This is a really cute enemies-to-lovers with second-chance vibes. This is an actor x actor romance, so there is a lot of behind-the-scenes moving making which adds a nice layer to understanding what these characters are going through, plus add in the dual timeline with the dual POV & you really are pulled into Cynthie & Jack's world. Both of them have these emotional character developments that give them this multi-layered depth. Add in the fake dating, a wonderful supporting cast of characters, and a small touch of spice, this is super entertaining. It mixes humor, emotion & some great tension that makes it such an enjoyable read.

💖 Enemies to Lovers
💋 Second Chance
⭐️ Actor x Actress
✌🏻 Dual POV with Dual Timelines
💕 He Falls First
🫶 Found Family

5 ⭐️

Tropes: dual timeline / POV, second chance romance, enemies to lovers, fake dating, forced proximity, found family

If the list of tropes alone doesn’t convince you to read this, listen to me when I say YOU NEED TO READ THIS! 😍 It was romcom magic WITHOUT a third act break up scene 🙌🏼 Jack Turner-Jones was absolutely swoon worthy and you’ll have yet another man to obsess over! The tension, the banter, THE chemistry was chefs kiss 💋! The enemies to lovers hit HARD and it had me screaming “just give in already d*mn it” and when it finally happened it was everything!

Cynthie Taylor and Jack Turner-Jones hated each other almost instantly after they met on the set of the movie that launched both of their careers. They wanted nothing to do with each other but they had a job to do and as professionals that’s exactly what they did but….the chemistry on screen was so amazing the producers wanted them to fake date for extra publicity. Again they did what they had to do and vowed to never speak to each other again after that nightmare ended. Fast forward 13 YEARS and a case of deja vu they are back filming a sequel and fake dating again but this time their careers on the line and with more to lose…

This was my first book by Laura Wood and I’m so happy to learn this was a sequel to “Under Your Spell” and that will now be going on my TBR! Her writing was so much fun and I absolutely loved everything about this book; I HIGHLY recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I listened to the audio book of Laura Wood’s first book Under Your Spell so I was primed and ready to love this one and I did. Other than being a tad bit long in my opinion, it was a delightful read with both an enemies to lovers and second chance romance plots. It does a good job of showing and not telling with the flashbacks to Jack and Cynthie’s first movie together, retracing what transpired then to set the scene for them reuniting 13 years later.

I especially loved the cast of characters from the film set and the humor and camaraderie that they added to the story. It was also fun to see Theo and Clemmie pop up and see the full circle of the vampire TV show references.

I’d definitely read more my this author.

4.5 stars.

This took me a while to get into, which made the journey to get out of my reading slump a little harder.

When it did finally pick up, it got me good and wouldn't let me go until I finished it.

Second chance romances along with dual timelines can be a little bit difficult to me, which is where I also struggled for a bit. Some of the flashbacks cut in through where I was finally picking up and enjoying the book.

I absolutely LOVED MMC. Jack really did the work and put in the effort throughout the entire now timeline and I loved him all the more for it. It was amazing to see the growth between both flashbacks and how he was doing his best to do right by Cynthie now.

This would've been a five star read had it not been the rough pacing at the start. I did very much enjoy it once it was all said and done. I do hope we get to see more of this found family because I really loved the world as much as I loved Jack. (Okay, maybe I loved Jack a little more, LOL)

Thank you to Atria for the eArc in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 ⭐️

I’m such a sucker for a celebrity romance, especially when it’s set on a movie set. This was very sweet, kind of enemies to lovers and kind of second chance romance with some loose fake dating thrown in there?

Although the romance was cute, my favourite part of the story was the gang of side characters - the found family was everything!

I wish we got a bit more about Jack and Cynthie’s family dynamics because I feel like it wasn’t really explored in depth or resolved.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

After receiving an invitation to read Let’s Make a Scene on NetGalley in March, I attempted to read the novel multiple times, but stopped every few pages or so. Perhaps it was because I was bogged down with work and couldn’t focus solely on the novel itself. However, the beginning seemed quite slow and it was a bit difficult to relate to both Cynthie and Jack. To be fair, at the time, I hadn’t read the first installment, Under Your Spell. Switching to that novel once Theo made his debut in Let’s Make a Scene definitely helped revive my momentum. That said, now having read both, I can’t help feeling a bit shortchanged by the robust characterization Clemmie and Theo received throughout the whole of their novel and the development of such depth only occurring for Cynthie and Jack in the back half of Let’s Make a Scene.

