When I saw the FMC was an author I definitely wanted to read this book. Emmy ends up working with Jason to promote her book. Emmy struggles a little with Jason’s “Hollywood-ness” and I think that definitely made her relatable. Jason definitely had more to him than what Emmy expected!

Jason was sweet and I really liked their banter.

This is a closed door romance and I enjoyed the pop culture references.

Overall it was cute and entertaining read.

Not sure how to feel about this one. Closed door, only kissing was detailed. Pretty good storyline overall. Some of the Hollywood aspect of it was a little cringe. Dropping names of real celebrities in there was my cringe factor. And then just the way the third act breakup went down followed by how they came back together…..I don’t know. You read it and let me know why that just wasn’t my favorite but I didn’t hate it either. I loved their playful banter and her optimistic personality. The author did a good job of blending them together to complete one another. Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to read and review this book.

“When I’m with you, I can just be happy. You make me feel like someone who deserves to be happy.” 🧡

Unfortunately, I was not crushing on CELEBRITY CRUSH by Christy Swift. This is marketed as a celebrity romance with fake dating - but…it wasn’t? While yes, our FMC is an upcoming author and our MMC is a famous movie/TV star - they spend most of the book resisting fake dating, so we are really left with…implied dating? Unsure what to call it.

What you do get is a single mom/single dad romance with older main characters - but you also get a bit insta-love and slightly stalkerish vibes from our FMC? It was just awkward and one-sided for so long, that the romance felt forced and a bit contrived? And I simply was not rooting for it.

I typically LOVE celebrity romance - and I wanted to love this book; however, I ultimately did not love either character, the romance itself, or the overall “save their reputation” plot.

I also had an opportunity to listen to the audiobook - and I did enjoy the narrators; it has two for the dual POV and they both do an excellent job at bringing the characters to life - particularly when the two are at each other’s throats.

Emmy Ellison is on her way to be a best selling author. When her book is optioned for a movie, she's elated that Jason Connor, her real life celebrity crush and the basis for the male main character in her book, is hired for the movie. PR really wants to hype things up, getting Emmy and Jason to play into a relationship. It's all fake for the public, but neither one expected it for real in private. Emmy did her research on Jason for her book character. She knew just about everything there was to know, even the most obscure. As she gets to know Jason, she realizes that some of his public persona is greatly sensationalized. When those parts of the book come to light, it might just crush the budding relationship.

I alternated between reading and listening to this story. Stephanie Willing and Andrew Eiden brought this story to life. If not for the option to listen and get to know the characters through the narrators' voices, I may have given up early on. Great narrators capture the true personality of the characters and hook me right into the story.

I received an advance copy of this book at my request and voluntarily left this review.

This was a cute and silly romance read. It was funny, entertaining, and ended really nicely. I would read more by this author.

Thanks NetGalley and authr/publisher for giving me an ARC of this book!

This was a cute and silly romance read that had emotional depth to it. It was funny and entertaining and ended really nicely. I would read more by this author.

Thanks NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Christy Swift for giving me an ARC of this book!

4.5 stars
I was provided this ARC by NetGalley.

Our FMC, Emmy Ellison is an author and is on TV to promote her book that is based on one of four men on her favorite show, Lost Star Dance Troupe. To Emmy’s surprise, the TV host brings them on the show and forces her to say who it is.

It is none other than, Jason Connor, the bad boy of Hollywood – or so everyone thinks. Jason has a few years of bad life luck and is currently dealing with a divorce and trying to coparent his son. Emmy’s admission of her crush and the response to his appearance on the show has given him an idea. What if they continue this “relationship” to help promote the book and the subsequent movie that is being made.

The book goes back and forth between their two POVs and current life situations. Jason’s POV finds him in the middle of a bad interaction with his ex girlfriend , mother to his son. She continues to come on strong to him and he continues to push her away. Then she drops the bomb that she will be working with him on the Celebrity Crush movie. He is not happy about this.

