Max has a Hollywood job that she likes and works at too much. She has a local bar, Johnny's, that she hangs out at perhaps too much. But she doesn't have the job she wants, she doesn't have friends, and she doesn't have a lover. Enter her roommate with a life makeover app. Will some "free" advice in exchange for video content give her the life she desires?

I got hooked on this book. It took me until Chapter 8, but then I devoured it. I will be getting myself a copy of the first book, because I want to enjoy these characters more. I definitely wanted to shake Max at the beginning of the book, but we've all been stuck in our rut at points. Sadie the bartender is a shy, humble, great person that you will be cheering for. And speaking of cheering, yay kickball!

Get yourself this book and enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the free advanced review pdf copy. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for review. Have been loving Amy Spalding's transition to writing adult romance. Max is her 20s and feeling lost and left behind, romantically, career wise, and in building a friendship group. She embarks on a journey of self actualization, and I think this story will be so relatable to anyone who has ever felt that they are somehow not quite winning at life. (So pretty much everyone I'm sure). The romance was sweet and I loved the development of their relationship. The highlight is definitely seeing Max build her queer community and develop the self confidence to put her self out there.

i have been waiting for this one! the second book in the out in hollywood series didn't disappoint (though less fatness than in book one--so like, disappointed minorly as someone who wants more fats more of the time, but not in a way that you can't expect from the cover and description). this was single POV and really kind even when characters were making mistakes--everyone is redeemable and i know that's not what EVERYONE wants, but it was exactly 1000% what i needed while i was reading this.

also this had my FAVORITE QUEER ROMANCE ENDING trope (can i call it a trope if i have only seen it twice?) and i was bawling on my bed while i read it.

This was gifted to me by Netgalley & the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I did not read the first book in the series, and that is completely my fault for not seeing that it took place in the same world. HOWEVER, I did not need it to love this Sapphic wonder of a book!

Max has a whole ass Wishlist for life, and right at the tippy top is having a girlfriend.......next to a good career too. She's doing alright in the career department, but she is not doing so hot in the girlfriend department. But, she does have her sights set on the gorgeous, Sophie. The local bartender, if only Max could work up the courage to do something about this damn crush.

This is a delightful and fun rom-com filled with all types of queer rep. If that is your jam then I would check this book out!

A cute little queer book about a masc babe who moves to LA to strike out big but is blind to what they have going for them. Some self actualisation, confusion, and kickball all help to create the community and love that Max is looking for. Not something I’d read again, but it was cute and I enjoyed it.

this has potential for people to love it, but it lacked something for me, which is very much a me problem. i personally didn't feel super connected to the characters nor did i feel super invested in their romance/story. i personally prefer more tropes in my books which this didn't have but i know some people prefer it that way. overall, i didn't feel very connected to the story but that's on my personal preferences.

At Her Service is a sapphic, friends to lovers, dream of a sequel. I really loved entering this series again and the follow-ups we got to see of Nina and Ari from the last book! There’s a hot bartender, a fun queer influencer roommate, some awkward online dating content, and a very gay kickball team.

I really enjoyed the story and how realistic our characters were. If you aren’t a fan of miscommunication though, you might cringe and pull your hair out at times. 😅 Our MCs are lovably messy but need to figure out how to speak their minds!

AT HER SERVICE is such a wonderful testament to the strength of community, especially among twenty-something queer folks. While Max's self-actualization journey is largely lonely, the community she builds around her throughout the process is so important to both her goals and her ultimate success. Against the backdrop of the queer LA scene, we see Max navigating work troubles, feeling like the awkward nerd who doesn't have any friends, and trying desperately to be normal around the bartender she has a massive crush on.

Max is deeply flawed, as are her friends and the people surrounding her (as are we all), so her journey is simultaneously hopeful and realistic. Her love story with the hot bartender is sweet and tender at times, hot and steamy at others, and difficult and tumultuous when a hurdle is thrown in their path.

I also loved that the AIDS crisis was incorporated into the story, even in a background way, because so much queer history is being lost to time and including it into a modern narrative that focuses on growth and love.

I'm excited to read this again when it's released!

