I like the concept of this story but the pace was so slow for me. I had a hard time keeping my attention. The back and forth was great but I wish something would have happened early in the book to keep me invested.

This book is a cute fun read! It has dual POV, friends to lovers, slow burn. There was a lot I loved about this book but there were also some flaws and plot holes.

Diana is a chef at one of her families french cafes and Sam is a celebrity who just suffered a vocal injury and had to end his tour for rehabilitation. Diana was working at the cafe to help out her family but her secret dream is to become an author. She is a huge fan of Sam Raymond and when he walks into her cafe one day she couldn’t believe it. Especially since she was anonymously writing fan fics about him.

Sam is a celebrity who just suffered a vocal injury and is recovering at his new apartment in New York not far from the cafe where Diana is working and where she grew up. He found this cafe by chance one day and he never stopped coming back. Sam was struggling but he found comfort in the cafe with Diana’s amazing cooking and loving but overwhelming family.

This journey the two of them were on together was so fun to read and I loved seeing how sweet Sam was and all the things he did for Diana. The chevalier family is one I would love to be a part of or even just know, they were so supportive and loving no matter the issues that came up for them.

There were a few things in this book that felt a little drawn out and some that were rushed such as the ending. I wish we could’ve gotten a little more at the end that showed Sam and Diana on their new journey. Overall I loved this read and I would recommend giving it a try!

*Thank you NetGally for the ARC*

I will be totally transparent: I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did. I didn’t feel like I resonated very much with the premise of the story, but I was excited to try something new and wanted to be totally open. I fell completely in love with this story, the characters, and their love. It truly swept me off my feet.

Molly Dunn does an amazing job making the reader feel immersed in the environment. Describing the surroundings, the ambience, the smells, the taste of the delicious food. THE FOOD! I loved La Vie En Rose. I want to eat all the scrumptious meals. This book has the best New York autumnal vibes. I felt constantly embraced in a warm hug. I felt like I needed to get on a plane immediately to go to Riverside Park and visit all the spots mentioned.

I really appreciated being pulled into the excitement of the Chevaliers. I truly felt apart of the family – the drama and all. I loved getting to know all their personalities and how they operate as a family. MOLLY! I *beg* to have additional books featuring Giselle and Em (featuring our precious Diana and Sam and updates on how they are doing, of course)!

I was very confused by the panic about the financial repercussions of La Vie En Rose closing. It made it seem that the family was in dire straits, however, the parents had several other businesses and would be just fine. So, that was a bit confusing for me. I feel that if there was less pressure from the family financial concerns – and just focused on the fact that this was a historic monument in New York and how much it connected the family – I think that would have resonated more.

Attention readers, strap in for a slow burn. This is not a fast, whirlwind romance. This romance needed time to develop, much like some of the mouth-watering recipes that Diana was cooking up. However, if you wait patiently, you will really fall in love with the safe and warm bond between Diana and Sam.

This felt so utterly nostalgic, the little Tumblr romance. I literally felt like I was back in high school again. I never dove into the fanfiction world, but I felt like I got a taste with this story. It never felt cringey or juvenile to me. I think it was a great writing outlet for Diana that was looking for the courage to turn her writing into a budding career. I do wish that I had gotten more glimpses into the relationship between D and S to really understand the depth of their relationship.

I absolutely love a happily ever after. I love knowing my favorite couple is happy and thriving. However, I do really appreciate an open-ended ending. The reader can determine the fate of the couple.

I highly recommend reading this precious autumn story. Definitely make sure to cue the French music for peak reading immersion.

I really liked this book, it was a very slow burn for me, but once I got into the story, I was wanting more, and how close they were to each other at the beginning. It was crazy. The fan fiction part of the story was cool as someone who has dreamed of writing things about famous people and them coming into my life. It was very cozy and I enjoyed it. I didn't want it to end.Thank you for the chance to read this.

This was a surprising little gem! Love fanfic, romance and a wonderful blend of family? Check out SO MANY SOMETHINGS by Molly Dunn

Though I struggled with the amount of characters, I found this book filled with heart, family, friendship and food. I loved seeing Diana and Sam's relationship grow, though I would have liked to see more of the online relationship rather than hearing about it.

This was definitely a slow burn and not your typical celebrity x local trope. Their relationship was intimate and close, and felt genuine.

