Maud Ventura… you’ve done it again!!! Cleo is quite literally the most insufferable main character written. Her obsession with fame and perfection was psychotic; I could not look away. The way fame is written was quite a point of reflection for me. I found myself thinking about how much celebrities do that can be calculated. I found myself a bit confused by the island subplot, but of course as expected there was a typical Ventura twist at the end! Cleo’s internal monologue was so awful to listen to, I could not stop reading. Another hit for Ventura for sure!

really well written story about a very interesting protag with the same vibes as My Husband, but an even more impressive effort. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Make Me Famous by Maud Ventura is a darkly satirical, psychologically rich exploration of ambition and fame. Cléo’s obsessive rise to stardom is both mesmerizing and unsettling, capturing the hollowness of celebrity culture with razor-sharp wit. Ventura’s immersive writing makes Cléo’s descent gripping, though the story occasionally lags. Fans of unhinged protagonists and social critique will love this twisted, thought-provoking read. A bold, compelling novel.

“Make Me Famous” is by Maud Ventura. This book follows Cleo, a global sensation singer/songwriter from her beginnings to living her life of fame. The book takes place on a deserted island, but Cleo reminisces about her past and how she got to where she currently is (both to the island and her fame). While others might have disliked the blunt ending, I rather liked it - it reminded me of some old “Twilight Zone” episodes where you get an ending you aren’t expecting. I know that I wouldn’t like Cleo as a person, but she also has her own demons that she’s facing. I do recommend reading the translator’s notes - pretty interesting glimpse into being a translator when your author speaks English and choosing just the perfect word becomes a bit more time consuming.

This book just wasn’t really giving me what I wanted from it, but I finished because I had to see how it ended.

Another entry in the ever-growing category of stories where the idea is “woman is obsessed with something” and little else. The obsession here is with fame - our narrator is desperate to become a famous pop star - but beyond that, there’s not much to it. She wants to be famous, she becomes famous, she has a dark secret. The story is quite predictable. From the moment the premise is established, you can pretty much chart exactly where it’s going to go, and sure enough, it goes there. The protagonist’s spiraling fixation is compelling enough in the moment, but there’s no real depth beyond the surface-level satire of celebrity. The book never fully commits to being a sharp critique or a psychological deep dive, so it just sort of hovers in the middle, feeling slightly hollow. It is at least fast-paced. I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but I also wouldn’t say it’s particularly memorable. If you haven’t burned out on this type of story yet, you might find something to enjoy here.

Make Me Famous by Maud Ventura is about Cleo, a woman whose only goal in life is fame.

I LOVED My Husband by this author and was so excited to read more from her! Make Me Famous is full of a lot of the same things I loved from My Husband (an unfiltered inner monologue of a questioningly evil woman, deep and comprehensive study into one main character, some suspense, etc.) I had a lot of fun reading about Cleo. She was diabolical and insane in ways that made it impossible to look away from her.

However, there were parts of this that made me like it a lot less than My Husband.
- The middle became very repetitive. The author does a great job making every aspect of Cleos life so detailed which creates a great immersive story, but it also caused the middle to drag a bit for me. Eventually I was feeling like ... I get it, Cleo only cares about herself and fame, she loves herself but hates herself, no one will leave her alone... ok lets move on!

- Oof the ending felt forced and didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story for me. It felt like the author was trying to squeeze in an exciting twist or reveal that really wasn't as revolutionary as the buildup made it seem.

Overall I had fun with this!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review :)

Another delicious read by Maud Ventura ,her first translated novel Husband swept me away I couldn’t put it down..Her latest Make Me Famous following Cleo’s desire to be find fame .A character like one I’ve rarely read about her raw personality life path kept me turning the pages a wild unique read.#netgalley#harpervia

*Make Me Famous* by Maud Ventura is a sharp and darkly humorous exploration of ambition, obsession, and the price of fame. With razor-sharp prose and an irresistibly compelling protagonist, Ventura crafts a thrilling and unsettling tale that keeps readers captivated until the very last page.

This was more like a 3.5 for me, and enjoyable read but not as binge worthy as her last book. I think there will be a lot of people out there who enjoy this more than I did, but this book just has a few tropes that I tend to not enjoy such as the deserted island trope and really any fame related trope. I knew that the book would be about these things going in common but I overlooked them in hopes that the female rage element of the book would be the thing that kept me interested as a female rage is a topic that I adore reading about, particularly when it’s done well. But this read less like justified female rage and more like obsession, which might have been fine had I expected that going into it but I have a habit of disliking books whenever I am expecting one thing and then I get another. The writing here was still well above average and made it so that even as I was reading about things that I didn’t really care about I still somehow managed not to be bored because the author writes in such a way that makes for easy reading. I’d say this is for fans of people that do enjoy vacation trope And obsessive stalker trope.

Maud Ventura’s Make Me Famous offers an intriguing, if uneven, dive into the psyche of a woman so determined to attain fame that her behavior often veers into sociopathic territory. Unlike her previous book, *My Husband*, which I devoured in a day or two, this novel felt like a slog to get through. The narrative captures the raw ambition and vanity of its protagonist, yet it misses the signature humor I love in contemporary novels. Instead, it left me with cringeworthy feelings of annoyance at her self-obsessed antics, making it feel like a stark, and perhaps too realistic, look at the pitfalls of modern celebrity culture. While it may resonate with readers drawn to darker character studies, it didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

“My problem is that I’m too nice”, she said after murdering someone.

