Sariah Wilson is one of my favorite romcom authors! The chemistry, slow burn romance, and interesting characters are always a hit! This book has all the makings of a hallmark movie. Jane is from a small town and helping to organize a festival. After a social media request goes viral, she ends up playing hostess to a Hollywood super star who is trying to rehab his image by promoting the small town’s activities. After a lot (and seriously..it was a lot) of back and forth, Janes begins to fall for his charms and realizes he is not the Hollywood stereotype she imagined. However, as they begin to embrace their feelings and they have to decide if they will let past mistakes define their future.

I loved the slow burn and the last 1/2 of the book was fantastic! It was a slower start for me though, but I am glad I kept reading. And truly, the epilogue might be the best part!

2.5 stars rounded up

When Jane Wagner put together a video asking movie star Nick Haddon to come to their town festival she did not actually think he’d agree. Her hometown of Patience, Ohio is in dire financial straits and having a movie star attending the festival could definitely help bolster attendance. Nick has a reputation for overindulging and his publicist insists on him staying with Jane, so he could be ‘watched’. Jane reluctantly agrees, knowing it will help the town. When Nick arrives Jane, and the town, are left starstruck. And Nick seems especially interested in Jane.

I feel bad saying this, but I skimmed the last 30% of this book. It started out so cute! Small town romance, with a celebrity falling in love with a librarian! It had all the hallmarks of a classic and cute romcom. However, this book was one of the slowest slow burns I’ve ever read. It’s a clean romance, which I have no problems with, but the tension was drawn out just way too long for me. And to make it even more drawn out, it’s also an insta-love. Nick all but declares how much he likes Jane within the first day of them meeting. It just made the book drag more.

Jane is our narrator and it’s a first person POV. I find Jane to be the Queen of denial. She basically has cartoon hearts for eyes 70% of the book and she does everything in her power to downplay her feelings and deflect Nick. She’s had her heart broken by a rich guy in the past and has decided she will never let that happen again. I can understand why she would be hesitant, but I found her behaviour towards Nick to be grating. I also found that she spent way too long acting like the starstruck fangirl. She spends a good portion of the book staring at Nick and forgetting that he’s speaking or ogling him. For a character that’s supposed to be the one in charge of the town and festival I wish she had been written a bit more maturely.

Nick seems like a great guy from what we know. I wish the book had been a dual POV. I feel like it could have really benefited from having his perspective as the book played out. Nick is the Hollywood Jinx from the title and he’s in a predicament that’s similar to the Oscar curse - you hit such a high note that anything else you do looks like a failure since it doesn’t match the previous success. He is very committed to being a better person and making better choices. I just wish we got more development of his past and career.

I feel like this is another book where it had good bones and the premise was good but it just didn’t hit the mark for me. If you are a fan of insta love and slow burn books then this might be up your alley.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

"The Hollywood Jinx" by Sariah Wilson is a small town, closed door, insta-love romance novel.

I did enjoy this book, but didn't love it. I struggled with was the dynamic between Jane and her parents and I felt like the insta-love was WAY too instant for me.

I did love the Roommaid by this author and will continue to read more books by her.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

I was so happy that I enjoyed this book after the disappointment of "The Paid Bridesmaid" and "Cinder-Nanny". The story was silly, fluffy, and very, very funny fairy tale. The snarky dialogue between the main characters as well as with the heroine's best friend was very entertaining. There were many LOL moments; apologies to my husband who I woke up several times last night with my uncontrolled barks of laughter. The love story was sweet and the supporting quirky characters were loveable.

No profanity and PG-13 kissing.

"The Hollywood Jinx" by Sariah Wilson is a small town, closed door, insta-love romance novel. Hollywood star Nick comes to town to film a documentary and help the town with their annual festival. He meets festival organizer Jane and he is instantly smitten. I have to say from the jump this was too much 'insta-love' they were from two totally different worlds, complete strangers and fell completely in love in a couple days??? I would have preferred Jane and Nick not to have immediately had feelings for one another. They were catching serious feelings before even having a few meaningful conversations. It was frustrating because they instantly "fell in love" but then didn't even kiss until nearly the end of the book. Hard to feel believable to me. While I can appreciate Sariah Wilson staying true to writing clean romance this "slow burn" type thing doesn't work for me when the leads are telling each other they love each other before even sharing a kiss. However if you are a fan of insta-love ( I am not so take my review with a grain of salt) this probably won't bother you. If you love PG romance set in small town America with its host of quirky residents then you will love the "The Hollywood Jinx". I love how Sariah Wilson makes it feel like the average girl really can land the Hollywood Hunk in her novels.
I guess I am going to have to go with a 3 star review. If you have never read Sariah Wilson I reccomend starting with her novel "The Roommaid" which is on my all time favorite shelf. This newest novel won't be joining it proudly on the best of the best shelf but it is still worth a read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Montlake Publishing for allowing me to receive an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I recently discovered Sariah Wilson and I appreciate that her books always deliver a steady plot line. In this one, it there were a few points that stretched credulity a bit. The first is that a serious Hollywood star would move to a town and everyone would be "normal" about it (there have to be some superfans, right?), but the character was written down-to-earth enough to make it acceptable. Another one that I struggled with was the dynamic between Jane and her parents. Why did both she and them think she needed to stay in Patience? The reasoning was there, but it only made sense if the family wasn't one to hang out and have conversations. Finally, if you're going to call the MC a jinx, and use it as the title, I want a little bit more oomph behind it.

I've read quite a few of Sariah Wilson's books now since loving The Roommaid (an Amazon First Reads book many moons ago) and always enjoyed the easy reading style and steamy romances. This one was a little too similar to The Seat Filler (famous actor, 'normal' girl with a regular job who secretly swoons over the big star but spends way too long pretending that she isn't). I was underwhelmed by this, but will continue to read Wilson's books in the future.

This book, whilst being a cute and sweet small-town romance, was ultimately underwhelming.
The story is about how the main character, Jane, calls on a big Hollywood actor, Nick, to come save her small town by attending their festival. However, with the help of a very pregnant sister in-law, circumstances and maybe fate led to Nick and Jane falling for each other.
pros:
- sweet moments
- banter between the couples
-homely feel of a small-town community
cons:
- the writing style mostly leant towards telling the reader what was happening rather than showing them i.e., "This happened, so I feel this."
- limited character development
- not letting us in on information about the characters- "he told me about his past, etc." for such a short book would have felt like we knew the characters better if these details were shared.
Overall, it was a nice quick read, I just felt like it needed a little something more? Dual POV is a little bit of a weakness of mine, but I do believe it would have been nice if the book dual P.O.V. I would have liked to know more about Nicks perspective of the town, and it would have improved the story a little.
Thank you so much to the author, publisher and NetGallery for the free copy provided in exchange for an honest review!

This was a very fun, highly entertaining and undoubtedly one sexy read for me. These were characters were so adorable and the storyline quite engaging and sweet. I definitely loved it.