Once More with Feeling - by Elissa Sussman (Paperback)

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars; Idk, I’m a sucker for second chance romance books. **Spoilers ahead.. Once More With Feeling vibrant musical spins a tale of a fallen pop star and her trusted songwriter, both on a mission to reclaim their glittering world. But here’s the small twist: no cliché misunderstandings here. Katee, the former pop sensation, commits a genuine mistake that the narrative fearlessly confronts. Through its “Then” and “Now” narrative, this book goes through the motions and backstory of Katee Rose. Katee Rose once stood as the reigning pop sensation in America and beyond, drawing fervent fans to her concerts and captivating the media’s attention. However, her superstar status crumbled under the weight of a misogynistic campaign led by both the media and her then ex-boyfriend, Ryan. The pivotal moment arrived when she cheated on her boyfriend Ryan, a member of a beloved boyband CrushZone, with his bandmate Cal Kirby—a secret affection she had harbored, dating back to their summer theater camp days. Fast forward many years and enter Kathleen Rosenberg, content with leaving behind her brief stint as a pop star. Big on the content. That is until Cal, now directing her best friend’s soon-to-be Broadway production, reappears with an irresistible offer: the starring role, on the condition that she auditions for the producers. As old emotions resurface and tensions escalate between the two who haven’t spoken since their fall from grace, the question hangs in the air: should they rekindle their old flame, or can they resist the temptation that still lingers? Well, you can quickly pick up that Katee & Cal reignite their flame. Beneath its surface, “Once More with Feeling” tells a tale of redemption, tracing a woman’s journey from a grave mistake to accountability and self-forgiveness. As Kathleen’s story exemplifies, granting second chances can be a powerful act. I felt some areas of this book fell short. Cal never truly apologized to Katee yet she seemed so okay with it? There were also times where Katee felt unrelateable BUT that could have been her big diva personality. If you’re looking for a spicy romance, this isn’t for you. Also, I should mention, I kind of wish Katee’s cat Fish had a few more cameos since there’s a cat on the cover of the book. Thank you Ballantine Random House and NetGalley for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There seem to be a lot of theater books this summer and I am not mad about it. This one, is not the very popular Much Ado About Nothing, though. This one is an original musical written to take both a disgraced pop star and her songwriter best friend back on the scene. I really enjoyed this book. In so many books these days, our main characters can have flaws, but they can't be too bad. If it looks like they made a mistake or did something they shouldn't have, it has to eventually come out as a misunderstanding. They can't have actually made a bad mistake or judgement call. This is especially true in second chance romances (like this book). There had to have been a misunderstanding or misreading of a situation back in the day. There can't be a straight up mistake. Not in the book. Katee made a mistake. Was she young? Yes. Were there a lot of other circumstances around her? Totally. Was in typical media fashion, she treated much worse than a male in her situation would have been? 100%. Did she still make a mistake and there's no half way through the book magically explaining away that it was different than what it seemed? Yep. And I appreciated that so much. The ability to tell a story about a flawed character who has grown up and changed without explaining away the mistake she made in the past. This was helped tremendously by the the "Then" and "Now" chapter and story structure. Friendships, relationships, growing up, navigating life and set backs. This book had a lot of great topics and addressed them well and had a fun musical flair while doing so. (Also I was bracing myself for a cringe last act breakup, but it didn't happen the way I was bracing for, thank goodness. And one other part that I thought was going to be super cliche and wasn't at all, although that did leave to one plot thread that I felt was left hanging. But at the same time, that's how life is. Everything doesn't get all wrapped up at the same time.) I'm so glad I read this book and will be thinking about it for a while (and heavily considering grabbing the B&N Exclusive Edition so I can have the list of Broadway songs to go with each chapter 😍). Thank you to NetGalley and Dell for an advanced reader's copy of this book. All of the opinions are my own.

