Author Emmy Ellison has written a romance novel using her celebrity crush as the inspiration for the MMC. During an interview about her upcoming book, Emmy is given the chance to not only share who her celebrity crush is, but also to meet him. But when her book becomes a movie and Emmy's celebrity crush accepts the role as the leading actor, Emmy finds her feelings for him might be more than just a crush.

This was a super fun read. I loved the playful relationship between Emmy and Jason. The whole book was very upbeat as Emmy got to watch her dreams come true.

There were a lot of social media and pop culture references throughout the book so if that's not something you enjoy, this book probably won't be your jam. I loved it, though, and I appreciated that the references were everything from Duran Duran to Alien to today's popular TikTok dances.

I listened to this one on audio and loved that it was done as a duet with Andrew Eiden narrating the chapters from Jason's POV and Stephanie Willing narrating the chapters from Emmy's POV. Both narrators did a wonderful job, and I especially loved the interlude chapters where Stephanie narrated the podcasters.

Read if you like:
Dual-POV
Hollywood drama
Banter
Social media/pop culture references
Romantic comedy
Fantasy fulfillment
Single mom/single dad
30s MCs
Closed door romance

This was so freaking cute!
And the narration? Amazing!!!
Who hasn't had a celebrity crush at some point in their life? If you said "me", you lying.
I know I have had several and if I ever got to meet them I would likely turn into mush.
And if Janet Jackson or Sam Elliot gave me a hug?
Plan my funeral.
It was wonderful that the FMC had no chill about meeting her celebrity crush, and actually freaked out a bit.
And the slow development of feels with cute activities to bond over were a joy to read.
I also loved that the author dipped into the darker side of fame here, so many books just show the shiny bits. This encompassed more feels as a result.
This does not read like a debut and I cannot wait to see what Christy Swift does next!!!
Much love to NetGalley, Hachette Audio & Forever Pulishing for my AlC.

Synopsis: Romance author Emmy Ellison has finally achieved her dream of having her book adapted for the big screen. The book is inspired by her secret celebrity crush, who accepts the starring role in the film. Cue a fake dating PR scheme that just might lead to an off-screen romance, too.

Thoughts: Things I loved: lots of pop culture references, podcast interviews/vlogs, banter, main characters in their 30s. Things I didn’t love as much: lots of miscommunication and instal-love/lust. That being said, this one is really cute and fun and doesn’t read like a debut novel to me, so I’m excited to see what this author comes up with next!

Read this if you like:
🎥 Hollywood
🎥 authors
🎥 fake dating
🎥 forced proximity
🎥 single parent
🎥 closed door

This book was a really fun read. My favorite parts were when both MCs were describing each other and I had a major feet kicking moment alone at home! Emmy and Jason are both lovable and relatable (even though one is famous). I loved the "viral" items in the book like the memes that came up time and again. This was a true Cinderella Story that had be rooting for Emmy from the very beginning!

I listened to the audiobook version of this book. I'm a sucker for a dual narration because it feels more immersive to have a male voice for a male MC. Both narrators did an amazing job adding inflection to the right words and just adding that extra little spark to the book! I will look to purchase this one when it's released!

Thank you to Christy Swift, Hachette Audio, and NetGaley for the ARC!

I'm almost mad at myself for finishing this one -- it started out okay but the male narrator is so smug that he ruined an otherwise mediocre book. I liked the woman narrator but she couldn't save this farfetched and, ultimately, disappointing book. I hated the last 1/3 of the book and just wanted it to be over. Hope you have better luck!

Celebrity Crush comes out tomorrow on February 11, 2025 and you can purchase HERE.

Thank you Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was truly so cute. I was immediately captivated by the premise and how sweet it was, and it surprised me with the depth and heart this story contained. The main characters, Jason and Emmy, were perfect for each other, and I love that their flaws were on display.

As far as the audio is concerned, I always gravitate more to a multiple POV/multiple narrator audiobook, and this one was great! I was able to engage in the story more because of the great narration.

