this is such a heartfelt and entertaining romance book! i loved how realistic this book was and even though i don’t like the cheating trope i did like how kathleen always took accountability for the situation! i also felt like the flaws the characters had added so much depth which made it very engaging to read. i really loved getting the see the 2 of them work out there issues together as well!

overall, i really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend!

Once More with Feeling was such an easy, perfect summer read. I loved the theater aspect and the friendship in this book, as well as the dual time-line. I also adored how the characters felt so messy and realistic. Cal and Kathleen’s friendship and romantic relationship felt realistic as it developed over time, and I loved the scenes in the past where their friendship bloomed. The only thing I disliked was the cheating, but I knew it was essential to the plot. Overall, I’m excited to read what this author comes out with next after enjoying this one and Funny You Should Ask!

This isn’t my typical genre but I had read this author’s other book, funny you should ask, and enjoyed the characters so I gave it a shot! I kept picturing Britney if she wouldn’t have had that turn for the worse in 2007. It’s like the comeback I wish she’d had if that makes sense. The characters in this book, like her last, are flawed but you love them anyway and maybe more because of them. There is the usual miscommunication, forced proximity, and enemy to lovers tropes. Although you know all along they are not enemies! Thank you Net Galley for letting me review this ARC! I look forward to another one from this author!

Elissa Sussman said "Once more, with Feeling!" with this second chance romance, featuring two former young pop-stars caught in a romance scandal now trying to come together 10 years later to make their dream Broadway play. It features three timelines: summer camp where Kathleen (FMC), Cal (MMC), and Hariette (best friend) meet, the pop-star years, and present time. The way that past events are slowly revealed brings a unique depth to this story that made me want to keep going. I read 75% of this in one sitting!
The tension of Kathleen and Cal's relationship, both past and present, is so delicious and precious. It's written so well I can just feel it off the pages. Their situation is so just so relatable. Being in a relationship you hate, but you can't leave it because the timing isn't right.
I think Kathleen was such a relatable character, too. How she accepted her flaws and imperfections now that she's older, rather than striving for perfection and starving herself when she was a pop star. Even though she still found it hard sometimes to come to terms with getting older, gaining weight, having some grey in the hair.

I give this book a 4.5, but I'll round it up to a 5. Check it out if you love:

*second chance romance
*broadway musical
*past pop stars
*triple timeline
*cheating scandal
*forced proximity

Thanks to Ballentine, Random House, and Netgalley for this copy.

I'll keep this short and sweet since this wasn't an advance copy, but this book was better than Sussman's first and fantastic to read. I loved the characters, I can't believe their stupidity sometimes but the story was fun and heartwarming in the end and I hope all people who went to theater camp have happy endings like this.

Unfortunately, this book did not do it for me - the entire time, I felt like Sussman was TELLING us about the tension between these two than actually SHOWING me anything. The story felt like it had forced chemistry that truly wasn’t there at all.

I think as a result, as a reader you’re not invested enough in the first half of their “present” relationship because you’re not clear on what even happened between them in the past. I get that it’s supposed to be like that, but it wasn’t written compelling enough for me to CARE to find out. Because Cal is painted in the present day as a douchebag who somehow wronged Katee, it’s subsequently very hard to root for them as a couple, emotionally and logically. The present timeline also presents them as… oddly horny for one another LOL, and their relationship evolves completely out of the blue! Does not feel like tension building or progression at all.

I also did not feel like I could root for Katee as a main character - she consistently acted against her own personal train of thought, and then questions what when wrong or why she is perceived the way she is. **SPOILER AHEAD** Like Katee girl, you’re going to jeopardize your best friend’s literal lifelong dream because of an old flame, blatantly lie to her (since you admitted to US AS READERS THROUGH YOUR THOUGHTS), and instead of reassure her or explain your side, you just lie and then get upset with HER? Please GROW UP. Similarly to her other novel Funny You Should Ask, I feel like Sussman’s characters are too caught up in the past and it reflects as weaknesses in the present timeline.

I finished this book 24 days and I'm not sure I could tell you what the plot was. I remember having a good time and enjoying it though. I don't think it's better than Funny You Should Ask.

I think the "then" chapters were more interesting than the "present" chapters and I found myself rushing through them just to get back to the past.

