Thank you Random House for Once More with Feeling! I really enjoyed this book, which really stood out not just for taking on themes related to how we (a collective we) have treated young female pop stars (hem hem) and other young female celebrities in the past as compared to their male counterparts and romantic parts (again , hem hem). This is nicely done and I appreciate the attention authors have been giving to these themes recently, while also allowing their characters to have redemption yes but also to never have their characters apologize for who they are and who they were, nicely done and important. A nice blend of second chance romance is developed here along with some great secondary characters and a great examination of friendships that persist over time.

Once More with Feeling is also a delightful ode to theater kids and summer camp, it evokes great memories and nostalgia if not for camp per se but those early adolescent feelings of wanting more/something/meaning/connection, etc... I really liked the backstory with summer camp and how that manifest into the present day story.

I liked Sussman's debut novel last year (Funny you should ask) and this was an even bigger hit for me, I really liked the themes in this one and the characters read as nicely developed. A great, quick summer read; a nice complement as well to books from authors like Ava Wilder and Laura Hankin's The Daydreams.

Once More With Feeling did not disappoint — Elissa Sussman has done it again and is quickly becoming one of my automatic must-read authors. This book examines so many relevant themes — from the ups and downs of love and friendships to second chances and how we treat women in the spotlight (looking at 90s Brittany).

What I love about this author is that the storytelling is so relatable — from the sometimes extremely flawed and frustrating characters to the realness of aging and re-examining situations with older but fresher eyes. Kathleen has so much growth from when she was a teen pop sensation, yet even as an adult going for a second chance (in career, romance, and more), there are still so many things she needs to work on. I love that there wasn’t the magical therapy wand and she was a completely flawless person again — we all still have work to do, no matter how much growth we’ve already made.

Cal, while not quite as fleshed out as Kathleen, was such an interesting love interest because he was also extremely flawed. I would’ve loved more acknowledgement from him on what Kathleen had been through (and what he abandoned her to go through alone), and at the beginning of the book, that’s all I could think about. Eventually, though, we get more context behind why he was hurt by Kathleen, and it makes more sense (though I still think the one drunken apology was not enough).

I also loved the examination of Harriett and how our actions can affect our friendships, too, especially in a long-term friendship that feels more like family.

I am so happy I got the arc from NetGalley on this, and I will probably be buying it anyway! Would recommend!

Katee Rose and Ryan LaNeve - the pop star and the lead of THE boy band, Crush Zone. Sounds like Brittany and Justin...

The book goes in between 2 time lines. Now -"Katee Rose" is gone and now Kathleen Rosenberg trying to have a sort of "come back" after her name and reputation was ruined when she broke up with Ryan LaNeve... She reunites with one of Ryan's old band mates, Cal, to put on a hopeful Broadway show. But first she has to get out of her own way and come to terms with everything that happened in their past. With flashbacks to when she was Katee Rose there are glimpses into how "glamorous" it is to be a pop star and how hard it is to break up with someone when your fame is so closely tied to how much your fans love the story of you and the boy band lead having a fairy tale romance... especially when that romance feels more and more like just a show and a way to increase popularity and not for love...

Can Kathleen Rosenberg find "fame" and love again? Or is she destined to always be Katee Rose...

Once More with Feeling by Elissa Sussman was a good second chance romance. Cute story and premise but honestly I feel like it was missing a big chunk about what made them fall in love. I wish I had more details! But I loved the stage life/acting camp.

Elissa Sussman does a second chance romance so well, and this was no exception. This book was fast paced and lighthearted while still dealing with issues of the sexism and bullying in the entertainment industry. There were moments when I felt like the plot of the broadway show was overshadowing the pent up romance, but overall I really enjoyed it!

This book was amazing!!! Thank you NetGalley for an ARC! The characters were perfect! The plot was perfect! Who wouldn’t love an enemies to lovers, second chance romance, complete with Musical references. It’s the perfect romance novel and I cannot get enough of Elissa Sussman. She’s become an automatic buy/read for me.

I was given an ARC of this book on release day. I am planning to write a full review once finished. So excited though, I been wanting to read this one for a while now. I haven’t read the first book but am excited to start reading both of them. I wish I was able to receive it earlier but am still grateful. Thank you Netgalley for a copy!

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this one, but I ended up loving it. As a huge theatre fan and a big romance novel fan, I loved it. It was funny, heartbreaking, and full of so much love.

