Funny You Should Ask was one of my favorite books last year, so I had high hopes for this one, but was left a little underwhelmed. Overall, it was a good book, but it just wasn’t that special.

The book jumps between “Then” and “Now. Back then Katee was a huge pop star (think Britney Spears) until a scandal blows up her career (and of course as a woman she’s treated unfairly and the media puts all the blame on her). Now Kathleen has the opportunity to star on Broadway. However, the director is Cal, her camp crush/part of her scandal/current enemy. The book jumps between their backstory leading up to the scandal and the “now” of working together and creating a Broadway show, so you get both second-chance and enemies to lovers romance.

I feel bad for how Katee/Kathleen was treated during the scandal and it was completely unfair, but I still didn’t find her that likable. She’s pretty childish, selfish and is a crap friend to her long-time best friend Harriet (who was the only person who stood by her during her scandal). She also *spoiler* cheated on her boyfriend (Ryan sucked so I’m not really holding that one against her) and didn’t treat Cal very well either. Maybe becoming so famous when you’re young makes you very self-centered? That’s probably part of it, but also not really an excuse.

Speaking of Cal, I’m so-so about Cal. I feel like his character wasn’t developed very well (dual POV would have helped) and his apology was pretty weak.

Overall, I’d give this one 3.5 stars.

A absolute wonderful feel good romantic comedy that anyone who is a fan of the genre will fall in love with

This book had so much potential but feel fat for me. It has a great story line, I just wish there were more than one POV and character development. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Second chance romance is one of my favorite book tropes, but you don't often find that they are done well. Usually because they take the realism out of it, making the second meeting after however many years, an instant reconnection no matter the past. The truth of the matter is that it's not instant, as you aren't the same person as you were the first time around.

This is especially true of former pop star Katee Rose. She's trying to reconnect with the portion of her identity that isn't surrounded by fame, as it's traumatized her - something that the rest of the world doesn't quite understand. Especially when news broke of her infidelity. The general publc thought they knew all of who she was, and therefore could make conclusions about her life without considering the consequences of bullying a kid. It's easy to ignore how this impacts them, as society doesn't often see celebrities as real people. The only people who truly understand are those who have experienced it for themselves.

Enter, Cal. He was the only other person who could really get Katee/Kathleen. He was a child star, he went through the same scandal, but he was also a man. This dynamic caused a disconnect that we often see in everyday life. While we might share experiences with our cis male counterparts, they are often able to move forward in their careers without it negatively effecting it. This dynamic between them was so eloquently written by Elissa. Often Kathleen would be frustrated with herself for wanting Cal, thinking it means she really hasn't changed or become a better person. They fight it because they want so badly to be different people, ignoring their past instead of making it a part of their larger story. It makes us root for them in hopes that they can help each other through what troubles them both.
This book is what second chance romances should look like - two imperfect people, not different, but better than their former selves, because when something feels right, you try again.

4/5 stars ☆

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC in exhange for an honest review. :)

Will be posted on May 30,2023 to Goodreads and StoryGraph

3.25⭐️

This is a second-chance/enemies-to-lovers romance with that follows Kathleen and Cal’s relationship from back in the day to now. Both meet at a summer camp when they were younger, meet a second time when Kathleen becomes a pop singer and Cal is in a band, and meet again for the third time when Cal is a director for a musical that Kathleen’s best friend wrote and Kathleen is in. Kathleen’s career took a tumble when she found herself stuck in a love triangle that ended with no one being together. They are forced to be professional with each other and somewhere along the way, they question their feelings for each other. This book is heartfelt and sweet. I am not a fan of love triangle so this book wasn’t particularly for me but i’d you enjoy second chance romance this book is definitely for you!

Favorite Quote:
“I’d forgotten about his stupid fucking dimples.”