READ FOR:
Slow burn
Celebrity x local
Classic romantic comedy vibes

Thanks to 8th Note Press and NetGalley for the ARC! Opinions are my own

rating: 3.5/5

the book follows diana, who helps run her family's cafe, la vie en rose, and a fan-fiction writer of pop star sam raymonds. when the real sam shows up at la vie, diana's life flips upside down, but sam keeps coming back (for the food? or something else...) sam himself is recovering from a career setback and a throat surgery and slowly builds a relationship with diana, her family, and la vie, bonding with diana over food and nyc while dealing with the looming presence of his singing comeback.

i actually did not like the book at first due to it's various pop culture references that were hard to keep up with, and the seemingly huge family diana had that made all the names difficult to track. however, as i progressed with the book, i realized that the large family is central to diana's character and her love for working at la vie. the other side of her life, the one that indulges in tumblr fanfiction, is also central to her character and the hidden talent she relies on to express a part of herself that isn't otherwise conventional.

if you like a slow burn romance, this is definitely a good book, although i will have to admit, it was a lot slower than i would've liked. it takes quite a while from the beginning to diana and sam's meeting, with many details stacked in between. however, the development of sam and diana's relationship is probably one of my favorite parts of the novel.

finally, one thing i really liked about this book is that it's not your typical celebrity x local trope. sam was not portrayed as a popular figure for a majority of the book, so i felt that his relationship with diana felt a lot more intimate and personal. it's not one of those books where the local has no idea who the celebrity is, and neither does it feel like their relationship is centered around sam's popularity.

overall, i ended up liking this book a lot more than I did originally! it's a great read although it picks up slowly. the family dynamic in this book is everything!

thanks to netgalley for the arc!

⭐️Dual POV
⭐️Slow burn
⭐️Rockstar/Fan Fic Writer Romance

I did not want this to end, I want more Diana & Sam!!

This is a 90’s rom com movie in a book, which is my favorite movie genre. Very You’ve Got Mail. New York is always a great romance backdrop and crepes, yes please!

I felt like I could picture La Vie En Rose, it was so perfectly written with so many small details. And the Chevalier family was a cast of very colorful characters, each one so fiercely different.

The friendship and romance between Diana and Sam was so sweet and spicy, anyone who’s dreamed of a rockstar romance growing up will love this book!! Thank you so much to NetGalley♥️

I loved everything about this book! The relationship that Sam and Diana had in all its forms was so beautiful. It also has added fuel to all my delusions about Harry Styles or Carlos Sainz falling in love with me. It's fine 😅

If you are a fan of friends to lovers this is the book for you! It's also already out so you don't even have to wait for it to be on shelves!

I really loved Diana’s family and hope that Giselle and Em get their own books cause I want to read them!

This is the first slow burn friends-to-lovers book I've read in a hot minute that D E L I V E R S on being slow burn. Chef's kiss (no pun intended).

The premise of this book grabbed my attention immediately - yes, I did spend far too much of my formative years on tumblr and consuming fanfiction. This is a slow starter and I did admittedly struggle to maintain interest in Diana's online interactions with "A" and "S". Their conversations felt very stilted and flat, and when so much of the conflict in the later half of the book is Diana's turmoil between "S" ghosting her and the guilt she feels about getting closer to Sam in the meantime I wasn't able to feel much sympathy because like. girl those conversations were DRY and you know nothing about him what are we mourning omg ????

The story picks up so much when Diana and Sam meet in real life and I lived and breathed for every time he turned up in the restaurant. I was so invested in his recovery and him being basically integrated into Diana's family was a relief because even I was worried about how much he was isolating himself from everyone in his own life. I found him such a likeable MMC which so rarely happens for me lmao

I liked Diana's large family and closeness she feels with them in theory, but there were just so many of them and whenever a name was dropped I'd lowkey struggle to remember who that was again. There are some plotholes surrounding her family that kind of broke my immersion; for instance, Diana and Giselle have inherited their apartment from their mother's aunt, but when the restaurant starts to go under their parents decide the only option is to sell the apartment. And not even to save the restaurant. They just give up on the restaurant it seems. They own other restaurants, and even though this one is the most significant to all of their lives they just. Let it go. It was a bit bizarre. There's a discussion around what they're all going to do now that their workplace is gone, and one of Diana's older sisters announces she and her husband are moving to Conneticut, which creates tension with that sister's twin, and then that's forgotten and she just starts working at another of her father's restaurants. There's also a moment after hating each other the entire book where it seems like Diana and Giselle squash their beef, only for Giselle to move back to Paris and Diana to be like "good riddance" when telling Sam. I still don't follow why they hated each other. Anyway, just silly little things like that, like the author was so focused on doing the romance aspect of the novel well that details outside of the romance fell to the wayside just a bit.

