I loved Elissa's first book so I was greatly anticipating this one! Inspired by Britney Spears with everything a musical theater kid loves in its pages, I just adored it! It also feels like it has a dash of THAT THING YOU DO and SMASH in it.

This fun, entertaining book is definitely a quick read that I recommend for fans of celebrity and second chance romance. Kathleen "Katee Rose" and Cal are a former pop star and boy band member who split after a scandal that ruins her career yet leaves him largely unscathed in the early 2000s. They reunite for a Broadway musical where Cal is the director and Kathleen is the star and second chance romance ensues. Compared to Elissa Sussman's other book, Funny You Should Ask, the character development was hard to see in this book (maybe because of the large gap between now and then chapters, during which we don't really know what the characters were doing). The characters still seem to be in the same mindset they were when they met at camp several decades ago. The writing is clear and easy to follow, but the characters seemed underdeveloped. I would not re-read this book but looking forward to other books from Elissa Sussman.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the eARC.

I loved Elissa Sussman's first book, and this second book did not disappoint! All of her books are perfect romcoms - they would translate really well into a screen adaptation. I normally don't like reading books about celebrity romances, but these are cute and fun

i love elissa sussman, i really do, but this didn’t hit as hard as funny you should ask. i just didn’t end up feeling that connected to the characters and i found that the story fell flat at a few points. overall i have it 3.5 stars but i do have to say i was a bit disappointed :(

Pretty fun second chance story perfect for musical theater fans!

I personally found the timelines a little tricky to parse through, so I think I would have enjoyed a more linear story. Most of the "then" chapters didn't really move the plot or character development forward enough for me (with some key exceptions like the final "then" chapter).

This was my first book by Elissa Sussman, and I loved it!! I thought we really got to know the characters and their relationships with each other. I liked learned about what happened in the past as much as I liked learning what was happening now. I found myself crying when Kathleen and Harriet made up in the park and could relate to both of their feelings in different ways. I would recommend this book to my friends and I cant wait to read more by Elissa!

This was a really great, heartfelt, second-chance romance novel. Elissa Sussman wrote another hit and I couldn't put it down! She's one of those authors that really understands writing that makes me kick my little fit under the covers because I'm giddy and excited about what the characters are going through or what I hope they'll do next. She gets it!

This book was charming, funny, and gave my little musical theatre major heart a massive hug. Loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the eARC!

I read Funny You Should Ask and it was a good enough read (three stars, good vacation book but nothing I was 'wow'ed' by) that I thought I'd request her newest book a try when I saw it become available. From the start, I had a hard time getting invested in the characters especially Kathleen. She is too immature for her age and her back and forth feelings felt extreme and fluctuated to quickly for me. As much as I wanted to enjoy this book, even if it wasn't a favorite, I couldn't get into it, picking it up, stoping, picking it back up until finally at the 45% mark, decided I'd given this book enough time and that it wasn't for me. Those that liked Funny You Should Ask, or other books by Sussman, will likely enjoy Once More with Feeling more than I did.

This was my first Elissa Sussman book, and it was just okay for me.

The characters were all very immature, it felt like you’re reading about teenagers. I didn’t feel the chemistry between the two main characters at all, so it didn’t feel believable when they got together. I also just do not enjoy the cheating trope.

I will probably read the author’s other book because it seems like that one is the favorite, but this one just didn’t do it for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for me free copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was really looking forward to diving into this book as soon as I finished this authors previous release to this book, in hopes that I would be hooked. Unfortunately, not exactly the case. While the writing style is quite easy and quick to follow, I just have trouble with connecting to the characters entirely. They just fell a little flat to me, and didn't really feel like they had a real connection. The "enemies to lovers" aspect felt more pushed than fluid, sadly. And Enemies to lovers is one of my all time favorite tropes. But this one just wasn't believable.
Don't get me wrong, I dont think I'm gonna give up on this author or anything just yet. I just really had higher hopes for this book that has such a stunning piece of cover art.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This story follows Kathleen Rosenberg, formerly known as pop star Katee Rose, as she embarks on a journey to star in the musical her best friend wrote with her in mind. The problem? The person who will help her get to the stage is none other than Cal Kirby, who helped destroy her career back when she was Katee Rose.