Max Van Doreen moves from Kentucky to California. She is roommates Chelsey who is an influencer and wants to help Max by sponsoring her on a self actualization app. Max sets goals and sets out on a course to improve her life.

Max is such a relatable character as she wants to move ahead at work, make friends and have a long lasting loving relationship. She is self doubting and throws herself into work thinking it will help get her ahead. Then she meets Sadie a hot bartender and she is all she can think about.

Sadie has dreams of her own. Sadie and Max learn to lean on each other and trust each other. It is great to see the relationship develop and grow. I liked how they described Johnny’s as community and worked to save it.

This book was funny and just so entertaining

I loved the concept of this book, and I thought that parts of it were really cute! I generally really like a lot of books in this specific category. For me though, a lot of it just didn’t hit the spot. I didn’t feel super connected to the characters, and the setup in the beginning made me really dislike the fmc that was hard to undo even with all of the good stuff that happens later in the book. There wasn’t a ton of development that I saw either because, in the beginning, we see Max have a huge crush on Sadie but there was no “friends to lovers” or “enemies to lovers” trope it was just “bartender and customer to lovers.” I think we were supposed to like Chelsey the roommate at the end, but I just couldn’t get over how annoying she was during the whole social media campaign. I’m glad that a lot of people seemed to enjoy this book, but it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC

Amy Spalding is so consistently good. Her characters always feel like real people with delightful senses of humor who feel deep love. At Her Service won me over.

3.5/5 stars

What a fun Hollywood romp! This book follows Max, an assistant for a talent agency who feels a bit too awkward and uncool to really thrive in LA. I feel that almost everyone in their twenties will relate to Max with her feelings of not being adult enough, not being taken seriously and not feeling confident with who you are. Most nights she escapes hanging out with her very confident influencer roommate and her friends by hanging out at the local bar, pining over the gorgeous bartender Sadie. This book almost felt like a late coming-of-age story but for mid-late 20s queer folk, which is something I definitely want to see more of.

I admit that usually I am definitely someone that prioritises romance plot lines over everything, but this book pleasantly surprised me. Although much of the story is focused on Max navigating her career, friends and overall life in LA, I actually loved these moments. While I did want a bit more of Sadie and Max together, especially towards the end, I really connected to Max and enjoyed her development (which there was a lot of!). Sadie was similarly loveable and on her own journey of confidence and acceptance (what, the mysterious hot bartender also gets their own character development?!?).

I think overall the best thing about this book is the cast of characters. There were just heaps of loveable, flawed and relatable queer characters that felt so three-dimensional. There were no clear villains and heroes, instead all of the characters messed up in little ways but we still love them because of it. Because a major underlying theme of the book was about queer connections and belonging, this cast of characters really felt like the beating heart of the story.

If you go into the book for just the romance, you might be a bit disappointed. But if you want a sweet romance with a larger story of self-acceptance and belonging, then you are definitely in luck! Also bonus, although I’ve never been to LA, this book really made me feel like I was right there, such great setting-building and I’m sure there are lots of hidden Easter eggs and in-jokes for people actually living in LA.

Unfortunately I didn't read the first part, but I got along very well with it.
This is its own book and not part of a series that follows one another. So all the characters were new and sometimes a bit much...still all likeable and crazy supporting characters.
Max herself is just at a point where everything she wanted to achieve seems out of reach and then there's her total crush on Sadie, the bartender. She is so sweet and nice and everything that makes the dream woman for Max.
So, she's way out of her league for her, or so Max thinks... out of a desperate situation she says yes to her influencer roommate and an app that changes everything.
I have to say that the feelings and the developing romance between the two MC‘s was sometimes a little too short for me and I would have liked to have had more love and pure attraction, but maybe that’s just me.
I enjoyed reading it though!
Thanks to the Author Amy Spalding and Kensington Books for the ARC!

In the sequel to 'For her Consideration' Max, the only queer assistant at Exemplar Agency, is a dating disaster.
Worse, she drunkenly confessed to the cute bartender, Sadie, AND is suffering a wicked hangover.

THEN Max spilled cheese sauce on poor Sadie's butt.

