I enjoyed reading this! The plot was fun, the characters were likable and I loved Cal. I wish there was an epilogue at the end or just more time with Cal and Kathleen as a happy couple but overall this was fun.

I love Elissa Sussman's debut, Funny You Should Ask, and her second book, Once More with Feeling, did not disappoint. The flawed characters and second-chance romance between Kathleen and Cal were captivating. However, I was disappointed with the ending, as it felt rushed and poorly executed. Despite that, I enjoyed the believable romance, tension, and spice in the story. The back-and-forth chapters between past and present added an engaging touch. If you loved Sussman's debut, you'll adore Once More with Feeling!

The second chance romance is just hitting with elissa sussman 😮‍💨

As much as I loved this story, it's easily get annoyed with Kathleen because I certainly did. But I don't think she is all that bad and just needed help.

Kathleen and Cal have known each other since the day Kathleen begged her family to attend this summer theater camp. While auditioning for roles, Kathleen was put into the chorus with her new friend Harriet, even though she believed she would be better than everyone. However, when Rachel, the one who got the solo, was kicked out, Kathleen took over. This led to Kathleen and Cal getting so close that they had their first kiss on top of a roof.

Kathleen has dreamed of being on Broadway, whereas Cal wanted to show off his dancing skills. But they were teenagers with big dreams and had no clue what the future would hold for them, let alone seeing each other again. Little did they know they would achieve these dreams together in their friend Harriet's play.

Before achieving their dreams, Kathleen got roped into being a pop star named Katee Rose, and Cal was part of a boy band. During this time, Katee was dating a member of the boy band, Ryan, who happened to be the leader of the boy band. Let's say I hate Ryan. Nothing else to be said there, so let's move on. Katee's career ended due to a love triangle between Ryan and Cal, and they did not lead to anything good.

With the past in the past and trying to forward with the future, Harriet has written a play with a lead character named Peggy inspired and made by Kathleen's role. Due to this, they all have to work with Cal since he wants to direct the play and get in onto Broadway. The only problem is he wants Kathleen to audition for the role that was made for her. Although she knows the role is already hers, she doesn't trust Cal, so she agrees to audition while slowly worrying about what will happen.

The audition comes and goes, and the designated part is hers. Which now means they are forced to work together. Due to the past between them, they are forced to be professional, but this ultimately leads them to banter and talk and remember the past. While this happens to be an excellent opportunity for them, feelings start to arise again, but they can't let them happen. Not with what happened in the past that led to fans disliking them for what occurred.

This book was heartfelt. The childhood sweetheart's past adds to the whole story, leading to a good connection between them that makes you root for them to be together.

Once More With Feeling was a fun read that’s full of theater kids, an ex-boybander (which you know I love), Broadway dreams, a tiff between besties, and a friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers second chance romance (whew).

Told with alternating past/present perspectives, this little celebrity romance was a great light read —perfect for the summer and a poolside. The dual timeline was done well and easy to follow, but I wish it would have just been told straight forward. (I also think I’ve just personally read too many past/present timelines recently, ha).

Thanks to netgalley and random house for the ARC!

In Kathleen and Cal met at youth at summer camp, then had a scandal"when they were both pop stars and have not been bought together again due to a mutual friend writing a broadway play.

i wanted to love this the way I loved her first book, but it fell flat for me. I felt like there wasn't a lot of growth in the romance, or the characters. I flew through it, it was an easy read. But I was almost hoping that they wouldn't end up together after all...just to give it some spice.


Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc. All opinions are my own.

As a huge fan of both pop music and musical theater, I was built to love Once More with Feeling. The world building made both of the main characters' stories ring true - it's easy to see this happening in real life. I wanted them to succeed as individuals and with one another. It's fun and charming and a great escape. Does anyone else really want a Rosie the Riveter musical now???

Thank you to NetGalley, Elissa Sussman and the publisher for the opportunity to read an early copy of this book! I do realize that by the time I read this that it had already been released on shelves, but this is a fantastic romantic comedy. For anyone who is looking for a fun, captivating book, this one is for you!

Calling all musical theater nerds and Broadway babies – this one’s for you.

A complicated second-chance romance tinged with friends-to-lovers-to-enemies vibes, the story follows Kathleen Rosenberg, a 30-something former pop star who fell from grace when her opportunistic boyband boyfriend, Ryan, told the world she cheated on him (if you’re thinking Justin and Britney, that’s the vibe). And she did – but as ever, it’s not that simple.

Years and years later, Harriet, Kathleen’s best friend since musical theater camp, has written a Broadway show with a role specifically for Kathleen – the catch is that Cal Kirby (a JC Chasez type), her childhood crush, Ryan’s former boyband member, and the other person involved in The Cheating Scandal, is directing and choreographing the show.

