Thank you NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Christy Swift for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up!

In this story, Emmy gets to live out every girl's dream. She writes a NYT best-selling romance where the MMC is inspired by her real life celebrity crush. She keeps that celebrity crush a secret until she gets to meet him face-to-face. They have instant chemistry, but fight it for a myriad of reasons.

Jason has had some bad press lately (and in the past), so Emmy agrees to help him with his image by using the social media skills that she's honed and used as a tool when releasing her novel. Cue the forced proximity and a few "is this really happening?!" moments.

I absolutely can't believe this is a debut author! This book was excellent! It was a quick read and a really sweet story about two single parents finding love with each other in Hollywood. There were twists and turns and the third act breakup wasn't at all what I was expecting (and normally, I feel like I can figure that out early on in a novel).

The way the vlogs, podcasts and interviewers were added was a fun way to break up the book and show that while Emmy and Jason were in their own little world, their relationship wasn't happening in a vacuum.

The supporting characters were fantastic; I loved Josie and all the members of the show that were Jason's friends. I liked how Christy wrote the relationships between the MCs and their friends. The banter between friends was fun and the situationd were (mostly) realistic.

Please, please Christy Swift, tell me the next story is Josie's!!

This was a cute little romcom, Emmy writes a book inspired by her celebrity crush it becomes a viral sensation when she makes a tiktok about it and ends up on a daytime talk show and ends up meeting, said crush through a series of happenstances they end up spending time together, and you know the trope. It's cute. I wish that they would've so let's shut the characters a little bit more. I felt like there was something missing with jason's character.-- That's the celebrity crush i also hope that we will hear more about the purple hair. Ed best friend Josie. I liked her and I feel like there could be a story there all in all. It's a fun romcom quick little read

If you have ever daydreamed about meeting your celebrity crush, this book is for you. If you have ever dreamed of writing a book, you can relate to Emmy. She is a social media influencer turned author. After Emmy wrote a book inspired by her celebrity crush, everyone wants to know who that crush is. When she is invited to a talk show to promote her book, the host surprises her by bringing her crush, Jason, onto the show to meet her. When her book is picked up to be turned into a movie, Jason is cast as the lead and he and Emmy have to spend time together to promote the movie. The more time they spend together, the more their attraction grows, but there is a problems. Jason is trying to clean up his reputation in order to save his job which means that he can't be seen with Emmy romantically and Emmy has a secret.

This was a fun book which caught my attention from the opening paragraph. The pace was just right. The interaction between Emmy and Jason was funny and irritating and delicious. Emmy is a science fiction fan girl and Jason is a nice guy that the world views as a womanizer. Emmy and Jason have definite chemistry, but cirmcumstances are not on their side and they both have baggage. This book has a third act breakup which could be seem coming early in the story and I found myself telling Emmy out loud to come clean before it was too late. Spoiler alert, she didn't. I was so invested in the story that I had to quit reading a couple of times because I could feel the third act breakup was inevitable and I didn't want it to happen. I couldn't stay away long though. I needed to know what was going to happen next. I was also invested in the supporting characters. They were some very entertaining people and I loved Emmy's stylist. Luckily, this is a romance novel, so I was guaranteed a happy ending after the heartbreak. .

I hadn't read anything by Christy Swift, so I Googled her. Apparently, Celebrity Crush is her debut novel and it sounds like Emmy was loosely based on her. I bet we will be reading other romcoms by Christy in the future. Thank you to Christy and NetGalley for the honor of reading the ARC. I truly enjoyed it.

Christy Swift throws us into the world of celebrity romances, and gives us perfect yet imperfect characters that you can't help but relate to sometimes. It took me awhile to finish this read, but this satisfied a good light read.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exhange for an honest review.

This was a fun, nice and quick read. I wasn’t completely sold on their initial connection being formed over only a few days, but I did believe they would be good together.

•Romance Writer/Celebrity Actor
•Sci-Fi Nerd References
•Dual POV (1st Person)
•Closed Door

I would rate this as a 3.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me access to an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There's been a hot streak of not quite normie/celeb romances that are really entertaining. Christy Swift's Celebrity Crush ranks high among them. The utter batshit crazy scenario of falling in love with your celebrity crush actually seems pretty normal in the world Swift's created. All the contemporary touches play well with the readers sensibilities. Highly enjoyed!

