At Her Service by Amy Spalding had well-developed characters and a plot that was engaging. This book was a great read. I highly recommend!

**Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the e-ARC. All opinions expressed are voluntary and my own.**

I didn't know this wasn't a standalone and I do wish I read the first book, well, first, but this was still very good and can easily be read as a standalone! I love a good sapphic romance, and this one WAS good, but it didn't feel as romantic as I wanted. To me this felt like a mix between an Emily Henry book and a contemporary fiction book, which I like, but wasn't expecting. Overall, I still enjoyed Max and her journey and the overall arcing plot of the book, but the romance did admittedly feel on the back burner.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4.25 ⭐️ (rounded to 4⭐️)

"I was just a girl, standing in front of a girl, shaking an email printout at her."

Oh how I missed reading about Hollywood girl-failures! Max and Sadie, you have my heart! Insecure queer women? They're so painful... give me more! I definitely read this at the right time. I saw so much of myself in Max; her smallness, and how we tend to shape our fears and insecurities around that, as well as just generally being a gay disaster, both personally and professionally! I loved the antics with the app, I loved the old bar, I loved Billy and I loved Chelsey even if she kinda sucked! I believe this was a far superior book to 'For Her Consideration', but as vaguely referenced above, I may be biased.

Read this if you enjoy lesbian, Hollywood girl-failures figuring stuff out and falling in love!

The second book in Amy Spaulding’s Out in Hollywood series, this one focuses on an assistant who feels like she’s stuck in her job, her love life, and her place in LA.

And that was, I think, the thing I enjoyed most about At Her Service, that it takes place in LA. I found myself really struggling with both the characters and the story.

In this, Max Van Doren agrees to be a part of this new app for which her influencer-roommate is going to sponsor her. The catch is that she needs to make actual life changes in order to reach self-actualization. And part of this is to finally reach out to Sadie, the hot bartender who Max has always harbored deep crush for.

This book didn’t feel or read like a romance book to me. We barely learn anything about Sadie other than the fact that they’re hot… and a bartender. Honestly, so much of this book felt like conflict on conflict on conflict that when everything in the third act happened, none of it was surprising. What was surprising was how quickly it all just… fixed itself.

When I finished this book, I gave it three stars, so I must have felt more favorably towards it when I read it initially, but it has since diminished in my memory. I’ll keep the three star rating in fairness. Also because I really love Los Angeles.

I really enjoyed For Her Consideration so I was very excited to read the next in the series. It didn’t disappoint I really loved it. For a lot of the same reasons I enjoyed the first one, the focus on the queer friend group, being true to yourself, etc. Can’t wait to read more by Amy Spalding!

I got this arc a few months ago and took a long time getting into it. Only because the beginning wasn't a good hook for me. Nevertheless, I did get back to it, but the story still didn't flow well with me. It was a bit slow, maybe a little on the edge, but I would still recommend it since it might just have been because of my preferences. You might like it, since it's still a great story, just too slow for me.

Ich weiß ehrlich gesagt nicht, wie ich dieses Buch bewerten soll, da ich es aufgrund relativ kurzer Ausleihdauer (ohne Verlängerung) nicht lesen konnte.

This was just okay. It wasn't really for me. I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I did think that the writing was good though.

Amy Spalding always hits it out of the park. Loved the humor, heart, and friendships, and feel like this is an easy recommend for fans of LA/Hollywood straight romance as well.

After finding out her coworkers don't take her seriously, a disastrous date, and a crush on bartender Sadie that's going nowhere, Max is ready for some big changes. When her influencer roommate offers Max the chance to try out a self improvement app, that seems like a perfect opportunity.

I loved the journey Max went on figuring out how to get what she wanted out of her life, and I loved that part of the romance with Sadie was about exploring Los Angeles together.

i received an arc of this book from netgalley - thank you so much!
i LOVED "for her consideration" so i was so excited to read this one. the author‘s writing style is super nice to read and very relatable, and i love diving into the world of talent agencies and celebrities. also, this is an adult sapphic romance with some really nice spicy scenes! 🔥
however, compared to the first book, i couldn’t really connect with the characters as well in this one. i liked the characters, but i didn‘t really care about them as much as i wanted to. i still enjoyed the story though and i think it made some very good points about being in your twenties and trying to figure out your life, which i could really relate to!

At Her Service was a delightful read. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book considering it leans more toward contemporary (and very current) than I typically reach for.

The characters were all likeable and I really liked Sadie.

One thing I wish had been done different was the pop culture references and inclusions. It made sense for the plot and its setting, however it really ages a story and gave me a little bit of hard time bringing me back to the story.

Overall it was a great read. Thank you Amy Spalding, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I was excited to read this title; however, I was disappointed when I got into it as I found it to move slowly and be boring, too.

“At Her Service” by Amy Spalding is book two in her Out in Hollywood series. I really enjoyed the previous book, “For Her Consideration” so I was looking forward to Max’s storyline.

This one left me with some mixed feelings overall. While I did enjoy, for the most, Max’s story, this didn’t really feel like a romance. I liked Sadie but we don’t see her that much. A lot of what we know about her are Max’s assumptions and she’s not all that accurate about things.

The story centers more around Max and her job and the self-actualization app her roommate has her on. I was interested in those things, but Max tended to whine a lot and had a lot of self-doubts. It was okay at first, especially because of how realistic it is. However, it kept happening over and over again and it got tiresome after a while. It made some of the book feel repetitive.

