Member Reviews

when heather catches the eye of one of band members of the most popular band, she's hesitant to think anything of it. but once alex makes it clear he wants a relationship with her, they must try to overcome the distance and alex's growing fame.

this book was cute but nothing cutting edge. it was a nice book to listen to! the narrators did great and made the book so enjoyable!

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Absolutely LOVED this book! The narrator did a fantastic job at reading. I couldn't stop listening. The story line between Heather Gordan & Alex Kirwan reminded me of a Hallmark movie (by the way, can anyone make this happen?), I could see it in my mind while reading. Relationships are hard & involve work in any phase, but involving fame & tabloids, geesh - I couldn't imagine. Thankfully, I won't have to, especially with authors like Amy Clipston who can do it for me. I enjoyed this book & I know readers will too.

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What an incredible performance of an incredible book the narration was incredible, the story emotional and the entire thing was so incredible to experience

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Starstruck, by Amy Clipston, is the story of an unlikely relationship between an ordinary small town woman and a famous rock star. When the band Kirwan stops to grab dinner at the Pit Barbeque in Flowering Grove, NC, the two younger brothers, Kayden and Jordan, end the meal with a food fight, making a mess for Heather and Wendy Gordon, daughters of the owners, to clean up. When older brother Alex returns from the restroom to find the mess and a fuming Heather, even though the younger Kirwan’s had left a very large tip. Alex, embarrassed, offers VIP tickets for their concert in Charlotte the following evening. Wendy is thrilled, Heather indicates she needs to wash her hair, unimpressed by the rockstars.

But Heather does accompany her sister, enjoys the concert, and while looking for the location of the meet and greet after a restroom visit, she wanders into Alex’s dressing room to find him with his guitar and singing a beautiful love song. As they begin talking they discover many common interests and begin forging a friendship. When Heather inadvertently leaves her cell phone in his dressing room, Alex makes sure to take it to her as they travel to their next gig.

Over the next few months, their relationship grows through texts, phone calls, and emails and as long as they keep their relationship to themselves it blossoms. But the instant the paparazzi and the social media get ahold of the information things change.

This is a very well written tale spotlighting a different kind of relationship. With well drawn characters and an interesting plot, I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it!

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Cute and clean. Was tough to get into with it being 3rd person, but after speeding it up it was enjoyable. More of a hallmark style book.

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Summary: Heather lived in a small North Carolina town. She had no clue who the people were that started a food fight at her family's restaurant were memebers of the rock back, Kirwan. Alex Kirwan, the lead singer, couldn't get Heather out of his head. She didn't chase him like most girls/women and could be just what he has been looking for.

My thought: This was an enjoyable listen. Madison Lawrence did an amazing narrating job narrating the book.
I really liked the concept of Starstruck. Instead of Heather being starstruck with Alex, it was Alex stuck on Heather. The plot had a smooth flow.

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Too conservative, too slow, too questionable.
I struggled with the entire content - it is difficult to personalize with the characters as they are truly unbelievable, their feelings do not sound real, everything seems forced or too exaggerated. I only read as things happened to Heather and our rock star Alex, but never felt the feelings close to myself.

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4.5 🌟
Characters: 4
Connection to the book/Enjoyment: 4
Setting: 4
Plot/Overall Story: 3
Writing: 3

Every point= 0.25 stars, max per category 4 points

Super cute, clean romance with a one of us is famous troupe that is actually believable. I really enjoyed this one!

Note to Thomas Nelson: please stop saying things are Christian fiction when it is just a clean romance. It is a sweet story but you aren’t staying true to your purpose of “provider of Christian content.” I appreciate “clean” content but it is missing the Christian elements.

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This is my first book by this author and it’s a bit different than what I normally read. The story is famous rockstar meeting small town girl and wanting that life.

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Thank you to HarperCollins Christian Publishing and Amy Clipston for this early release egalley via NetGalley.

Heather Gordon is working her shift as a waitress when she has an encounter with famous musician Alex Kirwan and his bandmates. As penance for their bad behavior in the small town restaurant, Alex gives Heather the opportunity to attend their concert as a special guest. Sparks fly between Heather and Alex, but is the life of a famous artist too much for Heather's small town roots?

I unfortunately did not find much joy in this audiobook and was looking forward to finishing it. The "romance" between the main characters felt a little naive and unrealistic, and they just weren't relatable as a whole. I am glad I listened to the title, because I would have had a harder time finishing it if I was actually reading it. I think this could be good for some readers, but it just wasn't for me.

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I am a sucker for a small town girl who falls for a famous country singer. This book is certainly not my first in this trope. I loved Heather and Alex's relationship and how they dated eachother for months and months before sealing the deal. I enjoyed the multiple side stories that I could already foresee becoming books.
Amy Clipston has her trope in check. It works and was a beautiful read.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.
This is my honest review

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Heather Gordon has worked in her family diner for as long as she can remember and dreams of opening her own bakery and bookshop someday. But she lacks the courage to take that first step and really put herself out there to pursue her dream.

One night, a rowdy bunch of guys start a food fight, and while her sister is thrilled that her celebrity heartthrob is among them, Heather is less than impressed. As the two of them are cleaning up the mess that's been left behind (along with a hefty tip), one of the other members of the party, Alex, comes to apologize and help them. As Heather sees it, being a rockstar is no excuse for the band's behavior, and she wants nothing to do with empty apologies. But she and her sister end up with VIP passes to the band's next show, and things take off from there.