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Beautiful story. Characters were written well and plot was entertaining! This was my first book by this author and I’m definitely excited to read more! 4 stars recommendation!

The minute I read the premise of this book, I knew I immediately had to request it. This book was so much more than I was expecting and all in a good way. The modern day references, as well as the fun podcasts, news reports, TikToks, vlogs, etc. were so fun and not as cringey as I was expecting them to be.

The characters were so fun and I loved their chemistry, the way conversations flowed between each other, and the overall vibes of the book. This is a fun, Hallmark-like book. I also love the fact that it's closed door, and not in a terribly written way. Absolutely adored this book in all ways.

I want to personally thank NetGalley, as well as the author, publisher, and anyone else involved in providing copies, for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was such a cute, fun read! I really enjoyed all the sci-fi references. The characters are believable and relatable, their chemistry is beautiful and off the charts! I really appreciated the amount of depth we got to see into the minds of the characters. I’ll definitely be looking for more by this author!

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was amazing, I wasn't sure what to expect but I loved it. You get all the feels in this book and it has some humor that I think everyone will enjoy.

A first time writer uses a real celebrity as inspiration for her books boyfriend, meets him, and they fall for each other. Super cute premise. Irs done really well in Olivia Dade All the Feels, Rachel Lynn Solomon Business or Pleasure, and/or Speechless by Lindsey Lanza. However, you need to suspend a lot of disbelief in order to like this book. I kept reminding myself to ignore facts. If you can go with the dreamy, wish-fulfilment of it all, then you will like this book. Which basically is cute. But I don't know if this is how a man thinks or speaks. And it's a super quick I love you. But if you are a fan of Hallmark or Netflix rom-coms this book is for you.

I liked the characters. It was just too much "tell" and not enough "show", especially when it came to the romance. There were a lot of convenient plot twists and devices. Still, there were enjoyable moments and I would check out this debut author's next book. 2.75 stars. Thanks to Net Galley and Hachette for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is fun in that it follows the actual flow of current social media avenues. The characters are ambitious and it is fun seeing Emmy's story of her celebrity crush turn into a reality.

Really enjoyed this one!

Liked the characters, plot and setting. I thought the characters had great chemistry and the romance was developed well.

A fun read!

This was one of the most delightfully fun books I have read all year! Christy Swift wrote such a deeply funny and personable FMC and captivated my attention and heart from the moment we met Emmy until the final page. Her wit and humor had me cracking up, and it felt so natural and honest, never cliché or forced. I also adored Jason, both the celebrity side of his world and the kind, personable man he was behind the scenes. This was also such a nice take on a common trope (actor and fan) that made it feel very fresh and loveable. I seriously was kicking my feet and grinning from the sheer adorableness of this couple and story! This book had some of my absolute favorite narrative voices, by both Emmy and Jason, and the most fun romantic chemistry that I have read in a long while, and I was truly so sad to say goodbye at the end!

I also loved the pop culture references sprinkled all throughout this book. Whether it was celebrity sightings or a TikTok trend, I love how it made me feel like it was truly happening in my world. It felt like collecting Easter Eggs every time I recognized a reference, and it was so much fun! Speaking of fun, the whole cast of characters was delightful, and the settings and side plots were just as enjoyable as the main couple. The way the author meshed our real world with her created one was made all the more seamless with the inclusion of podcast transcripts by super fans and social media posts by the characters and fictional world, all of which fleshed out both the world and the characters themselves even more.

Overall, I genuinely loved every second of this book and had a blast reading it. Thank you to Christy Swift and NetGalley for the opportunity!

4.5 stars

Celebrity Crush by Christy Swift was a lot of fun.

Emmy has just published "Hashtag Celebrity Crush," a book that's based on her real-life celebrity crush. There is a poll on the internet between 4 heartthrobs trying to figure out who the book is based on.. While she's doing promo for the book she is invited on a talk show and SURPRISE so are the 4 heartthrobs. She's confronted with revealing who her celebrity crush is.... and lucky for her the two seem to hit it off.

