I-am vibes but it just felt very forced. I did like the backstory with her ex-bff Roxy, that would be a really cool story. It wasn't my cup of tea but it is worth the read if you are also dreading high school reunions!

ARC REVIEW
Ellie is Cool Now by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

A funny romcom about revisiting past mistakes.

❤️ Ellie hated high school. But when she begrudgingly goes to her ten year reunion as a work assignment with a list of tasks to complete, she finds that maybe revisiting the past isn’t all that bad.

This was a cute, quick read. Here’s what I liked:

❤️ The list with all its associated antics. Each task ends with some funny situations.

❤️ Reconnecting with past mistakes. Ellie is a person who shuts down when dealing with love. This plays out with her high school crush, Mark. She learned and grew a lot. It was nice to see her on that journey.

All in all, this was an enjoyable read. There were some things I wish were fleshed out a little more but it was super enjoyable!

Thank you to the author and publisher for the ARC book in exchange for an honest review.

Release date: 3/21

Ellie Is Cool Now by Victoria Fulton & Faith McClaren is a funny, super cute read.

In high school Ellie was an outsider, always kept a low-profile and had the biggest crush on Mark Wright, a boy who probably didn't even know her name.
Fast forward ten years later, Ellie is living in Los Angeles, trying to write a show about cool kids in high school. When an invite comes for her high school reunion.
She naturally doesn't want to go, but maybe this could help spark something that's been missing with her writing since she has been struggling to create.
Her boss gives her a proposition: go to her reunion or lose the biggest break of her career forever.
Ellie gives in and returns to the school set on finding friends, pleasure and to prove to Mark that Ellie of officially cool now!

So I had too much fun reading Ellie Is Cool Now.
Fulton and McClaren really came together and showed up here.
The characters, the setting, the story were all so wonderful.
Truly a perfect and light read
The pace was steady and characters were well-developed.
They created a witty and fun story. One I really could not put it down.
A cute and entertaining contemporary romance read!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Forever,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC!

Ellie is cool now is a book about redemption and growth!

When we graduate high school and life continues on it doesn’t always mean everyone moves on and grows up. Some hurts are so deep they last. Some bonds are so strong that time can not sever them, and some people are such huge jerks that they will always remain huge jerks!

Ellie at some points was her own worst enemy but isn’t that all of us when it comes to doubts. She’s very critical of her peers but she has every right to be. She’s cautious a guarded but the whole point of her “assignment” is to grow and I feel that at the end of it all she did grow. She did things outside of her norm and truly got to see those around her for who they are!

In the end new connections were made and old bonds were healed.

I’m a marketing and publicity intern at Forever Publishing, so I am reading this for work! Aaaaaaand there's a character limit on reviews here are some more words

I really enjoyed this story! Everyone can relate to dreading a high school reunion, so I really related to this. I didn't find myself liking Roxy as a side character but she wasn't in the story enough for it to affect me. Overall, I really liked it!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy. This is a really fast read. Concept is rather cliche with a bit of a twist: person doesn’t enjoy high school and high tale’s it out of town asap after graduating to not look back. Twist: for a job promotion, boss makes person go to 10-year reunion.

What ensues is a list of things to “accomplish” with some of the superlatives from the class as well as reconnecting with the HA crush. Again, many cliches that occur. Felt that a lot of what occurred was obvious that it was about to happen in the pages so nothing was surprising. But if you are looking for something that is light and easy to pass your time, this is a quick book to do that.

I got a free copy on NetGalley.

This book centers on Ellie, a writer for a popular teen show set in high school. She loves being a writer but doesn’t love her current project and her writing has started suffering. Her boss finds out that she has an upcoming high school reunion and tells her that she needs to go or she won’t get a promotion. She tells her two closest friends and coworkers about this and they create a list of tasks she must complete while there. Her boss finds out and agrees. The last item on the list involves her high school crush Mark. Which leads to the romance.

I liked Mark just fine but Ellie was not my favorite character. She was pretty mean to just about everyone. The whole conflict centered on her being afraid to face reality and just wanting to live in her fantasy. So thinking about dating Mark was fine but actually trying to date him was not. Instead, she would purposely be mean to him. When she was in high school, fine, but as a 28 year old, it felt super immature of her. I also just don’t really see them together. They felt more like friends to me than romantic interests.

