I didn't read the first book so I truly went into this one with zero expectations. I came away from it a new fan of Elissa Sussman's writing!

Kathleen is an ex-pop star, Calvin is an ex-boybander. They met at camp as teenagers, were friends during their stardom and along the way something tore them apart. Now they're reunited because of a mutual friend and hoping to make it on Broadway but first they must get past old hurts.

This book pulled me in from the very first chapter! The dual timeline can be hard for me but it really worked for this story and I loved the tidbits of the past along the way. The pacing was perfect and I found myself reading "just one more chapter" through the whole book.

I also loved:
*The second chance romance
*Watching the friendships that developed through time
*The angst
*The dash of spice was a nice surprise
*The storyline even if I didn't read the first book

This is a beautifully written story about young love that I highly recommend you read!!

A big thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I'm unsure how to start off this review. If I were to talk about the side characters and even Cal, I could tell you how much I liked them. How wonderfully written and flawed they were. I loved the enemies to lovers aspect where they were literally yelling at each other for a while. It was hilarious and genuinely believable. I could feel their chemistry seep through those arguments.

That is, until you learn about what happened in the past, and you watch Kathleen continue to make a fool of herself, time after time. Kathleen was a hard character for me to get. Don't get me wrong, I loved her! She was funny and flawed and herself. It's relatable and real. But she also gave me the worst case of second-hand embarrassment from a book.

It felt like every choice she made or action she did just was so embarrassing for her. From the past and how she and Cal had their falling out to the present, where she just kept doing and saying things that were so cringey. I'm not gonna spoil them all. Maybe after the book comes out, I will. But good LORD, it was hard to get through.

Maybe that's what makes her such a complex character, I don't know. However, the rest of this book was so great. I love the formatting of it, similar to the first book. I loved the way we got to see the characters grow and change, physically and emotionally. I loved the dynamics of their little group. It was really lovely.

I would absolutely read another book from Elissa Sussman. She's smashing it right now!!

THIS. BOOK. IS. EVERYTHING. I grew up a theater kid with a moderate amount of talent, even going to undergrad for theater. So OMWF feels like a love letter solely for me. Every song, every dance move, every reference - it’s like the author provided me a personal invitation to the book. I started the book expecting to dislike Kathleen, but I ended up sympathizing with her. She’d been dealt some pretty crappy hands, and made some poor choices, but I think she handled it all as best as she could. Sigh. I’m going to miss reading this book. I’ll definitely have to buy a copy for myself.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Once More With Feeling was a fun, well-written second chance romance. I loved the dueling timelines; they flowed so well together. The rockstar-turned-Broadway-star plot was super fun and the characters had so much personality.

I did find myself hoping for a little more revenge on Ryan 🙃 that guy sucked.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC 🥰

Highly recommend if you like: enemies to lovers, second chance romance, rockstar romance.

⭐️⭐️⭐️½
🌶️🌶️

This was a delightful, escapist romcom! Kathleen Rosenberg (formerly known as the pop star, Katee Rose) fell from grace years ago after cheating on her boyfriend with his bandmate, Cal Kirby. Now making a comeback with the lead role in a Broadway-bound musical, Cal is her director and the feelings are back.

Similar to her debut, Sussman uses multiple timelines here, and I loved the experience. Going back to her teenage years at theatre camp, her early 20s as a pop star, and current day (30-ish?), the timelines focus on Kathleen's relationship with herself, Cal, and her best friend, writer Harriet. While borderline narcissistic, Kathleen still manages to be a relatable heroine, and I liked the structure, but I would have liked a dual-POV to get more of Cal's perspective. There was a lot of detail about the musical theatre side of things, and I feel the plot could have focused a bit more on the romance. Otherwise, this was a slightly different angle for a romcom and I had a good time reading.

Thank you to Random House for gifting me with an ARC to review. I enjoyed it!

I loved this book! I read Funny You Should Ask right before this one and I enjoyed them both so much. A second chance romance is my favorite trope, so I was hooked from the start with this story. I would highly recommend this as the perfect beach read for anyone this summer!

Elissa Sussman has become a new favorite author of mine and I cannot wait to see what she writes in the future. Once More With Feeling was the perfect mix of enemies-to-lovers, second chance romance, Broadway, and boy bands. And I absolutely love how Sussman continues to tackle how pop culture handles female characters and the double standards of society. This book along with the hidden pop culture references were fantastic and had me hooked from the first page.

ONCE MORE WITH FEELING by Elissa Sussman ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3/5). I snagged this ARC from netgalley after seeing this book’s cover and liking her previous novel FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK.

Sussman’s newest novel follows Kathleen Rosenberg, once known as the pop star Katee Rose before a scandal ended her fame too soon. A boy from her past is now directing a new Broadway show and she’s cast to be the lead.

Similar to FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK, this novel follows two timelines: one of present Kathleen and one of past Katee Rose. I wasn’t wowed by this structure because it felt so familiar from Sussman’s previous book, but I do like how you get to know more about the characters since you’re reading about the things from the past that have impacted the present.

This was overall a cute book that felt very YA to me. It’s pretty surface-level in terms of character depth and covering serious topics, and the trope was a super predictable enemies-to-lovers.

Not going down as a favorite book for me, but I definitely did enjoy the cute, albeit cheesy, story.

I’d recommend this book if you like enemies-to-lovers romance books, YA, books about celebrities, or just love a book with a really fun cover.

Thanks netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy!

