A sweet, lighthearted read with interesting characters, a mysterious Hollywood plot line, and a cute romance. This will make you want to go to New York!

A super fun YA novel about finding yourself and figuring yourself out with the help of people who know you best and people who don't know you at all. This was a super fun read.

This book was purchased for my high school library. My students have enjoyed it, and it has circulated well.

Oh my goodness! I absolutely adored this book. I love the story of Evie’s grandmother as well as their relationship. I also loved that Evie transformed by the end of the book. It shows us that when we let go of living for the approval of others happiness is the only side effect worth talking about.

Now That I’ve Found You by Kristina Forest, 336 pages. Square Fish, 2021. $10 (paperback)

Language: R (30 swears, 3 ‘f’); Mature Content: G; Violence: G

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Evie James was poised to be a star – just like her famous documentarian parents and her movie star grandmother, Gigi. Now, though, all is ashes, after a former BFF posts a video of Evie ridiculing her director. In spin control, Evie is tapped to present a life achievement award to her grandmother – if she can find her. Grandmother has done a runner. It is only with the help of Milo, Gigi’s neighbor and assistant. They desperately search through NYC, as Evie learns more about her Gigi and about the intriguing Milo.

Equally a heartwarming family story and a cute romance. Perfect fun, light, reading for romance lovers. The only clue that Evie is Black is cover and that she is offered a job as the spokesperson for a Black cosmetics company.

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS

This was such a sweet and engaging book! I I love Forest's writing style. This is a very cute, yet realistic love tale. Evie and Milo were lovely characters and I look forward to reading more from this author!

This is my favorite kind of YA, absolutely delightful! Compulsively readable and action-packed, this novel set in New York City (one of my favorite settings) is about dreams, family, and learning to let others in. The characters are diverse, memorable, and fully realized, and has wonderful lessons for both teens and adults about self acceptance, self worth, and figuring out what matters. If you like books like To All the Boys I've Loved Before and You Should See Me in a Crown, add this to your TBR.

Evie Jones is the next big up-and-coming starlet; that is until her career comes crashing down around her as she’s enveloped in a very public shaming. Luckily, Evie is Hollywood royalty, being the granddaughter of the very famous, yet elusive, actress Evelyn Conway, or Gigi to Evie. Evie is approached with the opportunity of a lifetime to save her career, as long as Gigi can give her blessing. However, just one day into Evie’s NYC visit with Gigi, Gigi disappears. It’s been 20 years since Gigi has been in the spotlight. Will she be able to help her granddaughter?

This read was sort of out of my comfort zone, but I’m glad I was offered the chance to try it out. Evie is a typical teenager, and written as so: the character is very believable, but also very teenage girl selfish. Of course there’s a meet-cute, of course she hates him at first, of course you know how it ends up. I liked the way that Gigi was written, although I was also sort of annoyed that she’d leave her granddaughter in NYC all alone with little to no familiarity of the city. Maybe I just hate Hollywood types.

All-in-all, this was a quick, cute read. I think my annoyance with the characters sort of endeared me to them in the long run. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy!

A sweet YA romance, where not only are these two main characters falling in love the heroine, Evie, is really finding herself and figuring out who she wants to be! It's also unique as you sort of get double the love story in one book. This story is overall light hearted and a pretty easy read. There is a dash of angst as the main character is cancelled by the public/media and is sort of hiding out and trying to find her grandma, who is a beloved actress out of the public eye, so that she can help Evie polish off her tarnished star. In order to do that she has to search for her all over New York with Milo, who is the last person to have seen her grandma Evelyn. It's an entertaining story if you're looking for cute YA with those find yourself coming of age vibes!

A cute YA romance with POC main characters! Not only does it offer a cute romance angle, but a lot of important topics are explored that all teens could benefit from. I can't wait to get this book into my classroom.

This was such a cute book. It was a fast read and enjoyable, a cute light romance. The characters were wonderful, if at times frustrating. However, they were frustrating in a messy, teenage, realistic sort of way, and I greatly appreciated this. I also adored the NYC setting, having taught some incredibly talented kids in NYC myself. This was a wonderful book about family, fame, and friendship, and I would highly recommend it.

This one fell flat for me. I couldn't connect with Evie. I really didn't like her much at all. I did like Milo. I was going to give this book two stars, but I did like the problem towards the end. However, the main end ended abruptly. I wanted more romance, I wanted more closure. Overall, this was an okay read for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for me ARC.

Honestly, this book was adorable and I am upset it took me this long to read it. It was the perfect sweet YA to get my brain through some struggles.

After a stark betrayal ends her blossoming acting career, Evie Jones goes to NYC to connect with her grandmother, famous actress, in order to hopefully help get her career on track. But when her grandmother disappears, she must enlist the help of Milo Williams to help find her, while learning more about herself in the process.