I also didn’t love her ex best friend storyline. Roxy was not a great person and the ‘reasoning’ behind that was the fact that her family life was really bad. I hate when books use the bad upbringing as the reason a person is mean, hateful, etc. to everyone around them. There are so many people that have horrible childhoods that are good people. I think I would’ve enjoyed this book more if Roxy had been left behind in the high school flashbacks.

Ellie Is Cool Now by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren is a new contemporary fiction that kept my interest throughout.

This is an entertaining book that is part romance, part Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion, part bucket list, and part second chances of sorts. Ellie Jenkins is the center character in this narrative that sees her returning to her past for a multitude of reasons.

What she finds when she returns to LA is more than just an opportunity of sorts for her career…she is able to sift through what matters in life, what she wants, and where she belongs.

3.5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Forever ( Grand Central Publishing) for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 3/21/23.

I was excited about the premise of this book, but I felt like the execution of it was lacking. The premise is that Ellie is a writer for a popular TV show about teens in high school , but the problem is that she hated her own high school experience. As a way to boost her writing so she can be promoted at work, her boss encourages her to attend her 10 year high school reunion as research for her writing. Her two friends come up with a list of 10 things called 'Ellie Is Cool Now' that she has to complete at the reunion, When she gets to her hometown, she runs into her high school crush, Mark, and she feels a spark with him again.

This is where the story started to lose me. Mark spends time with Ellie before the reunion, but at the reunion, he shows up with his ex-fiancee, Liz. They have been broken up for 1 week only, but they still live together. Even though Mark and Liz ended their engagement, I couldn't get behind a romance with Mark and Ellie because it felt too soon, and it was too close to cheating for me.

I did enjoy the part of the story with Ellie reuniting with her childhood best friend, Roxy. She felt like a very real character, and I liked the parts of the book with the two of them.

Overall, I think it's a fun premise, but the execution could have been better. I wasn't rooting for the romance of this book because of Mark's backstory, and this made it hard to feel the emotion of the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever for an ARC of this book.

I really wanted to like this book. The premise looked cool - I mean, what non-rock-star graduate hasn't wanted to go back and show how successful they've become with life? But instead I found myself hating pretty much everyone in the story...for the most part, they haven't grown up and are still the same selfish teens they were a decade ago. Good idea, but very poorly executed.

I really enjoyed this book! It gave me “never been kissed” vibes. This was a laugh out loud book! I loved every moment!

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and #NetGalley. Thank you to the publishers, NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.


Charming, witty and quite relatable.

2.5/5 ☆

Ellie is a writer for a popular TV show. When she gets the chance to become co-producer, she knows she can't say no when her boss forces her to attend her high school reunion. One stipulation: she hated high school.

This was okay. The plot was interesting enough, the writing was good and managed to keep me engaged throughout the entire book. I just ended up not really liking anyone in... FMC is 28, but is immature and not likeable because of the decisions she makes throughout the book. MMC was boring and the backstory with him gave me the ick. The storyline with Ellie's bestfriend, Roxy, was probably the most interesting part of this book, but it was also so ambiguous that I felt left with unanswered questions.

Tropes:
-Small town
-Second chance
-Friends to lovers
-Forced proximity

I was excited to get this ARC, because it seemed like a cool premise. I left the novel feeling really underwhelmed and disliking the heroine. As someone who dreaded my high school reunions, I completely understand Ellie's hesitance to go back and put herself through the paces, and that's about where the relatability ends. I am someone who didn't thrive in high school at all and still hasn't thrived in adulthood. In fact, I feel more like Roxy (minus the addiction) than the lead. Ellie just comes across as whiny, selfish brat for most of the story.

The shining point of the novel for me is the friendship between Ellie and Roxy and that to me should've been the true "love story" of the book.

The entire Mark story made me feel icky, especially considering what he did to Liz and how cruel and selfish Ellie was. I don't even know if the authors are supposed to make us want to root Ellie during the scene where Liz catches them, but I can guarantee, that was one internal thought process that made me hate Ellie and made me root against their romance from that point forward. It's also why I couldn't give this story above a 2. Mark and Ellie are completely unrootable in this novel.

I received this novel for free from NetGalley for an honest review.