DNF // some spoilers!!


Untimely, I had to DNF this book. Which is disappointing because I was looking forward to this. I love the prompt of this being focused around TS and how every chapter has a song associated to it that isn't just a Taylor song. However, the writing the very choppy and hard to even push through the little bit that I did. The pacing was weird because the FMC discusses how she's not friends with the MMC but instantly goes to act like they're in a relationship a sentence later. The FMC is also a song writer in this which I was totally cool with until the author tried to write song lyrics. The whole of what I read gave off very wattpad 2014 writing. That is to say, the author has potential but needs significant improvement. And it makes sense because apparently she was 15 when she wrote it... LAST YEAR.


Also, but after looking through the reviews to see if it's maybe just me I discovered that there's a SA scene but the author gave no trigger warning at the beginning of the book. Personally, I can handle a scene like such but I can imagine a lot of people would be triggered with such a sensitive subject.

This is such a cute and promising book! I liked the premise a lot - small town girl hits it big in LA and becomes a famous tv star and singer, but then things come crashing down on her. So she returns home to where her parents live, and where her high school boyfriend (who she's still in love with) is to try to regroup. Unfortunately, some bits of this book fell a little flat for me. I feel like we didn't get to see Aspen and Roman interact all that much, especially when they were younger - I loved the use of a dual timeline, but I feel like it didn't live up to its full potential. We were told that Apsen and Roman liked each other, but I didn't really feel like we got to see it that much, or feel it ourselves. A lot of this book felt very tell-y instead of show-y (if that makes sense, I feel like you're always told to show not tell). That being said, I liked the premise a lot, and I liked Aspen as a main character, and I really felt for her struggles throughout the course of the book. I didn't care as much about the children's church play, so it took me out of the story to read those bits, I just kept wanting to get back to Aspen's disastrous life and how she would make it all better. This book was definitely not my favorite, but still pretty enjoyable and easy to read. I found out after reading it that the author is only sixteen or seventeen, which is so cool! She should be super proud of herself for this debut novel.

The title and the cover. The short chapters. First person narrative. Dual timeline. These are all what I love the most in this debut novel.

I expected a cute romance story. But ended up reading a complicated story. So much going on, heartbreak, celebrity life, parent loss, sexual assault, broken friendship. It's got all of it mixed into one! And no trigger warning given.

There could have been some more of Aspen and Roman to make it feel connected with me. It was all surreal. Like meeting of Aspen and Roman, she pursuing her career, the hometown not knowing about her fame ( damn, people in hometown would be the first and best fan if she is such a big hit with awards and what not ).

But for a debut novel it speaks a lot. Am rooting for the author, wishing to see more of her works.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher forproviding me with this eArc.

Gracias NetGalley por este e-arc. La verdad es que tenía ganas de leer este libro ya que está basado en una canción de Taylor Swift pero menuda decepción. Los diálogos no eran realistas y parecían hasta un poco infantiles. Además habían muchísimos capítulos de relleno y que no aportaban nada a la historia.

Aunque la historia no haya sido como yo me esperaba también ha tenido varias cosas buenas: empezando por los capítulos cortos que los adoro, y también que se combinan capítulos en el presente y capítulos en el pasado.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC copy! I loved the premise, it's a sweet and cute book. I've read other reviews and saw that there is also sexual abuse which was unfortunately not mentioned as a trigger warning (I DNF'd at 25% and didn't reach that part, but just fyi.) The writing was easy-to-follow but also quite juvenile, There's a part where it says "My heart melts. Literally." and it threw me off. I did find out that the writer is only 16 which is very impressive. While this book was a miss for me, it's not bad for a debut novel, especially by someone so young.

this book was amazing i ended up giving it a 4.75 stars. the book follows our female main character aspen who is a singer/actor i. LA who ends up coming back to her hometown because of a huge scandal where she was accused of sleeping with her best friends boyfriend so she goes back home for the holidays to escape everything. her childhood lover who she happens to still have feelings for is there. this book follows a dual timeline from when aspen was in highschool to present moment. the present moments are her reconnecting with rome her childhood lover. overall i would highly recommend this book

Taylor swift? Love. Cheesy Christmas romcoms? Love. Did not realize the author was a teenager until the acknowledgments section so the juvenile dialogue, underdeveloped characters, lack of chemistry, whiplash from the plot (sexual assault out of nowhere, random pregnancy announcement at the end, etc), and lack of editing overall makes a lot more sense after finding that out. Some great songs chosen for chapter titles though (even though they don’t really match what the chapter is about at all). I think this author has a lot of future potential after a bit more experience!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The title made me want to read this book, a favorite song and to put a book with it, brilliant!

This story is told in a dual timeline and is a great new contemporary romance. It is a second chance romance in a small town. Aspen and Roman who were once together and forced back together and work towards rekindling their romance. There are some great parts to this story and parts where it struggles a bit. However, for a debut author it was quite enjoyable.

The Taylor Swift nuggets are fun. I am excited to see how this author evolves.

Thank you to Netgalley and Parson Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!
This book was extremely cute! It was a perfect holiday season(s) read and it wasn't too long, which allowed me to read it in about 2 hours. It had a lot going on, which is why it lost a ★, and some of the things it had weren't mentioned as trigger warnings such as SA and dealing with grief. I enjoyed the double timelines, past and present, which is something that I don't typically enjoy but it was executed very well. If you enjoy second-chance romances, forced proximity, and celebrity with hometown love, this is the perfect read for you! I also really loved that every chapter had a song that matched what was written in the chapter. Overall, I would say this is definitely worth the read and I will be purchasing it as soon as it comes out!