Kathleen, Harriet, and Cal meet as teens at a theater summer camp. Kathleen and Harriet become best friends and Cal and Kathleen are attracted to each other. Kathleen (Katee Rose) is discovered a the camp and becomes a pop star, Harriet writes songs and Cal joins a boy band. Katee meets Cal again when the boy band he's a part of joins her tour. Katee is dating another member of the band, Ryan. Katee breaks up with Ryan to be with Cal and her career is destroyed over the way Ryan handles the situation and so is her budding relationship with Cal. Fast forward a decade or so and Harriet has written a Broadway musical with a part written for Kathleen. Cal is going to direct the the show. So all three are in each others orbit again and how will it turn out? This was a really good read; so enjoyable! 4 1/2 stars.

i had a great opportunity of reading an eARC back in march and i love this book. keep in mind, i rarely give a book 5 stars, if i thought it was good. :) thank you netgalley, random house publishing group - ballantine, and dell for the advanced reader copy. opinions from this review are completely my own! 🧸☁️☕️🍯🥞🤍🕯️ i can't believe i haven't picked up an elissa sussman book before, and i absolutely regret it. i have a physical copy of her "funny you should ask" book, but i heard mixed reviews and have not read it yet. but once i got the notification i was accepted for an arc, i was so overjoyed and thrilled. all i have to say is sussman does nothing wrong with her book covers. they are stunning and aesthetically pleasing to look at! 💜💙🎤 rating: solid 4.5 stars but will round to 5 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ i have to tell you, my heart is so full after reading this book. it was a bittersweet feeling because i did not want kathleen's storyline to end. for instance, i almost teared up at the ending as there were so many heartfelt moments with all of the characters. some things to take note of are about the characters: they are super flawed but that is what i liked about them. the characters showed that they are not perfect and that is okay. you are going to have many mixed emotions towards their flawed moments, as i for sure did. 🥲🥺🥹 did i tell you about the storyline? it is so nostalgic as it gave me a feeling of watching a movie. for all of the broadway and musical theater lovers, this is right up your alley! it gave me that feeling of starting anew with directing a musical and then going towards the steps of making it to the big stages like broadway. i know these two don't correlate but it gave me the feeling of "high school musical." 🎼🎶🕺 the female main character, kathleen rosenberg (or katee rose), gave me taylor swift vibes as katee is a number one pop star (like taylor swift). the band, crushzone, reminded me of one direction. i love where the book was going with the pop culture and pop star references. 🎭💃🎶🕺🏻 overall, what a solid book! i am so, so happy i continued to read since the start was a bit slow. it had everything such as forced proximity, frenemies to lovers trope, slow burn, tension, everything! cal and kathleen <3! i loved how the book included chapters from the past, present, and when they were at camp. it gave lots of context on the plot lines that were given; it felt like there were no plot holes missing! i just hope there is a bonus chapter or something because i never wanted this book to end! ☕📜🌻✨🌙🌿

Some people want to be a doctor, teacher, or a veterinarian when they grow up, but Kathleen Rosenberg knew she needed to be on Broadway. Not just wanted to be: she needed to be on Broadway. After attending a musical theater summer camp, she meets her future best friend and falls into the orbit of Calvin Tyler Kirby. Years later, Kathleen is Katee Rose, a pop star taking the world by storm alongside her boyfriend, who is 1/5th of boyband CrushZone. Another fifth of that boyband is Calvin Tyler Kirby, the boy from summer camp . Sparks are flying (but with Cal, not her boyfriend) and after a juicy, tabloid-worthy scandal, Kathleen and Cal’s careers are over. After fading from the public eye, Kathleen has the opportunity to do what she has always known she needed to do: be on Broadway. But with Cal Kirby as the director, can these two work together without killing - or devouring each other? Is it even possible to move past all that has happened? Elissa Sussman is elite in this genre of second chance romances. I will say that I enjoyed this more than “Funny You Should Ask” as a former theatre kid myself. With total acknowledgement that Kathleen and Cal both have flaws, I still really enjoyed their character and banter. The chapters moving between wayyyy back, past, and present were super easy to follow and totally necessary to really understand what Kathleen and Cal mean to each other. The queen of second chance romances weaving in friends to lovers, lovers to enemies, and enemies to lovers? I need more, more, more from Elissa Sussman. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing group for my digital advance copy of “Once More With Feeling” by Elissa Sussman in exchange for my honest review.

This is a great book! Elissa Sussman is a fabulous author. I loved her last book, "Funny You Should Ask" and I was excited to pick this one up. It did not disappoint. It is a second chance love story with a side of child fame, broadway, friendships and enemies to lovers. It had history, passion and depth. I love the way Sussman writes & really draws you into the emotions of a story without it being too cheesy. My only complaint is I wish it was a bit longer with a bit more time spent on the present. That's probably just because I didn't want it to end!