Thank you again for the ARC!

The story was quite fun and it is super easy to read. 🥂 I liked the narration and i think that they did an incredible work 🙏🏼

The first 4 chapters intrigued me and i knew that i wanted to continue the story. The main characters feels real, but knowing that they are celebrities they act weird sometimes as well.

I am not super fan of the ambient generated between celebrities and how they act for fame etc... The drama of the story was typical, lack of truast and communication, and of course the media ate that month lol.

The story was gripping the first half, then i feel that it decreased a bit 🤏🏻

Overall, it is enjoyable but it has some parts where i was not really into it and then i was interested again in some topic, it was a cycle. 🔁

This was a fun romance I love that they are both parents and you get to watch their journeys to find happiness and our fmc living out her dream of being an author the audio book had amazing narrators

I found this story to be a bit boring. It had promise, but the characters lacked depth and I didn’t see the growth I like throughout a book.

I was lucky to receive an ALC and the audio performances were great! Each narrator portrayed the main and side characters very well and kept me interested.

𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁: I loved all the pop culture references as an Aliens girlie, huge appreciation there! This book was really fun, MCs had lots of chemistry and I loved they were in their 30s. I liked that the FMC was social media savvy and operation Keanu Reeves was one of favorite parts other than the “sandwich incident” iykyk. This is just an enjoyable book and I was shocked to find out it was a Debut from the author, well done!

Emmy wrote a romance novel with her MMC being inspired by her real life celebrity crush. She never thought the book would become popular and get made into a movie. Then that said crush accepts the leading role to her movie. Now she is sitting on a talk show promoting her book and is having a hugging contest with her crush and few other celebrities - how is this real life!

Jason is about to loose his role and is in dire need of some good PR. So he branched out and signed up to do a new movie playing the romantic lead, he knows the movie is based on him but he’s not aware to what extent. Things are not going to plan and he is in more hot water than before and he’s in need of an image makeover.

Emmy and Jason have been thrust together a few times for publicity for her upcoming book and movie. They are on friendly terms so Jason recruits her to help him with his image as she is a social media guru. But can these two keep it professional or will the lines blur. Hollywood isn’t meant for everyone and feuds can start easily and ruin lives.

This one is a fun read be sure to check it out when it debuts in February 11th.

𝑭𝒂𝒗 𝑸𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆: “This whole thing is like a dream that I know I'll have to wake up from. It's torture.” - Emmy

𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒍𝒍 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒅:

Author
* Author & Social Media Influencer FMC
* Bad Reputation Celebrity MMC
* Cinderella Story
* Single Parents
* MCs in Their 30s
* She Based MC in Her Book on Him
* Pop Culture References
* Dual POV
* Fade to Black

👽📚⭐️ 👽📚⭐️ 👽📚⭐️ 👽📚⭐️ 👽📚⭐️

Other quotes I loved:

"It's the only way to be sure."
Oh, to the snap. He finished my favorite Aliens quote. I've been waiting my whole life for someone to do that.
He stares at me as I sit, frozen. "Is everything okay?"
"You Michael Biehned me," I finally say.
"You Sigourney Weavered me first."

"That's for you, Emmy Ellison, for choosing me.'
A warm zinging sensation flutters over me, like I imagine it feels when your spaceship is scanned by aliens with one of those humming sweeps of blue light. "I'll always choose you, Jason Connor."

I really loved the narrators for this book! They were very fun and quirky and i felt it had me enjoying the story more. I really liked these characters and thought their stories were both very strong and worked well with the storyline. When it comes to the romance part i thought their love story was sweet. It was a naturally chemistry that felt true to the characters. I just felt the storyline at times didnt match with the characters if that makes sense. Some of the actions they’d take didn’t seem authentic to them and also i think i might just not be a fan of the power dynamic of a celebrity and their crush. But with that being said, i think it speaks to the authors writing and characters that i still liked it with finding out i dont like that trope.

