This is one of those books that is incredibly difficult to read yet so necessary.

The story with Grace disappearing from the spotlight and explaining how she came to be in the position she's in. How she was groomed from a young age to exactly who her "mentor" wants her to be.

The most chilling aspect of this was how much trust was placed in a relative stranger to take care of Grace. All so that she could become famous.

This was incredibly well written and I enjoyed it very much. A very poignant and honest story.

I absolutely loved The Comeback. A riveting look at the beginning of the #MeToo movement and the long-term psychological effects that sexual assault and abuse have on young actresses in particular, The Comeback was completely unique and thought-provoking. Grace's character was perfectly developed, and reading her narrative voice was like talking to a troubled friend you desperately want to help. The book was a bit slow, but it didn't stop me from tearing through it, as I wasn't expecting much to happen per se. I was interested to see how Grace and her career developed regardless. I thought the ending was a bit abrupt, but overall, I will definitely be recommending this book.

I liked this book. Are you sure Ella Berman is a debut author? It didn't seem like it.
However, this fact seemed apparent by the last page of my advance reader's copy. From 1st person, she switched to 2nd person. I was in shock. This is my pet-peeve. I don't see how the main character in the story could have done that. Is the MC writing a book? Who knows?

This is why I'd rate this book a solid 4/5.
The ending also seems like wishful thinking, but overall the book wasn't that bad.
It actually exceeded my expectations.

“I know that somebody hurt you. Now it’s time for you to fuck shit up, baby lion.”-The Comeback by Ella Berman
There are some books that when you start reading them you know they will stay with you for a while. The Comeback by Ella Berman is one of those books for me. The Comeback is not your typical tale about a starlet who has fallen out of style only to reclaim her fame after finding herself. Ella Berman has created a deeply emotional story about the under belly of the movie industry and the journey of how Grace went from her star power burning out to the reigniting of herself and her career.

Grace Turner was discovered at her school in England and became a child actress with the help of her mentor, Able Yorke. The Comeback starts in the middle of her story. Grace seemingly disappears overnight from the glitz and glam of the Hollywood scene to hideaway at her parent’s house in Anaheim. Grace begins to tell how she ended up where she did in small glimpses. She shares how she was found. How Able and his young wife Emiliana, convinced her parents that Grace was born to be an actress, and that she would be in good hands. It hit me that this was the point in which Grace fell out of her parent’s care. I enjoyed the flashbacks that cutaway from Grace’s present. Meeting characters in the past, and seeing them in her present was a good way to get insight into the inner workings of Hollywood.

The Comeback does not shy away from hard themes. Grace is shaped by Able through horrible manipulation, and psychological tactics. Even though she is utterly hurt and confused about so much, Able is the lifeline that she clings to. She begins to experiment and use alcohol and drugs as a young teen. This evolves into a way to escape the horrible feelings that arise and she cannot find it in herself to deal with.

When Grace realizes that she has a choice to either succumb to the pain that has ravaged her mentally and emotionally for so long, or to start to take her life back and attempt to make Able as miserable as she has become…she begins her comeback.

The Comeback is truly so well done. It was hard to read at times, it is dark, it is depressing, and it is so utterly emotional and raw that I know I will be thinking about this for a long time. As a debut novel, The Comeback, is artful. I have no doubt that Ella Berman will have a long and successful career!

Look for this novel, due out this summer on August 3rd !

