For me this book was a solid 3.5 stars. I enjoyed reading it but it didn’t excite me. I went in with high hopes because I loved Funny You Should Ask. Something about it didn’t hit as hard for me.

Pros:
- I loved the musical theater aspects. Honestly I wish we got even more moments with them working on the show.

- It is a super quick read. Just like FYSA it keeps you hooked.

- For a second chance romance book the trope worked a little better for me than normal. The characters were never a couple in the past so there was no past breakup to overcome.

Cons:
- However second chance romance combined with cheating just isn’t for me in the end. Even though the second chance romance plot didn’t bug me as much as it normally does I didn’t like that it included a cheating plot line.

- The characters felt a smidge flat to me. I want to connect with them more but I felt like we only got to see parts of them.

- I would’ve loved to see more of Kathleen’s journey to being Katee Rose in the “then” chapters. We only get to learn about it from characters mentioning it.

This book was a love letter to musical theater, and I loved every second of it. I've read Sussman's last book Funny You Should Ask, and I really enjoyed it; but this one was even better.

What I loved:
Our two heroes, Kathleen and Cal, had a relationship that spanned decades starting at Theater Camp in their teens. Their romance was super sweet, their chemistry was off the charts 🔥, but their friendship was the best part. Multiple timelines can go 50/50 for me in books, but this one was done very well. It helped build that background that had you rooting for their relationship in the present.

I also loved their mutual friend, Harriet, and how they all worked together as adults to make their dream come true. Being a huge theater nerd myself, I loved reading about all the work that went into putting a show on Broadway.

What I didn't love:
The cheating trope: I know this will probably be a dealbreaker for some💔. Honestly, it was well done and I understood why it happened. I just feel like it could have been written differently and still had the same effect, but life is messy and so are people so this wasn't a complete dealbreaker for me.

The one thing I found lacking was the conflict at the end. I found it a bit forced and immature, and it resolved rather quickly. It also could have been left out completely and the book would have been even better without the added drama.

Overall, this was a fantastic read and I can't wait for everyone else to grab this one! Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC in exchange for this review.

Read if you love:
🎵Friends-Enemies-Lovers
🎵Second Chance
🎵Musical Theater
🎵Celebrity Stories
🎵Multiple Timelines

Such a fun read! Only told from the FMC’s perspective, it leaves you wanting a little more, but Susanna does a fantastic job of rounding out her characters emotionally. Recommended for a lighter read with minimal spiciness :)

3.5 stars
ONCE MORE WITH FEELING follows Kathleen, ex-celebrity previously known as Katee Rose, as she stars in a Broadway production written by her best friend and directed by the man she had a short-lived relationship with years ago. The book is told in dual timeline—10 years ago, as she was at the height of her fame, dating boyband member Ryan while building a friendship with Cal, and present-day, when we see Kathleen and Cal work through their frustrations with each other while also working on their musical. I really enjoyed the dual timeline in this book; since it’s a second-chance romance, it really helps develop their past relationship and why there’s currently animosity. Kathleen was a frustrating character; she’s sequestered herself since her career failed and doesn’t have great relationships with anyone—or herself—but we don’t see a ton of development either. I wish we’d seen her work through some of her insecurities and grow as a person, because there wasn’t much other than a few “I’m sorry” moments. Despite this, I did like this book, and if you like musical theater and second-chance romances, I think you’ll enjoy this too!

Kicking and squealing, it's so cute. I can't prove this, but Elissa Sussman writes books just for me. I loved this. I know this isn't for everyone, but it's so much fun. It's cheesy and sweet and innocent. Second Chance romance is my favorite trope. I love characters that make young dumb mistakes and grow from it. It did not disappoint.

uh i don’t know what to say i don’t think this book is for me maybe it the author (probably me though) i was really excited starting this book i haven’t read funny you should ask before but it been a book i’ve wanted to read for a while now i still do but i’m not sure it it will be as good anymore

nothing was really wrong with this book i just had an extremely hard time getting into the book from the very beginning to be honestly like it was all good until the cheating trope come around and like i’m not even fully sure if it really is cheating or just a misunderstanding however even just trying to continue reading to get to that part is nearly impossible for me i will be dnf this book for now maybe i will come back to it maybe not but i will not force myself to read a book if am not enjoying it

im already 12 chapters in of 39 and it feels like i’ve been reading forever i like how we get a bit of the present tense and past tense and the cover and details of the book are all gorgeous as for the characters i mostly like the characters i truly love harriet she’s definitely my favorite as for cal i really didn’t see much in him like he was cute during certain scenes but nothing really made him stand out too much for me oooh but that once scenes where he said “You’re also so fucking good that i can’t look away” that was good elissa knew what she was doing writing that line as for kathreen she was fine like i feel like she was extremely hooked on herself and the past a lot of time but not selfish like she refused help bc she used to be able to do it in the past and but then she was always very kind to certain people so i’m very stuck on my feeling with her

