Lilah and Shane met while auditioning for a paranormal television show. Their instant chemistry made them shoe ins for the main roles, but when their short lived relationship ended, it made life on set complicated. So much so that Lilah walked away at the height of the show’s success. Returning to film the final season Lilah opens the door to a second shot at love. Will this be their happily ever after, or will it solidify they were never meant to be in the first place?

I was privileged enough to read Wilder’s debut novel How to Fake it in Hollywood back in 2021. While I enjoyed her first book, this second one far outweighed my wildest expectations!!!

Wilder returned with another sexy, steamy romance. The chemistry between Lilah and Shane was so palpable, it was jumping off the pages. Their love hate relationship had me guessing if they could rekindle their romance all the way till the epilogue. I truly had no idea how the story would end and it made for an addictive read.

While I picked this book up for the romance, I stayed for the mental health representation. Wilder chose to have Lilah, the main female protagonist, struggle with anxiety. Being extremely shy as a child and getting bullied at school led her to attend therapy. In fact, Lilah only started acting at the advice of her therapist. As someone who struggles with mental health, anxiety in particular, I loved getting to see this represented.

Special thanks to Netgalley, Random House Publishing (Ballantine Dell), and Ava Wilder for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

ava wilder has become an instant buy author for me as everything i’ve read from her i’ve absolutely devoured! this was so fun and i was obsessssssed with the fmc and mmc

For me, this was just an okay romance! I think the celebrity romance trope is always a fun world to spend some time in, since it’s so different from most of our everyday lives. I liked Shawn and Lilah, but I didn’t find myself head over heels for them or their relationship. I think the audio unfortunately played a role in that for me - petition to use both narrators in all chapters for dual POVs! I just couldn’t get over the male narrator doing Lilah’s lines in Shawn’s chapters.

I would say I still enjoyed this story, a little less so than How to Fake it in Hollywood, but will still pick up Ava Wilder’s next work!

Thank you to Ballantine Books + NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

this book did not disappoint. What a fun story, entertaining from start to finish. Thank you for my copy in exchange for a review.

Cuties! I loved the story and this romance! I really enjoyed reading it and hope to read more by Ava Wilder.

Thank you NetGalley and Ava Wilder!

I love Ava Wilder. This book was steamy and fun and had great tension. I loved the “hold and candle” comments. The ending!!! Emotional. The audiobook was fantastic and it was a super fun listen. Not a lot more to say, it wasn’t anything revolutionary but if you like contemporary romance you’ll like this one!
Overall I did like How to Fake It in Hollywood a little bit more, but just a little bit.

I personally was not a fan of this book. I found it to be boring and really hard to get into. It was light and easy to read though, and it contained aspects that were enjoyable and fun. It was just overall not for me but I would recommend it to people who want a light book.

Ava Wilder does it again! I'm not a lover of second-chance romances, but I actually really enjoyed this one. I usually feel like the reason for the breakup was justified and the characters would be happier apart forever, but this time around I was wrong. I loved getting to jump into a celebrity romance where the characters in the books are kind of mirroring the characters they play in the show they work on. Rekindling of a romance on and off screen? Electric! I really hope this isn't Wilder's last celebrity romance! I need more, please.

I found this story to be very enjoyable to read. I loved the mixture of the Second Chance romance and Enemies to lovers, as well as that there was not 3rd act break up. When I got past the 75/80% mark and realized that I finally read a book without a breakup in the third quarter of the story I was elated. The characters were funny, relatable, and lovable.

Lilah and Shane are the stars of a hit TV show that’s captivated viewers. When Lilah leaves after a few successful seasons, rumors fly about her possible involvement with Shane. Convinced to return for the final season of the show, Lilah will have to face Shane and their past.

The most charming, easy to devour rom com! I flew through this as I was captivated by the will they, won’t they of this story. Prepare to be taken for a literary ride as more and more secrets of Lilah and Shane’s history are revealed page after page.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for a fair review.

This book was adorable! I love stories involving fictional famous people, so I was pretty easy to please, but this book exceeded my expectations. The characters were interesting and their interactions were fun to watch. I loved reading about when they were filming the show, and the drama that ensued. I thought that the alternating timelines was helpful to give context to Shane and Lilah's conflict, and by the end of the book I was really invested in their relationship. I could read another book about what happens next, but I also like how this book ended. Thank you to NetGalley and Dell for this ARC!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book. Lilah and Shane were so well fleshed out and the reasons for their relationship issues felt grounded and not contrived. I appreciated that both characters put in the work to overcome their respective trust and commitment issues and didn't just "get over" them. My biggest issue with this book was the pacing, particularly the first third of the story. It definitely took me a while to get into the story and feel invested in the characters, but once I did, I very much enjoyed the story.

