Having read other works by this author and enjoyed them very much, especially ‘Maybe Charlotte’ I hate to say I didn’t find this one to my liking at all. My main beef with this book is the MC’s. Did not like either the MC’s or the supporting cast. Period. When I start to read a book, if I can’t forge some kind of ‘friendship’ with the cast, the book is useless for me. Now don’t take my word for this, look at other reviews for I think you will find many who thoroughly enjoyed everything about it. But not me.
ARC via NetGalley/Bella Books

3.5 stars
Interesting story. Astrid is a blogger. Her sister Claire is a ballerina. Claire is beautiful and Astrid is nice looking but has a Roman nose. Astrid has an accident and has plastic surgery to repair her nose. Now she is not only beautiful but she looks like her sister Claire.
For me, the first half was too wordy. Too much about nothing. And I didn't have to read Astrid's entire blog. And all the angst about her repaired nose was tedious to me. But the story blossomed when Simone appeared. The relationship between Simone and Astrid was the story. Their relationship and dialog was sweet and very humorous. I liked how McBain worked Astrid's doubt, about Simone, in a little and a little. Which made the big angst believable. So it turned out to be a good story afterall.
I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At first I was unsure, but as I got more into the story, this one appealed. The characters were interesting, and the writing style was good - it just takes a little bit to warm up. Soon, you're wanting the best for the characters, and engrossed in the story, turning the pages to find out more.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

This book suffers from a lack of commitment to its premise--Astrid is in an accident and requires emergency reconstructive/plastic surgery to her nose, which somehow makes her look like her sister, the "pretty one" of the family. After a lifetime of a aquiline, the new "ideal" nose suddenly catapults her into a world where people are giving her special treatment and commenting on how pretty she is. There are a few (and very quick!) moments where Astrid is introspective about this change, wondering how to process it and curious with herself for valuing this attention--but it never gets a real payoff or goes anywhere. Instead, the romance of the book is interjected and takes over to the point where when the nose is mentioned again, I had to wrack my brain a bit to remember what the big deal was. Don't get me wrong, I think the romance--and especially the character of Simone--is probably the best thing going on in this book. She's vivid and interesting, but that just shines a light on how "meh" all of the other characters are. There just really isn't any resolution on the whole change-of-appearance gimmick.
Taking place in the DC-area, Astrid and her family come off as extremely boujee. Everything is about looks, money, name brands, and elite with them. Until the arrival of Simone, this was a painfully eye-rolling book for me reading about the complaints and "problems" of this upper class family. It was hard to be sympathetic towards or even root for Astrid; she comes across as an entitled brat. This book was pretty much in a free fall for me until Simone's arrival and even then I had to keep asking myself--what the heck does Simone see in this woman? Luckily, you only have to tough it through the first third without her.

Louise McBain has a writing style that I absolutely love. It just works for me. First of all, her storylines are just so interesting and different. Her main characters are not always perfect, gorgeous, and young, which I appreciate. And her books are always so subtly funny. What the characters think and say are always lowgrade humorous without the faux sitcom-like dialogue that drives me bananas.

The outdoors almost functions as a character in this story and I could visualize Snake Island. This is set in the WDC universe of Claiming Camille and Maybe Charlotte, both of which have become all-time favorites for me. My only scant criticism is that although it's third person, we only get Astrid's viewpoint. I would've liked some insight into Simone - I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

If only Louise McBain could get change her schedule to accommodate three books per year.....

For some reason I started this book with high expectations and even though it wasn't a complete let down, it was also not as great as it could have been in my opinion. My main issue being with Astrid's insecurities and the fall out after a forced plastic surgery that makes her look more like her "pretty" older sister. If a book is centered around Astrids POV I would have liked a little more in depth character development. Now I came away with a nagging feeling off her being superficial and me thinking: 'so what?' There are worse things in life, get a grip. Or does that make me a heartless person...
Apart from that I liked Simone and even though the romance is fast, it didn't bother me as much because they did know eachother already. The dialogue was nice and at times rather funny so it's still a romance book I would happily recommend to all the readers out there who like this genre. And even though not the writing wasn't smooth for the whole read I'd still pick up a book from this author in the future. It was my first book by McBain for me and it definitely won't be my last!

***An ARC was given to me for a review***

I found this to be a really sweet story and made for a quick and fun read.
Astrid is a blogger with some image issues and meets her long time crush. Identity, image and communication issues abound which provides a little angst motivation to keep the reader interested
I really liked the banter and conversation in this book. The pacing was pretty good.- it kept the plot moving. There are some far-fetching situational scenarios - but then this is a romance novel after all and at the end of the day made it all interesting.
Some of the cons there was a little bit of repetition in terms of what was bothering Astrid. And even though there are several other characters - we really only hear from Astrid’s point of view and I felt that it would have been nice to have more of an in-depth pov from Simone as well.
All in all 3.75 stars - something nice for a rainy afternoon.