If you love musical theater, used to read J-14 religiously, and will-they-won’t-they romances, this one is for you!! A really fun read with some hot spice sprinkled in. My only regret is that there is nowhere I can listen to the cast album for the book’s featured musical!

What a delightful read. I love how sussman puts an every woman spin on the successful. She is quickly becoming a new favorite

Predictable and boring. A second chance romance about two people who were pop stars in their younger years. It was a quick easy read.

When I first read about Once More With Feeling, I was thrilled. It sounded exactly like the Broadway romance of my dreams. And while I enjoyed it a little more than Funny You Should Ask, it wasn’t quite the five-star read I was hoping for.

What I Loved
🎭 The flashbacks to Kathleen, Harriet, and Cal during their time as teens at theater camp were honestly my favorite part. Sussman really nailed the energy of high school theater kids in a way that felt authentic.
🎭 One of the things I think about fairly often is what happens to child stars when they’re no longer stars. Obviously we’re all familiar with the headline making troubles of former Disney stars and boy-banders, but I think the more interesting stories are about those who fade away into a more “normal” life (think Ke Huy Quan before EEAAO or Mayim Bialik pre-Big Bang). Kathleen’s character arc did a good job at getting at this and demonstrating how child stars can find a second chance at stardom.
🎭 The cover is one of the best I’ve seen this year. I love how it echoes the design of Funny You Should Ask’s cover. It makes it really easy to tell you’re about to read an Elissa Sussman novel.
🎭 There were a couple of Funny You Should Ask Easter eggs sprinkled throughout. I always love when authors build out their own literary universes.

What Didn’t Work
🎭 To use a cooking metaphor, the story felt like it was simmering the whole time but never actually boiled. There was a lot of telling rather than showing, and some of the conflicts between characters felt a little juvenile for an adult novel.
🎭 As a love interest, Cal was very bland and kind of boring which made it hard to buy into him and Kathleen as a couple. I had a similar issue with Gabe and Chani in FYSA so it might just be a me problem.

Once More With Feeling is out May 30. Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Once More With Feeling by Elissa Sussman is a captivating contemporary romance that seamlessly weaves together the story of Kathleen Rosenberg, a young woman with dreams of a music career, as she navigates the ups and downs of love, friendship, and fame. The story balances the present day with artfully woven insights from the past at both her summer at Camp Curtain Call and the height of her career when everything changed.

Sussman's writing style is beautiful, revealing details in an organic and engaging manner. The characters are well-developed and relatable, and the themes of young love, friendship, and second chances are explored with depth and authenticity. The pacing of the book is excellent, keeping the reader hooked from start to finish. Musical theater enthusiasts will especially enjoy Kathleen's delightful first experience of a love Rocky Horror Picture Show viewing. Once More With Feeling is a must-read for romance fans, delivering an enjoyable and immersive story that will leave you wanting more

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the eARC of this awesome book. All opinions are my own.

I loved Funny You Should Ask, so I had high hopes going into Once More with Feeling, and it delivered. My favorite parts of the book were the "Then" chapters, and I was dying to know what actually went down between Kathleen and Cal to cause all this angst and tension (and find out what happened on the roof!!). Honestly, she had me at the fact that this was loosely based on Britney and Justin. Tbh, I was picturing them as Britney and Justin in those matching denim outfits the entire time. I binged this one fairly quickly and really enjoyed the story itself. I think it was missing Cal's POV, and Kathleen could have groveled a biiiit more. When I realized I was at 95%, I wasn't ready for it to end! I really enjoyed the book as a whole, and can't wait to see what celebrity drama Elissa Sussman (hopefully) takes us through next!

Read if you love:
- second chance romance
- friends to lovers meets enemies to lovers
- musical theater and broadway
- celebrities (and celebrities fallen from grace)
- then and now timeline
- boybands

Thank you Ballantine Random House, Elissa Sussman and NetGalley for the ARC!