Katie is bitter and annoying, assumes too much, is headstrong and vindictive and the audiobook narrator really brings that out, which I mean as a good thing! It was a really enjoyable listen.

Elissa Sussman, author of the bestselling novel "Funny You Should Ask", has released a new novel, which excited me! Her newest book, "Once More With Feeling", centers around Kathleen and Cal, who have a long and storied history. The two met as kids at a drama/music camp, and then their careers took off -- Kathleen as pop star "Katee Rose" and Cal as a member of boyband CrushZone. Their lives become entwined until one night, everything is blown up. But now, as adults, they're working together again in a Broadway show that Cal is directing. The two keep being drawn together and discover that past feelings didn't stay in the past.

I enjoy books where the man is the one who has been pining over the woman for years, and this one did not disappoint. This was a good book and an enjoyable read. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book! The characters were so unique and showed such growth. The female MC felt slightly immature at times, but overall was a very well rounded character. I didn’t feel as though there was closure with the Ryan storyline and I also just wanted more from the ending.

Overall positive experience reading this though!!

Kathleen Rosenberg, the former pop star known as Katee Rose, has the chance to perform in a Broadway show written by her best friend Harriet and directed by Calvin Kirby, the boyband-er whose hook-up brought about her demise from show biz many years before. Kathleen and Calvin have a complicated history and haven't spoken since their younger days. Told in flashbacks and present day, they figure out what they mean to each other again and if they are willing to risk being together even if it might tank their Broadway show like it tanked their pop careers.

I liked the premise of this story much more than FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK, as I found Kathleen and Calvin on much more equal footing than Chani and Gabe. The boy band/girl pop references of the late 90s and early 00s as well as theater camp (!!) were a blast, and I loved how neither was exactly perfect but accepted (in the present) their flaws. Like FUNNY, I felt the last quarter of the book kind of fell flat, but I really enjoyed the first 3/4. I also expected more oomph out of Kathleen and Harriet's relationship. They felt at odds for so much of the book and I wish they had had more time post-reconciliation. Still, I really enjoyed the story and where we ended up in the end.

Light on the spice, one open door scene. Definitely recommend for all romance readers!

Cute and fun premise!

Kathleen used to be a very famous bubble gum pop star, but drama derailed her career. Now, her best friend has written a musical with her as the lead, and hired none other than her childhood beau (and drama causer) to direct it! What could possibly go wrong!

Let’s start with what I liked: I loved the premise!! As a lover of Broadway and 2000s pop sensations (ala Brit Brit and JT), I loved the references and the nods to both those worlds! I loved the flashbacks - Kathleen and Harriet really came alive to me in those scenes!

Now what I didn’t like: Harriet in the present! She was pretty unlikeable for like 98% of the book. And I just really didn’t feel the chemistry between the love interests - part of that being because I didn’t understand their conversations (because they were inside jokes that we described in flashbacks after the fact. I wish the flashbacks would have come first so I would have understand the nostalgia of their conversations).

Overall, I liked it but I didn’t love it! My friends all loved it though so it’s probably a me problem!

3/5 bubblegum poppy stars!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book! All opinions are my own.

I was a huge fan of Funny You Should Ask, so I was thrilled to read her new novel, Once More with Feeling. When we meet Katee Rose, now known as Kathleen Rosenburg, she is a former pop sensation who's career was wrecked by scandal when she supposedly cheated on her famous boyfriend. Now, she is ready to put her Katee Rose days behind her and embrace Kathleen as she stars in a new Broadway show produced by Cal Kirby, also known as the reason for the scandal of her past. In Once More with Feeling, we get to see Kathleen and Cal both in their past and in their present. Sussman made it easy to fall in love with the characters in this novel. Yes, at times they can be frustrating, but ultimately the reader finds themselves truly rooting for Kathleen, Cal, and their friend Harriet (who easily became one of my favorite characters). This second chance romance was a delightful summer read, and although it didn't quite hit the mark for me like Funny You Should Ask, this was still a thoroughly enjoyable story that I would recommend!