This was a feel-good romcom! I loved the former popstar meets former boyband star pairing and thought that was the books big highlight! Cal was so dreamy. He was the perfect sunshine character to Kathleen's grumpy. I also loved that this was set against the backdrop of a musical and musical theater in general. It's such a fun angle. However, I wish we got to see more of that aspect of the book. it felt like we skipped over a lot of those details which would've been really fun to hear. I also had some difficulty following the time jumps back and forth. It felt a little disjointed. Although the ending felt a bit predictable, I loved Kathleen's caught-on-tape confessional of love to Cal at the end. It felt perfectly fitting for the two characters. Sussman is a fun writer and I look forward to what she will come up with next.

Really heartfelt Second chance romance. Friends to enemies to lovers is a trope I find myself gravitating to more often than not and Elissa Sussman really knows how to do it well. Kathleen and Cal have a really fun and interesting dynamic. While I find Kathleen to be a *little* annoying at times, I think their relationship really is so heartwarming. This is a pretty good beach read with a decent plot and lighthearted fun.

Single POV 😭 I wish the characters were a smidge more fleshed out and I wanted more reasons to enjoy this book. I still really enjoy Sussman’s writing but I had trouble connecting with this book and the different plot points. Still an okay read though!

this one was really cute! this made my musical theater kid heart (which i can't believe i am admitting publicly because it is embarrassing to admit that there have been years i refuse to share my spotify wrapped because of the heavy prevalence of musicals on there) so happy and i had a blast reading it. i literally finished it in one day, which i find increasingly hard to do so that's a good sign! i definitely recommend and i will definitely continue to read more elissa sussman in the future!

thank you to netgalley and penguin random house for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!! <3

This book was SO MUCH FUN!

I loved Funny You Should Ask, and as a lover of all things musical and campy, I knew I was going to enjoy this book. I adore the author’s writing style and how fast-paced the book was. The alternating timelines made the story fly by and I simply needed to know what the next page said the entire time I was reading.

The tension between Cal and Kathleen was delicious and I was rooting for them the entire time. I loved this book so much, brb while I go join a community theater production.

This one is for the pop girlies! I absolutely loved this book I couldn’t put it down and finished it in one sitting. I found this to be a much stronger and more compelling novel than Funny You Should Ask. This book has all the vibes of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake’s breakup circa 2003. I loved Kathleen and Cal- individually and together. I easily found myself rooting for their reunion. I appreciated that Elissa Sussman did Kathleen character right by providing context to her career fallout and the injustice of it all. I think the barriers and baggage that Cal and Kathleen had to work through and overcome were really realistic. Same for the friendship between Kathleen and Harriet. I highly recommend that everyone grab this book!

Okay, so this book gives major Britney and Justin post-breakup double standards vibes...and I love it.

Katee Rose is a former hyper-sexualized pop star known more for her appearance and less for her actual voice who, at the height of her fame, is in a very public relationship with Ryan of boy band CrushZone fame. She ends up cheating on him with his bandmate, Cal. Guess who takes the fall after they split??? If you guessed that all the blame falls squarely on Katee then you would be correct. Does this sound familiar? Her whole career is destroyed due to her "reputation" and meanwhile Ryan and Cal emerge completely unscathed from the whole ordeal.

Fast forward 15 years or so and Katee (who now goes by her real name, Kathleen) gets an amazing opportunity to be in a musical that has a real shot at making it to Broadway which has always been her dream. However, it's to be directed by none other than Cal...

This is a second chance romance with depth. I liked the theater setting and the dual timeline. I really liked the allusion to Britney and Justin's breakup and how the world turned on Britney amid cheating allegations. I was very emotionally invested in this story and couldn't put it down. The characters were in their 30s and acted like it. Sure, there were miscommunications (it is a romance, after all) but they were believable, and I found myself sympathizing with both Kathleen and Cal at different times.

Kathleen is a flawed main character who makes mistakes but apologizes when necessary and tries her best not to let one youthful mistake derail her dreams.

I will read anything Elissa Susan writes until the end of time. This book just cemented her as a new auto-buy author as well as one of my top authors.

I read Funny You Should Ask last summer and loved it. It was one of my favorite books of the year. Believe me when I say... Once More With Feeling is 10x better. You can tell how much Elissa Sussman has grown as an author while also staying true to her own unique style.

This book is genuinely such a joy to read. It has so many of my favorite devices and tropes, but even if it didn't - this would still be a wonderful book. There was second chance romance, alternating timelines, angst, friends to lovers, broadway, the entertainment industry, epistolary elements... it was just the best.

Whenever you are reading a book where you want to be actively reading it all the time, are sad when you have to take a break, think about it after you finish it, or immediately want to read it again... that's the mark of a truly special reading experience.

I absolutely cannot wait until this book comes out and I can get a physical copy. I may even reread... who knows...

Anyways Elissa Sussman supremacy.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC

The second book I've read by this author and she has me in a chokehold. The story. The writing style. I love it.

Childhood friends to enemies? 2nd chance for romance?

SIGN ME UP.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this fun book!

The chokehold that Elissa Sussman has on me MY GOD. Similar to the way that I can’t stop thinking about Funny You Should Ask, Once More With Feeling was a book that just GOT ME. A theatre nerd at heart, this was the love story that high school me wanted, needed, craved. I was so excited to receive this ARC and I seriously cannot wait for Elissa’s next book!

Overall I really liked the book, I found myself relating to Kathleen a ton!! Part of me wishes it was in chronological order because the story felt confusing a lot of the time switching back and forth. There wasn’t enough direction in the setting change to fully grasp where we were at some points. However I loved the plot, and loved Cal as well!!