Birds of California was a great book. Katie Cotugno spun a masterful story that made the reader reflect on how the other side of fame and fortune might be. Fiona was a strong leading lady and it was interesting to learn why she made the life choices that she did. I loved Sam. Loved the humor. I highly recommend this fun read.

I think this book definitely shows Katie Cotugno’s as an adult romance author. This was definitely not a new favorite, but it was addicting to read. I really cared about the heroine, Fiona. There was also chemistry between her and Sam, the male lead.

Unfortunately, I do have some issues though. I had a really hard time trying to like and root for Sam, the only reason I was rooting for him was because of Fiona. There were also some line that caught me off guard that made me a bit uncomfortable. Last, there was a subplot having to do with another character in the book, Jamie. I felt like that plot line was added last minute to try to explain Fiona’s behavior when she was younger.

Even though this wasn’t great it was still a good book. I enjoyed reading it, I just had a couple problems with it. I do want to check out any future adult romance books Cotugno puts out; there was something about this book that made me think she can write something I’ll really love.

Katie Cotugno is one of my favorite Young Adult authors so when I saw she wrote an adult book I was so excited!! As expected I was not disappointed and enjoyed the story. Fiona was such a complex character that you couldn't help but root for her. I liked how when she didn't want to go through with the reboot of the tv show she did as I young adult she didn't give in and stuck to her decision. Also, the romance between Sam and Fiona was something both characters didn't expect but desperately needed. On a side note, Katie's book How To Love is still one of my all-time favorites YA Romances.

Disclaimer: Review will be up closer to pub date on pop-culturalist!

This has Sam and Fiona’s story!! It’s set in hollywood and this was my second Katie Cotugno book. I’m already such a huge fan!!

Omg this was a wonderful experience. I had such high hopes for this book and it didn’t let me down. It was romantic and whimsical and everything you expect from this author.

ahhh the good ol life of hollywood :’)

fiona st james went off the rails a few years ago, as most former child movie stars do. now, she’s just trying to live out her normal life, until sam fox, her former co-star on birds of california, comes waltzing back into her life. and the worst news of all is that the studio wants to reboot the show. sam is immediately torn between convincing fiona to do something she doesn’t want to do and saving his career … or admitting his longtime feelings for the former actress herself.

to me, this felt like evelyn hugo’s distant cousin - it had all of the same elements, but failed to make the same impact as she did.

still, I enjoyed learning the back and forth life of riley bird herself, fiona st. james (another evelyn hugo reference lol) and how her past shaped her future. stories about hollywood are a slippery slope, and while I’m glad I read it, I would recommend others more.

it was a predictable yet fun storyline, and I’m super glad I got to preview this one!! thank you to netgalley and harper ol line for the advanced copy in exchange for a review.

rating: 3 stars
wine pairing: california merlot

BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA is about two former child actors, Fiona and Sam, who starred together on a family show of the same name. Now the producers want to reboot the show, and Sam is desperate to do it because he needs the money, but Fiona is not on board, since her breakdown caused the show's cancellation in the first place. As Sam tries to convince Fiona to do the show, a romance develops between them.

Katie Cotugno is one of my favorite YA authors, so I was ecstatic to get to read her first adult novel. She has written a few adult romances under a pseudonym, but this is the first under her own name. This book totally lived up to my expectations. I've always admired her writing on a sentence level. She has a talent for describing simple details in ways I never would have thought of, and making simple or mundane things feel interesting and profound. Almost a decade later, I still remember the first line of her first novel practically word for word. BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA had the same great writing as Katie's YA novels, with the added bonus of sex scenes.

I've seen other reviews say they saw the big reveal of what caused Fiona's breakdown a mile away, and I definitely did too, but that didn't make me like the book any less. It's just, unfortunately, something we see all the time in both real life and fiction. When I finished this book, I realized that not much actually happened. This felt like a quieter book that was really about the character relationships, which I loved. But if you're looking for an action-packed plot, this isn't it. I do feel like there could have been some more developments to the story, and I would have happily kept reading about these two characters forever because I loved both of them. But ultimately, I enjoyed every single minute of reading this book and I never wanted to put it down, so for me, that's a five-star read. And as much as I'd love to read more YA from Katie Cotugno, I really hope she keeps writing adult fiction as well!

