Meh, this one and this author just isn't for me. I wasn't a huge fan of the dual timeline only because it didn't build the emotional connection that I needed. It explained the past but, didn't build or support the current timeline like I was looking for. Kathleen also wasn't connecting with me which may really be my issue.

It was a nice story but, wasn't really what I was hoping for.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishing team for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

(3.5ish stars)
I don't know if my feelings on this book are such because of my attachment to musical theater, love of popstars, or overall indifference to second-chance romances. When a book combines two things you love and one thing you somewhat like it should at the very least have some type of positive impact on you but it just didn't. There were so many things that I just couldn't get past whether it be the lack of clarifying details or simply the way "said" is used as a crutch after almost every piece of dialogue. There was no real variety just "... he said... she said...he said...she said" over and over and over again. I think at one point it was used a dozen times in one page. I understood it importance but there were times I wish it was replaced with any other word. Declared, stated, uttered, explained, etc., or just have said paired with some extra descriptor to just cut down on its repetitiveness.

When it came to the characters WOW. I wish there was something more to them beyond surface level qualities, honestly even that was lacking. In the THEN timeline they're in their 20s maybe and in the NOW timeline they're either in their 30s or 40s but genuinely I could not tell you and trust me I tried to keep track. I learned more about their physical traits from the cover than I did in the actual novel. I could tell you Cal smelled like oranges and had dimples but that's about it. Oh and Kathleen was brunette because only Katee Rose was blonde. I think this really stuck out because ultimately this is a romance novel and usually that means the reader knows the characters on every level. I kind of expect some insane metaphors comparing their features to something poetic. I want their love to transcend just those three words on a page. I want to crave their intimacy and their understanding of each other. I just couldn't with Kathleen and Cal.

The romance itself is something. I don't know what it was but by the end I really didn't care. There was genuinely no type of growth. Their live story had to have spanned literal decades and yet there was nothing substantial. Honestly there at least needed to be some more groveling because the level of hostility they had for each other felt solved too quickly. They were just selfish at their core and it was exhausting. Did she deserve how she was treated? No. Did he ever actually try to make it up to her? Not really. Did either of them ever actually consider the consequences of anything they did? NO. It was like they were divorced parents who got joint custody over Harriet yet they were always trying to one up each other instead of every actually talking to her or each other.

All in all, I gave this novel 3.5 ish stars because it was entertaining and can be a quick easy read. I will probably never think of Kathleen and Cal's romance again but oh will I miss whatever Riveted! the musical could have become in real life.

I thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this novel in return for an honest opinion. Trust me this review was brutally honesty.

This story is about Kathleen, a former pop star named Katy Rose who is returning to the spotlight after a big scandal. The POV goes from past to present so that is something to pay attention to. I couldn't really connect with the characters and didn’t really care if they got together.

This was so fun! I love anything celebrity related- add in musical theater and pop culture references and I’m hooked. I typically don’t love dual timelines but this book did a nice job of connecting why the flashbacks were important to the context of the story. It was a cute romance with a great amount of tension. I recommend this for a fun romcom with lots of music influence!

Katee is a pop star who blows up her whole career by cheating on her boyband member boyfriend with his bandmate Cal. She was abandoned and thrown under the bus (very much a la Britney and Justin minus the mental breakdowns and conservatorship). She is offered the opportunity to star in a new Broadway musical sure to be a hit but being directed by none other than Cal and must decide if she can put the past behind her.
I don’t always love tropes, but Sussman does such a good job with the second shot romance trope that I endorse it. This was a fun, easy read where it was easy to root for the characters and love and the writing is smart and fun.
Thank you to Netgalley and the author and publisher for this ARC!

This was a super cute read, Fast page-turner, filled with drama and romance. I'll re-edit this with my official review!

I picked up Funny You Should Ask on a fluke and fell in love with ES's writing that this one was a no brainer. There are really no other words than this was a goddamn delight and I loved every minute.

I'm truly a sucker for childhood friends to lovers, and throw that on top of a second chance romance with a musical theater theme and SIGN ME UP.

From the author of Funny You Should Ask, one of my favorite romance novels, comes Once More With Feeling, the story of a former celebrity pop-star who agrees to star in a new Broadway musical directed by an old fling. Kathleen Rosenberg met Cal Kirby when they were teenagers at a prestigious musical theater summer camp, reuniting a few years later after Kathleen has transformed into Katee Rose and Cal joins a boy band led by Kathleen’s fame-hungry boyfriend. A one night stand between Kathleen and Cal destroys the career of Katee Rose, and she goes into a self-enforced exile until her best friend presents her with the opportunity to play her dream role in a Broadway debut nearly a decade later. Kathleen’s dream was always to be on Broadway, but first she has to resolve the conflict between Cal and herself before she can fully commit to the show and her reputational redemption. Although this was an easy and quick read, I found the storyline and central conflict to be unnecessarily convoluted, which distracted Sussman from developing her characters and sustaining a believable plot. I don’t necessarily feel like I wasted my time by reading this book, but there are definitely better romances available, starting with Sussman’s debut.

