Y’all, this book is so messy. But, like, in a good way.

We focus on Saine, a girl trying to get into a college filmmaking program, who is making a documentary on a woman competing in a video game tournament. But when things go awry and her documentary is failing before it’s even really begun, Saine meets her ex-friend (who is also her best friend’s ex-boyfriend) and enters a deal with him: a documentary in return for some portraits for his portfolio.

And yet somehow, we get messier.

This is definitely one of those “the main character is an asshole but still has a support system” books I really love. Saine makes a lot of mistakes in going behind her friends’ backs in order to better help herself. The plot definitely focuses on miscommunication, but its out of love for Saine’s friends as she wants to protect their feelings and just keeps digging herself deeper and deeper into a pit she can’t get out of.

One thing I didn’t like about this book, however, was Saine’s best friend, Corrine. Throughout the entirety of this book, we read all about Corrine’s negative aspects. I was actually certain that I was going to be reading Saine learning to drop Corrine as a friend, as Corrine is never really painted in a positive light. She refuses to talk about things that make her uncomfortable, isn’t there for her friends when they need her emotional support, and does what she wants to, even when her friends would rather she do the opposite.

……… Y’know, I’ve just realized how similar Corrine and Saine are. Right here in the middle of my review. If Corrine was the main character, I would probably love her “the main character is an asshole but still has a support system” plot…

Interesting. Even the reviewer gets character development.

The writing style of this book was my absolute favorite thing about it. I have so many highlights in my ebook copy of lines I absolutely adored. The characters are extremely funny and have some good banter, which we all know I love in books.

Asshole main characters and banter? Sign me up.

If you’re a reader with similar tastes in books to me, I’d definitely recommend picking this book up!

First off, it grew on me. I had a hard time connecting to it, but it could have been just a slow start. After some time I enjoyed being in Saine’s head. She kept messing up and lying “like a lying liar” (I loved that line), and that’s just the kind of thing you do. When you’re young or scared. Overall, a good lesson to learn, not to use your friends, not to think so selfishly, to look outside yourself, and really, to be honest. I also like that there is a slow forgiveness. It wasn’t a magical “all is well now.” It took time (is taking? It’s still being worked out for them) for them to fully trust her again. Which is realistic, and important in a YA story, And the slow fall romance was well done, in that they slowly liked each other more and more. Or had feelings and showed them more and more. In either case, it was believable. I liked it.

An aspiring documentary filmmaker must team up with her former BFF (who also happens to be her current BFF's ex) to finish a college admission's project for her dream school.

I'm head-over-heels for this book. The protagonist's voice surprised laughs out of me on every page, I swooned for the love interest, and I adored that the captain of the cheerleading squad BFF was a good person trying to be a good friend. Therapy-positive conversations support the story's more emotionally poignant moments. A great read for fans of contemporary rom-coms with great banter and some deeper themes!

I started with 3.5 stars, but after thinking it over, I’m going to go with 3.
I love reading authors’ sophomore novels to see how they compare to their debuts! A lot of the things I loved from Kelsey’s first novel, Last Chance Books, were present in this book as well—a plus-sized main character, diversity, romance, friendships, and family drama. I will say I did like Last Chance Books better.
Some key parts of the book:
Saine was very refreshing as a main character. I loved that Saine was fat, but this wasn’t a story about her being fat. It wasn’t a plot point or a big topic—she just was, and it was nice to see. She was also pretty selfish, which I had mixed feelings about. I liked seeing her be driven, and I enjoyed the way the story turned out, but I wasn’t always okay with her choices. And maybe that was the point. The whole thing seemed real, and it wasn’t an easy fix for her.
The romance was just… ok. Holden and Saine used to be friends before a spin the bottle mishap ruined their friendship. They end up spending time together unexpectedly, and we see their relationship change over time. But… I don’t know. It seemed like the shift just came out of nowhere? But! That could be because I listened to a voice galley of this, and I tend to space out at some parts so take that with a grain of salt.
Aside from the romance, I loved the other relationships in this book, especially the family relationships. Saine and her mother are grieving the loss of Saine’s grandmother, and we got to see how they both handled that. I also loved Juniper, Mara, and Kayla, Saine’s interactions with them, and their personalities.
I didn’t totally love Saine’s friendship with Corrine… It was kind of messed up and sort of toxic? Like Corrine seemed to unintentionally hold all the power in the friendship. I liked reading it because it was different, but I wish there was more of a resolution with this.
If you liked Last Chance Books, I definitely recommend picking this one up!
Thank you Harper Collins and Netgalley for the ARC!