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by Harper Perennial and Paperbacks, Harper Perennial and #NetGalley for my honest opinion. Opinions expressed are completely my own.


This was a fun read with characters you’ll actively root for.

This was a treat! Two actors, struggling for entirely different reasons, stumble upon each other years after their long-running television show, Birds of California, has come to an end. Their success as young actors affected them in different ways, and both have secrets they have never shared that have impacted their present lives in negative ways. Great story and great characters. I look forward to recommending this title.

This book was a surprise. I am a fan of Katie's YA novels so I was unsure how she would tackle older characters. This book deals with mental health issues and what it's like to be a child star who no longer wants to be in the limelight. The romance builds upon each other. I was not shocked about. the secret but. I am glad Fiona got some help and she is taking action.

Fiona and Sam have one thing in common: they portrayed siblings on the family-friendly TV show Birds of California way back when. However, it's been years since the show was cancelled (largely due to the bad press Fiona was getting), and the two couldn't be more different. While Fiona has resigned herself to a quiet life of working at her father's print shop, interrupted only every now and then by someone who recognizes her as a past celebrity, Sam has become a major heart throb in the TV world. When Sam's show gets cancelled and the bills start piling up, convincing Fiona to do a Birds of California reboot may be his only chance to get himself out of the hole he's dug. As the two reconnect, however, they realize that there's more to each other than either could have imagined.

I didn't quite know what to expect when I picked this book up, but by the end I was an emotional puddle of a human being. I think that someone could easily pick it up and scoff at the lack of focus or the 'failure' to fully develop secondary characters, but I don't think that there was a single sentence in this book that wasn't crafted perfectly to bring the story to life. Everything felt so realistic, refusing to conform to antiquated means of storytelling. In real life we don't get the answers to all of our questions, and that was demonstrated perfectly in Birds of California.

For anyone that's looking for a modern day romance that has a hint of steam and a healthy dose of realism, I would say that this read is for you. My one critique is that I saw the climax of the story from a mile away, but some readers won't, and that's the point.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

My guilty pleasure is reading books about characters who are famous, so needless to say I was delighted to receive an ARC of this book. Ultimately, my thoughts on this book could be summarized in one phrase: "I wish *insert here* was fleshed out more."

I wish the romantic connection between Fiona and Sam was fleshed out more. I wish Fiona's relationship with the costar who played her father was fleshed out more. I wish I got to read about the aftermath of the decision Fiona makes at the end of the book.

At times, I found both the hero and heroine unlikable. Nothing infuriates me more when characters have a past of making stupid, reckless decisions, spend most of the book trying to convince the reader that those days of making stupid, reckless decisions are over, and then proceed to make more stupid, reckless decisions. Also, Sam was the self-absorbed L.A. douchebag type which does not scream book boyfriend to me.

I think this novel would have lent well to past/present POVs showcasing Sam and Fiona's dynamic while Birds of California was airing and juxtaposing that with the current nature of their lives in present day.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this free ARC!

I really liked reading this book, but now that I've finished it, I can't decide what to make of it. The writing was strong, especially the dialogue, but I can't tell if this was supposed to be a romance, a comedy or something entirely different.

The premise led me to believe that the potential reboot was the catalyst for the story and that the plot would take us behind the scenes of filming. I also pictured more humor and levity. Without revealing any spoilers, Birds of California is actually much different than that.

I think what I struggled with the most was that nothing really seemed to happen. Fiona's secret seemed so clear from the start that I felt like some bigger reveal must be coming. There was so much potential for this book to be more impactful or to dig deeper into the plot, and I wish the author would have explored that.