Despite all this, Max carries on trying to get promoted and get a date.

(We also catch up with Nina from the first book, but this novel works as a stand alone)

And Max roommate influencer wants to make her go viral.

(And that's only the first 1/3 of the book!)

Really good, fun read. I was hoping we'd get Max' story after the first book. and I'm glad we did.

3.5⭐ Max Van Doren has a wish list, and a great career and a girlfriend are at the top. But despite being pretty good at her job as an assistant to one of Hollywood’s fastest rising talent agents, she has no idea how to move up the ladder. And when it comes to her love life, she’s stuck in perpetual lust for an adorably perfect bartender named Sadie. Her goals are clear—and Max has everything but the self-confidence to go for them. Even her mother seems to assume she’ll be crawling home to her childhood bedroom at some point.

When Max’s roommate, Chelsey—an irritatingly gorgeous and self-assured influencer in plus-size and queer spaces—offers to sponsor her for a new self-actualization app, Max gives in. If she can’t run her own life, maybe an algorithm guiding her choices will help? Suddenly Max is scoring big everywhere, and her dreams are achingly close to coming true. But when one of Chelsey’s posts reveals Sadie’s part in the app’s campaign, Max is poised for heartbreak on all fronts. Tired of the sponcon life with its fake friends and endless selfies, Max realizes that to have true influence, she’ll have to find the courage to make her own, totally authentic way in the world .

This was a fun read, but felt more for younger readers. I imagine I'm older than the target audience for this one! It was fun watching Max and Sadie find themselves and each other. I really enjoy Spalding's writing and character building.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

Fantastic! Hope for the cynical with sharp, sexy wit. My fav trope, found family, and main characters the reader will definitely fall for! I think what Amy Spaulding does best is crafting real, relatable characters - no matter who you are!

"Giving up a crush had sounded bad enough; giving up my hangout was somehow even worse."

And Max's list in chapter 23 has some great advice, no matter where you are in life, especially:

"#5. Improve your form, literally and metaphorically speaking."

This book was really cute!!! I loved the sapphic representation! I also think the story concept was really cool! The romance was good. I do feel as though it dragged in some parts. Other than that I enjoyed this book and would recommend to others!

I just love Amy Spalding - her YA books are amazing and her two adult romances are so so good. The characters feel so real, the friendships are what we all hope to have, and the romance makes me happy. After meeting Max in For Her Consideration it was fun to spend time with her here - I wasn't sure how she would hold a whole book but it was great, and really captured those starting-out/becoming an adult moments so well.

Ah, I can't believe it took me so long to realise that this was the second novel in a series that I started when I read For Her Consideration earlier in the year. It was only when I finally recognised not just the name Nina but the small bit of backstory that was given between her and Ari Fox that I thought to myself... that sounds familiar.

In all other ways, this is a completely stand alone novel. I will say that I didn't love this main character, Max, as much as I liked Nina. She's much more of a mouse, which is a difficult decision to make for the main character of your story. She doesn't move the plot around a whole lot. She's scared a lot of the time. And reading a first person narrative from that point of view makes for a nervous session of reading. Especially when we realise only later that she's such an unreliable narrator that we can't believe the way she thinks any of the other see her.

The saving grace here is that Max does want to change her life. To turn it around. She's just not quite sure how to go about it.

At work, Max feels like she's being taken for granted by a boss who (rightly) doesn't see that she's very forceful in getting what she wants, and so how is she supposed to be forceful to get what clients might want? At home, she feels as though she's a burden or an inconvenience to her much more outgoing, influencers roommate. She hardly feels like she can be in the rest of her own house outside her bedroom. In love, she is pining for a bartender who works not more than 5 minutes away from her house and who she's never dared share her feelings.

Look, I still love Amy Spalding's writing. The story was well written and came together with a satisfying ending. I just feel as though, for me, it was the main character who let me down with this specific novel.

I was given the upcoming novel At Her Service by NetGalley.This was the first book I’ve read by Amy Spalding but I definitely need to add her to my must read list. I absolutely loved both of the main characters. I loved both of them together and I want more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read this book and provide an honest review.