This was a sweet YA story!

From best friends to enemies to forced proximity to friends to lovers Saine and Holden will have you falling for them. They are adorable but definitely deal with real life growing up.

As Saine is dealing with the death of her grandmother she re-becomes friends with her childhood best friend, Holden. So much has happened in both of their lives (lots of changes in each other’s family dynamics) in their time apart that they end up re-going through the traumas. They are forced to work together on a documentary to help Saine get into her dream film program. Along the way they seem to be on the road to becoming friends again until they get in their own way. They hurt each other and friends along the way, will childhood crushes be enough to get them the struggles they face?

**Side note: I feel like in the beginning the author wanted us to think Corrine was Regina George. Saine acted like Corrine could ruin her when the majority of the book all Corrine ever did was care about Saine. I wish Saine had given more credit to Corrine and trusted their friendship!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for a review.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 3.5/5 stars.

I'm a sucker for a good cover, and there's just something about a bright, cartoon cover that gets me. I also liked how this had an emphasis on the arts, along with featuring a "fat" MC where the size isn't really a part of the plot -- besides for some comments she makes about how she struggles to fit in clothing. I also appreciated the comments about money and struggling to make means meet -- especially when it's just Saine and her mother. I also really liked how the LGBT rep wasn't forced or made part of the plot. And...just...Holden. Holden is our romantic interest. He's an awesome brother, photographer...and secretly in love with his best friend who hasn't spoken to him because he broke her other best friend's heart.

In true YA romcom fashion, this entire book's plot is miscommunication...or refusal to communicate at all. I docked it some stars simply because I found Saine to be selfish and irresponsible and her dishonesty did not deserve the forgiveness at the end. She made some truly bad choices and the consequences just kind of got swept away. She's also pretty selfish. I know a lot of it has to do with her grief for losing her grandma, but there's a point where the character is just SO self-centered where I get tired of reading it.

Now, this was cute. The banter is top notch. Some nods to the tropes are there. It's relatable to a large degree for teens.

I really wanted to love A DISASTER IN THREE ACTS because it sounded like everything I'd love in a YA contemporary romance story. However, the story just fell flat for me. I really struggled to get through it.

A Disaster in Three Acts follows Saine and Holden, who have been childhood ex-friends ever since a game of Spin the Bottle left Holden rejecting Saine. Years later, Holden is the thorn in Saine’s side—from the moment he became her best friend’s boyfriend to the one they broke things off—Saine has done her darnedest to stay away. But when Holden turns out to be her last shot at getting into the documentary filmmaking program of her dreams, Saine and Holden find themselves working hard to keep their bottled-up emotions off camera…but end up developing real feelings behind the scenes. Saine doesn’t want to fall for Holden—but then, why does every moment with Holden feel movie-worthy?

A Disaster in Three Acts turned out to be the perfect breezy, snarky read this summer. I can definitely already picture people picking this up at the beach and just drown themselves in feels afterward.

I’m a sucker for relatable messy protagonists and Saine is all that and more. Saine often fudges the truth or embellishes it so it will make for a better story—and it definitely lands her in hot water in A Disaster in Three Acts. It takes everyone in her life finally “seeing behind the curtain” for her to realise that there are consequences to her actions—and once she does, these issues aren’t just swept under the rug. Instead, imperfect Saine has to try to fix the havoc she wreaked and I loved that we get to see her grow. These kinds of characters are truly my favourite—people who make mistakes but who try to fix them and do better the next time.