Cynthie wasn’t as endearing as Clemmie until Wood introduced the manner in which she dealt with her internal struggles. Nor was Jack as charming and relatable as Theo until the novel strayed from the flashbacks and solely focused on the current timeline. To me, Wood’s writing shined in Under Your Spell because the characters and their relationships with one another were the plot. Here in Let’s Make a Scene, the filming of the movie and the documentary usurp too much time and attention. If there is another entry in the series, I hope Wood simplifies the plot and wholly focuses on the characters.

That said, the MTV Movie Awards scene was fantastic and brought me right back to the moment during which we were all captivated by Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling’s electric reenactment during their Best Kiss acceptance speech.

I loved this book so much that I devoured it in just 1 day. It was such a fun read and is a perfect summer beach read. Cynthie and Jack are great main characters and I loved reading from both of their perspectives.

DNF at 100 pages. The story was just not grabbing my attention. I typically dont mind dual timelines but this has all been focused on the past and I am just not interested.

Thank you @atriabooks for a copy of the book.

I cannot stop grinning or thinking about this book. As a huge fan of Under Your Spell, Cynthie’s story was one of my most anticipated new releases. I love a well executed fake dating trope. Laura delivers.

There are major 2000 rom-com vibes. 🥰I giggled, gasped, kicked my feet, squealed and had a blast with this book. Laura Wood, I officially nominate you as an auto buy author.

Top notch humor and heart come thru this story. The dual timelines helped set the stage for character growth. I dare anyone to say that they are the same person at 20 vs 33 or 24 vs 37. I will call you a liar. 13 years is a lot of opportunity for personal growth and growing into your own skin. The side characters evolved with our MCs. Cynthie and Hannah built their own industry family. The whole group embodied the loyalty, love and soul of core friends who are family.

Logan made me LOL in both timelines. And like Cyn I am absolutely willing to be a card carrying member of the Jasmine Gallow fan club.

Jack Turner-Jones is a dream book boyfriend. Especially 37 year old Jack who is self aware and displays situational awareness and amazing EQ. I love him. (Side note: Laura, please tell me we get a story with Nico? Pretty please 🥺)

I loved the Theo and Clemmie callouts. This book is in the same universe as Under Your Spell and can be read as a standalone but you are going to love Clemmie and Theo so just do yourself a favor and read both.

Elements of Make a Scene I adore:

❤️ fake dating
❤️ celebrity romance
❤️ found family
❤️ dual timelines
❤️dual pov
❤️ no third act breakup

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

4.75⭐

LOVED:
- This book just heckin’ worked. It was such a fun premise, such great characters and side characters, such great tension an romance, and such great character arcs for the MCs. Just loved it. Jack and Cynthie are so great.
- The growth and maturity differences between the characters in the present and their 13-year-younger counterparts was really well done. You could definitely see that these were still the main characters but also how they had grown and what lessons they had learned, etc. It was especially great to see Jack more grown up since he was such a brash young 20-something that you just wanted to shake some sense into. Cynthie obviously was young and dumb, too, but their was more of a naivety to her.
- I am not the biggest fan of dual POVs in general (I think a lot of the time it takes away from one character’s story more than it adds to the other) and while I love first-person POVs, dual first POVs are my least favorite of the lot. But this one just nailed it all around. Just 10s across the board. So good.
- The fact that they are filming an Austenian inspired period romance is just fabulous. You can see the inspirations, and knowing that the author is a scholar on the era subject makes total sense.
- I loved that we see a shared journey of panic attacks and anxiety between the two leads. It helps us understand younger Jack through the lens of older Jack better (genius) and then it added a layer to Cynthie’s renewed confidence and inner turmoil that grounds her a lot. It also helps connects them in their relationship (or ultimate relationship rather) that I really appreciated.
- The awards show scene?? The a w a r d s show scene.

LAMENTED:
- The pacing between the flashbacks and the present were a bit abrupt or shortly spaced towards the beginning of the book which did make it a bit hard to invest in the present timeline version of the characters. This did get remedied a bit with the flashbacks more or less wrapping up around the 50-60% mark, but I think I would have liked the flashbacks to not have been as front-loaded.
- I found myself taking awhile to get through this one. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because I greatly enjoyed the time I spent with it so it was was mostly a not wanting it to end sort of feeling, but with how fast I read, that does end up feeling a bit discouraging sometimes.
- We didn’t get a lot of time with their first fake dating scenario. Which was disappointing. I would have liked to see that.
- While I don’t hate this cover by any means, it’s just very meh. I love the colors and the references to the gala scene, but it’s just meh. The title is also nothing to write home about but that’s neither here nor there.