Read if you like:
🎤 Popstars / Boy Bands
🥈Second Chance Romance
💔 Cheating Trope
🎭 Broadway
⏳ Past and Present Timelines

First and foremost I have to say the cheating trope was my least favorite part of this book, I get how it fit, but I still just despise the cheating trope.

Other than that…. This felt like a book for those that love to ship Britney and Justin, Selena and Justin, and Nick and Jessica…. I loved how the characters met both the first time around and for their second chance romance.

I loved the movement from past to present and back again as we got bits of why things were the way they were in the present and also seeing the growth in the characters as they leapt forward chasing their dreams.

All in all I really liked this one and would have loved it more without the cheating trope as I feel like that could have been avoided.

Thank you so much to the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my review.

I’ll be honest – I went into this book hesitantly. Katee Rose’s pop star life all came crumbling down thanks to a cheating scandal, and I typically avoid cheating as a plotline in the books I read. I have a really hard time liking the main characters after the infidelity, and I think the plots of those books often require a lot of mental gymnastics to make readers find the cheating necessary. And tbh, I think it was deeply unnecessary here because Kathleen and Cal’s insane chemistry was enough to ruin her relationship without them taking that extra step.

All that to say – I still really liked this book. It’s a fun, alternately funny and heartfelt look at the downsides to fame and rising from the ashes. Sussman’s writing and pacing won me over, and the flashbacks all added to the plot in really important ways. I loved Cal Kirby at sixteen as a theater dork, as twenty-something as a boy band heartthrob, at thirty-something as a director/choreographer coming into his own. Kathleen has moments when it feels like she’s just stringing this poor man along, but she also felt real and flawed and interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed watching her shed her Katee Rose past to fully embrace Kathleen Rosenberg.

Yes, this is a love story. Yes, Kathleen and Cal have sexual tension for days, and you’re going to root for them to get their shit together. But more than that, this book is a love letter to musical theater. I finished the book so angry that Riveted wasn’t a real show because I’d be buying tickets immediately. I was still annoyed by the cheating plotline, but my irritation never stood a chance against a book that can casually mention the dancing in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Read this book, watch a musical, and get lost in a really fun world.

If it's a fake Hollywood-style celebrity romance, I will be reading it. I loved Funny You Should Ask, so needless to say this was one of my most anticipated books. It didn't disappoint. I loved the alternating timelines and the drama. Kathleen and Cal had so much history and emotional turmoil involved in their relationship, but I was rooting for them the whole time. I also loved that Kathleen was Jewish and it wasn't a huge plot point, but there were definitely certain nuances that I noticed and enjoyed. This book was so tense and so vulnerable and I couldn't stop reading. I felt so invested in the characters and what was going on, and I also loved that it shifted from pop star to Broadway star. Musicals are some of my favorite things, so I thought that aspect was so well done. Overall, this was a must-read for me. Thanks to Ballantine Books/PRH for sending me an e-ARC to read and review!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Don't let the three star review fool you - I really had fun with this book. It was a very enjoyable read and I am so glad I got to read it and am so grateful at the chance to read it early.

Kathleen Rosenberg, formerly known as Katee Rose, is a former pop star whose career was ended early and was scorned by press and fans after she cheated on her beloved boyband boyfriend with his bandmate Cal Kirby. Now she has a chance to restart her career, not as Katee Rose - but as Kathleen in her Broadway debut. Only issue? Cal is her director. This is a massive opportunity for both of them, so they have to try to get through this without fighting in the wings. Or. Ya know. Falling in love.

Second chance romance. Friends to lovers to enemies (?) to friends to lovers. Dual timeline. Has-been-celebrity romance. This book has so much going for it and it does so many of them well.

Kathleen and Cal are both very fun characters. Kathleen's fears and doubts about her ability to relaunch her career after it was destroyed by a scorned ex (after she cheated on said ex with Cal) are very interesting to read. I love the flashbacks to them when they were younger and the differences between Cal and her then-boyfriend Ryan. I don't even entirely blame her for cheating.... Cal clearly cares so, so much for her throughout the entirety of the story - both in the present and in the flashbacks. I love a good "enemies to lovers except they were never enemies to him" and this book does deliver on it.

I do however have two issues with this book that made me not enjoy it as much as I might have hoped.

The first, and I am hoping this may be fixed in the final version, the pacing and storybeats were a little strange. The story took some big jumps that seemed like there should've been chapters in between to get us from point A to point B. This also caused some plot points to seem unnecessary or unresolved. The catty rival who pops up periodically goes unfulfilled - it seems like she'll get a chance to cause issues multiple times and it never goes anywhere. I was left wanting her to either be more or to not even exist.