Beyond Saine’s relatability, there is of course also trope galore going on in A Disaster in Three Acts. We have a bit of a childhood-friends-to-enemies-to-reluctant-coworkers-to-lovers in this story and I loved how Holden and Saine kept bantering and bouncing off each other. Holden is a sweet, somewhat awkward guy but you could really tell he blossomed as the story went on. I also really liked the awkwardness of it all because—as Saine learns—love isn’t like in the movies and the awkwardness and misunderstandings are almost what makes it better. The whole overarching plot of Saine’s ambitions to become a grand filmmaker also made this such a compelling story—fighting for your dreams but realising along the way that things aren’t as they seem is always so validating to see in books. I can see a lot of people relating to Saine in that aspect as well.

All in all, if you’re looking for a fun romcom filled with humour, heartbreak and discussions of what it takes to be honest to yourself and others, A Disaster in Three Acts is the wholesome, witty story you won’t want to miss out on!

A Disaster in Three Acts is the furthest thing from disaster! A cute, best friends to "enemies" to lovers YA book, this story was fun read. Saine Sinclair is a high schooler who has dreams of becoming a documentary maker (unique!) and at times, I found her annoying. However, I had to remind myself that she is a teenager and weren't we all a bit annoying as teenagers with all those swirling emotions and hormones? More than the romance between Saine and Holden, I really appreciated the way that Kelsey Rodkey accurately and realistically portrayed life as a teenager as they get ready for the next chapter of their lives while managing the burden of friendships, relationships, and more. Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

DNF @ 40%

Personally it was just way to slow for me. Every time I thought it was going to pick up it started to drag more and more.

Saine was a character that continuously frustrated me with her choices. At times she was selfish and too caught up in grief to fully realize what she was doing was wrong. I thought that the friendship with Corrine was challenging as well, it was hard to understand why Saine was so invested in it; but it felt true to how high school relationships can be. I absolutely hated the scene with Victor at the party, without going into spoilers it just felt out of character for Saine and was an instance of peer pressure that was never addressed. Had it been addressed in some way, I think I would
have been able to understand the choice to include it more. I wished that there had been a longer period of growth for Saine, it felt rushed, as though it happened overnight. Unfortunately, I was missing more
depth in the plot and characters for this to really shine for me.