As the two begin to promote book sales and start to drum up excitement about the upcoming move, they head to LA for a photoshoot. Emmy is very awkward and is having a hard time getting comfortable with Jason and his hot body. She impulsively steals his sandwich running around the pool with it & then she jumps into inner tube, he jumps in too without shirt. She feeds him sandwich, all the while the photographer is shooting. The final photos show him looking at her really sweetly.

Their continued PR tour finds their paths crossing frequently and puts her back into the Hollywood scene that she left 12 years ago very abruptly. She told no one why she left so suddenly but the fact is that she was pregnant with her daughter and the father was a big film executive that treated her awfully so she wasn’t going to stay in his world.

She decides to spend a couple of days in his house with him and his son so they can create social media content to continue to promote the film. They continue to feel their pull towards each other but Jason is worried that she will see him as taking advantage of her to better is image. He has sworn off relationships for this very reason – people taking advantage of each other.

The way their lives continue to intertwine and they come to trust and rely on each other is something new for both of them. Of course, we have experience a third act break up but it is so central to the story and the way it resolves is really good too. There is very little spice in this book but it is not needed. The story that is created for these two is enough to keep you engaged throughout the entire book.

I did an immersive read with the audiobook and the narrators did an excellent job of bringing this story to life.

#CelebrityCrush
#NetGalley

3.5 stars. i enjoyed the premise and what a great debut but it was a bit too insta-lovey for me. i liked that it was a closed door with great banter. i was able to go back and forth between audio and e-arc. i would definitely read more of this author’s work!

Emma's book about a celebrity crush is being made in to a movie, starring Jason, the crush himself. Will he live up to expectations? I liked how it was told from both points of view.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫
Celebrity romance has all the makings of a fun celebrity romcom. It follows Emmy Ellison an author and social media manager and Hollywood star Jason Connor. Emmy’s romance book #CelebrityCrush has everyone trying to figure out who her celebrity crush is. An opportunity to promote her book presents itself where she not only gets to revel who her crush is, but gets to meet him too! Jason’s career is at risk and this is the perfect PR stunt to help his career.

Emmy and Jason were cute together. They had fun banter and I liked how their love story unfolds. While this book is meant to have the elements of fake dating, it felt a bit more like insta-lust.

I enjoyed the side characters especially Jason’s costars. The inclusion of a celebrity gossip show between chapters that talked about the rumours surrounding our characters was fun. I also enjoyed all the nerdy pop culture references.

I didn’t connect with Emmy as much as I thought I would because who hasn’t had a celebrity crush and entering a fake dating situation with said crush would be like a dream. I felt at times she became a bit of a villain in the story and I felt for Jason more than her. This could be a me thing but it was hard for me to root for her when I felt like she was the cause of a lot of drama. Overall, it was a fun read. -D

Read if you like:
▪️Author heroine & famous actor hero
▪️Single mom & single dad
▪️Celebrity romance
▪️A book about a book
▪️Nerdy pop culture references

Thank you so much to Forever for the complimentary copy!

This book is out now!

Ugh. I wanted to love this SO badly! On paper this is exactly the kind of book that I love but for some reason it just wasn't clicking for me the way I thought it would. And I thought pairing it with the audio which is narrated by Andrew Eiden and Stephanie Willing would help but it only help with making sure that I finished the book.

"Hollywood isn't really a place, after all. It's a universe. A universe I desperately want to belong to."

And maybe I missed it but it just seemed like one minute Emmy is put in the hot seat to admit who her celebrity crush is and next minute Jason was the crush and boom they are dating? I know Emmy was helping him with his social media image but it just didn't feel real? I was hoping for more of a built up? More flirting? Something to make me feel connected to the characters.

As I mentioned I paired my reading with the audio and sadly even with Andrew Eiden (Teddy Hamilton) doing the MMC's POV it did not help much. He made it at least somewhat enjoyable. I am unfamiliar with Stephanie Willing prior work but I would listen to her again. They truly saved me. I feel like I am making this sound like a really bad book. It's not. I wanted so bad for things to click for me but it just hadn't.

I would read this author again as this was a debut so it could possible be that first book jitters.

I recommend this if you like books with social media influencers and Hollywood!

3.25

3.5/5

Celebrity Crush by Christy Swift was a good debut novel. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrators Teddy Hamilton and Stephanie Willing were swoony and made the story! There were some funny moments throughout the story.

Read this if you enjoy:
-Celebrity romance
-Author FMC/actor MMC
-Single mom
-Single dad
-Insta-love
-Miscommunication
-Social media influencing
-Hollywood setting

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 Cute Rom-Com

Quick, cutie little romance. I can’t believe she came out and told him! I was hooked from the beginning. This might be a little less believable than some of the other rom-coms, but it was still enjoyable.

What I loved:
Emmy was pretty funny
Jason was a very sweet guy
Some wild things happened

What I didn’t love
I’m not on Tik Tok so I don’t really understand that lifestyle of randomly dancing
The conflict got pretty mean at some points

Overall, this was a fun short read. I think I would have liked the audiobook better, perhaps some of the podcast interviews would have played better than reading it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

this was just ok. I found myself not getting super into it or feeling a ton. Didn't feel a ton of depth. it was a nice, quick and easy read!

Imagine you wrote fanfic about your celebrity crush and it got published, and then you met him and decided to fake date him for PR…. Obviously everyone involved would catch feelings!!! That’s CELEBRITY CRUSH by Christy Swift!!! I really enjoyed reading it, minus a smidge of fatphobia that was really unnecessary if I’m being honest.

First and foremost as always thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. This was an incredibly good read! I am always a sucker for fake dating! I know it's always the same formula, but it's always so good! Definitely worth the read!

I LOVE a celeb romance - and this one looked like it was right up my alley. Unfortunately it did not work for me.

Overall the storyline is good and interesting. The only think I’m not a fan of is the Influenser angle. I know that that’s a very real profession I’m just not a fan of reading it. Other than that though good story.

Okay, who among us has nurtured a celebrity crush at some point in our lives? Who has daydreamed about what it might be like to meet that person, have chemistry with that person, even - OMG - date that person! That is the premise of Celebrity Crush, a new romcom by Christy Swift that had me laughing, swooning, and gasping at the twists and turns of this engaging story.

First of all, kudos to Swift for turning this Cinderella trope into a realistic escapade, giving it a bit of heft among the glitz and glamor. These characters are not perfect. They have issues. They have flaws. They make mistakes. And yes, I still cheered them on. Give credit to Swift's character development in creating empathy for the main couple even when they're being jerks (yes, they both take a turn at that) while also imbuing them with enough everyday humanity to make them relatable. Is their behavior cringe worthy at times? You bet. But then there are those other times when they're funny and sweet, when their banter sparkles and unexpected feelings tug at the heart. It's an intriguing blend that kept me happily turning pages, knowing this is totally what I would expect from stereotypical celebrity culture while at the same time rooting for a happy ending for the single mom who does TikTok dances with her daughter and the celebrity single dad who does his own cooking and puts his little boy's happiness above all else.

If you're looking for a fun, escapist, celebrity romp, give this one a try. Best enjoyed with a big bowl of popcorn. Buttered, of course.

ARC received from Forever via NetGalley
Fair and unbiased opinion

Wow, it took me a long time to finish this book lol
I don’t know why, I enjoyed it but I found the middle hard to get through and I felt at times it kind of lost the plot through the different mediums of storytelling, like the texts and articles.

I liked the love story - and it is a clean (sex off page) romance, which I found refreshing. At times though, I didn’t fine either Emmy or Jason likeable. I didn’t think either of them were all that apologetic for their wrongdoing’s. I also thought both of their kids were kind of irrelevant to a lot of the story cause they weren’t on page until like the last quarter of the book.

Overall, I’m just conflicted on my feelings of the novel because there were parts I did enjoy but some that I didn’t. I would give this author another shot in the future, though.

Thanks to netgalley for my early copy.