THIS BOOK. After reading Funny You Should Ask, which was an instant favorite, I was super excited about this book especially because it’s about theatre and music and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. This was a second chance, enemies to lovers, with SO much pining and tension and it was EXACTLY what I needed to read right now.

I loved the story, I loved the characters, I loved the way everything tied together in the end, the chemistry was great and the banter was absolutely excellent.

I read this one SO fast and already want to read it again. This book just made me incredibly happy and I’m in absolute awe of the kind of stories and chapters Elissa Sussman creates and I can’t wait to read more of her work.

4 1/2 stars

This was such a fun second chance romance (or was it third chance?). Kathleen and Cal initially meet at a summer camp fo theatre when they are teenagers. Then flash forward ahead to when Kathleen is "Kate" and she's a pop star. Cal is part of a new boy band - - the same one that Kate's boyfriend belongs to. And then they meet up again in the present when they are working together on a musical. Through it all, they have a chemistry that hasn't faded. But they also have a great deal of distrust and past betrayal to overcome. It might be that there's just too much baggage to deal with.

I was a huge fan of this author's previous book, Funny You Should Ask, so I was thrilled to receive an early copy of this one. I'm quickly becoming a fan of the author and will eagerly await the next book that she decides to put out there.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

I liked this one more than Funny You Should Ask. It was a cute fun read! I really like second chance romance and the celebrity romance makes the story a little different too!

Even better than Funny You Should Ask. I could not put this book down, the chemistry between the two main characters was crazy intense and had you wanting to skip pages left and right to figure out what happened between them all those years ago. An incredibly good second chance romance that also looks at friendships and growth within oneself.

I really enjoyed this new novel by Elissa Sussman about a woman making a comeback after a fall from grace on the biggest stage of her life. I thought that the characters were very relatable and I enjoyed the banter between Kathleen and Cal.

ONCE MORE WITH FEELING by Elissa Sussman was one of my most anticipated releases of 2023 - so I was thrilled and so thankful to NetGalley and the publishers to receive an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Sussman's first novel - FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK - was an absolute highlight of '22 reading for me. ONCE MORE WITH FEELING, Sussmans' follow-up, tells the story of Kathleen, a former pop star looking for a comeback, and Cal, ex-boy band member who has major history with Kathleen. ONCE MORE WITH FEELING follow these two as they work together on a musical set for Broadway, and we learn about their messy past. Overall, I really enjoed this novel, and continue to love Sussman's sharp, funny, heartfelt writing. This story fell a little flat for me in comparison to FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK: I didn't feel the connection between Kathleen and Cal as much as I wanted to, and some of the secondary storylines (Kathleen's friendship and conflict with Harriet, other minor characters) felt a little rushed. In all, I would recommend this novel, particularly to fans of second chance romance, and fans of Sussman in general!

Synopsis: Kathleen Rosenberg, aka Katee Rose, used to be the biggest pop star in the world - until a scandal involving members of the boy band Crush Zone derailed her career. Now, all Kathleen wants to do is follow her passion and star in her friend Harriet’s new musical. That is until she finds out that the director is none other than Cal Kirby, one of the members of Crush Zone. Forced to work together, Kathleen and Cal must come to terms with what happened years ago and with the feelings that might still exist between them.

Thoughts: This was such a fun read! Told in three timelines (high school summer theater camp, early 00’s pop star world tour, and present day), the story is weaved together so well. The past timelines give real depth to the characters and their situations, and the present timeline will have you rooting for Kathleen and Cal. If you’re a fan of 90’s/00’s nostalgic reads you’ll love the past timeline, and if you’re a musical theater fan you’ll love the present timeline. I’m into both, so I thought the whole book was super entertaining!

Read this if you like:
🎤 boy bands/pop stars
🎤 90’s/00’s nostalgia
🎤 musical theater
🎤 second chance romance
🎤 multiple timelines

I ADORED Elissa’s first book but unfortunately I was not a fan of this one.

I found the characters quote “flat” and confusing. Not sure even if the couple made it in the end?

Was it easy to read? Absolutely.

But, I struggled to connect with the characters and root for them. Tbh I didn’t want them together.

This was my second chance for this author and unfortunately her writing style is just not for me. Nothing in this book hooked me and I just found myself incredibly bored immediately into the book. I can see how others would enjoy it but unfortunately it wasn’t for me! I have several friend I would recommend this book too so still give it a try!

There seem to be a lot of theater books this summer and I am not mad about it.

This one, is not the very popular Much Ado About Nothing, though. This one is an original musical written to take both a disgraced pop star and her songwriter best friend back on the scene.

I really enjoyed this book. In so many books these days, our main characters can have flaws, but they can't be too bad. If it looks like they made a mistake or did something they shouldn't have, it has to eventually come out as a misunderstanding. They can't have actually made a bad mistake or judgement call. This is especially true in second chance romances (like this book). There had to have been a misunderstanding or misreading of a situation back in the day. There can't be a straight up mistake.

Not in the book. Katee made a mistake. Was she young? Yes. Were there a lot of other circumstances around her? Totally. Was in typical media fashion, she treated much worse than a male in her situation would have been? 100%. Did she still make a mistake and there's no half way through the book magically explaining away that it was different than what it seemed? Yep. And I appreciated that so much. The ability to tell a story about a flawed character who has grown up and changed without explaining away the mistake she made in the past. This was helped tremendously by the the "Then" and "Now" chapter and story structure.