To be very honest, I did not go into this book thinking I would love it as much as I did. I don’t normally read straight rom-coms and so I was apprehensive when I had to pick this up. But I ended up ADORING it! A Disaster In Three Acts was cute, funny, had a fun plot twist that I loved, and it had a super interesting cast of characters. All of this turned the book into a very good review for me. So let’s get into it!
First of all, the cast of characters was super diverse. Our main character, Saine, is plus-size. This isn’t the focus of the story, so it isn’t brought up much, but when it is, there is no body shaming. Since Saine’s weight isn’t the focus of the story, it comes up only when she’s buying clothes, and no one in the book seems to value her less for her weight. That was very refreshing!
There was also very nice and casual LGBTQ+ representation. One of Holden’s sisters has a crush on a girl, and there is a subplot following this relationship. I won’t get into it because I don’t want to spoil anyone, but that was one of my favorite parts of the book!
Saine was also processing the death of her grandmother and her mom and her were financially struggling during this novel. I haven’t been in either of those situations, so I can’t accurately judge them, but I did appreciate that they were there and felt like I learned something about how some people might process grief and what it’s like to be low-income. Books are supposed to let you learn about the lives of others, and I’m glad A Disaster In Three Acts was able to do that for me!
Saine and Holden had some really great banter during their scenes, and I really enjoyed how flashes back to their past were done without breaking from the rest of the narrative or infodumping. That was immaculately well-done.
All of the supporting characters in this book were awesome as well. They all seemed like actual people, who misunderstood each other (in a way that didn’t remind me how much I hated that trope) and grew as people. There was really a focus on healthy communication in this book, which I appreciated. Kids read books like these hoping to find out more about how to navigate their own relationships (romantic or otherwise), and so I’m glad more and more books are showing this kind of communication and healthy relationships.
Now, I feel like I’ve talked about the characters for a bit too long (as I tend to do, if I’ve read some of my other reviews (hey that rhymes) you should know that already) and so I’m going to talk about the plot.
I went into this book with the basic frame-work for a rom-com in my head already, and I was surprised when that was not how this story went! I won’t be saying what happened in the book, but I will say that I was glad that this book surprised me as I was reading it. There were some formulaic parts, as there are in any book, but there were also things that really surprised me! The characters did unexpected things and the plot moved to accommodate them and make sure they got the ending they needed.
As a budding writer, that book reminded me that I can use a formulaic genre and still manage to subvert it and turn my book into something new, which was really nice to remember. The book moved along at a fast pace and was able to move through things swiftly enough that I didn’t get bored, but also slowly enough that I always understood what was going on and didn’t get lost. That was super nice and I adored it!
The way the plot helped the characters grow and develop really was wonderful for me. I really loved this book and would recommend it to anyone who loves rom-coms, documentaries, and lovely character development with a really diverse cast.
I would give this book a 4 star rating!
Happy reading!

I enjoyed reading this YA contemporary although it wasn't truly a standout or that memorable.

I found it ironic that Saine was somehow relatable yet unlikeable and wasn't someone I would like to root for. I also wish I could've seen more from her history with Holden. Much of the conflict in this book could've been avoided or easily resolved if the characters talked to each other though I can understand why they didn't, because teenagers.

If you're up for some dry and sarcastic banters and a YA take on childhood friends to enemies to lovers trope, then this may be for you.

Thank you so much to HarperCollins Children's Books, HarperTeen, NetGalley and the author for my early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A Disaster In Three Acts
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: YA Romance / Rom-Com
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 7/5/22
Author: Kelsey Rodkey
Publisher: Harperteen
Pages: 368
Goodreads Rating: 3.71

Thank you to NetGalley and Harperteen for providing a digital advanced readers copy of the book for me to read for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: Your childhood best friend refuses to kiss you during a pre-adolescent game of spin the bottle? Terrible, zero stars, would not replay that scene again. The same ex-friend becomes your new best friend's ex? Strangely compelling, unexpected twist, worth a hate-watch. That same guy--why is he always around?--turns out to be your last shot at getting into the documentary filmmaking program of your dreams? Saine hates to admit it, but she'd watch that movie.

My Thoughts: This enemies to lovers trope was great! The characters are well developed, have depth, the witty banter, the usually teenage awkwardness, and the chemistry was amazing. Saine is your typical teenager, she is messy, emotional, imperfect, and at first I did not like her but in the end, I connected with her for the rest of the story. What I really appreciated about Saine is realizes she makes a mistake, acknowledges, and then moves on. The author’s writing is complex, intriguing, creative, and kept me engaged throughout the whole book. I enjoyed this books and would read other books by this author.

A Disaster in Three Acts is such a great YA contemporary! Saine is relatable, snarky, and smart and her aspirations to be a documentary film maker gives the story a fun twist! The romance between Saine and Holden is sweet and well developed and will definitely appeal to everyone who loves a good friends-to-exfriends-to-friends-to-lovers book.

I mean who doesn’t love a good dog named bagel. This book was a rollercoaster for feelings, but ended in a happy ending which we all love. It was overall very cute.

Saine Sinclair is determined to become a documentary filmmaker, and the first step is the win a place in the collegiate program of her dreams. To do so, she's banking on a full-length documentary following a VR competition. But then she finds herself with the worst subject imaginable: her ex-best friend, Holden Michaels... who also happens to be her new best friend's most recent ex. The more Saine works with Holden, the more she can't deny the uncomfortable truth she's buried deep inside.