⭐⭐⭐/5

• celebrity romance
• second chance/enemies to lovers
• miscommunication

I really enjoyed the Hollywood setting and getting a behind-the-scenes look into the industry. For a rom com, it dragged/felt a little long to me and it was a little too angsty for my liking.

🗣️ Thank you to @netgalley and Random House/Ballantine for the opportunity to read and review this book via gifted eARC! All opinions are honest and my own.

This is a fun lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers story. Lilah and Shane's characters were madly in love, and everything was great on the show they worked on until Lilah left in the hope of becoming a famous movie star. When things don't go as planned, Lilah agrees to return for one final season of the show. Though Lilah and Shane can't stand each other, they try to make it work for this final season. As they are forced to work together, they prove that the step from love to hate is much smaller than they thought. Aptly titled, this is a fun romance set on the production of a T.V. show.

Unfortunately I didn’t love this as much as I wanted to. While I do think the book was well written, I really just had a hard time connecting with the story and characters.

✨ 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰✨

“𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮.”

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: 13, 19, 25 & 26
𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧: 83%
𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬: Second chance romance, Hollywood romance, workplace romance, enemies-to-lovers
𝐏𝐎𝐕: 3rd person, Dual POV
𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Dual
𝐊𝐔: No

👻 Romcom
👻 Anxiety rep
👻 Therapy positive
👻 Hollywood

This was my first time reading a book by this author and I was not disappointed! Hollywood romance is one of my favorite tropes, but I typically read books with a famous MMC and a non-famous FMC and this is a story where the MMC and the FMC are in a tv series together, which I really enjoyed.

I thought the author did a great job handling the mental health representation and weaving the MCs past traumas into the story to explain who they are throughout the book. The characters seemed to be a bit immature for their age at times, but overall it did not bother me.


⚠️𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:⚠️
Multiple open door scenes with explicit descriptions
Strong language

𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:
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.
.
.
.
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Anxiety, panic attack (on page), recreational drug use & alcohol

this book has me in the first 40% but lost me in the last 60%. the characters were not memorable, exciting or interesting enough. i felt the chemistry between them in the prologue but it just went downhill from there. the fmc wasn't just mean, she was invalidating. it made me so angry reading the way she spoke to him sometimes and the flashbacks annoyed me to no end. i liked the setting bcz this was the first hollywood romance ive ever read but that's honestly all it has going for it. sigh, big yikes

thank you to netgalley and the publishers for an e-arc. all thoughts are mine and not influenced in any way.

Ava Wilder does not disappoint with her second book, I really enjoyed this. It’s a slow burn, lovers to enemies to lovers, celebrity second chance with forced proximity, and it felt like the perfect companion to ‘How To Fake It In Hollywood’.

There is so much raw emotion in these pages, Lilah and Shane are heartbreakingly real and Ava’s writing keeps you so deeply captivated. The enemies/hate starting point is so well written, you can truly feel the animosity and pain between them and the shift then is also so natural; the words just flow brilliantly.

I thought the portrayal of Hollywood and all its’ pitfalls was once again really good, it is so easy to understand Lilah and Shane’s reservations, fears and anxieties, and why that seeps into their relationship too. There wasn’t one side of this that I was firmly on, I could completely understand where they were both coming from and Lilah’s anxiety was so well written. I love that she and this book were so open about her mental health, therapy and validating her feelings. Once Shane saw what was really happening, he was so supportive and such a rock for Lilah.

The tension is so good, I love a slow burn where the feelings gradually change and passion builds up again - this delivered on all fronts. They are so charismatic together and their chemistry is off the charts; the photoshoot scene omg! But they are also so raw and sweet together too; in the quiet moments their inherent chemistry comes through so naturally. It’s easy to understand why they fell so quickly for each other, even if it took a long journey to get back together. Second chance has never been my favourite but this one was so good and I was rooting for Lilah & Shane the whole time!

I loveeee an enemies to lovers story arc set in Hollywood. This was so entertaining to read and untangle the two main character's history with each other and watch as they overcame challenges to find their way back to each other.

Man, don't get me started on enemies to lovers. This was a perfect image of the infamous trope and I enjoyed it to no end. I love romance books and Wilder did an amazing job giving the poplar trope it's own life. I loved Shane and Lilah and the love they had. The title itself is enough to let you know that this is a great book. The way that Wilder writes banter is outstanding. Emily Henry who? Just kidding. It was a really fun read and I will be coming back to read more from this author!