Jason O'Connor is a hot mess .... self sabotaging and making one bad decision after another. He missed the birth of his child, got arrested fighting over a married woman... the guy is just bad news. However, celebrity crushes aren't logical and when he gets cast to play the lead in the film adaptation of Emmy's book the two begin to start spending more time together as Emmy helps him with his social media presence.

The TikTok's, vlogs, podcasts, etc are super fun. This book is pretty hilarious. I would absolutely encourage rom-com lovers to jump into this one, you won't be disappointed.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for the honest review. I hope to read more from Christy Swift in the future.

I had a lot of fun reading this! Emmy is living everyone’s dream when she connects with her celebrity crush after writing a romance novel based on him. There were a lot of silly moments with Emmy also being social media influencer who posts things like “dolphin reads your fortune” and “angry yoga” along with TikTok dances with her teenage daughter. Jason is an actor with a problematic past but is trying to do better for his son and his career by being less of a playboy. When they start to develop real feelings for each other, things become a bit of a mess.

There were a lot of fun pop culture and sci-fi references along with things like interviews and podcast excerpts which made it a really easy read. Emmy and Jason’s romance certainly had its fair share of drama but I thought they were really cute together. Emmy did start to grate on me a little bit with her obsession with being famous, but of course things turned out well in the end. I’m hoping the author continues the series with some of the side characters!

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for the honest review.

this is not a romance. the flirting was fine and cute at first, but then she got all upset that he didn’t follow her back on social media after meeting once on a talk show. jason and emmy hung out maybe six times total including work events, and they hooked up once. then they didn’t speak for months, and then suddenly love each other after a really public meltdown from the guy that’d been drinking from a flask and acting like a train wreck two pages prior. i actually found myself actively rooting against this couple. jason and emmy were both wildly annoying and in need of therapy.

the story had potential, but the plot was simultaneously rushed and dragging. there was so much internal chatter, talk of creating content for social media, unironically doing tiktok dances, excerpts from podcasts talking about the characters, and very little relationship development or anything actually driving the plot. it was chaotic, and not in the good way.

don’t expect any cute kid moments either. emmy had her kid with her best friend for most of the book, and jason’s son was off with the babysitter or margarita.

the whole thing on the yacht made no sense. it was too rushed. margarita announced a baby and emmy is passed off to sean without a word from jason. sean is the one that tells her about the photos that were leaked, and then suddenly it’s three months later.

i don’t think people constantly say “hashtag” anymore either. it cheapened some moments even more than the mediocre plot had already accomplished.

Write a book about your celebrity crush and then get to meet your actual celebrity crush. The main characters in this book were so relatable being in their 30s and parents. I absolutely loved the mixed media used in the book to add to the story. This is one of the best romances I have read in a while.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the advanced reader copy.

The premise of this novel--a romance writer gets a chance with her celebrity crush--sounded sweet and fun, but the jacket copy didn't convey how much sci-fi energy was in this book. Every paragraph had at least one sci-fi reference that had me a bit confused, since I'm not a fan of the genre. This is probably a great pick for someone who is interested in science fiction and might be trying to get into romance.

NOTE: the blurb is misleading. There is not a fake dating scheme in the book because the FMC resists it the entire book and the MMC is never made aware that it’s an option.

I wanted to like this book so badly. The concept was so cute (and would be so freaking creepy irl), the cover was cute, but everything else just fell a little flat. The voice behind this storytelling was great, but the actual plots were a little juvenile and not fully fleshed out and had some logic holes in them. I really enjoyed the author’s voice and the characters, even if their decisions were dumb and didn’t make sense from a characterization and plotting POV. The writing style is quick paced, fun and engaging in a true Rom Com kind of way.

Basics: Single mom, influencer, novelist Of (Hashtag Celebrity Crush), the book based on her actual (fictional) celebrity crush. Single dad. Most Likely to Seduce Your Mom at a Wedding. Insta love. Closed door.