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the publisher I was able to get an advanced copy e-book through netgalley! Now, I had really high hopes for this book as I’m a sucker for a second chance romance. I was fully prepared to love it…however it was not to be. The beginning hooked me and I wanted to see where Katees’ journey would take her. I loved the duel timelines and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the past. What I felt was l lacking was the notional depth the characters should have developed throughout the book. Yes, there was romance or at least a build up to it in both timelines. But there was very little growth in other areas and I felt really disappointed in this. After a while, the themes that hooked me (past Katee learning what her potential was and seeing it through and present Katee rediscovering herself), fell flat. Overall is it my favorite book? No. Will I read it again? No. Am I glad I had the chance to read it? Yes.

Funny you shoudl ask was one of my favorite books of 2022. So I was very excited to get the opportunity to read the ARC of Once More with Feeling. I'm loving this theme of pop star falling in love with old flames.
We have some great tropes going on here. Elissa has found what works and has stuck to it and does a great job with it!

Kathleen was such a likeable main character and I really enjoyed following her through her different stages of life.

Elissa Sussman is now an automatic must read for me!

When I saw Elissa Sussman was coming out with another novel I was absolutely STOKED. Funny You Should Ask was a surprising delight last year and after reading this synopsis I knew it was going to be even better.

Katee Rose was a young star actress who went through a very public breakup with her heartthrob boyfriend who took every opportunity to drag her through the press for a cheating scandal. The public destroyed her in the tabloid press and her career took an extreme hit because of it. Fast forward around 2 decades and she's given the opportunity to make a "comeback" of sorts on Broadway, but the catch is that her director would be the ex-boyfriends former bandmate and the other half of her cheating scandal Calvin Kirby.

I loved how much Sussman emphasized the cruelty and fickleness of Hollywood through what happened with Kathleen in her youth and how they feel she mistreated her ex, Ryan. Women in the public eye have to deal with a more severe critique and are held to a higher standard than men for no reason other than sexism.

Second-chance romances and IT for me, like I will n e v e r turn one down and this was no exception. The story continuously went back and forth to present and past between them, seeing what happened to them and how that shaped who they became. They had to navigate their own hurt from what happened and come to terms with their responsibilities in all of it while making a Broadway show. I just can't get enough and will definitely give this another read closer to its pub date. Elissa, you are THE MOMENT.

One of my favorite troupes is friends to lovers, second only to enemies to lovers. A book that combines both of these? Thank you!

THis book is a dual timeline that follows Kathleen and Cal as hey fall in... and out of love at a young age and are reunited a few years later when they are forced to work together on a Broadway show. I loved watching Kathleen and Cal grow through this story, from pop stars to a Broadway performer/director.

The relationship between Kathleen and Cal felt real and I found myself rooting for them and their relationship.

Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

i LOVED funny you should ask. i really, really liked once more with feeling. it was smart and fun and silly and escapist and layered with just enough weight to be interesting, but i do think i was more invested in the strangeness of the premise than the characters themselves (except for harriet, who i adored). kathleen and cal were very sweet, but i felt that they had better chemistry in the past, and neither was quite as complex as i'd hoped.

we danced around kathleen's rise and fall from fame (and i loved the flashbacks of her as katee rose, seeing how she wore the role like any other character!), and touched on how the media has reevaluated its treatment of women, but i would have liked to see it addressed head-on. it's a good book, and i will very happily keep reading whatever elissa sussman writes, and will probably be naming my next cat gefilte fish, but the more I think about it, the more it was missing.

Katee Rose is a pop sensation living her dream of world tours, magazine covers, and having anything she could possibly want at her fingertips. Her boyfriend, Ryan, is a member of the hottest boyband Crush Zone. Everything is perfect until Katee finds herself becoming attracted to Cal, one of Ryan’s bandmates and one night changes ever hit by.
Fast forward to Kathleen, formerly Katee, not quite still living the dream but doing fine. When she gets the opportunity of a lifetime (for a disgraced popstar) to audition for the lead of a Broadway show, she knows her luck might finally be turning around. She wants nothing more than to prove to everyone she’s no longer the Katee Rose they all remember. But there’s a problem. The director? Well that’s none other than Cal Kirby, who she hasn’t seen since that one night.