Just like Funny You Should Ask, this book is really well written. It's beautiful and introspective. I appreciate the Jewish rep and loved getting to know Harriett. I was obsessed with Cal. I just really loved the whole concept or the book and am always up for dual timelines. My issue with the novel was the execution. This reads more like women's fiction to me than romance. A lot of the book is about Kathleen's professional life and the way that it has affected her personal life. The story is about her growth above all else. There is so much tension and angst that she's dealing with internally and with Harriet on top of everything with Cal. It's almost too much tension. I like my romances to be lighter than this one ever was. Kathleen is so stubborn and caught up in herself and her persona that it's hard to root for her, especially when there are much more interesting characters surrounding her. Though I love dual timelines, I think they can be hard to execute. Because there's so much angst in the present, I expect for there to be some more sweetness in the past. I want to know why Cal and Kathleen were together and why they deserve a second chance. I can put together why they were together, but I never actually saw it on the page. I don't want to have to put work in for the story to make sense but I did have to in order to come to some sort of understanding of how they would want to be together. I love the writing style and the beautiful prose, but I just didn't buy the romance and that's the most important part.

I enjoyed Elissa Sussman's sophomore release "Once More with Feeling" was an enjoyable read. The storyline was well planned and did a fantastic job of capturing the world of celebrity and also showing casing young stars and what they can encounter on their rise to fame. Sussman's writing is toned in feminism which is refreshing to read. The main characters growth and acceptance of herself and her past mistakes is apparent and Sussman does a great job of getting the read to feel and understand this growth as well. Seeing healthy friendships and relationships is not always something novels portray, but "Once More with Feeling" includes this tenfold and makes me want more books to follow in it's footsteps. If I had one critique it would only be to have gotten a chance to learn about the characters a little more outside of their careers. I can't wait for Elissa's next release!

As a musical theatre kid, my heart was bursting reading this book 🥰 I told myself I was uninterested in romance, and then I found this story! I value the fact that there was so much going on besides the romance between Cal and Kathleen - the development of Kathleen’s relationship with her best friend, the progression of the musical she stars in, flashbacks to theatre camp. I love that we see a whole world and are not just focused solely on Kathleen’s love story.

I will definitely be picking up Elissa Sussman’s first book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the arc.

Elissa Sussman's has grown in her writing and it shows in "Once More with Feeling." While I was not a fan of Sussman's "Funny You Should Ask" because of the lack of character development, the bland connection of Gabe and Chani, and the fluff chapters littered throughout the book. "Once More with Feeling" corrected a lot of these misgivings. I loved that the MCs seemed to actually have a connection and had a reasonable relationship from the get-go. There was still some fluff to the story, but the majority of the chapters added to the plot or to the characters' development and weren't just a weird news article. I also loved the plot of sexism, slut-shaming, and the way entertainment industries tear women down and rise men up. Overall, I would take "Once More with Feeling" over "Funny You Should Ask" any day of the year. (But also this is a book I probably wouldn't pick up again.)

This book was so sweet and fully made for you if you were the kind of high schooler who was more likely to be shout singing Wicked in your car than Fall Out Boy. I loved all of the theatre camp lore and references and the characters all piqued my interest! I also really love Sussman's witty, self-aware writing style and fell in lve with Funny You Should Ask last summer. This didn't quite hit the same heights for me; I wanted a little more in the past timeline AND in the present timeline to really know and understand and fall in love with these characters. The bones were there and they were great and I still really enjoyed reading this, but I wish there had been a little bit more to chew on, a little more time spent building the tension and chemistry between Kathleen and Cal. That said, this was still a great pool read for your summer tbr!

I swear Elissa Sussman never missed. I have been lucky enough to receive arcs of both of her books, and while I think this one is my favorite, they were both amazing. I loved getting to read about a pop star who lost it all reclaiming her fame by starring in a musical written by her best friend.

I chose to read this book solely based on the title and the cute cover. Other than that I went in blind. And I'm so glad I did. I devoured this book. Who knew that I needed a second chance/childhood friends to lovers story in my life. This was such a fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for the E-ARC.

All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

4.5/4.75 stars! I am obsessed with this book!!!! Also I just love her covers too!??! I flew through it in one sitting. It is just so raw and real. I adored the characters and all of their drama! They were just written so well. Her first book has been on my TBR for so long and I definitely need to bump it up higher because this one was just too good. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing- Ballantine for this arc!