Then: Kathleen met Cal Kirby at summer camp where they became friends and he was her first kiss. She becomes a celebrity pop star and goes on tour with the up and coming band CrushZone, and her boyfriend is the lead singer. When Ryan introduces her to his band mates, to her shock one of them is Cal. Things between her and Ryan have gone stale but how do you break up when all of the fans think you're the "it couple". Meanwhile her attraction to Cal is growing and when they give in one night to temptation, everything blows up in her face.
Now: Her best friend Harriet has written a screenplay and Kathleen would be perfect for the main character, but Cal is the new director. She hasn't seen Cal since the implosion of her celebrity career and still blames him for not standing up for her. Now they can't stop bickering and have to get along if they ever want to bring the show to Broadway.
I like the setup for this book, but Kathleen just seemed really juvenile through the whole book and I couldn't seem to connect with her character. I loved Cal's character and how steady and calm he is under all of her attitude. The ending was really cute though.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 rounded up to 4⭐️

Thank you Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC!

This one is for the theatre kids and I am here for it!!

I usually don’t lean towards second chance romance, but this is such a quick and easy timeline to follow that when I started, I noticed that I was already halfway through!

The tension between Kathleen and Cal is so so good, but at the same time I was like their friend Harriet telling them to grow up and move on from the past. They’re full on adults now, like c’mon, communicating isn’t that hard (but yes I know it’s the whole plot etc etc).

Kathleen is very much a ✨this is me trying and nothing new✨ girlie. Iykyk.

During rehearsals, she’s constantly trying to prove to herself that she’s just as good as she was all those years ago and doesn’t want pity, especially from Cal. She feels like she’s old news, but it’s finally her time to shine and show people her true raw talent.

“You come alive on stage…I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Throughout the whole book, I felt so bad for Cal because he just wanted to be chosen for once and Kathleen kept dragging him along both in the past and present. I think the last 20 minutes were super rushed and we didn’t get to sit in those feelings long enough.

Overall, a good second chance romance and I got to relive my musical days through these characters and enjoyed it! I’m excited to see what Elissa writes next!

This was a great second chance romance. I enjoyed the characters and felt they had dimension. I thought the elements of Hollywood/fame/Broadway were done very well. The story jumped between then and now, which was done seamlessly.

I do think there may have been a few issues with pacing, but overall it was a great second chance romance read!

I really wanted to love this book. Elissa Sussman's first book Funny You Should Ask was one of my favorite reads of 2022. And the premise of this one is so good! Boy bands and Broadway are two of my favorite things! How could it possibly flop?

The answer is an annoying main character, terrible communication, and infidelity that was definitely avoidable. Kathleen was poised to have a great redemption arc, from ex-communicated pop star to Broadway legend, but to me, she came across as extremely self-centered. Throughout the book, she continually lies to her best friend and fails to consider Cal's feelings.

Issues with the main character aside, there were some fun aspects to this book, mainly the Broadway & boy band/teen pop star storylines. It was a quick read, that I found myself looking forward to picking up. I look forward to reading more of Elissa Sussman's work in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an ARC of this book! I was a huge fan of Funny You Should Ask, so I was VERY excited to take Elissa’s next book for a spin!

Once More With Feeling chronicles the relationship between Cal and Kathleen - from being two mega pop stars, to now working together on their broadway debut 10 years later. I absolutely ADORE fictional celebrity plots, and love a good alternating timeline.

I don’t often find myself wishing that books were longer - but I found myself wishing this story had more “meat” to it. I found it difficult to root for/connect with the characters at times, and I wish it dug more into the therapy that was often mentioned, family backstories, etc. I also found the pacing to be a bit choppy at times (at least when the story would jump back to the present day.)

That being said, I was still quite entertained and found myself literally saying “oh shit!!!!” out loud at some points.
Overall a 3.5 star read for me - I would recommend this story to anyone who loves a fictional celeb comeback and a quick + fun summer read!

Thank you to the PRH Bellantine, Dell and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel; all opinions are my own.

Quick Synopsis: Katee was a famous popstar until her ex-boy-band boy-friend told the world she cheated on him with his bandmate. A decade later, Katee is afforded an opportunity to reenter the spotlight and audition for the lead role in a play her best friend, Harriet, wrote. The director, however, is the very bandmate her ex accused her of cheating on him with. This is based off Britney Spears’s relationship with Justin Timberlake back in the day!

Trigger warnings: Cheating; emotional abuse; negative press coverage;

What I liked:
-You can tell the inspiration very clearly, but it still stood on its own. I couldn’t help but picturing Britney Spears (of course) though.
-I just love the backstory we get between Cal and Katee and how it demonstrates so clearly that their history is a huge part of their relationship even though it has dwindled over the years.
-Harriet, the musical’s writer, is Katee’s best friend but I love how we get so much character development with her. She is far from a one-dimensional side-character. I would read a whole book just about her for sure.
-The ending is replaying in my brain over and over again and I love that. It was silly and goofy but adorable.