This was a well written book - the author’s writing style was very engaging and the dialogues were funny and witty. The storyline around Astrid’s surgery and how that changed people’s perceptions of her was very original, but I felt it could have been explored a little more deeply. I liked Astrid and thought this book would have benefited from a first person narrative. I didn’t feel like we got to know Simone much or that the romance was the main theme of this book as the storyline around the surgery was more prominent. Overall, it was an interesting and well written book, which was more like a story about Astrid coming to terms with what happened, rather than a romance.

I really liked Claiming Camille and Maybe Charlotte and was hoping to get the same feeling of simple enjoyment with this novel, my third by Louise McBain.

Unfortunately, I didn’t. I found the premise interesting, the idea that an unwanted physical change might be seen as an improvement by the people close the character but not by the character themselves. I never really got into the story, however, and while Astrid was an interesting character, the romance felt rushed and the writing a bit too choppy, not flowing enough.

My favourite part was the author’s description of nature. McBain obviously loves the outside (if you follow her on social media, you already know that) and shares that love with her readers through this book. I hope she keeps doing that in her future books.

𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀.

The premise sounds interesting but I felt detached from all the characters, including our main character, Astrid. The whole book is centered around Astrid, who after going through plastic surgery following an unfortunate accident, experiences some form of identity crisis. The book is written solely in her POV but we never got much character development.

Astrid's love interest is a friend of her older sister, whom she had a crush on in high school. She reconnects with Simone after a chance encounter and they get together at some point. Simone's past supposedly contributes to Astrid's insecurities, and I'm stating this generically instead of going into detail about why, like the blurb does, because it would have been better to treat it like it's a spoiler. I wasn't able to connect with Simone and I don't think Astrid knew Simone well enough until the last moments of the book when Simone explains in one conversation where her feelings for Astrid are coming from.

This is the first book I've read from this author and it wasn't until I was halfway done that I realised this was written in the same universe as Claiming Camille (and possibly other books). But its characters are only a cameo here, so this can be read as a standalone.

This was the first book by McBain that I read. I had seen some good reviews on her previous books, so I was curious about this one. Unfortunately, it was not all that I hoped for. The premise sounded interesting, but the plot and characters lacked depth for me. For those that haven’t read the blurb yet, don’t! It gives the entire plot away. Since this is an arc I’m hoping this will be adjusted before publishing.

This book is written in third person from the POV of Astrid. The main focus of the book, besides the romance, is on Astrid’s appearance and the perception of her appearance. Astrid breaks her nose and needs plastic surgery. She ends up with an altered look and she finds that people treat her differently and it leads to a bag of insecurities on whether people like her for her of for her looks.

I think a large part of why I didn’t really enjoy this book is that I didn’t like Astrid all that much. She’s a nature blogger, so I thought I would like her as I also enjoy being outdoors, but to me she wasn’t a very interesting person and honestly, she sounded quite needy and spineless (she even thought so herself). So, you would think she would work on this and change, but this change was absent for me, she immediately clung to Simone like she did before to her sister and her ex and in line with this the “I love yous” were declared already after only a couple of weeks dating. Also, the expected self-reflection on her changed nose stayed mainly on the surface.

Simone is the exotic Italian who just returned to Amerika. When she was younger she lived in DC and went to school with Astrid’s older sister and she was the girl that Astrid had a huge crush on. I liked Simone in the beginning of the book, but as she has no POV of her own I didn’t feel like I really got to know her. Especially later on in the story there were some trust issues and she didn’t really win my trust back. I think this might have worked better for me if I could have seen her POV as well. She sounded like an interesting and good person, but there were a lot of things hidden under the surface.

I enjoyed the writing style, it’s easy to read, there are some funny word jokes (if you like those) and I had to chuckle at an awkward scene that involved, in true lesbian fashion, a U-Haul truck and too many exes thrown together. I can’t help it, cliché’s can still be funny. There were also some guest appearances from the couples of McBain’s previous books “Claiming Camille” and “Maybe Charlotte”, but they don’t have an important role in this book so you can read it as a standalone. The plot wasn’t surprising (as it was all given in the blurb) and I would have liked more depth there, but perhaps the biggest issue was a dark moment after 90% of the book. It’s not drawn out (how can it be after 90%), but it was too late to come back from.

This book was not the right book for me, so I can’t recommend it, but I did like the writing style, so I would be interested to read another book from this author.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Astrid Inside/Out by Louise McBain is the third book I’ve read of hers based in the Washington, D.C. area. In fact, all three novels are connected, not only by setting, but with crossover characters as well. They are all written as standalone stories, though, so don’t worry if you haven’t read the other books.

This is an enjoyable tale about Astrid who breaks her nose chasing a shoplifter and is forced to have plastic surgery that ends up changing her looks. Now instead of being the “smart” sister, Astrid looks very much like her “beautiful” sister Claire. You would think this would be great, but it actually makes Astrid very uncomfortable. Her family and close friends treat her differently. Her girlfriend breaks up with her over the surgery. Astrid even has to worry about whether her new love interest Simone is truly falling for her, or thinks of her as a substitute for Claire.