I loved the overall themes of not letting other people dictate your belief in yourself. It is such a hard thing to learn and feels especially poignant in a YA novel. Evie struggles with perfection and also proving that she deserves any success and it's not just because of who her parents/grandma are. But that limits her own ability to trust herself and it made for a great opportunity for growth. Now it took her a long time and Evie was quite frustrating as a character for a while. BUT, she also felt realistically an 18 year old. I really loved Milo and his band - what a great group of friends to show Evie what it means to have a friends who trust and believe in you.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and definitely recommend for folx who like YA!

Really need more books like this. Just full of POC and regular. I am not knocking the importance and necessity of writing tough moments, systemic inequality.. racist moments, brutality.

But damn!!! it sure is nice to read YA not. about. white. teens. AND have it be a chill fun romantic growing into yourself escape time, too.

This book DELIVERED that escape. Just a super matter of fact lovely brown world and I lovedddd it. It was done really well.

Other people commented on the parents plopped in and out and I’d agree that wasn’t great. Others commented on MCs grumpiness/snottiness, eh it is what it is. Regardless, I was delighted to be in this world for a bit, miss it already. And per usual, fabulous grandmas are always A+.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Evie is the granddaughter of THE Evelyn Conaway, and her career is on the rise… until her so-called best friend betrays her and she is blacklisted by the holiday elite. The one thing that can save her career? Gigi. However when she needs her grandmother the most, she is nowhere to be found. Enter: Milo. Milo is Gigi’s friend, aspiring musician, and really cute. As Evie searches NYC for Gigi, she learns about love, her family, and herself.

I really enjoyed this young adult book - and while it is young adult, I think if you like a contemporary adult romance, you’d like this too. It is a fun look at being famous.

Thanks to @NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for my ARC!

This was a really cute YA contemporary. I enjoyed the romance, the characters (especially the grandma!!), and the little bit of drama (that all YA contemps have)

I thought this was a really fun, cute, YA contemporary. It had everything you could want in a good contemporary romance, including tons of drama and an adorable grandma (what YA contemporary is complete with the adorable grandma???). It was very light and fun and I think a lot of teens would love this book!

WHY DID I LISTEN TO NOW THAT I’VE FOUND YOU BY KRISTINA FOREST?
Now That I’ve Found You by Kristina Forest is a contemporary YA book that is not about Black trauma, so I wanted to read it. It’s important to talk up and promote books featuring Black joy, I’ve learned but also really truly believe. Of course, I went for audiobooks because you all know for me audio means I can get to it faster. Unfortunately, I had downloaded this book from Netgalley not knowing in just a short month I would end up not feeling well. But, now I am making up for lost time and trying to get to as many of these books that I missed as possible. Luckily Now That I’ve Found You came up on my library holds sooner rather than later.

WHAT’S THE STORY HERE?
Evie Jones is about to be one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. She has a big movie role in the works. There’s an ad campaign that she wants that she’s about to get. Everything is coming up Evie. Only, she is joking around with her best friend, when her friend records Evie and the video goes viral. It is perceived as Evie mocking. So, she loses the big movie, she loses the ad campaign, and clearly has been betrayed by her friend. Evie’s one chance to get things back on track lies with her grandma Gigi. You see, her grandma is one of Hollywood’s most beloved stars but she’s been out of the public eye for twenty years. If Evie can introduce her at this awards ceremony where Gigi will receive a lifetime achievement reward, then Evie can be back in the public eye for something positive and rebuild her career.

Only, it never is quite that easy. And so, Now That I’ve Found You revolves around what happens when Gigi up and disappears. The last person who saw her is Milo, a super cute musician around Evie’s age. As it turns out, Milo has been delivering groceries for Gigi and is temporarily staying with her. And now, Evie has to figure out if Milo is trustworthy as the two trek around New York City in search of Gigi.

HOW DID I LIKE NOW THAT I’VE FOUND YOU?
This is my first book by Kristina Forest but won’t be my last. I love contemporary books and this met my contemporary needs. There’s an eccentric grandma. There’s going all over the big city. We have big mistakes made, but also the opportunity to fix them. I love a good redemption story. And can we talk about the sweet romance between Milo and Evie? It’s a joy to read about – even as Evie grows to slowly trust Milo. That’s not even to go into depth on Milo’s band and their leather pants song lol. I just loved this book so much. It absolutely brought joy to my time listening to it.

HOW’S THE NARRATION?
The audiobook of Now That I’ve Found You is narrated by Shayna Small. It’s 8 hours and 21 minutes long, so super short. This is my first time listening to Small’s narration, however I am hooked. Small is EXCELLENT. She makes Evie sound like a Hollywood ingenue, which let’s be real, she is. This was easy on the ears, well produced and an excellent use of my listening time.

I loved how fun this book was to read. Milo is adorable. Evie is pretty unlikable for a majority of the book, with was frustrating. She does get better over the course of the story, but her self-centered personality was a bit deterring at first.

Thanks NetGalley for this preview!

I hate to be the odd one out here but I really did not enjoy this book. I found Evie whiny and self-centered and Milo never interested me. In looking over all of the reviews for this book it seems like I am in the minority. I just did not connect with Evie. She took entitled starlet to a new level and I was really offended by how she treated her grandmother. The ending seemed to be blunt and overall I think the book was just not my cup of tea.