What I struggled with:
-Look, it has the cheating trope. It does. Did I love that? No. But the characters take accountability.
-The back and forth between Then and Now got tricky sometimes because I couldn’t remember where I was. That’s a minor thing though. Super minor.
-Kathleen frustrated me so much sometimes. She couldn’t just tell Ryan? Really?

Altogether, just another hit from Sussman. I loved it. I can’t wait to read it again.

I had already fallen in love with Elissa Sussman's debut, Funny You Should Ask, so reading her sophomore novel, Once More with Feeling, was a no brainer. Did I think it was going to be good? Yes. Did I think I was going to be absolutely blown away? It was possible, but I was truly encapsulated with this book.
This book has my dream premise: the 2 main characters are former friends-turned-enemies when the main character, Kathleen, is slated to star in her best friend's newest musical, with her former flame, Cal, as the Director. This book has theatre camp vibes, flashbacks, and all the angst. It was so much fun and I absolutely loved it.

This book was very mediocre. I loved Elissa Sussman’s previous novel Funny You Should Ask so much - it was one of my summer favorites. This was one of my most anticipated reads this year.

This book is about two former pop stars who after a dramatic end to their “relationship” must put aside their differences and create the next Hamilton musical á la Rosie the Riveter. The female main character, Kathleen, was almost unbearable in her self pity. I was waiting for her to grow but it just seemed like she stayed the same, which was disappointing. Cal was a confusing male lead for me. I wanted to like him so much, but his development was very confusing. We were basically just told that he loved her so much, but it never really felt like he actually did.

This book was very nostalgic if you love musical theater or loved Britney Spears/Justin Timberlake/90s pop star drama. But if you, like me, are not huge fans of musicals or know broadway life, a lot of this book may go over your head. I am sure other people will absolutely love this book and I am so glad for them. I just was probably the correct audience for this book.

I really enjoyed FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK and I loved ONCE MORE WITH FEELING even more. A great ROM COM and especially enjoyable for those of us who lived through the Britney/Justin era. I can't wait to see what Sussman writes next

I loved the authors first book so I was excited for this one! While the cover looks similar, it’s a totally different book and not connected to the other. I really enjoyed this one. The flashbacks kept up the suspense of “what could have happened??”, while making the reader root for the MC in the present. The only frustrating part was that the book is basically one giant miscommunication trope. Come on people- you’re adults, just talk! But I still loved it and walked away really wanted to get the soundtrack for this imaginary musical which I think says something!

This light-hearted second-chance romance brims with personality and is the perfect summer read for anyone who needs a dash of frothy escapism. With a dual timeline, the reader flits back and forth between the (past) pop star Katee Rose and the (current) “has been” Kathleen Rosenberg. Kathleen suffered a frenzied media bashing when she, as Katee, broke up with her boyfriend, the star of an adored boy band. She’s willing to settle for the ordinary life of a former star, but her past isn’t finished with her.

Kathleen’s offered the chance to star in a Broadway musical, her lifelong dream, but it comes with a hitch. Cal, who was central to her very public fall from grace, is the director. Kathleen and Cal set off enough sparks to burn the whole project down, but Kathleen’s best friend begs Kathleen to keep her distance from the sexy director.

Second chances, relationships—both between lovers and friends, overcoming past identities, and plenty of observations of how our society massages fame team up for a romping good time. You’ll feel like you’ve gotten a backstage pass to not only a famous pop rocker’s story but also to a deliciously romantic and fun Broadway musical.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read Once More with Feeling.

Another really enjoyable second-chance romance from Elissa Sussman! I absolutely live for this trope and when it's paired with a now/then timeline, I'm hooked!

I loved following the story of Cal and Kathleen. How they met, how their relationship evolved, how it fell apart, and what brought them back together. I was much more drawn to them than I was to Chani and Gabe in Funny You Should Ask and truly felt the emotions between them.

The reasons this is getting 4 Stars from me is I wish Cal's apology and their reconciliation was more thought out, more emotional. As other reviewers have said, I wanted it "once more with feeling." I also didn't LOVE the characters like I do in some books. That said, it was still a beautiful story and I was rooting for Kathleen and Cal from the beginning.

Read If You Like:
-Childhood Friends to Lovers
-Enemies to Lovers
-Second-Chance Romance
-Celebrity Trope
-Now/Then Timeline
-Musicals

Thank you to Random House Publishing, Dell, and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!