Grace Turner is just another in a long line of Hollywood actresses discovered when she was fourteen. She is barely twenty one when she walks away from her career, her marriage, and her life. Everyone always envied her relationship with her mentor Abel Yorke, a powerful man who plucked her out of the crowd and made her a star. They might not envy Grace so much if they knew he verbally abused her, made her question her talent, distanced her from her family, left her with no self-esteem, and sexually assaulted her.
But who is Grace without Abel? A man she desperately feared disappointing, a man she loathed and worshipped at the same time, a man who was only too happy to tell her that everything bad that happened was her fault. When Grace is pushed to the breaking point, she returns to her parents' house in Anaheim trying to figure out how she got to this place and what she should do next. Is she a talented actress without Abel? Or just someone will no life skills, a washed-up wannabee who drinks too much and takes too many drugs.
Grace is about to find out what she is made of as she returns to Hollywood determined to make a comeback. Or has she returned to settle to score with Abel or reunite with her husband? Is telling the truth worth more to Grace than living a lie and if she confronts Abel, will anyone believe her? A heartbreaking #MeToo tale that is even more powerful when you consider the fact that Grace was barely a teenager when Abel's abuse began. At times I feared Grace would self destruct and at times I was stunned by her courage. Not a quick or light read, but a captivating story about a woman trying to rise above the ashes of despair.

It is the late 1950s in Connecticut and Bridget is a the younger daughter of two girls born to a white father and an Egyptian mother. Bridget feels like she is the outsider in her small Catholic School because of her mother and her older sister's mysterious illness. Bridget is absolutely fascinated by her classmate, Isabella, and can always be founds lingering at the edge of social circles, hoping that Isabella will be her friend.
After high school, Bridget and Isabella are both chosen to attend a prestigious art history school in Northern Italy. Bridget loves that she can pretend to be whoever she wants while away at school. And Isabella seems to be willing to play along with Bridget as she reinvents herself.
I really wanted to love this book. However, it came across as too immature for me. Possibly, it would have been marketed as YA or New Adult. We never really figured out what illness Bridget's sister had, even though I think I figured it out. And it wasn't clear whether or not people where really judging her mother for being Egyptian. Bridget's insecurity seemed to overshadow reality and that really turned me off. I prefer to read about strong women.

Wow! Where to start. Ella Berman in her debut novel, really knocked this one out of the park. It not only captures the sentiments of the #MeToo movement, but it also shows that the entertainment industry can be brutal and psychologically controlling for young kids who get swept up in stardom at an early age unbeknownst to their own family. Who do they trust? Who is supposed to look after them?

The story of Grace Turner is one worth reading. A young girl, gets the chance of a lifetime. Her family picks up and moves across the ocean for her chance at fame. It was compelling. It was emotional. It showed strained relationships with her family and substance abuse. It showed Grace as a victim of abuse -sexual assault at the hands of her Director Able Yorke. I thought the relationship with Able's wife was the most interesting towards the end. The book showed that even through ups and downs you can choose to fight back and not let it consume you.

The book was well written and kept me engaged. It is releasing on August 3, 2020!! I cannot wait to read more books from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC.

Grace started acting as a young teen. Since then, she’s become a star. But she’s been carrying a secret and has spent the last year hiding from it at her parent’s house. But hiding out has its disadvantages, especially because the paparazzi just won’t leave her alone. Caught in many less than flattering headlines, Grace must decide if she wants to return to acting. But she has hefty reasons for leaving, and the tradeoff might be too much.

Berman wrote this in alternating timelines from the past and the present. The past tells of the abuse Grace suffered at the hands of Able. She felt hopeless to speak up as he cut her off from her family. His emotional manipulation left her reliant upon him. As it progresses, she realizes she has no allies. Not in this industry where you keep your silence, or you’re shut out of the business for good.

Through Grace, we read about the abuse in the industry and the silence it demanded. I wouldn’t be surprised if Grace was suffering from PTSD from the long-term abuse. My heart broke for her as she told of the isolation and loneliness. She had never learned to make friends or function in everyday life because she started so young. It was rewarding watching her find her strength and heal. Thank you, Berkley for sending this along.

This one wasn't for me. The story didn't interest me once I started reading and the characters just seemed very superficial. I DNF'd at about 20% so take this with a grain of salt.

A perfect examination of the way power dynamics work in the film industry and how success and fame come at a steep price, especially for girls and women. Recommended for fans of Daisy Jones and the Six and The Whisper Network.