Friendships, relationships, growing up, navigating life and set backs. This book had a lot of great topics and addressed them well and had a fun musical flair while doing so. (Also I was bracing myself for a cringe last act breakup, but it didn't happen the way I was bracing for, thank goodness. And one other part that I thought was going to be super cliche and wasn't at all, although that did leave to one plot thread that I felt was left hanging. But at the same time, that's how life is. Everything doesn't get all wrapped up at the same time.)

I'm so glad I read this book and will be thinking about it for a while (and heavily considering grabbing the B&N Exclusive Edition so I can have the list of Broadway songs to go with each chapter 😍).

Thank you to NetGalley and Dell for an advanced reader's copy of this book. All of the opinions are my own.

Sussman is a great second-chance romance author, and she delivered another great summer read. I love Kathleen & Cal’s live story and the sweet, enduring friendship between Kathleen and Harriett. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I really expected to not like this, but I was proven wrong. I wasn’t the biggest fan of her first book, but still liked it fine. This one being about the musical theatre world and actors and pop stars? Not usually my thing. I fully expected to hate it, but ultimately it was decently written, had a compelling story, flawed and real characters, and felt a little bit like smash (not glee). I think MT / Acting people will be icked occasionally, but it’s fun, a little sexy, and I loved it! It's a refreshing take on the romance genre and fans and non-fans alike will love it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this review copy. All opinions are my own. This book kept my attention and made me want to continue reading. I ending up starting and finishing in 1 day. I didn’t really love the FMC or MMC as much as I wanted to and felt like their relationship needed more depth. It was good, but not my favorite and not as good as the author’s previous book which I adored.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions are my own. This book kept my attention and made me want to keep reading. I ended up reading it in one day. I didn’t really love the FMC or MMC as much as I wanted to. I felt like their relationship wasn’t fully developed by the time they had the first kiss. I wanted more. It was good, but not my favorite and not as good as ES’s previous which I adored.

Another great second chance celebrity romance from Sussman!

I love when authors use the then/now format when writing second chance because it really lends itself well to drama and build up. Not only did we get a "then", we also got a "then then" timeline–when our MCs first meet each other at theater camp, way before they both become famous. That really added depth to the story by showing us just how intertwined Cal and Kathleen were.

I found this book to be very entertaining and totally binge-worthy. Highly recommend it when of you're in the mood for a celebrity romance, or if you love musical theater!

Thank you, Random House Publishing, for the ARC.

Oh boy, I positively adored this book. It’s the second of Elissa’s that I’ve read (after “Funny You Should Ask”) and I feel confident in saying this will be one of my most recommended in 2023. Witty, smart, sharp, romantic… I just loved it all. I’ll read every book Elissa writes forever now - the feels she evokes are unmatched! Bravo!

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

Once More with Feeling is a really quick read and would probably make for a good summer read. Unfortunately, I really didn’t connect with any of the characters and it seemed like the story just jumped around too much. Kathleen was just kinda of sucky to me. I didn’t care to root for her. We didn’t get enough details to really understand each character which was a bit disappointing. I enjoyed it enough, and it didn’t feel like it was really dragging, so it’s not below a 3 star read for me, but it just didn’t feel super special.

Probably wouldn’t recommend. I think there are much better short romance books out there.

Thank you for the advanced reader copy!

The first part of this book was slow for me, but it picked up! I loved Funny You Should Ask and was dying for the 2nd book by Elissa to come out but this one just didn’t hit the same with me. If you are a theater fan, I think you may feel different!

I loved the author's first book so i was excited to read this one as well. It used elements in the first book like the Then and Now scenes but made it even better if that was possible. I really loved this book and how well it does enemies to lovers. There is a valid reason to them being enemies in the beginning and the way the author progresses their story to being lovers flows very well. As someone who's not a theater fan and didn't understand any of the theater references, this book was still enjoyable and fun so don't let that be a reason you don't read this book! This author excels at writing time jump chapters and I'd pick up any other book this author writes!

I sort of love when a plot calls me out in the way this one did. Subtly, but in a very real way on how we perceive celebrity and take in information from the press. As much as we try to say we give people a chance to tell their story, we rarely do, and this book really threw that in my face. We don't see them as people, but consumption. We don't give them the same rules that we apply to ourselves.

But they're as human as we are, and they deserve a chance to learn from their mistakes. Once More With Feeling was so very clear on that point, and I loved it. Because I know I've fallen into the category of hearing something about someone I don't truly know anything about, and holding that against them for... well, as long as I can. It's easy to blame people you don't know for things that don't affect you, but that's the thing: it does affect them.

Kathleen makes a mistake when she is old enough to know better. She never denies that, nor does she hide from the fact that it was her mistake. I love that she owned that the entire story and never pushed it to the side as someone else's. I love that she held those accountable in her life that should've been there, and I loved the honesty of her feelings towards Cal. I love that her forgiveness of him was earned, rather than just given. The plot felt completely realistic. If it were about anything other than cheating, I probably would have given it five stars.

I just can't, in good conscience, give a book about cheating five stars.

But I can tell you that it's worthy of them. The plot revolves around Kathleen constantly putting herself down, feeling like she hasn't earned her spot in this new life she's created for herself. She's still beating herself up for decisions she made when she was anything but herself. Mistakes that allowed her to figure out who she is, and who she wants to be. She holds them over herself like a bomb, just waiting for the chance to use them to ruin this second chance she's been given by the one person she feels she doesn't deserve one from.

I loved watching her realize that the only forgiveness she needed the entire time was her own. That making mistakes is human, and it doesn't mean she was a bad person, or didn't deserve to be happy. It was a story about healing, and I really enjoyed watching it come to fruition.