•

Give me all the late 90s/early 2k nostalgia of Britney, Justin and NSYNC - I LOVE IT. The pop culture hints in this one were incredible. Elissa Sussman is the 👑 of second chance and enemies to lovers romance. I was legit cheering for Kathleen and loved that she got her much deserved second chance. Society shaming women, especially young women, and letting men ride off into the sunset with no accountability is lame and needs to stop! I was reliving Britney catching all the smoke and Justin just boo-hooing and stepping on her all the way to the top. So yay for Kathleen, yay for the very excellent chemistry/tension and yay for Cal. This was a great read and I can’t wait for Elissa’s next one.

Thanks NetGalley for the Arc in exchange for my honest review.

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enemies to lovers, second chance romance, dual timeline, childhood friends to lovers

I was jumping up and down when I received this ARC and it did not disappoint. I am the target audience for this book. Musical theatre? Yes. Enemies-to-lovers? Yes. Annoying(ly attractive) MMC? Yes.

The plot was actually sensible? I love Kathleen chasing her dreams. The character development made me smile, but I didn’t like all of the characters so much. Kathleen irked me a bit, and Harriet’s character and actions were too similar to Janis from Mean Girls if I’m honest. HOWEVER the rest of the story made up for this. Very enjoyable and entertaining.

4 stars!

Simply put, Once More With Feeling is for the theatre kids. It’s for the kids who grew up listening to Original Broadway Cast Recordings with wide eyes and big dreams. I was LIVING for all the musical references, especially the nods to the great Stephen Sondheim. The sense of place that the main characters are searching for in the theatre is a universal concept and even if theatre isn’t your thing, many readers will be able to relate.

This book was just a complete joyride of fun. I adored Funny You Should Ask and devoured this book just as readily. As a 90’s baby, I loved the past storyline that draws on the Britney/Justin era of pop music but it was Kathleen and Cal’s magnetic chemistry that kept me feverishly flipping pages. I found Kathleen’s journey towards forgiveness (both to herself and others) to be both impactful and realistic. I do wish we could have seen certain scenes from Cal’s POV but all in all, Kathleen was a wonderful protagonist who I rooted for the entire time.

Elissa Sussman hits all the necessary notes that pulled at the heartstrings without sacrificing the playfulness and familiarity that make second chance romances thrive. Sussman proves she is a formidable voice in the romance genre and I look forward to reading whatever she writes next!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this review copy!

Fans of the author’s first novel will love this one too!

Sussman has found her formula and loves giving audiences tumultuous second chance romances. Though this one also has a touch of an enemies to lovers arc as the two MCs cannot go a few pages without wanting to get at each other. (but also in a sexy way)

Just like “Funny You Should Ask” This novel also explores fictional celebrities and the intricacies of dating in the public eye and how people treat women in the spotlight. Though the drama in “Once More With Feeling” is certainly heightened by the fact that everyone involved are theatre kids that never stopped being theatre kids.

I was not a massive fan of the female MC, she has self destructive tendencies and a bit of an ego (but so does the male MC) - but who doesn’t support Women’s Wrongs! It’s a bit of a frustrating read in that if the two characters sat down like adult and talked things wouldn’t get so messy. But what romance novel doesn’t have some form of miscommunication/refusal of communication - they’re theatre kids after all! (saying this as an ex theatre kid)

Overall “Once More With Feeling” is a fun and short read! And it’s a solid 3.5 ⭐️ for me. With a spicy score of 1.5🌶 there is only one spicy scene but the tension between the two MCs could be cut with a knife.

Thank you Random House/Dell for the Arc ✨

I think when I first finished this book, it was a solid 3 stars. I enjoyed the characters, the pacing was snappy, and I think I had fun.

And then I kept thinking and little things started to ding at me.

How the male love interest had no real conflict besides the show.

How the best friend was legit sidelined even though she and the main character were SUPER besties and how much more I wanted to see of it.

How the main character was ... if I'm being a touch honest, a bit boring.

I loved the back story and I'm okay with second chance romances and dual timelines, but it was so strange watching the dual timeline and realizing that like oh - not only were they in love, but the ~big thing that happened in the past~ did not effect Cal at all. And not only did it not effect him, but he's living his best life and is annoyed that Katee would still be frustrated by what happened.

So, idk. The more I think about this book, the more frustrated I get. Which is fine. Maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea today. Either way, I'll give it a 2.5, rounding up to three. I was entertained when I fully shut my brain off.

Thank you to Dell/Random House and NetGalley for an ARC for a chance to read and review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. I truly enjoyed this book. I loved the long term friendships/relationships that everyone had. I enjoyed both the love of musicals and Broadway and movies and Hollywood. I enjoyed the growth that each of the characters went through.

I recommend Funny You Should Ask to everyone I know who enjoys romance because it was a book that I could not put down. I was so excited to have received this ARC and to be able to read another of Elissa Sussman's books. Once More with Feeling was very enjoyable. I really loved Kathleen's character. She was fallible and funny and self-deprecating in a way that felt familiar. She was a character that I would be happy to get a drink with. Cal was lovable and kind, and I enjoyed seeing their ups and downs. That being said, I felt that the beginning of the book was a little slow and it took me a minute to get into. This may not be the fault of the book, and it could have been where I was at as a reader. I recently read The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes which is also about a pop group, so I think it might've taken me a minute to untangle myself from the pop groups of that book and transition to the world of CrushZone and Katee Rose. Once I got into the book I couldn't put it down. The tension between Kathleen and Cal was very well done, and Kathleen's relationship with Harriet was one that I also enjoyed. While this book probably doesn't pass the Bechdel test, I thought it was very enjoyable and would recommend it. One thing I don't understand is that many times the book mentioned that Kathleen was a large-chested/curvy woman and I really wasn't sure why. If it was to make a point that she was over-sexualized, I feel like the mark was missed a little. Thank you to NetGalley and Dell for this ARC.

Thanks to netgalley and publisher for this arc.

I don't care for musical theatre and that was what a lot of this book had. I was intrigued by the plot of the two lead characters and really liked them together but the slow burn was too slow and didn't like pacing of the flashbacks to finally figure out their past! Also hate when it's not dual pov, I would have loveddd to see his thoughts and feelings and it would have helped the book significantly.

I am such a fan of Elissa Sussman's ideas for books. I was a sucker for Funny You Should Ask and I am a sucker for Once More with Feeling. I mean, you have everything, second chance romance, enemies to lovers, and Broadway??? You have my attention. I couldn't put this book down. It was exactly what I needed at that moment and I didn't even know it. You need to read this one!!!

This book gets an automatic reward for being so intensely readable that I finished it in *almost* one sitting. If you're looking for second-chance romance, and maybe a *bit*of enemies to lovers, Sussman is the romance author for you. Once More with Feeling follows a former pop star who is reunited with a former boy band member (and co-summer camp attendee) with whom there *may* have been some sparks years ago, as they work on amusical that everyone hopes will make it to Broadway. If you love lots of nods to musical theater, you are in for a real treat with this book, which leans into the theater-kid nerd vibe so hard (and I'm here for it!).

The protagonists, Katherine and Cal, are lovingly drawn protagonists that have somehting to prove to themselves and each other, years after their careers diverged along different paths. My favorite character was Harriet, the best friend stuck in the middle of the two knuckleheaded leads, who has written the show at the heart of the story. I would have loved to see more of her throughout the book.

This didn't quite match the love I had for Sussman's last book, Funny You Should Ask, which may be in part because of the simliar style (switching between past and present) that didn't feel quite as new, and a tension that didn't seem quite as electric in the present as that between Chani and Gabe (the best scenes for me were those taking place at summer camp!). However, it certaintly didn't stop my from gobbling up this book, and you can bet that I'll read anything else by Sussman in the future

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early review copy, all opinions are my own.