The main plot takes place over three-ish days. Very insta-lusty. And then there’s a time jump of three months that the leads are apart due to what boils down to a miscommunication. The problem is, some of the plots would’ve worked better over a longer period of time. Cleaning up someone’s rep or image in three days is more than a little unrealistic, even with Hollywood’s short memory. Even their relationship wasn’t believable because of the short timeframe. Jason is known to like hookups, and Emmy has publicly said she thinks he’s hot, so that’s a huge ego stroke. Emmy has the chance to romp around with her celebrity crush. It’s the perfect recipe for a fling because the timeline is three days. If she’d been in town for the whole filming of the movie (which is only mentioned and only one scene do you see that happening), over the course of even a month, it would’ve been more believable.

But really, the book falls apart when it comes to plot continuity, motivations, and stakes. The characters’ motivations don’t usually align with their actions, making the plot confusing and the stakes weak. Again, this is the perfect recipe for a fling, so what are they risking to make it more? I’ve read the whole thing and I still don’t know. Everything felt very superficial and surface level.

It’s dual POV, which isn’t bad, but it’s confusing because each of them has their own strategy/motivation/plot in terms of each other, but because the story takes place in such a short amount of time, they don’t really commit to what they’re doing. She’s trying to get to #1 on the NYT Best Seller List by creating a fake relationship with him. Over three days. But she’s resistant to it the whole time because she “loves” what she knows of him from the screen. It really boils down to this: I don’t know what Emmy wants. We know what Jason wants: to keep his nose clean and clean up his image so he doesn’t get fired from him job. That’s why he has to stay away from Emmy. But why does Emmy have to stay away from him? She’s open to a fling; she says so. He’s also kind of open to fling, given his past, that she leaves after three total days, and how he knows how to keep things out of the public eye. But wanting to truly change and show the public and his bosses he’s changed, works as his motivation. But Emmy wants to be famous. And her agent’s advice to hookup with Jason would do that… but she hims and haws until she’s drunk at 70%, and then her action doesn’t make sense for her characterization. Not to mention what comes next. “I had to fight for my dream.” But like, you didn’t???? So she does end up getting what she wants (the number one spot, and by “selling out” Jason Connor) but she fights what she wants the whole time.

I don’t typically like single parent book. This one has no mention (that I remember) of it being single parent on either side, much less both. Except, this book is a huge example as to why I don’t like this trope. The Morning After, they are all over each other in front of Jason’s kid. But remember, Jason is worried about being a bad dad and having his custody taken away for being “reckless” as the judge said. And he’s trying to clean up his image by actually cleaning up his life. And none of this aligns with having a sleepover with Emmy like this.

There was a LOT of drama in the Third Act Conflict that I feel like kind of sums of the book in general: trying to do too much in too little. Some of it just wasn’t necessary, like Emmy’s daughter’s father storyline. It felt shoehorned in and not fully resolved, which then made it feel more shoehorned in in retrospect.

Small, nitpicks comments, but first, the FMC is a weirdo? She’s hungry at the photo shoot and just reaches for and eats his sandwich at the smallest “do you want some?” Like, literally ran away from him and around a pool, eating his sandwich. This is supposed to be cute??? I know he’s her celebrity crush, but like, boundaries? Normalcy? The scene almost turned me off to the entire book because of the cringe weirdness of it. She doesn’t know him. He doesn’t know her. And this is supposed to be some sort of flirting scene to draw them closer together.

Either I do not understand the definition of “memes” or this author doesn’t. I’m going with the author.

I think the author severely overestimates the amount of fame an author would get from one book blowing up.

An actual quote from the MMC’s POV: “I think I grew an ovary just looking at that cover art” of the FMC’s book. In a Romance book. What the actual f—

I liked the authors voice—it’s what kept me reading, even if I skimmed some of the filler, inner monologue stuff. This is her debut, so I’d be interested in reading her again in the future, but hesitantly so given the issues that I had with the plotting of this one. I’m guessing some of those issues have to do with the author admitting in her notes that this is her first Romance book after spending time trying to be published in YA Sci-Fi.

All-in-all, it’s a 3.5 easily rounded to a 4 because I enjoyed her voice so much. That being said, if you’re interested in Real Person Dating Celebrity as a trope with better, more rounded plots, read # Starstruck by Sariah Wilson instead.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a review!