This sophomore novel from Kelsey Rodkey (Last Chance Books) follows high school senior Saine, who is quite the complex, and sometimes difficult, character. While the novel is presented as a contemporary romance, it also holds a strong thread of Saine's coming-of-age story. 4 stars.

Saine runs the risk of being unlikeable by some, but ultimately she was a character that I rooted for. Truthfully, there were times when I did not like her. Luckily, much of the story is focused on her realizing her mistakes and trying to figure out how to properly apologize to those she wronged, which was refreshing. I felt like there was a good balance between immaturity and maturity; Saine and her peers are at the cusp of adulthood, and while some of their actions felt childish in my eyes, it never felt like they were younger than what they were supposed to be. It was very messy and very human; that always seems to be a difficult prospect, and Rodkey did it well.

Really, where this book shines is the laughable banter. While many of the characters share a bit in the overall humor, much of it rests with Saine and Holden, whose camaraderie ended up with some pretty funny scenes. It just made their friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers romance all the more entertaining. There are a few heavier topics, like grief and illness, but they remain more background noise to Saine's character arc and her romance with Holden.

All in all, A Disaster in Three Acts was not, in fact, a total disaster. While much of it is predictable, and readers won't necessarily be experiencing anything new, it was still a fun ride.

Posted to Goodreads June 6, 2022.

I really had a hard time connecting with Saints actions. I DNF-ed after Saine found out about Holdens brother and didn’t confess. That’s no fault to the author or story overall. My stomach just dropped after reading and I couldn’t bring myself to continue reading. Up until that point I liked Saine’s character.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

All Saine Sinclair wants is to become a documentary maker, and getting the chance to submit her tape for a prestigious college is the dream. She initially has the best idea for her tape, all unrequited love and video games, but when her subject drops out, she has to work with the enemy - ex-best friend, Holden. Holden and Saine were inseparable for most of their childhood, but after an incident at a twelfth birthday party, involving spin the bottle, they've barely spoken since - not even when Holden was dating Saine's best friend, Corrine. Forced together, Saine and Holden reconnect, and realise that their friendship was never worth giving up on, and that what once was puppy love, has turned to more.

This book was everything I wanted, and more! I nearly screamed when the email came through with my review copy, but had to contain myself as I was on a treadmill at work. As soon as I was able to, I immediately started it, and was hooked from the get go. Saine was such a relatable character, who's life wasn't perfect, and who's grief and family troubles will resonat so well with such a large audience. She goes through a lot over the course of the book, not least feeling guilty over her feelings for her ex-best friend, and best friend's ex, as well as feeling crummy about using him and his own family situation for her documentary. I'll be honest, I felt a little weirded out when she was started to use Holden and his family for her own good, but the story took a turn for the better, and it all turned out right in the end. As a couple, Holden and Saine were so good for each other, and though it may have been a sort of 'enemies-to-lovers' situation, their past friendship definitely set them up for the best relationship. I loved Kelsey's debut, but I've got to say, I think's A Disaster in Three Acts is even better!

This tiny gem of a book hit all the feels for me! It features former friends who reconnect ~romantically~ and all the layers of emotions that come with falling for your childhood best friend who ahem dated and broke up with your new one. There are tender moments of how grief can consume you, the hilarious antics of a meddling younger sibling, and a (frankly) uncomfortable portrayal of how hard it is to be a good friend when you've royally messed up. Rodkey's slow-burn had me yelling at Saine to get out of her own head because omg Holden's feelings were so obvious, but then I cheered her on when she finally did. This book was funny and cheesy and also featured a wide array of diverse side characters.

Points deducted for calling Napoleon Dynamite "some awful looking movie that we only found because we read an article about Fortnight dances and their origins" because I am old.