Now: the romance. There’s simmering tension and pent-up frustration and so! many! conflicting emotions! between Kathleen and Cal – it’s crackling chemistry, and having them in a professional director-actor situation adds tons of complexity. Though it’s a slow burn, it does pay off – but I could’ve done with another spicy scene or two, tbh.

Told in both present-day and flashbacks throughout Kathleen’s life, Once More with Feeling is an incredibly fun read, but one that deeply considers the impact of 2000s celebrity culture and what the life of a “scandalous” pop darling might look like once the world has moved on.

Overall, I really enjoyed this (much more than Funny You Should Ask, which fell very flat for me), and also will be humming songs from the Buffy musical episode – also titled Once More with Feeling – for the foreseeable future.

4🌟
1.5🌶️

this book was honestly just fine. the characters were just okay. i didn't feel overly connected to them. i did like the broadway show aspect of it but other than that i didn't tuly *feel* the romance between the two characters.

Once More with Feeling by Elissa Sussman is such a fun summer read. Elissa Sussman did a wonderful job of keeping you engaged with the story and the character development is always fun to watch. I think this was such a great romance and will be recommending it to a lot of readers.

I love this author and her style of writing. I love the back and forth between the past and the present. Kathleen, Harriet and Cal all went to summer camp together for theater and the bond starts there. Kathleen and Harriet become best friends and continue that friendship throughout the years. Kathleen becomes a pop star and is dating Ryan who is part of a boy band with three other members. One of the members just happens to be Cal who Kathleen hasn't seen since she was in theater camp. Something big happens that makes Kathleen lose stardom. Fast forward to 10 years later and all three of them come back together.

I loved this story line and the way that it was written the story behind it. It was a well written story and loved it so much.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy of the read.

As a theater lover, a millenial pop music listener (hello Britney and NSYNC), and someone who really enjoyed Sussman's previous work Funny You Should Ask, I was excited to get an advanced copy of Once More with Feeling from Random House. Sadly it was just okay and didn't quite rise to Sussman's previous work, in my opinion.

Once More with Feeling follows the comeback of Kathleen Rosenberg, who use to be known as pop queen star Katee Rose, as she attempts to headline a Broadway show by a former teen boyband member Cal Kirby. Besides touring together back in the day, Kathleen and Cal have their own past as they spent a summer together at a theater camp where they work a duet together. Once More with Feeling focuses on the feelings between Kathleen and Cal that were left in the past both when they were twenty-somethings and as teenagers. Those feelings may not have been as long gone as they thought as they spend time working together for their Broadway debuts as star and director.

Although I enjoy Sussman's writing, I thought she was working with too many storylines in this novel which was a detriment to the story. I personally wanted to see more of the current storyline between Kathleen and Cal and that didn't shine through, which I was disappointed in. There are also some side characters that didn't get a chance to shine, but I felt like Sussman wanted them to be bigger players than they were. Sussman wrote that she is a fan of Broadway, but as such she spends so little time on that storyline that you'd thing she was a bigger fan of the teen pop genre instead as that's the bigger storyline. Overall it's still an enjoyable novel, but for me there were some problems with the story.

As a side note, I am also a Kathleen that goes by Katee so it was fun to see that in her book. It's rare to see the spelling Katee. Additionally I know Elissa Sussman is Jewish and I liked the Jewish representation that was shown in this novel. I'm not Jewish, but I wanted to point it out for those that are.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Awwwww, what a fabulously swoon-worthy read! I loved SO MUCH about this book! Ex-pop stardom, Broadway musicals, and a great second-chance romance… Seriously, the vibes were spot-on in this one! The “Now” and “Then” timeline hops were perfect because you slowly build your own understanding of the complex history of Kathleen/Katee Rose and her director/ex-love Cal. This type of slow burn is so satisfying and much more realistic in the best way. Let’s not forget the sweet-as-pie *You’ve Got Mail* reference… YES, PLEASE!

If you’re a contemporary romance reader and want something that’s a little less Hallmark movie cheesy (I mean this in the best way), give this one a read. Bonus points for those that love musical theatre and 90’s pop/boy bands!

✏️ ”’…That this is where you’ve always belonged,’” he said. I didn’t know if he meant the stage or his arms, but it didn’t matter. Both were true.”

✏️ ”It was the perfect spring day. Fragrant and bright and sunny and wonderful. The kind of day where every breeze seemed to sound like Tom Hanks murmuring, ‘Don’t cry, Shopgirl.’”