** Thank you NetGalley and Parson press for the ARC and chance to read and review **
Publishing 10-23-2023

Duel timeline
Inspired by Taylor Swift
First love

“You’ll always be my best friend”

“I’ll do what I have to in order to protect my girl”

TW: loss of a parent, rape

Summary:
Aspen is both an actress and singer trying to make it in Hollywood when a scandal threatens the career she has worked so hard for. When she returns to her Pennsylvania hometown, she reconnects with her first love Roman, who reminds her of the love they once shared.

Review: I was so happy to have received this ARC since it was inspired by Taylor Swift, but I felt the story did not have much depth and was left wanting more. I was also disappointed that there was a chapter regarding a sexual assault without any trigger warnings. The story is written like it’s YA, but there were mentions of drunk driving, sexual assault and use of extreme curse words which felt almost out of place in what I thought was a clean, cute read. I will say, she does a great job in capturing the feelings of high school and how it feels to be left out and how it feels to be seventeen and madly in love.

I really loved the idea and premise of this book, but felt that the characters and storyline need a bit more development. While the flip from past to present tried to set up the backstory, I didn't think it added the value that was intended and could have been woven into the present version of the story. I also felt like there was some backstory between Aspen and Roman missing - especially between when she lands in Hollywood and the present.

Overall, I'm so impressed with the author's intention and think with a little more work on dialogue and smoothing out the story this will be a hit.

Agree with others about the lack of trigger warnings - the whole Keith thing isn't necessary, I think there is another angle you could take there.

Since I went in with high expectations, I was a tad disappointed when this book did not live up to my hype. This is probably because of its title, which the author herself states is in reference to a Taylor Swift song (which I absolutely love, like Evermore is THE album), so that’s on me I guess?

I would say one thing though, please look up trigger warnings from review (since it was not given in the book) before giving this book a chance because it does contain sensitive subject matters (SA). I was taken aback by that.

This is one of the most juvenile books in both content and writing style. It’s a really fast read, but there’s nothing that is keeping me connected to the characters or invested in their story.

The song titles at the beginning of each chapter felt pretty arbitrary and not like something that added anything to the story.

This story needs a lot of editing before it becomes something I would want to recommend to anyone.

The only reason I cannot give this book five stars … not even 4 is due to the fact that there was no warning at the beginning of the book that there will be a mention of SA and rape towards the end of the book. A TW message should be included even tho it wasn’t explicitly messaged and it happened outside the book events

This was a cute holiday romance with tons of fun Taylor Swift references. It's quite impressive considering the author was only 15 when she wrote it but that being said, you can definitely tell this was written by a young person who hasn't experienced a lot in life yet. The emotional depth just wasn't there for me and conflict was resolved pretty quickly, easily. I'm sure we can expect great things from future projects though. This was better than anything I could do on a first attempt at such a young age!! Many thanks to NetGalley and the author for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

ARC review - 3.75 ⭐️

This was a perfect Hallmark Christmas movie vibe. The transition from past to present was done seamlessly and helped the book flow extremely well. Lovable characters and setting

Thank you to Kimi Freeman, Parson Press, and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.

As a Taylor Swift fan, I was excited to see how this book was. There were a few things I liked: the concept was very fun and I could see what the author was going for, I could see how the song inspired the book and the songs for each chapter were very fun. For a debut novel, especially from an author so young, it’s an impressive feat.

Unfortunately there wasn’t much I actually ended up enjoying about the book. There wasn’t much conflict in the book so the resolutions and big moments felt unearned. Overall the story seemed to be very slow, and often highlighted things that didn’t need to be. There were also a few moments that seemed toxic without seeming to be intentional.

Despite not enjoying the book that much I definitely am very impressed by the author’s commitment to actually writing it, especially after finding out she was only fifteen or sixteen when she wrote it. I would love to see what she does next when she has more experience.

If you’re interested the book is out on October 24 2023.

Have been seeing Kimi Freeman’s debut novel all over tiktok so I decided to see if I could get an arc!

I enjoyed this book, it’s a cozy read that I look forward to re-rereading in the winter. And the playlist that goes with this? The Taylor Swift references AND themed? Incredible.
Kimi has a great voice in her writing. It feels like I’m talking to a friend! I also loved the dial timeline perspective this book offered.

I really enjoyed the main characters and having them work on putting on a church play is just so cute! I loved this conflict in the book.

Definitely a cozy read that I’m picking up a physical copy of and add to my collection

I felt so cosy after reading this book, and I'm already reaching for more Christmassy novels after reading this one! I found Aspen a bit of a chore to read about, but after a while I warmed up to her and really enjoyed reading about her and Roman. I think it's an excellent debut and I'll definitely be in line to read whatever Kimi writes next!

What I liked:
-The title
-The link to a song for each chapter
-The multiple timelines
-The general plot line of the story

What I disliked:
-Every disagreement was resolved almost instantaneously, there was no real struggle, no real depth
-There was no evidence in what we knew about Rome to show that he would hit someone when put in the situation at the award show. He is an even tempered, calming presence in every other part of the novel, it was out of character.
-The big moments felt unearned. With no struggle and basically no conflict I didn’t feel like the big resolution/moments hit the right way
-The narrative didn’t evoke emotions, it felt like I was reading a list depicting every moment of a persons day.
-I felt little to no connection to the characters, making it hard to really become invested in the story. I stopped halfway through, struggling to find the motivation to finish. It took a week to pick it back up and read the second half.

After finishing the book and being underwhelmed, I read the acknowledgements and my underwhelmed feeling made a little more sense. Knowing now that the author was 15 at the time the book was written explained much of what was lacking for me: the chemistry and the desire between the characters, the true connection between the characters and the characters to the events within the book, the real development of a disagreement and subsequent resolution that followed. I think that there was a lot of potential but unfortunately this book was missing A LOT for me.