It’s not easy to write a book about sociopaths/mentally unwell women that doesn’t come off as glamorizing mental illness or trying to make content that fits in with annoying tiktok trends that center around being unwell or being a “manhater” or “bedrotting. In other words, it’s hard for authors to write insufferable characters well; but Maude Ventura did just that.

Cleo Leouvent is 100% absolutely batshit insane, but trust one thing she’s good for is a KI. This girl is an absolute comedian which may be an odd way to describe a murderous baby hating sociopath, but I guess that’s a testament to Ventura’s engaging writing style.

I was hooked by the depiction of fame in this book especially since the era Cleo lives in is the modern technology/Tiktok era. All of it felt so real… like it’s stuff your average celeb prob does (especially the faked Tiktok rant about mental illness). Ventura managed to depict fame as a wild drug and she was clearly able to show the physical and emotional effects of the drug through Cleo.

This was such a fun book, I devoured it in a day. The ending was hilarious as well. 10/10 recommend.

Ooooh, that ending! I loved Maud Ventura’s My Husband and I was really excited to get an early copy of her new one. As you might guess from the title, our main character Cléo had one goal: to become famous. She achieves her goal by becoming a world-famous pop superstar—think Taylor Swift, but one big difference: hiding under Cléo’s glossy exterior is a seriously sociopathic personality. While I did find some of Cléo’s musings on fame to be feel a bit repetitive, overall I loved this and can’t wait for Maud Ventura’s next one.

Thanks so much to HarperVia and NetGalley for my review copy! Make Me Famous launches May 13, 2025.

I requested this from NetGalley because Ventura's other book My Husband has been on my radar/TBR. My impression going into this, just based on what I've heard about My Husband, is that Ventura likes to write about delusional characters.

In this book, our main character Cléo is a headstrong, fame-obsessed, somewhat deluded person who is dead set on being a famous singer. This is very much a story about fame, power, celebrity culture, the music industry, and how far people are willing to go to make their dreams a reality. The main character is unlikeable and although it didn't get as strange or unhinged as I was hoping for, I did appreciate the larger commentary and seeing the main character's arc toward and through fame.

The blurb compares this to Daisy Jones & The Six, and I think they both touch on similar themes of fame, power, celebrity culture, etc., but tonally they feel quite different. I don't know if the audience for Daisy Jones is the audience for this book.

I would say if you liked Honey by Isabel Banta (or at least the tone and themes), then you might like this. If you do not like books about fame / famous people, I would not recommend this.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.
3.5, rounded up

4.25 Stars


Calling all my weird-girl-literary fiction / HBO’s “White Lotus” lovers- You will love this book!

“Make Me Famous” follows Cléo Louvent’s (delusional?) and obsessive climb through the ranks of fame. Her relationships with her parents,
roommates, and eventually her fans(?) are all darkly tinted through the lens of Cléo’s unhinged and ruthless ambition.

Even though the plot is fairly one-dimensional, the complexity of Cléo’s narcissism, relationships, and the societal commentary
associated with spending time with this character is endlessly entertaining and thought-provoking.
(Why is a confident woman with larger-than-life ambition so inherently unlikable anyway?)

I wouldn’t recommend this to thriller lovers who need an action/twist-heavy plot. Still, if you are interested in unlikable
characters with psychological twists (such as HBO’s "White Lotus" or Moshfegh’s "My Year of Rest and Relaxation” ) I think you’ll love this
one as much as I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for an advance E-copy in exchange
for an honest review.

Maud Ventura’s Make Me Famous is an intoxicating, razor-sharp look at the price of stardom, told through the perspective of Cléo, a rising French-American singer who will do whatever it takes to stay in the spotlight. Ventura crafts an unflinching portrait of ambition, vanity, and the dark underbelly of celebrity culture, making this book both compulsively readable and deeply unsettling.

This book has great psychological depth and the characters had great character development and were overall very interesting. The book is not without its flaws, though. The story felt a little repetitive at times and it covered the same theme over and over. The ending felt a little satisfying, as well.

Great concept, and I loved the writing style. Unfortunately, the story kind of went off the rails. The storyline was hard to follow at points, but it had a lot of promise and I look forward to reading more by this author.

With My Husband being one of my favorite books of all time, I tried to go into this without comparing the two. It’s almost impossible because they’re similar in many ways buttttttt

Oops she did it again! Thanks netgalley for the advanced copy - what a trip. 4 stars.

Wow. After being enthralled with “My Husband” I didn’t know if anything could top it. I was pleasantly surprised. The level of detail and careful consideration was everywhere in this book. It feels like a modern depiction of classic writing, seamlessly intertwining modern literary, musical, and cinematic references with word choices and writing style you would find in a classic novel. I truly felt as though I was in the mind of the main character, I felt connected and close to her while I was reading. At the same time though, it made me question not only her but also myself and my understanding of who she was. This has been my top read of the year so far and it honestly just leaves me anxiously waiting Ventura’s next release. This book goes by so fast yet leaves a lingering of deeper thought, self reflection and curiosity.

Gorgeous cover! Ever since I fread MY HUSBAND by Ventura I was hoping for another novel but her and this was much different but very good - thank you for the advance reading. I didn't like the main character but found her story intriguing - overall a satisfying read. Maybe more wordy than hoped but well done.