I picked this book up on a recommendation from another author and I couldn't get into the story. I disliked both characters pretty much right away and I was just disenchanted from the start.

The premise for the book was so promising and I wanted to love it so badly but unfortunately several things just felt short for me.

The romance in my opinion wasn’t as developed as it should have been, it didnt make me believe that the main characters were in love with each other. At times it felt very much forced. There was also some questionable things with consent that I wasn’t the biggest fan of, this with the lack of chemistry just wasn’t great. Again, it felt very much forced and ultimately made me feel like I had to push through to finish the book.

I think the author writes really well but this one just didn’t work out well.

I read this because of the speculation around the pseudonym, which has since been confirmed, and the promise of a spicy romance. This is much more reminiscent of Josh and Hazel than Beautiful/Wild Seasons and i think will be perfect for fans of early CLo standalones.

Thanks to Gallery and Netgalley for my chance to review,

Late to jumping in here, but this book had all the tropes I love and more: best friend's brother, celebrity romance, one stand night, aye aye! All with skillfull writing and steamy scenes that had me sweating. Can't wait to see what is next from Ivy Owens, because this romance delivered all the candy this romance reader requires!

Everything about this novel is well done... the characters, the plot, the chemistry between the two leads! I loved that this romance novel actually has a bit of a thriller and mystery element. The author clearly understands fame and write that well. Additionally, she writes the Korean/Asian culture elements with respect and understanding, but in a way that marks her place as an outsider (but admirer) of the culture;

I had really high expectations for Scandalized since I love the older Christina Lauren books. I was really hoping Lauren’s debut as Ivy Owens would satisfy my need for steamier CLo books. While this was definitely delightfully steamy, I just could not get into the plot. I didn’t buy that a LA Times journalist didn’t know her childhood best friends older brother (and her childhood crush) was a huge star now. I’m the age of Google there’s no way she never looked them up. Let alone that her roommate was obsessed with his show. I also didn’t love the Jupiter plot. I appreciated the CW in the beginning, but the Jupiter mystery aspect could have been completely removed and I would have liked it more.

I’ll definitely try whatever Ivy Owens publishes next, but I’ll go in with lower expectations. 2.5-3 stars.

This review is late but --- great romance novel! Perfect for any time of year (often times, romance novels get so swept up in 'seasonality' that the book feels irrelevant if not read during that season. This book creates an engaging environment that feels relevant for any time). I recommended this book to many of my friends, some of whom signed up for Kindle Unlimited for the sole purpose of reading it.

Ooooo this one starts out SO GOOD! We love a bit of a second chance romance with a twist of a one night stand thrown in there, along with a best friend’s brother romance??? We are hitting on all the good tropes!

There are so many great points to the book and have I meantioned the steam starts out REALLY early on! Great setting, great characters, and would we expect anything less when we found out that Ivy Owen’s was actually Lauren of Christina Lauren?? This gives me more of the feel of their earlier books whihic I have been reading through lately - especially the Beautiful Bastard series - so if you like those then you should give this book a try!

Also can we get a moment for how gorgeous this cover is??? I want to live in this moment on the cover - so freaking cute!

The steam! I really enjoyed the mix of romance and suspense. A fun debut from Ivy Owens, I’m definitely interested in reading more.

I read this in one sitting; I could NOT put it down. And while a major trope is instalove (trust me, this is not my fave trope), I think it works to the characters advantage here. It's a perfect summer romance with great steam.

AT A GLANCE…
rating: 🥰 (really liked)
steam: 🔥🔥🔥/4
genre: contemporary romance

✨reading vibes✨
-celebrity romance
-childhood best friend’s brother
-investigative journalism
-secret identities
-k drama fangirls
-instalove (but it works!)
-chance meetings
-fantastic supporting characters
-lazy days at the beach

The celebrity trope doesn’t typically work for me, but in this I thought it was done quite well! The relationship between the two was so realistic and swoon worthy. I loved every minute!

Thank you publishers for an arc of this book!
4/5
Spicy 5/5
Story 4/5
Character development 3.75/5 I wanted more flushed out characters and more change
Character Chemistry 5/5 so good!

This was such a nice escape of a read for me! This definitely my type of romance and holy hades, Owens was bringing the spice and pulled no punches! One of the spicier books I’ve read so far this year! Alex is definitely the kind of guy I wouldn’t mind having a fling with. The childhood friend’s older brother turned adult romance is also a kryptonite of mine. My teenthrob, k drama loving heart was full by the end of this!
This gave me CRAZY RICH ASIANS and adultier XOXO feels. An “average" girl has a one-night stand with a famous guy she knew growing up and then their feelings turn serious really quickly -but he only has 2 weeks in the States before he goes back to London (not to mention he's a superstar and his dating life is near impossible).
This book was easy to follow and paced really well. The last 100 pages just Flew by, My heart was racing! I thought the side plot was really well-developed an made the two MC's relate more to each other and deepen the connection, which was good! Because the story would have fallen flat without that key element!

this was very very very different than what i thought it would be. i was so stoked to get my hands on an early copy & see what all the fuss was about! the storyline was definitely unique, but i didn’t find the relationships super believable. this is a good steamy read though!

I definitely was scandalized. This book was a bit ~spicier~ than I usually read, and, while it was done well, it was a bit much for my taste. This book read like a really, really well written fanfiction (which makes sense, given the author’s background), and I liked that about it. The story line was different and exciting, and I was interested in seeing how everything played out. Gigi and Alec were likable, exciting and just fun to read about.

I love a good celebrity romance. This one was fun, a great listen and a good escape. The audio was fantastic too! If you're a fan of juicy celeb gossip, give this one a go.

Really wanted to enjoy this one, but sadly wasn't able to get invested in the story. It didn't hook me off the bat, but may pick it back up at a later time.

I’m OBSESSED with this book! Alec, Gigi, the steam…. Ugh. I absolutely adored this. Ivy Young stole my entire heart.

This was ridiculously enjoyable. A very enjoyable romance. I will definitely be recommending this to anyone looking for a great romance read.

Probably my favorite rom com of the year. So sexy fun and just I loved the friends to lovers with a mix of Celeb. IG review https://www.instagram.com/p/Chm-zOaL4ux/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Thanks to Gallery books.

More like 3.5 stars, and I keep vacillating between rounding up and rounding down. I found out Ivy Owens is the pen name for the "Lauren" half of Christina Lauren, so the bar is set way higher.
Trigger warning (it's at the very start of the book) for sexual assault.

I was sucked in at the start, but lots of sex scenes doesn't necessarily equate chemistry (I wound up skipping ahead less than halfway in, just to move the plot along). I don't think a white author writing an Asian character automatically means fetishization, but then I might be showing my age. I do question an L.A. journalist having NO inkling whatsoever about a high-profiled actor plus her roommate's also a big fan. And once certain journalism ethics went way, way out the window (not to mention his professional obligations, for romance reasons), I don't know how either of the couple couldn't see where this whole thing was going. That made it a little tough to keep suspending disbelief for the sake of keeping up with this romance.
Not sure whether I'd recommend this to anyone beyond K-culture fans who can't get enough of the genre and don't mind the steam.