For all the men decrying cancel culture, there’s a litany of women who were for nothing more than being the victim.

Elissa Sussman continues spotlighting celebrity culture in Once More With Feeling, looking at 'fallen' female star given a rare second chance.

As Katee Rose, child theatre nerd Kathleen Rosenberg, was the IT girl pop star. With her boy band boyfriend Ryan, she had it all. Until she gave into her attraction to his bandmate and her former theatre camp crush Cal. Her lack of backbone to dump vain, selfish Ryan (seen in flashback chapters) backfired on her resulting in her losing her career after a public shaming.

In the intervening decade or so Ryan used his 'pain' for professional gain and public support (sound familiar, Justin Timberlake?), while Cal and Kathleen never spoke again, with Kathleen's name mud, destined never to be hired again.

Cal and Kathleen's paths cross when Cal is hired to direct their former camp friend (and Kathleen's best friend) Harriet's musical. Old feelings are stirred along with the rancour and hurt.

This book was a wonderful, easy read and I especially loved the chapters that focused on the work of putting together a professional musical. With flashback chapters we chart the past slow-burn between Kathleen and Cal which explains why she cheated on Ryan and how youth and lack of assertiveness (unfairly) contributed to her downfall.

The book also takes aim at the sexism and misogyny high-profile women undergo; however, I feel that this was too subtle and a missed opportunity to make this a larger part of the narrative beat – Kathleen is told that fans are re-examining in a new light how badly she was treated, but we don’t see any real response, this missing what could’ve been a powerful emotional beat. Why didn’t Kathleen sit down to do a real interview with a trusted reporter to tell her side given the groundswell of support?

Additionally, what was lacking for me was how Kathleen’s growth comes far too late in the book. For all her past therapy we don’t see much evidence of any growth in the intervening years. She even mentions that she should contact her therapist but chooses not to despite so much being at stake. I’d have loved to also have seen more of her working to get herself back in theatre ‘shape’ (figuratively speaking). She has an issue with the choreography but instead its just resolved with Cal changing it – I found the work scenes enthralling so this was another chance to see how she was working on herself.

But despite these quibbles, I devoured this book. I am all about second chance romances, but especially ones where our lead characters are getting a second chance to rebuild themselves. If you like a well-layered, thoughtful story of triumph, add this to your bookshelf.

As someone that loved Funny You Should Ask, I am so happy that I loved Once More With Feeling just as much, if not more. I went into this book completely blind and it was the best decision. This book filled me with so much joy that I finally was able to read a book and understand all of the references and where they were from. This book was so much fun and I was very invested in the characters!

2/5 stars

thank you to netgalley and random house publishing for an arc of this story!

okay. this is the first Elissa Sussman book and I was genuinely really excited for it because I've heard great things about "Funny You Should Ask". but, after reading "Once More With Feeling" I kind of doubt I'll ever go back to this author ever.

the entire story felt like a poorly written Wattled fan fiction, but even those have more heart in them than this. the love interest, Cal, was such a shitty guy for what he did and YES. it was in the past but it was still a shitty thing to do with no apology, and if I was Kathleen I would be pissed as hell forever. my dislike for Cal made it hard for me to even begin to get into him and Kathleen, who I also disliked at times. their romance felt so forced!!! the flashbacks to past/present were interesting but it felt like they didn't even do much to show the build up between Cal and Kathleen. their moments in the present showed nothing of them learning more about each other in the present and who they've become. they felt just thrown together to fulfill a trope and it felt lackluster. the characters hardly had any one on one and they didn't even speak to each other or have enough banter to make the romance feel like something I was even remotely interested in.

overall, I don't really recommend this story.

I cannot give enough praise to Once More with Feeling. Elissa Sussman has done it again! I loved Funny You Should Ask, and was eagerly waiting for Once More with Feeling to come out, and it did not disappoint. There were so many sweet moments between Kathleen and Cal. It was fun watching them grow together. Highly recommend Once More with Feeling!

Gah. The theater. NYC. And written by Elissa Sussman? All things that I love! This book was an absolute dream. Loved it.

I have so many mixed feelings. Was the book well written? Yes. I think the tropes were just not for me. I’m not the biggest fan of nonlinear timelines and will-they-won’t-they. The self centered FMC was driving me crazy. I liked the last 25% of this book.

Thank you to @randomhouse for sending me a copy of ONCE MORE WITH FEELING by Elissa Sussman. This one is out now.

I really enjoyed FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK, which was the previous book by Sussman. This one didn’t work as well for me. Theme of this month for sure it seems, so maybe it’s me. I just didn’t really connect with the characters or care about them at all. They all fell flat and this one was a dud for me.