I had so much hope for this book after seeing that it was about musical theater. I think I'm just not a big fan of this author. There was nothing particularly special about it to me.

if you know me, you know I’m a sucker for boy bands and Broadway shows— so I obviously enjoyed this book!

a second chance romance following Kathleen (former pop sensation Katee Rose) who has been out of the spotlight since her fall from grace all those years ago. her best friend writes a show with a character made for her, and Kathleen sees her dreams of being a Broadway star right in front of her— until she realizes the director is Cal Kirby, the man who was once part of ~that~ boy band, and who ultimately helped lead to the end Katee Rose’s career, while also leaving her with a broken heart.

I flew through this book— I needed to know what exactly happened in their past that got them to this point, while also racing to know what was going to happen now— would the Broadway show make?? would they fall in love again???? 🤪

my one complaint is that the book ended too soon— I wanted more, and I felt like i turned the page and it was suddenly over.

Elissa Sussman is 2 for 2 for me 🤩

Thank for to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC- you can pick up OMWF now!

Another hit for Elissa Sussman. I love a good redemption story, and this one was filled with so much nostalgia for the late 90’s early 2000’s…I couldn’t get enough! I also really loved the behind the scenes look at how a Broadway Show operates. A solid 3.5 starts for me and Elissa Sussman is now an advance purchase author for me! Thank you for the Advance Review Copy #NetGalley, #RandomHouse and #Dell.

#OnceMoreWithFeeling #FunnyYouShouldAsk #ElissaSussman

The book follows our mc Katee Rose a.k.a Kathleen Rosenberg. How she has been given a second chance, in relationships, career and life.

Told in Kathleen's POV in the past and the present we embark on a tale about her life and how she turned one of her mistakes into something that she can grow, and learn from.

This cozy, second-chance romance is a four star read from me!

"He wanted to hurt me? Fine. Mission accomplished. But he was never going to see me cry. Not again. Never again."

I really disliked this. Albeit a quick read, these characters were as flat as the pages they are written on and the plot is lackluster and not well developed. I had no reason to want our main characters to re-kindle their supposedly "passionate" past romance, and to be honest, I didn't care about them at all. They had zero passion beyond hating each other, and for most of the book all they did was fight like children, when we're supposed to believe that they are mature "gray-haired" adults.

I'm disappointed that this didn't work for me, as I've heard really good things about this author and their version of second-chance romances. But this was just not it.

Once More With Feeling was published on May 30, 2023. Thank you to Random House Publishing, Ballantine, NetGalley and the author for the digital advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was just as cute as the author's first one, Funny You Should Ask. Something about the covers just draw me in and once I picked this book up, I never put it down. The characters were adorable and I was rooting for them from the beginning. Elissa Sussman is the queen of second chance romance. I think it is one of my least favorite tropes, but man does she do it well.

This book is described as being a “friends-to-lovers meets enemies-to-lovers story,” and that is the perfect way to define the relationship between Kathleen and Cal. The spark from when they were kids has since dissolved, and now the two can’t even stand to be in the same room. When their mutual friend writes a Broadway play, the two find themselves in forced proximity.

What would I say to the author after finishing this book? Why, once more with feeling, of course. The characters were extremely flat, and I did not notice a lot of development or growth in their relationships overall. While I wasn’t necessarily bored and it turned out to be a quick read, there was nothing to this story. Fights and kisses popped up out of nowhere, and I didn’t really care if Kathleen and Cal ended up together or not. In short, I would compare this book to trying to make tacos without any seasoning. Huh? Who wants that?

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this eARC!

First off I really like the cover. The pictures and colors are really eye catching. I loved that this book went from childhood friends to lovers to enemies to lovers. I also liked the dual timeline from then and now.

I really liked Cal was a dancer. I know there are a lot of men dancers but it was nice seeing it in the book. There were some points where a conversation could have solved the main issue but I think like in real life, things like that happens. Katee was a fun character, even with how some things played out.

I also like there was some forced proximity in the book as well!

Overall, I really enjoyed Once More With Feeling, and would recommend and would read more from Elissa!

This is a very enjoyable second chance and enemies to lover story. The dual timeline added to the tension between Kathleen and Cal’s relationship in the present time.

I loved this 🥹🥹

What I liked:
Mental health rep- fmc deals with anxiety/panic attacks
Addresses sexism in the entertainment industry (and can literally be seen everywhere but I digress) Britney/Justin anyone?!
Has cheating trope which can be 😬 but I think it was done well
Has THREE timelines! Okay one was super small but it was snippets into their time together at summer camp eons ago, but it was cute/sweet and into their conversations in then/now so well
One POV but I liked how you can tell when the mmc is thinking sometimes with his expressions/mannerisms. The ANGST.

What I did not like:
🤔

This is my first from Elissa sussman but you can bet im running to read the other book asap!

This book was fine. I didn't love it and I didn't hate it, but I also don't remember anything about it 5 seconds after finishing it.

I just wasn't invested in any of the characters or this story. There were enough entertaining parts of the story to keep me reading, but nothing so exciting to make me reach for the book. The book is only told from the FMC's perspective, and I think that made the story feel stale compared to other romance novels where you get multiple POVs.

Overall, I just wasn't very impressed with this one.

Susanna does it again - I love her storytelling ability, and how she can capture us at different time periods in a characters life. I’ll look forward to reading whatever she writes next!