The idea of how much our looks affects not only how we think about ourselves, but how others think of us is a serious theme in this book. The author handled it fairly well through the actions of Astrid as well as the reactions of the characters around her. In spite of the serious theme, there are parts of the story that made me think of the tale as a bit of a rom-com, especially the story about the Bark Muttsvah. (I’ll let you find out about this yourself.) The romance between Astrid and Simone is sweet and, considering the theme, fairly low angst.
While this is not my favorite book of the three connected novels, it is a charming, low angst romantic tale. I’m giving it 3.5 stars.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bella Books for an honest review.

So to begin with, I would definitely encourage people to avoid the official blurb of this book. There seems to be a trend of several books recently where the blurb is the whole plot of the book, and this book is definitely part of that.

Astrid Inside/Out follows Astrid Dibello. After Astrid gets reconstructive surgery on her face, she appears completely differently than she did before, and notices nearly everyone around her treating her significantly differently than before and this leads Astrid down a bit of an identity crisis.

The blurb of this book is definitely what got me interested in this book, but I hoped it would go far beyond what was described. I wanted a book with introspection and contemplation. And even with interpersonal drama, but everything I read felt just a little flat and a letdown. What drama does happen is off page.

None of the characters in this book felt relatable to me. And that's not just because it depicts upperclass society in the DC area, but just none were fully developed. And in a book that is about identity of a person it just makes everything fall really short. I found myself skimming through large parts of this book to find parts that held my attention. This book is about characters more than plot, and when I don't have emotional investment in the characters, everything falls short

I don't want to belabor the point. I've seen people praise other books by this author about characters who I think made guest appearances in this book, and maybe I'll check those out.

This is a cool concept, but I just don't feel like this book delivered on what it could have been. 2.5/5

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Astrid is a nature blogger who loves outdoors she has insecurities about how she looks and it becomes more when trying to stop someone from stealing it causes a accident that have her needed surgery. She always look up to her sister Claire I like their relationship when surgery fixes her nose everyone starts comparing her to her sister Claire she’s annoyed by this because if people only see her as image of sister they aren’t really seeing her at all.

Astrid is trying to navigate who she should trust to see her and not see her as a image of sister. Astrid reconnect with Claire friend Simone while trying to keep her relationship with her girlfriend Leigh intact although it seems Leigh doesn’t even want try make their relationship work. This was ok read. I like the funny moments in this book and relationship between Astrid and her sister Claire was the best part of the book.

Astrid is a nature blogger with some insecurities. When an accident leads to nose surgery. Her traditional family nose is gone and the new one attracts attention she's never had before. I really like the idea of this leading to insecurities in trusting if others like her for herself or hew new found beauty. Her sister, who has always been the beautiful one, I'm glad to say is very supportive and helpful. In the mean time Astrid re-meets Simone, an Italian who use to dance ballet with her sister.

I didn't find Astrid an overly interesting main character. She literally hasn't moved out of her last relationship before she has date plans with Simone. She doesn't seem to have any friends of her own except those that were sister's friends. In fact the sister was my favorite character. More could have been made of beauty pageant loving mom but that gets fixed quickly. Astrid's ex's extremeness is played for laughs instead of a reflection of Astrids need not to be alone. There were just a lot of parts I thought could have been better developed. I did enjoy the book but I needed more to give it a higher rating. Thank you to NetGalley and Bella Books for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars.

This story follows the interactions of a self conscious blogger after her nose surgery makes her look like her sister. Suddenly everyone is comparing her to her sister, even the hot Italian ex friend from her past.

This book was an okay read, my first by Louise McBain. There was humor and entertainment but I did have a few problems.

None of the characters seemed fully developed to me. Astrid was boring and most of the times, despite this being her book, I was confused on her feelings. I'd expect the constant comparison to her sister and references to her 'new beauty' to have more of a draining affect on her. But the most the author did for that was one or two lines about her not liking it. A deeper look or more emotional statement from Astrid herself may have actually made me care or feel sorry for her. I also didn't really feel the chemistry between her and Simone but I didn't hate them together. The conflict between them was underwhelming. At the end there wasn't really much growth in Astrid, I would have expected her to gain more self love or respect, maybe even stand up to the constant comparisons. As the synopsis says 'its a woman's journey to find her true self on the way to her happily ever after' but I just didn't see that happening.

The writing was nothing special either. This author does have a few books under her belt but they are all very recent so I'm not completely turned off from her books as there's still a lot of time for improvement. Still time for her to 'own' the writing style and make it her b-tch! Also not sure about the medical accuracy, thought nose jobs would've taken longer than two weeks to even go down in swelling. Maybe it was two weeks, either way the book confused me on that one.

Also the Synopsis gives way too much away.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for a honest review