LONGED FOR:
- More time with the characters in their initial fake dating set up
- A few less quick jumps between past and present (or more consistency at least)
- This book to never end omg if not for the pacing issue I mentioned this would be 5 stars easily

Will I read the next one? : 100% absolutely and I hope it’s Jack’s sister and friend. Also I have not read Under Your Spell but I am hands down going to.

If you are into the rivals to lovers genre, this is the book for you. I had no idea that the had a companion read, Under Your Spell, also written by Laura Wood. Told in dual points of view, from two different time periods (13 years apart), this rom com has you laughing and cheering for these two leads the whole time. Can they come together and work even though they have a lot of history? Can they pull of the faking dating trope? All while being filmed for a documentary too? Does it sound like too much, because it was all just enough and just right!

Thank you for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! I am working through my backlog, and will be momentarily posting reviews for the stories I have yet to get posted but have finished reading.

Perfect second-chance romance. Funny, tender, sexy--expect to laugh aloud often and happy cry at a few points in the novel.

After this sequel that manages to top the stellar Under Your Spell, Laura Wood is officially a must-read for me.

Loved everything about this. Just *chef's kiss.*

4⭐️ I’m giggling and I actually almost shed a tear too, it was a close one. I had so much fun with this read, whenever I didn’t have my kindle in my hand I was wishing I did so I could get back to the book. The chemistry, insane. The spice, nothing special but not cringey. The plot, SO FUN. Let’s Make a Scene follows Cynthie and Jack, in current day while they film the sequel and 13 years ago when they filmed their first movie together. They fake date, they argue, they fake break up, they fake date again. We love it. I live for when a woman hates a man and he is obsessed with her. Give me more. THE KISS AT THE AWARDS. YEAH. There was exactly one single thing wrong with this book and it’s totally personal preference… (I hate when authors write in parenthesis as frequently as Laura Wood did).

Let’s Make a Scene was a fun enemies to lovers, fake dating and forced proximity romance. This story had a dual POV and timeline. Our main characters, Cynthie and Jack, meet on the set of their very first film. However, they immediately take a disliking to one another but cannot deny their chemistry. Determined never to see each other again after the film wraps, an opportunity to reunite occurs after Cynthie is caught in a scandal. Will a sequel to their original film be what Cynthie and Jack need to put to bed their feelings for one another or will this be the spark to ignite a lasting flame? I liked how this book was able to transition from light/romantic discussion to heavier topics. The addition of these topics helped add depth. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars and look forward to reading future work by this author.

I loved this book more than I thought I would! Cynthie and Jack were such great characters. I really enjoyed the switch back in scenes to when they first met and worked together to 13 years later. We see how much they change in that time and they grow as people. I loved seeing them fall in love as the actors they portrayed and as themselves. This was very very cute and I really enjoyed this book!!! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

To say I loved this book is a massive understatement and I saw myself so much in both Jack and Cynthie. I am so grateful to have been able to read this arc, THANK YOU

If you loved Under Your Spell, this is a must read! This "companion" story spotlights a different set of characters.

Laura Wood definitely keeps your interest with great characters and story lines.
Hate to Love, Second Chances. Actors. Fake Relationships. The emotions are all there!
This Rom-Com needs to be the first one you read from your beach bag!

Thank you to Atria Books & NetGalley for the complimentary eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

🎬✨ Enemies, fake dating, and a sequel no one saw coming? YES PLEASE. 💥💖

When Cynthie Taylor lands her first real acting gig, she's 💫 living the dream—until she meets Jack Turner-Jones 😤🔥. Arrogant. Gorgeous. Infuriating. The chemistry is electric ⚡️ on screen, but behind the scenes? It's war. 💣😬

The studio’s solution? FAKE A ROMANCE 💋📸. And the fans eat it up. But after that film? They part ways—vowing never to work together again. 🚫

🕰️ Fast forward 13 years...
🎥 A sequel is greenlit.
🎭 They’re cast again.
🎞️ And yes, the fake dating is BACK—but now with a full-on documentary crew capturing every awkward, intense, heart-melting second. 😳🎤

Will their second chance make movie magic... or disaster? 💔➡️❤️

This book is:
💘 Enemies to lovers
🎬 Fake dating x2
⏳ Second chance slow burn
😅 Tension you can feel
🎤 Unscripted emotions that feel way too real

Final verdict?
📚✨ A juicy, romantic behind-the-scenes rollercoaster. I couldn’t put it down.

Perfect for fans of fake dating done right, unresolved tension, and cinematic love stories that hit where it hurts... and heals.

What a treat! What will get me every time- a grand gesture, regency London pining, and a swoon-worthy MMC. Let’s Make a Scene had all three! This was a mix of sweet, light hearted rom-com with serious heavier topics. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the chance to read the ARC.