I did like the growth we see with Max. Maybe it’s more of a belief in herself. Max’s life is in a bit of a stasis. She’s not moving up in her career, she has a crush on her local bartender and doesn’t have many friends. She has goals for all of these but she doesn’t know how to go about attaining them. A lot of her issues stem from low self-confidence and I liked how she started realizing that a lot of her assumptions just weren’t true. She started having more confidence in herself to go after what she wanted.

As in “For Her Consideration,” the setting is again almost like a character here. I liked seeing aspects of Los Angeles that we don’t see get mentioned much. I’ve never been to LA but I feel like I have a slightly better idea about it after reading this series.

Nin and Ari also make a couple of appearances and I enjoyed seeing how they’ve progressed.

While I didn’t love this book, I still liked it and will be looking forward to whatever Spalding releases next.

I received an ARC from Kensington Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

After reading and enjoying For Her Consideration by this author I found this book to be a bit of a let down. The humor, secondary characters and inclusivity were there, but I felt that the chemistry between Max and Sadie was a bit under developed. Part of the problem was that this book is told from Max’s perspective only. It would have been easier to understand and empathize with Sadie if I knew more of what she was thinking and where she was coming from.

Honestly this book read more like a self-help or woman’s fiction novel than a romance. Which is fine if that’s what you’re in the mood for, just be aware of that going in. 3 stars.

At Her Service by Amy Spalding
Out in Hollywood #2

Hollywood dreams fill the minds of many people including the main character of this book. BUT Hollywood doesn’t just dole out dream fulfillment to all who show up – it takes more than that – and the main characters of this book find out just what it will take for them to achieve their dreams.

What I liked:
* Maxine “Max” Van Doren: intelligent, assistant to a talent agent, dreams of being successful, wants to have a loving committed relationship, underestimates herself often, attracted to Sadie, becomes involved in beta testing a self-actualization, a private type who becomes very exposed – grows a lot in more than one way during the story
* Sadie: bartender, bright, friendly, competent, attracted to Max, dreams of owning the bar she has been working in for years
* The way the app pushed Max toward actualizing her dreams and achieving her goals
* The supporting characters: Max’s roommate, the owner of the bar, Max’s boss and co-workers, and the people that came into her life through the app and how they helped Max
* The idea of the story, the location that I grew up in, and that there was a happy ending
* The fairytale feel of the story
* That I believe there is an audience who will love this book

What I didn’t like:
* That I never really warmed up to the characters – had trouble relating to them and the lives they were living. Perhaps because this is geared to Young Adult readers rather than septuagenarians?

Did I like this book? Sort of
Would I read more by this author? Maybe

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

At Her Service
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Amy Spaulding

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley. One More Chapter and Kensington and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: 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 . . .

My Thoughts: This is the second book in Out in Hollywood series, however, it could be read as a standalone. This was a cute queer romcom that I enjoyed very much. Max wants more than anything to have a great career and a girlfriend. She is currently the assistant to one of the top talent agents, is really good at her job, but makes next to nothing. Max’s own mother believes that she will come home eventually. Max’s roommate, whom she finds slightly annoying, offers to sponsor her in a new self-actualization app, Max eventually gives in. Through this app is expensive shirts, a professional gym trainer, smoothies, a dating coach, and even a life coach. When one of Chelsey’s post shows Sadie leaving the apartment, not only does it go viral, but causes Max all sort of problems. Can Max find the courage? This follows the tropes of queer romance, friends to lovers, and FMC secret.

The story is narrated in Max, through her POV. Max lacks confidence in all areas of her life, and hopes to find it through the self-actualization app. Max wants a fulfilling career, a sense of community, and a solid girlfriend. She stops by the local dive bar just to see her favorite bartender every night, whom she secretly pines after. Sadie knows what she wants, at least career wise, but has struggled with relationships. The angst, tension, push and pull of Sadie and Max is beautiful, yet frustrating at times. More than once I would yell at them to get it together. The characters were well fleshed out with depth, witty banter, chemistry, intriguing, and growth. I really loved how much both of our MCs grew during the story. The supporting characters also elevated the story to another level. The author’s writing style was complex, compelling, funny, swoony, heartwarming, and beautiful. The characters are relatable, even as someone almost 50, have aspects I can relate to.

Overall, such a cute romance that I absolutely adored. The only con is I would like to have seen more focus on their relationship, however, I think the focus on improving themselves took priority over that, and that is more than okay with me. I highly recommend this to other readers.

I loved the first book in the series, but this book sort of fell flat for me. I think that it will be one that I revisit to see if my feelings toward it change. I love the friend group and as always that's what stood out to me the most.

I LOVED this book. Amy Spalding is one of my favourite LGBTQ+ romance authors currently and At Her Service lived up to those expectations. After reading For Her Consideration and loving it, I was eager to get into the second story. The Hollywood backdrop portrays the perfect scene for a confused 20 something and all of those feelings that come along with moving somewhere and starting anew. The side characters are as lovable as the main characters, and I think everyone can find something to relate to in Max. I love the representation this books provided for mascs as I think there is a market for this.

The romance felt like a B plot to the development of Max's self actualization but was still enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! After absolutely loving For Her Consideration I was ecstatic to read At Her Service. Unfortunately, I didn’t love the characters in this one and found one of them to be a bit off-putting. I can’t say this was as satisfying as For Her Consideration.