Absolutely love this writer
After reading my husband I was hooked
This was a fun one page turning
Masterpiece , characters well loved and some not at the same time !

I loved Maud Ventura's previous book "My Husband," and just knew I would be in for a wild ride with "Make Me Famous." This novel follows the life of Cleo who knew at a very young age that she would be famous. She did absolutely everything she could to make it to the top. She stepped on many people on her way to the top and felt absolutely nothing while doing so. This book is a train wreck (in the best way). I felt so icky reading it and truly loathed Cleo, but also admired her grit and refusal to give up on her dreams. She is a self proclaimed narcissist, and definitely used others to her advantage. I love women behaving badly books and really did enjoy this. Thanks to NetGalley and HarperVia for this eARC.

Cléo, a famous singer, is taking her first vacation in years on a remote island in the South Pacific. The isolation gives her a chance to reflect on her rise to stardom and, more interestingly, how six months ago, everything in her life started falling apart…

Maud Ventura’s previous book MY HUSBAND was a masterclass in obsession and an unhinged narrator calculating her next move, so I expected similar things in this one. And the narration is great! A semi-sociopathic narcissist narrating her calculated ascent to megastardom and correlating descent into tyranny? Enthralling. Cléo is unlikable, yet in some respects reasonable, so following her logic to get to unhinged conclusions is fascinating. I love a character-driven journey in a crazy person’s psyche. Sign me up.

But two things drove me crazy while reading this. First of all, I hate a pop culture reference that feels like it will get dated quickly (this was my biggest issue with YELLOWFACE), and the repeated references to current celebrities like Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift did not help that. In a fictional world, I sort of expect a fictional celebrity circle, like I thought was done in JULIE CHAN IS DEAD. Repeated namedrops took me a bit out of the fiction. Second, I saw the ending coming immediately. Ridiculous amounts of foreshadowing, honestly, which I wonder is a translation issue?

Regardless, I had a good time reading it! I think most people who like a glitzy, dark-side-of-Hollywood setting or an unlikeable narrator will enjoy this.

Similar reads: DID YOU HEAR ABOUT KITTY KARR? by Crystal Smith Paul, THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

4/5 stars

Thank you HarperVia for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley and Edelweiss. All opinions are my own.

TL;DR:

intriguing and suspenseful novel about a young woman’s rise to fame, though the ending is somewhat predictable

read this if you are:
- complex protagonists
- interested in the music industry and/or media fame in general
- like flashbacks and alternative timelines
- need a thriller novel element
- okay with a slow build-up

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Overall, a wonderful book that highlights the extremes that come with fame. I would recommend this book for those who want to gain insight into the dynamics of the music industry in the 21st century.

The book is split into three parts: Faith, Ascension, and Glory. “Glory” was by far the most compelling, as it detailed the excesses and horrors of global fame. I found it difficult to get through the first part of the book as the recollection of the main character’s rise to fame was significantly less interesting than her behavior and actions once she was well-known. I found that the novel was too long for what it needed to accomplish and that the first two parts could have been more concise.

The ending was fantastic; however, it was slightly predictable for me due to some details included by the author earlier in the book.

SPOILERS BELOW ⚠️:
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The lingering presence of her being on a deserted island currently in between the flashbacks was such a smart choice and kept me hooked in finding out how her flashbacks ended as well as her present situation. I did find the ending predictable due to the details of two of the characters associated with the protagonist being friends.