Even so, I had a good time with this! A lovely autumnal read, and a very promising debut! Would definitely read more from this author in future.

Mein Leseerlebnis

Die Geschichte rund um Sam und Diana hörte sich frisch und interessant an. Ich war gespannt darauf zu sehen, wie die Autorin vor allem die Sache mit der Fanfiction umsetzen würde.

Gleichzeitig machten mich Gedanken dazu vor dem Lesen etwas unruhig, da ich Fanfiction persönlich eher befremdlich finde. Echten Personen Geschichten “anzudichten” fühlt sich für mich irgendwie falsch an. Auf Seiten wie Archive of our own lese ich daher nur Geschichten jenseits von Fanfiction.

Zurück zum Liebesroman, vom ersten Kapitel an empfand ich den Schreibstil der Autorin zwar als locker, gleichzeitig wirkte er aber nicht komplett rund. Er schaffte es leider nicht, mich komplett mitzureißen.

Ganz ähnlich wirkten die Hauptcharaktere und ihre Liebesgeschichte auf mich. In der Theorie hörte sich alles gut an, in der Umsetzung konnte ich mir keinen der Charaktere als echte Person vorstellen. Eine Schwester der Heldin wirkte auf mich zudem recht flach angelegt. Außerdem wirkten die Charaktere, vor allem die beiden Hauptcharaktere, auf mich teils jünger, als sie er waren.

Diese Punkte haben es mir schwer gemacht, mich komplett auf die Geschichte einzulassen und mich in ihr zu verlieren. Im Gegenteil, beim Lesen sind meine Gedanken mehrmals abgeschweift.

Irgendwann habe ich dann beschlossen, von der Mitte des Romans zum Ende zu springen, auch dieses konnte mich nicht mitreißen.

Keine Bewertung, da abgebrochen.

Für wen?

Wer Fanfiction gerne liest bzw. dem gegenüber offen ist und romance Bücher spannend findet, in denen sich die Hauptcharaktere zunächst online kennenlernen und dann erst offline, ohne zu wissen, dass sie die andere Person schon kennen, dann könnte das Buch für euch gut geeignet sein.

Ich würde vor dem Kauf auf jeden Fall empfehlen, in eine Leseprobe reinzuschauen, da ich den Schreibstil persönlich etwas holprig fand.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

This was definitely a 3.5⭐️ read! It was cute and sweet and it had some cozy fall vibes. It also had some hints of You've Got Mail. I really liked the concept of a romance between a fan fiction writer and the artist (it felt a little nostalgic to me and my own fandom phases haha). I did feel like it was a bit slow at some points, but then the ending was wrapped up way too quick. But I would still recommend this book to all my fellow romance lovers who are/have been in fandoms and like fan fiction!

P.S. All the food descriptions made me a little hungry, I should make some of the dishes and delicacies mentioned soon!

3.75 stars ⭐️
⤷ spoiler-free review!! ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

“…Most don't get so fortunate and instead settle for connecting across oceans and time zones, knowing some of the closest relationships in their lives are subject to an internet connection.”

this was such a cute and cozy read 🥴 i’m all for a good slow burn, and the slow burn was SLOOOOOWW BURNING in this book (it was a little too slow though)

that said, there were a few things i didn’t enjoy:
1. the pop culture references. there were WAY TOO MANY of them 😫✋🏻😭
2. diana and sam flirting over text like little kids (they're 21) 😭
3. diana still writing her fanfic about sam even after they became friends...
4. sam peeking at diana’s boobs almost every time he got the chance LMAO 🤦🏻‍♀️
5. the ending. it felt kinda rushed :/

despite these issues, i still had a great time reading this book and would definitely recommend it!!

thank you netgalley and 8th note press for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!!

🌟🌟🌟🌟
🍂 “So Many Somethings" by Molly Dunn is a delightful read that exudes charm and warmth,🍁reminiscent of classic romantic comedies like "You've Got Mail" and "Notting Hill," while infusing its own unique flair. The slow-burn❤️‍🔥romance had me hooked, with the character of Sam radiating a Shawn Mendes-like charisma that added to the story’s appeal. I particularly appreciated the depth of Diana's character, especially her intricate family dynamics and her dual life as a talented chef and a secret writer, which added layers to her personality. Overall, I found the book to be a solid 4 stars and left me eager to explore more of Molly's creations in the future. 👩‍💻…❤️…🧑‍💻

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher & author for an e-ARC in return for an honest review

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

As many of them posted it is a slow burn. I’m not a fan of slow burns which I wish I saw that before diving into this one.
But… I wish I could have enjoyed this more than I did. There were some parts that fell flat for me but I will say… I think all of us have that one famous person we hope to find us and fall in love with us one day. If you’re a big fanfic fan or just love all things pop culture, this one might be for you.