As Heather and Alex get to know one another better, they help each other grow and define what it is that they each want their futures to look like. And since much of the relationship develops while Alex is touring with the band, it allows a true "meeting of the minds" to take place where they get to know one another deeply before feelings cloud their vision.

A truly enjoyable story of a couple finding ways around what seem like unsurmountable odds to create a life that's rewarding and sweet.

Thank you to Amy Clipston, whose books I always enjoy, Harper Collins and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

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I won't lie I got this book because it has the some name as a movie from the Disney Channel think. I knew it was going to be good and I was right. I enjoyed it much more than thought I would.. There were times where the male character got a bit too cheesy. Or maybe, just haven't met men who are like this and think there is no way they exist, but for me it was a bit corny at times. But it doesn't take away from the fact that the story was great. I love how it wasn't super long but also that the relationship between the two main characters took its time to become established instead of going the instalove route.

'

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This was a fun, sweet and romantic small town romance! Heather is a likeable character and it's refreshing to see how unfazed she was by Alex's rockstar status.

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To be fair, this one was predictable but I think every girl has dreamed this dream. Falling in love with a celebrity who loves you back- you out of all the other women throwing themselves at the celebrity. I liked that it lived out that fantasy but it was also what made it feel unrealistic too. It was cute but overall the plot was just okay.

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This was a sweet clean romance about a small town girl and a rock star who fall in love and try to make their very different lives work as a couple. A very unrealistic premise, but in a cute cheesy Hallmark movie sort of way. The main characters, Heather and Alex, are enjoyable, but the story needed more conflict to bring out their depth. Heather loved baking and books, which was perfectly relatable to me because I was baking Christmas cookies while listening to this audiobook. The narrator has a very easy voice to listen to, but there isn’t voice change between characters. Still, it was a nice quick listen if you’re in the mood for a fluffy romance. Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas Nelson, and Zondervan Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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Starstruck was such a good book. I was pleasantly surprised. I love rockstar books, but there’s always that chance that they just become too far fetched with the drama. I definitely didn’t find that with this book. This story was actually believable and the characters were extremely likable. If you’re looking for a romance book that’s quick and good, I would recommend Starstruck!

***thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins for an ARC copy in return for an honest review***

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This book is… interesting
Unfortunately I didn’t find this book to be too enjoyable
It just lacks angst and depth in my opinion

The premise is fun
And our female main character - Heather - as promising at first
She’s working as a waitress at her family’s restaurant when a group of brothers who are also rockstars came into the restaurant
She didn’t know who they were but her sister did
And she was pissed when they left the booth, leaving it completely trashed even though they did leave a very generous tip
Our FMC was complaining to her sister when the lead singer of the band approached them
She was on his case about his teammates being horrible customers and he apologized
He offered the sisters tickets to their sold-out concert that night but our FMC rejected because she was going to be washing her hair… very promising right
I like Heather in the beginning but then everything went downhill from there

They decided to be friends by messaging each other which developed into a relationship when our male lead - Alex - made the time to visit her when he had an off day on their touring
This is giving me Camp Rock vibes without the camp - and the band of brothers remind me of Jonas Brothers somehow
This reads more like fan fiction to me and that’s not an insult because I love a lot of the actual fanfiction i have read
They just got together and that’s just that
There was a slight conflict because Heather didn’t want to be in the public eye which is absolutely gonna happen if she’s gonna date a mega famous rockstar
Which seems absolutely dumb to me… like you knew he was a rockstar
And it was bound to happen
But she didn’t expect it anyway

The writing is great
The story just didn’t click with me
But if you’re looking for a sweet rockstar x regular person type of a book, you should give this a go

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

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DNF 51%

Eita que essa leitura me pegou de surpresa, só que não como eu esperava. O plot me atraiu na sinopse e resolvi ler no audiobook, porque de fato tem uma vibe leve que combina com só ficar ouvindo e curtindo, mas infelizmente alguns pontos negativos se destacaram demais para mim.

O principal deles foi, de longe, o começo rápido da troca de mensagens entre o casal e de todo o clima "aí, gostei dela", "ele gostou de você" e afins, que me soou instantâneo demais e me impediu de ser mais convencida pelos dois. Junte isso ao fato de eu ter chegado à 51% e estar tudo muito tranquilo ou básico, beirando um clima de monotonia, e eu não consegui mais me ver indo até o final da leitura. Só até essa metade foi bem parado de leitura quase arrastada pra mim, e com o bônus do romance que não cativa nem convence, olha...

Eu queria que o livro tivesse funcionado mais pra mim, tinha potencial, mas acho que os personagens poderiam ser mais desenvolvidos, ainda mais como adultos, e fazer realmente brilhar a história como um clean romance, sem parecer dois adolescentes a maior parte do tempo. Decepcionou, infelizmente.

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(NetGalley Audio book review)
This book is an excellent choice if you are a young teen reader and are looking for a Young Adult Romance. *
The story is easy and fun with a touch of new love drama. It is clean and clear of any unwelcome spice.
The characters are wonderful and challenged with small town life vs. rock star life. Its all about family and support and close friends that have your back. Enjoy this light-hearted romance with a sweet ending!

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