I really liked the premise of the story, as I am a big fan of Broadway and anything involving the entertainment industry. The way Sussman used multiple timelines to move the story along was creative, and I found myself recognizing callbacks to previous points in Cal and Kathleen's lives as the callbacks caught up to them in the present. My one problem is that I just found Kathleen to be so unlikable at certain points in the story. She was incredibly impulsive, and sometimes had a hard time putting others first. There were a couple of scenes where she would talk to Cal and I would be cringing because she was acting so immature or unprofessional. I also think Cal would've been a better character if he had acknowledged the role he had played in the destruction of her career more emphatically, and if he had actually taken the time to realize that he got off easy while Kathleen was massacred in the court of public opinion.

Overall, I think this is a fun read, but I do wish the characters were a bit more likable.

While I read this on a Sunday in its entirety, I just was not so consumed as that would lead you to believe. I think Sussman's work is just not for me, but after her debut fell flat (&slightly weird) to me, I thought I would still pick this one up because I not only saw the potential but also felt like I was out of the loop on not being obsessed with it. I guess I need to be ok with being out on this.

Cute books with good chemistry and tension between the two main characters/love interest. However, I found the story dragged on and felt a little predictable

The flashbacks slowed the pace of the plot moving forward, But overall I enjoyed reading. My favorite part was when they are enemies and are forced to work together.

I was so, so excited for this novel, as I absolutely adored Funny You Should Ask. Once More with Feeling is set up to be a similar novel - celebrity romance, told in then/now narrative - however, OMWF surprisingly let me down.

First, I felt the characters were a bit underdeveloped. I never really got a sense of them - other than our grown-up pop star is just so over her fame, and that our leading man is looking forward to his next project. Then, I felt the romance was underdeveloped - while you can definitely develop a fantastic second chance romance with its origins starting in teenage years. But, when the characters meet and start having feelings as teenagers, the grown-up romance really needs to be developed and rooted in where the characters currently are in their lives, their personalities - and not JUST rely on the past romance.

While this book fell a bit flat for me - I will still eagerly look forward to her next novel.

i was so incredibly excited for this as i absolutely loved the first book but this one fell a little flat for me, im not a fan of the cheating trope unless done well but to me the cheating wasn’t necessary in this book.

I thought the concept was cute. I like the popstar/ boyband relationships. I did find the main character to be a bit unlikeable. There isn't anything that connected me to her, which is just a personal thing I like to feel in characters.

The writing was good and easy to read, it made this book easy to fly through. I would recommend it if you like friends to lovers/ enemies to lovers trope. I thought overall it was a cute, but just fell a bit flat for me personally.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of this work in exchange for an honest review

A former pop star finds herself back in the spotlight--along with an old flame from her past--in this "friends to lovers" meets "enemies to lovers" romance from the bestselling author of Funny You Should Ask, the sensational Tik Tok romance!

Usually romance books pick one trope for the main characters and stick with it - lending to the predictability of romance novels. HOWEVER - Elissa Sussman has combined two major tropes to tell the story of Kathleen and Cal. It was magic. I was able to overlook all the flaws of this book because it just sucked me in. I did prefer Funny You Should Ask (another novel by Elissa Sussman) to this book.

All in all, it is a book I would recommend to any fans of Emily Henry, Christina Lauren and the like.

This was a fun read with a cute romance story. It was fun to be back in Elissa's world and I look forward to returning in the future.

I was so excited to read this after loving the author’s previous novel.

ONCE MORE WITH FEELING is a second chance romance story that follows 2000s pop star, Kathleen “Katee Rose” and boy band to current day Broadway scene.

WHAT TO EXPECT
-pop stars
-now/then timeline
-enemies to lovers
-second chance romance

*many thanks to PRH, prh audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy