This was one of my most anticipated books for 2023–I LOVED Funny You Should Ask and am therefore going to immediately get my hands on any of Elissa Sussman’s future books as quickly as I possibly can. So, when I got the email from NetGalley saying I’d gotten an ARC of Once More With Feeling, I dropped the rest of my TBR pile to start it immediately.
I am a big fan of the friends, or enemies, to lovers trope, and this story handled both perfectly. Once great friends, Kathleen and Cal are now enemies after a very messy split years ago (that ruined Kathleen’s career as a pop star). Now, Kathleen has been asked to audition for a new Broadway show that Cal is directing, so they are thrown together after years of hating each other. Of course, knowing this is a romance means knowing that Cal and Kathleen will end up together, but I appreciated the journey of self-healing that Kathleen experienced to be able to find love with Cal (again).
Overall I thought this was a very good read, and is clearly a love letter to millennial theater kids (a very specific group, but it works). Funny You Should Ask is still my favorite Sussman book, but this is a close second!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House/Dell for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes for this book after seeing the gorgeous cover and after reading Funny You Should Ask. I was not disappointed as I was sucked into devouring this book in less than a day. Possibly a few hours.

Funny, sexy, and devastatingly heartbreaking at times, featuring a middle-aged (yes, please) theatre nerd’s sarcastic voice as a former teenage pop star whose career has crashed and burned due to a past cheating scandal dumped upon her by her ex-boyband-boyfriend. (Not sure if this hyphen usage is appropriate but right now I’m struggling to get all the words out without the use of shouty caps, so please excuse the lack of proper grammar).

I loved Kathleen’s relationship with her bestie Harriet, and Cal, the one who got away who she’d secretly loved.

If you love sexy, sarcastic heroines who are tough, strong and know how to stand up for themselves and take what they want, even if it’s standing alone in the middle of a theatre stage just to hear their own real voice sing their best friend’s beautiful songs…while making eyes at the director/first love all grown up and back in her life throwing her feels into a tailspin, this book is for you.

A second chance romance with dual timeline? That's my jam!

Once More with Feeling followed a similar formula to Funny You Should Ask, but the difference was that I actually felt invested in Kathleen and Cal. I loved the musical theatre backdrop and was so curious at what had happened between the two of them in the past that led to them hating each other in the present.

The book was a little angstier than I had expected and one piece I didn't enjoy was Kathleen's friendship with Harriet. While there was redemption and hope by the end, I felt that they were pretty toxic for each other for the majority of the story.

As for the relationship between Kathleen and Cal, there were moments that I absolutely <i>loved</i>, but overall I think there was something missing. I wish we had seen more development between them in either the past or in the present. As it was, I was left feeling like I didn't see quite enough to fully root for them. I think there were bits of drama in each timeline that could have been left out in favor of going deeper into Kathleen and Cal's connection.

After reading other reviews for this book, I feel like I’m in the minority.

Let me start by saying that, while I didn’t hate Sussman’s previous novel, Funny You Should Ask, I was let down by it. I felt like we didn’t get enough backstory, so their connection didn’t make sense. And they had very little chemistry in general, which didn’t make up for the lack of a backstory.

I think Once More With Feeling gave me what I was missing with Funny. The flashbacks provided enough detail to make the romance feel real. And the mains had so much more chemistry than the mains in Funny. All this to say, I really enjoyed Once More with Feeling! It was a great romance with a fresh take on the friends to lovers to enemies to lovers trope. My only gripe is I felt the ending was a bit rushed. But that certainly wasn’t a deal breaker!

The format of this book is my kryptonite, and it took me reading Once More with Feeling to fully realize that. The 'Love and Other Words' esqe flip between 'then' and 'now' all leading up to the one pivotal drama plot point we knew existed but didn't know the details on- eeeeeek, I just eat that up every time. The call backs to their lives in the past, both at camp and in their early careers, truly made me feel the mutual longing Cal and Kathleen had for each other, even when at each other's throats in the 'now'.

Elissa does an incredible job mapping out just how Cal and Kathleen's lives have led them to one another again. I do appreciate that both characters (as well as side characters) were not made out to be the perfect person. They were both flawed and working to do better. I do feel Kathleen's character development was a little lacking- she was a little emotionally immature and sometimes downright mean- which she was aware of and pointed out every time she said something cruel. After a while, the 'I knew it would hurt him' or 'I knew it was mean' got a little aggravating because she wasn't doing anything to be better about it. Though, I am sure that was an intended aspect of her character and just who she is. On the other hand, Cal was made out to be a good man who had done things wrong in the past but was trying to do better.

This book is very appropriately titled Once More with Feeling because I was feeling every emotion these characters experienced while reading.

4.25 stars only because I could have done with more groveling and emotional development on Kathleen's part. I loved everything else about this book!

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, NetGalley, and Elissa Sussman for graciously allowing me to read this early.

This book is a then and now second chance romance with celebrities!!! Need I say more?!

This book had me hooked by the first page and I could not put it down. I felt the same way with Funny You Should Ask, and I think if you loved that one you will absolutely love this one!! (Maybe more?)

This was every trope I love wrapped into a book.
The angst and the then and now timeline was done so well. and I loved seeing the behind the scenes of the making of a broadway show.

I do wish we got more of Kathleen and Cal together at the end, but that’s truly just me being nit picky. I really really loved this book and will definitely be needing a physical copy when it releases!!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

In this follow up to one of my favorite 2022 books, Funny You Should Ask, we get to know the world of musical theatre as we follow Katee (her mega pop star name) into new territory - one in which she’s been dreaming of forever.

At summer theatre camp as a teenager, we get to see Kathleen Rosenberg transform into Katee Rose and then skyrocket into mega fandom as a blond pop star - a persona she is never quite comfortable with. Nor is she comfortable with her relationship with Ryan, a boy bander - and maybe that’s why she ends up cheating on him with his bandmate Cal. But now, her entire career goes up in smoke after she has broken Ryan’s heart.

Flash forward to present day and Katee, now going by her given name Kathleen is ready to go after her big Broadway dreams, even landing a starring role in an upcoming musical. The only problem? The director is Cal, the man she never quite got over, but who also stood by and said nothing while her career went up in flames. Now they have to decide if they can put their history aside to focus on their joint venture.

It was fun to dive into a world that I knew nothing about - musical theatre and learn more about the process. And just as in Funny You Should Ask, Sussman has a great talent for taking us back and forth in time without feeling like we’re confused about the time period we’re in. The love story itself with spicy with a friends/enemies to lovers trope to follow.

The only problem I had with this book is that I truly didn’t like the character of Kathleen. I found her pretty annoying which made it hard to root for her and want her to find her happily ever after. I also felt like “what happened” back then was mentioned so, so many times before we got any sort of clarification on that. I understood from the start that something messy happened so being reminded of it over and over again felt unnecessary.

I didn’t like this book as much as I liked Funny, but I will continue reading Sussman’s novels as soon as they come out. Not to mention, she truly has the best covers!

This book will be featured on episode 79 of the Reading Through Life podcast.

RATING: 4/5 STARS

I absolutely love celebrity romances, and Elissa Sussman really knows how to write captivating ones. ONCE MORE WITH FEELING is super swoony and fast-paced. It didn't quite live up to the gold standard, which is Sussman's debut novel, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and finished reading in a single day. Sussman nails the past-to-present dual timeline and magnetic friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers connection between Kathleen and Cal. My only gripe with the storyline is that I felt Kathleen was too indecisive about leaving her obviously wrong-for-her prior boyfriend Ryan, which created a lot of angst (unnecessarily?) in the plot.

4.5/5

As kid who never did theater growing up but absolutely loved musicals, this was such an enjoyable read. I quite literally finished it in less than 24 hours, sacrificing some grad school grades with it (but worth it). As I devoured Funny You Should Ask last summer, I was eagerly waiting for the unofficial sequel. Elissa Sussman has a great formula for her books that works and characters that are interesting. Truly a love letter to theater kids everywhere and fans of Emily Henry and Taylor Jenkins Reid will enjoy this book.

it has been a while since the last time i read contemporary romance—happy ending type of romance. it’s not intentional but i often felt bored with either the premise or the writing, if not both. so when i decided to request an eARC of this book, i had been slightly anxious. elissa sussman succeeded to be one of my favorite authors with her funny you should ask, but it was last year and my reading preferences had changed so much.

and i’m delighted to know that her appeal persists. she had done it right again with this book.

the first few pages of a book would determine the decision to continue reading at all and this book was unputdownable! there was always this feeling of wanting to know more that steadily existed from the start to the end. and i should say it’s such a clever trick to make the reader (me) stay.

the book is pitched as second-chance romance with the combination of friends to lovers and enemies to lovers. but have you heard the term “third time’s a charm”? this is what cal and kathleen are. the third time works. the third time would finally make them the right persons for each other’s time.

the style of how it’s written is similar to funny you should ask, so if that works for you then this would do too.

i’ve always loved the way elissa focusing on resolving the unresolved business in the past by taking it bit by bit. both cal and kathleen are very much still interested in each other (and very horny for each other, especially kathleen) but they didn’t jump at each other the first time they had the chance to. both were taking their times to deal with the feeling that once again resurfaced. and i appreciate that. it convinced me why they deserved the second/third time.

i do kind of feeling like the ending was a bit too rushed. like it suddenly ended when what i needed at the moment was only catching a breath. and for that, i’m a bit sad. it’s not a disappointment but i’d wish it could be a little bit longer. it just felt like it shouldn’t have ended here, like there should be more after that.

there’s a certain part that still leaves me puzzled and probably the very reason why i’d choose gabe parker over cal kirby at any time. if you’ve read funny you should ask (if you haven’t, then this is your sign), you could feel how strong the guilt that gabe felt for ruining everything in the past and how hard he was trying to make it right. this is the thing that i didn’t get from cal. i knew kathleen fucked up, and so did cal but the reasons behind his actions were not explained well in the book—which made me difficult to understand him. we knew he was sorry because he said sorry not because he behaved in a way a person with guilt would behave. he tried to make things right because he believed this was what it should be, not because he felt guilty for being a part of the destruction.

but that doesn’t mean cal is a bad person. no, he is very nice and i love it when he takes control. i just think that he could have been explored and developed more. there were layers to his past that i wanted to know.

i finished this book in less than a day, and i’m already so eager to read it again once the book is out! i hope may 30 will come soon

Thoughts: I usually hate "cheating" tropes of any kind, but this book is the odd exception. The characters were very human and realistic, which I appreciated. I also really enjoyed that these characters were older than the usual romance hero and heroine. Kathleen was an interesting character - I liked reading from her POV. She is a very flawed person, but she doesn't deny those flaws and tries to grow from them. The book overall had a nice pace, and the flashback portions fit in well. This book was also a lovely ode to musical theatre, which is very close to my heart as well. I really related to Kathleen when she talked about her love for performing and connection to the stage.

My only complaint is that I felt like the story shied away from truly emotional moments, which is a shame - it kept me from feeling like I truly knew the characters.

Overall: this was a quick, enjoyable read. While I feel the author could've done more with Cthe emotional scenes, I liked Kathleen and her character development. If you are a musical theatre nerd and and enjoy second-chance romances, I definitely recommend this book. Also, thanks to Net Galley for giving me an Advanced Reader's Copy! This was really fun.

I was already an Elissa Sussman fan after reading Funny You Should Ask, and after reading Once More With Feeling, that’s only reinforced.

Friends to lovers to enemies to lovers? *chefs kiss* I just love to see it!

I was hooked on Kathleen, Harriet and Cal immediately. I loved seeing the depth of their friendships individually and as a group going from kids with big dreams to adults taking huge risks.

I love Kathleen’s redemption arc that encompasses not only her career, but love and friendship as well. There’s nothing quite like proving everyone wrong.

Thank you so much to Random House for this NetGalley ARC!

I love her writing it’s so cozy idk how to describe it. The first 40% were perfect then it fell short for me. I will still be reading every single one of her books from here on out.

Thanks Netgalley for sending me a free ebook for an exchange of an honest review.

After falling head over heels in love with "Funny You Should Ask", I didn't think Elissa Sussman could top herself, but she proved me wrong with "Once More with Feeling". I absolutely adored Kathleen and Cal's second chance love story and inhaled this book in less than 24 hours - I couldn't get enough of these two!

THIS BOOK HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL
GAHHHHH
Anyways, thanks Netgalley for giving me an arc for this book in exchange for an honest review.
Then. Katee Rose is living the dream as America's number one pop star, caught in a whirlwind of sold-out concerts, screaming fans, and constant tabloid coverage. Everyone wants to know everything about her and her boyfriend, Ryan LaNeve, the hottest member of adored boy band CrushZone. She finds herself in the arms of another CrushZone member, Cal Kirby. Quiet, serious Cal, who's always been a good friend to Katee, is suddenly Cal with the smoldering eyes and very good hands. One unforgettable night is all it takes to blow up Katee's relationship with Ryan, her career, her whole life...
Now. Kathleen Rosenberg is okay with her ordinary existence, and leaving her pop star image in the past. That is, until Cal Kirby shows up with the opportunity of her dreams--a starring role in the Broadway show he's directing and a chance to perform the way she's always wanted. The two haven't spoken since the joint destruction of their careers, and each of them blames the other, making their reunion a tense battle of wits and egos. But rehearsals are long, those eyes still smolder, and those hands are still very good. Despite everything, Katee can't deny the chemistry between them. Is it ever a good idea to reignite old flames? Especially if you've been burned in the past?
The book had so much potential, and it makes me so mad that it wasn't executed well. I hated that the book only had one pov because we never got Cal's character building and what he went through in his years apart from Kathleen. Kathleen was overly explained, I could tell her favorite color after the first 10 chapters if you asked me, but Cal always remind a mystery throughout the book. I just wish we had explored his character more instead of going on a rant about Kathleen. He wasn't the swoon- worthy guy he was supposed to be because I never, NEVER knew enough about him.
The book obviously reminded me of Funny You Should Ask, and was similar but different at the same time, if you know what I mean. Also, side- note, CRUSHZONE IS DEFINITELY ONE DIRECTION. You absolutely cannot tell me that they are not One Direction, but that's beyond the point. The book did deal with a lot of recovery and self- loathing as well as self- hate (which I did think was a little off, since the woman kept whining about how she cheated on her boyfriend once forever ago, but she was a slut, but anyways). The book also, does include drinking and drugs, so keep that in mind, ofc.
I don't really have any complaints other than Cal's underdeveloped character and for me, personally, that did overshadow the good parts a little. Like their romance and banter was cute but again, just like Funny You Should Ask, their relationship dynamic is not explored a lot until they end up kissing or whatever, which I also did not really love but thats okay.
Overall, definitely could have been done better, but this isn't the worst I've read.

I enjoyed Funny You Should Ask a bunch, so was really looking forward to Elissa Sussman's new novel. Unfortunately, it didn't hold up to my expectations. Once More with Feeling follows Kathleen, a former teen pop star, and Cal, former boy-band member, as they rehearse and prepare a musical written by Kathleen's best friend, Harriet. Kathleen used to date a different member of Cal's band, and she lost all her music deals, etc. when it came out that she cheated on him with Cal. Now, years later, they can't stand each other and haven't spoken since everything went poorly.

The book skips around three different time periods: 1) summer camp where Kathleen and Cal meet as teenagers; 2) When they were at the height of their pop-music fame, and 3) the "present" where they're still dealing with the fallout from the decisions they made as late teen/early 20s stars. The problem with all the jump backs and forwards is you never spend enough time in one time period to build substantive plot and emotion. We get snippets of different important pieces in their history, but it never feels like enough to build motivation based on their feelings. Instead, to move the plot along and feel believable, there must be dramatic moments so Kathleen and Cal can be seen having large realizations. I.e. Harriet "He loves you!" which came out of nowhere and felt really unwarranted...and Kathleen's reaction to it even more so. It would have helped if the camp scenes were cut entirely as they don't build much. We also see Cal and Kath fight so much in the present that when they finally get together it just feels like whiplash and unbelievable.

My other main issue was with the side characters. There's tension between Kathleen and Harriet over historical vs. current fame dynamics, and it just felt like a one-sided friendship. We don't see enough for their history to feel that they're actually friends, and we barely see them interact in the current. My other issue was with the Rachel James character, the one-true "villain" of the story. She's written like a caricature of a mean girl, and it just didn't add anything to the plot. She serves as a device to get Kathleen and Cal arguing and then bonding over their hatred of her, but it just seems mean and catty.

This was a 2.5 read for me. Thanks to NetGalley and RandomHouse for the opportunity to review this ARC. I

I’ve been on a celebrity romance kick lately and this one hit the spot! I found this to be a quick and fun read.

Our MC Kathleen is returning to the spotlight for a musical written by her BFF Harriet and directed by Cal, a boy from her past. Kathleen, aka former world touring pop star Katee Rose, has been relatively MIA for nearly a decade since being embroiled in a cheating scandal on tour with two members of the boy band that served as openers on her tour (one of those guys obviously being our hero Cal). In classic early 2000s misogynistic fashion, Kathleen is slut shamed and her career comes to a crashing halt whereas her ex-BF Ryan uses it as an opportunity to expand his career (think Justin/Britney breakup vibes and the Cry Me a River fallout).

Although the public thought of her as a generic bubble gum pop girlie, Kathleen can sing and dance and genuinely has Broadway star quality. She is forced to work closely with Cal and drama ensues.

Although I found myself rolling my eyes at some of Kathleen’s decisions throughout, I appreciated this lighthearted read. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Dell for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had read funny you should ask and absolutely loved it so once i heard about this book and read it's premise i knew i had to read this asap and it did not disappoint.As a musical theatre fan i loved all the references straight from the beginning. I read this in a day and couldn't put it down because i just had the absolute best time reading this and after reading it elissa Sussman has became my favorite author

I accidentally read this book in one sitting which honestly probably says everything you need to know about it. Loved this book way more than her debut, I felt the writing was stronger and the story was better plus we love a messy main character! A huge plus for anyone who loves Broadway and dramatic musical moments, but I actually enjoyed the flashbacks too.

Thank you to Dell publishing for allowing me to review this book!

ARC provided by NetGalley! (To whoever approved me, I hope every book you read this year is the best book you’ve ever read.)

3.5 stars (another reminder to Goodreads to give us a half-star option).

I will read anything Elissa Sussman writes.

Her debut, Funny You Should Ask, should be used as reference for all second-chance romances with adult characters. Funny is one of my top ten favorite contemporary romance novels of all time. Gabe is one of my favorite love interests.

Sussman’s sophomore release, Once More with Feeling, follows a former pop-star, Kathleen, a decade after her career-ending scandal and a former boyband member, Cal, who played a part in the scandal but came out unscathed. Years later and completely removed from their former lives, the two come together Once More with (mixed) Feeling(s) to achieve their Broadway dreams.

Admittedly, I did not fall in love with Once More with Feeling, but I did have fun reading. The story ultimately felt as though it was missing something — it needed more depth to the relationship between Kathleen and Cal, more discussion between characters, even the third act break-up felt very sudden and was over too quickly for how important it was supposed to be.

That being said, I’m certain it’s difficult to follow up such a banger of a debut release — especially one that went viral on social media. Once is a solid release following Funny, and this novel has proven to me that Elissa Sussman has perfected her formula.

If you enjoyed the set-up and timeline switch of Funny You Should Ask, Once More with Feeling will hit the spot. Now, when does the next book come out?