Maud Ventura has a talent for writing obsessive, unlikable characters. Cleo is a bad friend, terrible listener, self-absorbed, envious, and all-around a nightmare. It’s hard to root for her when she is actively rooting against everyone else. I think that we, as the audience, aren’t meant to root for her, however, so I guess that part of the book was achieved. She will do anything and everything to be famous, no matter who gets hurt in the process. At least Cleo is aware that she has psychopathic tendencies - however this knowledge seemingly doesn’t lead to any meaningful change. She never seems to be satisfied - even when she finds success and fame. Suddenly it’s too much. It’s too much attention or not enough. She doesn’t know what she wants. Something that Maud Ventura does really well is depicting mentally unstable women. The fact that Cleo is willing to break her leg (or ankle) to get herself time off from touring, shows you where Cleo’s mental stability is. She also is constantly punishing herself with self-harm when she believes she has failed or perceives herself to not be good enough. In some ways, Cleo is relatable. You can understand in those ways where her mindset is. But, her inability to relate to others and her lack of empathy to the people around her, makes it impossible to fully understand her.
She ends up believing she is a victim of her own success. But the real victims are every single individual who surrounds her. She is an impossible person to deal with. She admits that she acts like a child and throws fits as such. The way she treats the people in her life, save her close friends who she pretends to like, is despicable. She knows that she treats them like dirt but she believes she has earned the right to treat them that way.
When John, her ex, and Aria got together towards the end, it felt like such an amazing FUCK YOU to Cleo. I inwardly cheered when that part came up and Cleo started spiraling. But, then the fact that Cleo’s fans started bullying her… made me so annoyed. As the reader, you don’t want Cleo to win. You want her to get what she deserves. Which is failure. You want her to lose.
Cleo is not just a terrible person, but a legitimate psychopath. She becomes violent and murderous. Throughout the book we learn that Cleo yearns for control over everything and it’s funny that we watch her slowly loses control over herself as she becomes more famous.
I’ll say that it was disappointing that Cleo never got what she deserved. I don’t care that she’s a terrible person. I don’t need to root for a character to like a story. However, I wanted something a little more from the ending. It wasn’t a terrible ending, but I just want people to see who she really is. It feels so disappointing for her to get away with murder.


P.S. The part after her father died when she was listening to Britney Spears’ Gimme More and doing the entire choreography was soooo funny. And her reaction to Juliette’s child was also insanely humorous. Talking about how her communication skills were pretty basic. Girl, that’s a whole BABY!!

maud ventura knows how to write an obsessive, crazy woman and how to do it well. her sophomore book was phenomenal and i enjoyed every second of it!!

thank you to netgalley for the arc!

Plot was interesting, and the twist at the end really got me. Dragged on for a while in the middle and ultimately didn’t like it as much as My Husband.

4.5/5⭐️
Wow! I was very excited to read this since I loved her other book, My Husband. And for me, it didn’t disappoint! The whole thing was exciting and very unhinged. You know the main character will do anything and everything to get what she wants. Which made the story so exciting and funny. The ending though, I did not see that coming at all. But I wasn’t mad either lol And I also agree that the song I will by The Beatles is one of the greatest love songs.

I liked this and had a great time reading it. Cleo is a very interesting protagonist and getting to explore her mind was a blast. I thought the middle of the book was a bit repetitive but the ending more than makes up for it. It’s a page turner and fun and wild. Exactly what I come to expect from Ventura.

I freakin loved this book. Ventura’s sharp, obsessive, darkly funny prose delivers a portrait of fame that’s so intimate and razor-edged, it practically buzzed in my hands. If you didn’t vibe with My Husband, you probably won’t enjoy this one either. But if you did, buckle up! Make Me Famous is Ventura at her most unhinged and unflinching.

Cléo is a character I couldn’t look away from. She’s narcissistic, calculated, wildly self-aware, and somehow deeply vulnerable underneath it all. Ventura doesn’t ask us to like her, she dares us to stay with her anyway. And I did. Every dissection of celebrity, every emotional outburst, every petty thought....it’s so raw and perfectly executed, you feel like you’re in her brain, not just reading about it.

Ventura’s writing style is just… electric. I’m in awe of how she crafts these obsessive inner monologues that should feel claustrophobic but instead feel addictive. At this point, I’ll read anything she puts out. And I have to shout out the translation— capturing tone and humor this well in translation is no small feat, and the translator absolutely nailed it.

Beneath the glamour and gossip, Make Me Famous is a brutal, brilliant take on what it means to be watched, commodified, and consumed. It’s satire that slices deep. No notes!

Maud Ventura has such an incredible talent. I loved "My Husband* and this one is just as great. I love celebrity fiction, and this is a gem. Exploring Cleo's rise to fame, as well as the curveballs along the way kept my interest the entire time. I flew through this book.

3.75 stars

Maud Ventura, giiiiirl, you're crazy. I love it.

Have you read My Husband by the same author and loved it? If so, you'll eat this one up, too. It features another unhinged FMC doing unhinged things. This time, her obsession is being famous. She will go to any length to become a celebrity. We follow the FMC during her rise to glory, featuring all of the gritty details. She is a truly cruel and unlikable character, so if that's not your thing, avoid this one, but otherwise, if you can handle that, it's pretty entertaining and wraps up really well. It dragged on a bit too long with some of the flashbacks, but overall it was entertaining.

4.5 rounded up to 5 stars.

If Ventura writes it, I'm reading it. I didn't see the twist coming in this and frankly wasn't even expecting much of a twist, I was just enjoying my time loathing Cléo.

I think what I love about the way Ventura writes is her way of making insufferable people appealing to read about. We've probably all read books with an unlikable character but dare I say she writes the best unlikable characters out there. Her delivery is matter-of-fact, no in your face emotion to push you one way or the other, just getting you inside the minds of twisted people and I freaking love it. Another huge winner of a book from one of my now confirmed favorite authors!

Maud Ventura's second novel reads like a dream. The protagonist lives in a fantasy world, her self-assuredness guides her as she waits for fame to come to her. Beautiful prose and fast-paced, this book is a solid read for the summer.

Imagine being trapped inside the mind of the most self-absorbed, delusional musician in history—and she knows it. Or rather, thinks she knows it. She believes she’s beauty, she’s grace, she’s the pinnacle of musical genius and global adoration.

What she actually is? The human embodiment of a never-ending eye roll. Vain, grating, exhausting—and by page 200, I was desperate for an intermission.

I started this book intrigued—really. Ventura’s writing is undeniably sharp, and she’s brilliant at crafting obsessive, unhinged characters with depth. (My Husband was fantastic.) But this one? This was like being stuck in a glittering fever dream I just couldn’t wake up from.

To be fair, I’m not someone who finds celebrity culture or the machinery of fame all that fascinating, so this was likely a mismatch from the start. The satire was there, the voice was strong—it just wasn’t for me.

Still, major kudos to Ventura for her commitment to the bit. 2 stars.

Big thanks to NetGalley and HarperVia for the ARC.

if you’ve read her debut novel, yk she loves a punchy ending and this one most certainly had one! but for me, the ending comes too quick. it also felt too patchy for my liking. that aside, her writing is FUN and always enjoyable to read. 3.5/5

My goodness this girl was insufferable. We follow a narcissistic french woman who is convinced she is amazing and everyone around her should basically kiss the ground she walks on. She will do anything to reach her star of fame and once she does, she will do anything to keep it that way. I think we all know of celebrities that exhibit this type of narcissistic behavior and at times I really thought I was reading a real celebrity memoir. That ending though... just perfect.

Well….fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be!

This was a fascinating character study that offers an up-close and personal look into a narcissist’s brain. The book is very smartly written. The FMC, Cleo, shares her rise to stardom and all of her intimate thoughts along the way. As she becomes more comfortable “telling” her story, her narrative spirals into a raw and (too) honest tell-all.

There are lot of contemporary celebrity references throughout the book. Normally these inclusions annoy me, but in this case, they helped to legitimize Cleo and grounded the story.

I have seen other reviewers compare this to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I disagree. While both books feature FMC’s recounting their pursuit of fame, that is where the similarities end. Make Me Famous is a complete inner monologue. There isn’t much of a plot. It is Cleo’s reflections, admissions, and realizations. I think it is much more comparable to A Certain Hunger by Chelsea Summers (minus the cannibalism - Cleo does a lot of f-upped stuff, but doesn’t eat anyone).

If you are looking for a character-driven story that peels back the curtain on Hollywood/fame, give Make Me Famous a shot.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy!

Thank you to Net Galley and HarperVia for the ARC. The concept sounded super exciting but unfortunately this was a chore to get through. It feels like the book does not go anywhere except in the last few chapters. I usually like books with unlikeable main characters, but because the main character is pretty one dimensional and the plot just repeats the same story again and again, I was not really able to enjoy this.

One of my most anticipated books of the year! Maud Ventura’s book My Husband was one of my favorites last year but sadly this didn’t live up to my expectations.

We follow Cleo was is a French-American singer was is having her first vacation in years on a remote island and while she is there she looks back on her life. Celo has wanted to be famous since she was a child and we follow her development from a “nobody” to one of the most famous singers around.

While I enjoyed this book it wasn’t up to par with what I was hoping for, even with that being said I would still recommend if you are a fan of literary fiction.

This was an arc sent to me by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.