This is an interesting story, but only if you've somehow been sheilded from what the movie business is and what is does to talent, especially children. The Comeback is a paint by numbers story of abuse, child grooming, addiction, etc. Our main character Grace, makes a certain amount of sense - someone permanently trapped at age 14 because she has always had a team of assistants to handle day to day tasks - but she's not interested in attempting personal growth or escaping the celebrity ecosystem. It is made very clear that she has money, but chooses not to engage in therapy, moving away from LA, finding competent staff. Instead she elects to Howard Hughes herself to a certain extent while also Single White Female-ing/ enacting revenge on her abuser and those that facilitated his abuse of her.
This book, in my mind, will be most intriguing to people that don't follow celebrity gossip - but if that isn't a regular interest of a reader, I'm not sure why they'd seek out this story.
Thank you to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with an arc for review.

Such a great, fast paced read that's very resonant in our current times. Not quite what I was expecting, but I still really enjoyed it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I liked this book A LOT more than I expected, and got to a point where I genuinely couldn't stop reading. Even though the it started with an enticing cliffhanger, I found myself struggling to keep my interest in the first quarter of the book. I'm very glad I stuck with it, as the story added characters and scenes that made it much more compelling. The story was well structured, and the characters were flawed but likeable. A great read overall!

The Comeback is the story of Grace Turner, who was plucked from anonymity by director Able Yorke to begin her movie career at the tender age of 13. She’s made multiple films and become a star under Able’s guidance - and manipulation. As the book opens, it’s been eight years since that first film, and we find Grace in a self-imposed exile from LA. Holed up at her parent’s home in Anaheim, she is aimless, numb, and toying with sobriety. After confrontations with her family, she heads back to her Hollywood life and has to confront the trauma inflicted upon her at such a young age.

I enjoyed the writing and the story drew me in from the very beginning. All the adults around her failed her so badly when she was young that she doesn’t even know how to do the most basic of adult functions. Combined with the manipulation and grooming from Able, it is no wonder she spiraled out of control. As if dealing with trauma like that isn’t difficult enough, she has to live under the scrutiny of fans and the media, who ultimately don’t care about her as a person. They all just want to get close enough for a photo, and it was borderline cruel the way they treated Grace in some of those scenes. This hyper-realistic look at the cult of celebrity and manner of writing Grace’s story was brilliant. Bravo to the author for creating such a complex, well thought out character.

I do have some questions about choices Grace made in the latter chapters that seemed abrupt, and the ending/epilogue felt a bit rushed, but overall, this was a great read and a very timely story. 4.5 stars

Thank you to Berkley Books and NetGalley for my free e-copy of this book.

Finished this book over the weekend, and it’s a definite one for your late-summer reading list. Comes out in August.

It’s about a young actress who has left Hollywood mysteriously and abruptly at the height of her popularity. Could be the voice of so many young, troubled stars (a Lindsey Lohan or Selena Gomez) and could be a cliche commentary on the #metoo movement. But the writing is outstanding and lifts it way above. For fans of “Daisy Jones and the Six.”

I got this copy from Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very timely and I think the author did a good job of establishing the characters and their history with each other. I found the main character to be a lot but it made sense she was obviously dealing with a lot of issues.

A slow and satisfying build, and a very important and heavy (in a good way) read. A completely eye-opening experience and exploration of manipulation, deceit, and fame.

I was lucky enough to win a digital galley of THE COMEBACK through a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thank you again for the early look, any distraction is more than welcome these days!

Right away I knew I wanted to request and read this book. I find stories of assault so hard to read, but this is more so a character study of Grace and her struggle rather than a play by play of her assault. A tough but necessary read that is exceptionally timely!

I requested this from the blurb alone and thought it would be good.
It quite exceeded my expectations in terms of depth and exploration of self.

From the beginning I sensed an issue with Grace and Able. Tale as old as time so to speak. Very dark and disturbing, some trigger material here for certain. Things that triggered the “me too” movement. But very well written and original.

I absolutely love that Grace triumphs in her self awareness and awakening. I love that she finds herself at a relatively young age because in my eyes, she has so much time to live as the self she discovered.

Loved this one. So, so much .