The second, and this one is a big one, I hate Harriet (Kathleen's best friend) so much. You remember Lilly from The Princess Diaries, specifically the first one? You remember how she was just a terrible friend to Mia for that entire movie? She somehow made everything that happened to Mia about her, was unsupportive and negative, then in the end was like "but *I* want you to be a princess..."? Harriet is the Lilly of this story. She is a terrible friend. She hides all her feelings from Kathleen for the entire book, only to get mad at Kathleen for not getting it. She makes Kathleen's career being destroyed about her and says Kathleen's going to do it again. She admits to lying to her and testing her through the course of the story because she doesn't trust her. She is so unsupportive of Kathleen and it had me ANGRY reading her reactions throughout the book. This book lost a full star because of her character. She's one of the worst best friend characters I've ever read.

Harriet aside, I do still recommend reading this book. It's a quick read, it's a very fun celebrity romance. It may not change your life, but you'll definitely have fun while you read it.

🎤Katee Rose’s pop-star career deteriorated when she spent one night with Cal Kirby, who is in a boy band with her then boyfriend Ryan LaNeve. Now Kathleen Rosenberg is leaving all of that in the past until Cal Kirby offered her a starring role of her dreams in Broadway which he’s directing.

Elissa Sussman’s second chance romances are always on point! I enjoyed this just as much as I did the previous book. The longing of wanting the MC’s to be together is real 🤭also Cal?! 🔥

This book is out in 3 days! (May 29th)
I checked my local B&N and it was already available! Grab your copy now 💕

Going into this as a fan of Funny You Should Ask, I was really excited to read this book and I definitely was not disappointed.

Absolutely loved, couldn't put down!! Loved the balance between the past and the current. It flowed so well together. Love the romance, love the musical theater nod, and love the story!!

Ten years ago Katee Rose was the biggest pop star in the world. Then, a scandal broke that ended her career.
Now, Kathleen Rosenberg has the opportunity to live her life-long dream, to star on Broadway in a part written specifically for her by her best friend Harriett. The only hitch is that the show is to be directed by one Calvin Tyler Kirby.
Cal was there for Katee's fall from grace and didn't offer the support she desperately needed. Instead he saw his career flourish. Now, Cal holds Katherine's comeback in the palm of his hand. It's a position she doesn't want to be in, but too good of an opportunity to turn down.

They're both professionals, they can keep their animosity at bay for the sake of the show. But being back together day in and day out brings up feelings and emotions once pushed aside in the face of scandal. Can they face the past while trying to make their show a success?

I'm a big fan of second-chance stories (mainly in the romance department) and Once More With Feeling certainly counts - in my mind - as a romance, but to me I was more interested in Katherine getting a second chance at her dream. The story is told in multiple timelines. Present, of course, then the past filling in the the blanks leading up to the scandal, and then further back still showing readers where Katherine and Cal, and Katherine and Harriett started. Because of course you can't have second-chance without the past informing the present state of things. I thought that Elissa Sussman balanced all these timelines perfectly. The message is conveyed without taking away from the forward momentum of the story.

I really wanted Katherine to succeed. She was dealt an unfair deal ten years ago. She certainly didn't deserve to lose her career over it, but you can tell she's grown wary in the years since and could very well be her own obstacle to resurrecting her dreams. But in that regard I also appreciate that she's very, I suppose, weathered by celebrity. She knows her involvement in the show will draw attention and scrutiny of her person, but she's at the point where the worst has already happened to her and she survived through it.

Once More With Feeling is such a love letter to musical theater. If you are or were active in theater then you'll feel the love of this craft just leaping off the page. The hard work and the talent it takes to perform, the risk in hoping that the show you love will be beloved by the audience.

If anything I wish we had gotten just a little bit more from the Katherine/Harriett dynamic. Their friendship is undeniable, but there were times I felt like it was too over-shadowed by that of Katherine/Cal.

Speaking of, I loved how kind of unassuming the relationship between Katherine and Cal is at first. We know he played some part in the scandal, there's hints that they have known each other for along time, but as we connect the dots and are filled in on exactly how connected they are in the past, it really enhances their interactions in the present, and makes what happened ten years ago all the more heartbreaking.

I had not read Elissa Sussman's previous book (although it is on my TBR list), but I already can tell she will be an author I will read more of in the future.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. I was totally immersed within Katherine's story of growing up in the public eye but still trying to live your dreams.