Did you ever read a romance and actively root for the heroine not to end up with the love interest? Sam doesn’t deserve Fiona.

I loved the set up of Birds of California, with former troubled teen star Fiona resolute against returning to do a reboot of her old television show only to be reunited with her former co-star and crush, Sam, who needs the money the reboot promises. However, I was expecting the book to take us through what the new series might look like as it's rebooted, and how the relationship dynamics have changed as the characters have grown in different directions. But that's actually not the premise of the book at all-- instead, this book follows the plot of, say, She's All That, where the characters come together only to be torn apart when one of them discovers the other has had a hidden agenda the entire time. Or, at least, that's what the character thinks. Essentially, the big conflict between our two lovebirds comes down to a misunderstanding and miscommunication. The big blow up could've been avoided had they just communicated. The moment I realized that was the direction this novel was heading, when Sam decides not to tell Fiona that his agent and the network want him to convince Fiona to do the show, because he truly is developing feelings for her, I lost interest. Those plots are really frustrating to me. The concept and the characters are cute, but why didn't he just tell her "these people want me to convince you to do this, but I care for you."? It cheapens the entire book because it's a cop out. I would have rather seen their major conflict come out of something more mature, less cliche.

I've been feeling myself really drawn to Hollywood stories recently. I'm not sure if it's the lack of sunlight or just a little glamour craving. When I requested this copy, I didn't realize I wasn't just getting a dose of Hollywood but also some genuine emotional turmoil from the character.

Here's everything I loved: a Hollywood story that isn't just unbelievably rich people and shiny cars (all there's that too!), a #metoo story that isn't crass or demeaning, main characters that don't have it all together, a found family, and wonderfully not-corny ending

I wanted more from Fiona's dad and I would've loved more time with the Angel City Players. The secondary characters often make or break a book for me and I felt a little teased by the limited interaction we got with them but loved them all the same.

First things first, this cover is absolutely beautiful! The character development throughout the story was fantastic and the undertone was more serious than I was anticipating. Overall, I really enjoyed this story and would definitely recommend it.

'Birds of California' is a heartfelt novel with a witty, electric romance. The main characters' pain and anger feel real, but the book doesn't do much with it or build up to anything — the characters either don't change at all or suddenly have some sort of epiphany at the very end. Certain plot points that could've helped progress their arcs are only mentioned in passing. (I still love the last chapter though.)

A feminist rom-com full of messy, flawed, and completely lovable characters. This book was so smartly written and is filled with witty, enjoyable banter and unexpectedly poignant conversations about real-life issues.

It was a deeply rude experience, reading this book. I was promised a rom-com and instead I got a tearjerker that made me feel things. It's Sunday night, for God's sake. Feeling things is a Friday night kind of venture. I can't just finish this book, go to sleep, and wake up for my econ lecture tomorrow morning like nothing's happened.

Birds of California packs a punch in just 288 pages. It's not only a story of Sam and Fiona falling in love (which actually turns out to be the weakest part of the story; it's pleasant, but it's nowhere near the top of the list in terms of importance) but also of abuse, of being painfully young, and of loss. It's beautifully written and catches the reader off-guard with its earnestness. I was having a bad day before reading this book and while reading it, everything that troubled me faded into the background. The world became only me and the characters, precisely the type of experience a good book should facilitate.

There's so much heart in Birds of California between the characters: between Sam and Fiona, between Fiona and Claudia and Estelle, and between Fiona and the rest of her theater crew. But most of the heart comes through in Sam and Fiona, two people who have lost themselves somewhere on Los Angeles sets and in tabloids, trying to rediscover and recover themselves. Their journeys touched me deeply as a college student who feels the world expand and constrict around her on a daily basis.

Birds of California is a must-read. Take an hour or two out of your day and settle down with Cotugno's words. I'm sure, at tomorrow's econ lecture, I'll still be marveling over this story.

Thank you to Harper Perennial and Paperbacks, Harper Perennial, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.