Emmy Ellison has always had big dreams of being a screenwriter. They have been crushed by a director who left her with doubts about her talent along with other "parting gifts". But a writer writes and she decides to write a novel. She uses everything she likes about rom coms and bases the story, Hashtag Celebrity Crush, on her real life crush, Jason Connor, a famous actor. When the novel blows up and social media figures out who the celebrity crush is, things start getting interesting.

Jason Connor works at a famous sci-fi TV show. He should be living the dream but life has been a vortex of screw ups that have put him in hot water with the show's production company. So, when the opportunity to "play himself" in the movie version of Hashtag Celebrity Crush, he takes it. He wasn't expecting of develop a crush too...

This one was charming and funny and full of shenanigans. You will have a fun time following these two fumble away into an HEA. You have the ex, their respective kids, the agents, the celebrity gossip podcasters and tv shows all adding to the fun. It's chockfull of pop culture references and perfect for the TikTok crowd.

The audiobook is narrated dual style by Stephanie Wiling and Andrew Eiden. Stephanie shines here with a vibrating performance. I loved how she even managed to differentiate two characters just by the way they laugh - you'll see. Andrew gives us a wonderful performance as the well intentioned, loving and funny Jason who seems to have a penchant for getting himself into a pickle. 

It's a relatively short audiobook, perfect for that day when you want to just sit back, relax, have some laughs and just enjoy a sweet yet screwball-y story.

Thanks to Christy Swift, Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the audiobook.

I enjoyed Celebrity Crush a lot more than I thought I would. It was actually quite funny and not overly romantic. I loved all the modern day influencers, podcasts, blogs, blogs. etc. The narrators were sort of obnoxious, but they grew on me as the story went on. I also liked the L.A. scene with the cast parties, stylists, filming, agents, etc. Overall, it was a cute book! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read Celebrity Crush.

I’ll start by saying if you read this, I highly suggest the audio version! Andrew Eiden is the absolute best narrator. I would read anything narrator’s by him! With that said, the book was cute. I enjoyed the plot but the characters felt surface level for me. The romance was hard to believe. I’m glad I read this, but just fell alittle short for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the ARC.

This book was fun and fast paced! Emmy Ellison has written a book that has taken the world by storm, when it is leaked that the details of the book are based on a current celebrity. With the help of a talk show, the celebrity crush is revealed and Emmy Ellison gets the chance to meet her celebrity crush in person. Jake and Emmy team up together, when Jake hires Emmy to help him fix his social media persona. The two of them together became a dynamic team that I enjoyed watching unfold during the story. The chemistry they had together was so sweet and supportive. I couldn't help but find myself rooting for them! I also had the opportunity to listen to this book and thought that the narrators were great! They allowed the book to come alive! Thank you to Forever Pub for an advanced audio copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

I want to start by saying that I love the concept of this book where an author with a crush gets the chance to meet and have a real life Cinderella moment with the hero who inspired her story. Unfortunately the execution of this one was poor at best and downright infuriating at worst.

This book is essentially one long miscommunication trope between two terrible people who I couldn’t really emphasize with because they were both terrible people.

Emmy seems like she would be sympathetic as the single mom whose Hollywood dreams got crushed but she showed absolutely zero loyalty to her supposed crush and frankly was kind of a cold hearted b. Also she spends almost no time thinking it caring about her child and I’m not one to mom shame but there were some red flags there about her parenting style.

Then there is Jason who as far as I can tell isn’t calculating and cold like Emmy but honestly maybe a little naive and childish. He let his ex push him around, he let his agent push him around and then he opened himself up immediately to Emmy just because she had a crush on him and it made him feel good about his life falling apart around him. Also the fact that he’s a celeb and hasn’t figured out birth control but supposedly went through an f boy era is wild to me. His biggest downfall is he is way too trusting of all the wrong people and honestly I mostly felt sorry for him.

My biggest issue is there is almost zero character growth. Both of them essentially are just as awful by the end as when we first meet them. I guess on one hand I feel they deserve each other so maybe that’s a positive.