Really cute story. I do wish they had come clean with one another sooner in the story. I felt like there was no good reason for Sam to not tell Diana when he figured out who she was.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

I found it difficult to connect with the characters throughout. The story itself was a cool idea and if you like celebrity fanfiction, you would likely enjoy that aspect. I just found the start a little boring to get into. There were too many pop-culture references, and the writing felt juvenile in parts.

This book is a SLOW burn. I like slow burns but this was too much in my opinion. The in person interactions were good but the online communication between the FMC & MMC fell flat to me, and the flirting felt young, middle-school style flirting.

It was a cute read but it fell flat to me for sure unfortunately. The cover and synopsis were so cute and I wish I liked this more than I did!

Overall, I feel like I could not truly get into this book as much as I would have liked to. This was a very slow burn book, and while that is not a bad thing, I just feel like I couldn’t grasp onto the story. But that is not to say that it wasn’t good.

There were many parts of the book that left me with a sweet feeling. They actually talked about crepes so much I actually had to go and make them myself! 😆

This story would be great for anyone who loves a cute New York romance or just a sweet family story!

I want to thank NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book!

Right off the bat, if you've ever been invested in celebrity fanfiction, you should read this book! It's a fun little read, albeit with a few flaws.

I found it was a bit hard to connect with the characters at the beginning, especially with the tumblr DMs on the opening page. If you can get past that, the story does get much better. I was invested in Sam's vocal rehabilitation. I liked the restaurant and all the food. Their in person interactions were cute and I am a sucker for a celebrity romance. But, their online relationship was so flat - and I say this as someone who has had great online loves and friendships. We're just not shown enough of how they interact with each other online. I didn't get why they would turn away an offline tangible relationship with someone whose name and story they knew for someone anonymous with the most generic flirts and texts. It made the big conflict feel immature and baffling.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy in exchange for this honest review.

I was shocked by how much I loved this book. I was a tumblr girl when I was younger, but never much of a fan fiction person. This made me a little unsure if I would like this book or if I would find it cringey. Right away my worries were eased because the writing is fantastic! I loved almost everything about this book, but especially the characters.

I fell in love with every single character. Maybe it’s because I come from a large French-Canadian family, but damn did I love the Chevaliers. The dynamic between them felt so magical. They all felt like real, tangible people and I appreciated it so much. Sam was such a likeable male lead. His dialogue and personality actually felt real. I was worried about extra cheesy interactions/dialogue from him but there was none of that!

The only thing that falls a little flat for me is the ending. This is a very slow burn. I loved the spicy scenes near the end, but I feel like it took away from the ending of the story a little. It made the last chunk of the book feel a little rushed and unsatisfying.

For Molly Dunn’s first novel she did an outstanding job! I have already started recommending this to my romance loving friends and will keep doing it until every reader I know has read it! Do yourself a favour and grab a copy of this one!

With its New York autumn vibes meets a bit of 'You've Got Mail', this was a sweet, slow-burn celebrity/normie romance.

Diana and Sam were very sweet together, slowly forming a friendship while not realising they were also friends online as 'D' and 'S'. Both had a lot of insecurities and growth to do. At times I found them both frustrating (especially Sam for not telling Diana as soon as he realised who she was), but I had to remind myself they were both 21. Refreshingly, I liked Diana's reaction to finally realising who S is, and then being shocked that her reaction wasn't the opposite.

However, I think the pacing was off. It was so slow for things to come to ahead, waiting for Sam and Diana to come clean with each other. Then everything wrapped up in the epilogue with us being told rather than shown how both of them thought about the mistakes they made with each other. To me, epilogues supposed to be about AFTER the couple has gotten together and resolved their personal growth arcs. Otherwise it's just the final chapter. I would've preferred if we saw Diana working towards being a full-time author much earlier on given thats what she dreamed of doing. Some details that didn't make sense (which says this book needed more editing). Giselle and Diana inerhited their late aunt's flat, then the next sentence it says her pmum threatened to kick them out to sell the flat. Which is it? Also the cafe's financial situation. They own other cafes but why aren't they going under too? To me the cafe side plot should've been completely scrapped.

Having said that, I think this was a charming debut, and I would definitely read this author again.

Thanks to 8th Note Press and NetGalley for the ARC.