I would like to start off this review by saying thank you to Taylor from Penguin Random House for sending me this ARC! Now let’s get into it! Former pop star Katee Rose has fallen from grace after her boyband ex ruins her career. Fast forward to 10 years later, Katee (now Kathleen), is trying to make her comeback on Broadway. Will we be successful or will her ghosts of the past come back to haunt her? Wow. I loved this one so much. I was a fan of “Funny You Should Ask” but I loved this one even more. This was the perfect second chance romance of my DREAMS. I love the celebrity tropes. I love the comeback story but most of all I loved the friendship in this. Kathleen was a character who had short comings but was able to make the best of it. There was so much commentary on mental health, growth, and portrayal of woman in the media. Kathleen’s career was destroyed through word of mouth. Social media loves to burn women at the stake when they don’t do the “right” thing. Kathleen wasn’t able to bounce back after all the things that were being said about her. Nasty comments being made about her body and appearance online. This book felt so real and shook me to my core. It so accurately discusses these topics in respect how it happens in real life. How many times have you seen shameful headlines about celebrities? I loved the open discussion about mental health and mental health meds. I think it’s so important to incorporate these elements into stories to get in touch with readers. It’s easy to see romances as a “fairy tale” but with elements like these people can relate to them. This book was a breath of fresh air. If you’re looking for an uplifting and sweet romance book, this is for you!

I absolutely loved this book! The story follows Kathleen Rosenberg also known as Katee Rose. She once was one of the biggest pop singers in the world. During this time she was touring the world with a boy band called CrushZone. She started dating Ryan from the band but she fell hard for another band member, Cal. She knew Cal already from camp when they were younger. In the present time, Kathleen’s best friend asks her to be the lead role in her Broadway debut play. Turns out That Cal is also helping choreograph the play. You will notice the chemistry that Cal and Kathleen have grow throughout the book. Both characters have made such growth from the past to the present. It goes back and forth between the past and present timelines. It does a great job of that. This was such a fun book. I could not put it down. You will get easily invested in the play and the lives of Cal and Kathleen. This is a perfect second-chance love story!

Very fun and transporting read! Brought me back to the late 90s/early 2000s pop era!

Once More With Feeling ticked ALL of the boxes for me. Pop stars? Check. Boy band? Check. Broadway? Check. Romance/drama? Check and check. Katee Rose was a pop star who dated a boy band member (sound familiar?) with another member of his own band (NOT familiar) and got her career ruined because of it. Years later she’s trying to rebound her career in her best friend’s musical that is directed by—the guy she cheated with (oopsie). This started slow for me but by the end I was crazy about this book. I think Kathleen’s friendship with Harriet left me wanting more interaction between them. I greatly enjoyed the nostalgia of Katee Rose interspersing with her current day timeline. This novel is for anyone who has ever been a big fan of someone—be it a friend or someone famous.

This is a beautifully written and emotional story about childhood sweethearts that I highly recommend you don't miss. I really liked Funny You Should ask so I was so happy when I got the chance to read this book. This was a pretty quick read for me. I would highly recommend this book especially if you liked Funny You Should Ask.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group—Ballantine and Netgalley for an ARC of this book! I’ve willingly read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own. As a huge fan of Elissa Sussman’s FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK, I went into her newest, ONCE MORE WITH FEELING, with high expectations and, I’m happy to say, it far exceeded them. As with FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK, ONCE MORE WITH FEELING follows characters in the entertainment business (a trope I am absolutely obsessed with!). Kathleen is a former pop star who went from best-selling albums and sold-out tours alongside her then boyfriend’s boy band (the same band her adolescent crush, Cal, happens to be a part of) to having no career to speak of after an indiscretion that was made public knowledge and exacerbated further by constant attention in the media. Years later she’s being given a second chance when her best friend writes a Broadway musical with a part written specifically for Kathleen, directed by none other than Cal who stood by while her career went up in flames. While the story was certainly entertaining—it flashes between the past, before the incident that ruins Kathleen’s career, and the present—and definitely kept my attention (I got major Britney Spears/*NSYNC vibes), I was struck most by how Sussman shows just how cruel the world can be towards women. Kathleen makes a mistake (you later find out that the circumstances aren’t necessarily so black and white, as per usual), but the reader gets to see just how easily a narrative can be manipulated to highlight and emphasize the mistakes of a woman, especially famous women, while completely ignoring the reciprocal actions of her male counterpart. Though, as always, I wanted more time spent with these characters, Elissa Sussman, with ONCE MORE WITH FEELING, has been cemented as a must-buy author for me.