I will say I did feel the narrators did a fantastic job with this story. The female narrator especially did such a good job with all the other creators she voiced.

I am not one to DNF but if I did it would have been this one. Unfortunately this one was not for me and I wouldn’t recommend picking it up.

Story Rating: 4/5 ⭐️
Audio Narration Rating: 5/5⭐️
Spice Meter: 0/5 🌶 (Closed door)

Celebrity Crush was a sweet, humorous, entertaining story!
The audio was a fun listening experience. The narrators, Andrew Eiden and Stephanie Willing, were energetic, and their performance was engaging.

The romance between Emmy and Jason was cute, and they shared great banter. It was obvious they were attracted to each other; They had that spark. They were, however, immature at times, and I found the development of a deeper connection was slightly lacking.

Overall, Celebrity Crush was a delightful listen and read. It was lighthearted and charming. If you enjoy pop culture, celebrity gossip, and the celebrity/fan romance trope, be sure to check out this debut rom-com.

Release Date: February 11, 2025


______
*Complimentary ALC for review provided by Hachette Audio. All opinions expressed here are honest and entirely my own.

Genre:
Rom-com

Tropes:
Celebrity MMC
Single Parents
Closed Door/Fade to Black

2.25 stars because while there are a lot of problems, I had fun for a bit and I think the writing on a sentence level was pretty good

This was an interesting one for me because for a good portion of the book I was thinking "okay this is cheesy and cringey but I'm having fun, probably 4 stars" but then about 75% in the 3rd act breakup happens and they are so mean to each other for a while after. I felt the last 25% of the book ruined all of the character and relationship development completely. And then I was explaining this book to some friends and had some more thoughts...

OK spoilers incoming so look away now. The TV show the MMC is on is called Lost Star Dance Troupe Saves the Universe and it is exactly the title...a sci-fi show about dancers saving the universe through dance? And isn't like just marketed to kids ala The Wiggles? I cannot imagine HOW a show like that has multiple seasons (but also I would watch at least one episode lol). And then the movie adaptation of a very common romance novel turns out to be a musical with Duran Duran songs? What? WHAT?! And the author wasn't even aware of that until she goes to the studio near the end of the filming? And also there was this really cringey hug competition at this huge Hollywood party between all of the guys in the show with the FMC that ended so strangely because the show runners were there and the MMC didn't want them to see him being lovely to her? The Venn diagram video was also so weird like why did she have to explain what it is so many times? And why is Hugh Jackman such a pinnacle of manliness/romance in this book? When I think of a swoony celebrity, Hugh Jackman can't even crack the top 10.

OK now the breakup catalyst, she jumps off a yacht to save a dog in the ocean and he just abandons her because his ex girlfriend announces her pregnancy AT A PARTY, ON A MICROPHONE. Why is the fact that someone just JUMPED OFF THE YACHT not a huge ordeal at this moment? Then she gets out and is basically told by someone else that she can't talk to the MMC because TMZ has photos of the MCs topless and hooking up in his backyard that everyone thinks she sent in even though there is nothing in this woman's life that would make anyone think she would send in photos of her mid 30s mom boobs out into a gossip rag, she is an author and in NO WAY do I think that would be a good look for her. But nobody believes she didn't do it and I cannot wrap my head around that. Sure her agent or publicist was saying they should use their relationship to get her book some press but the only things she posted were very not scandalous things they agreed to together or one single photo of her drinking a smoothie with bed head and a blurry MMC in the background. So the MMC seems to get back together with his pregnant ex even though she is still with some other guy AND he doesn't even think the baby is his.

Now months later its time for the movie press tour and the MCs meet again. She has tried to tell him multiple times it wasn't her that sent these photos in and he won't believe her. They are doing this game show together and they are both being outright hostile and vicious ON CAMERA to each other. He even says to her that his goal is to tank this press tour and get the LA premiere cancelled. At this point, I am NOT rooting for a reconciliation. He is also WASTED and drinking from a flask constantly ON A TALK SHOW EVEN. She drives him home because again, he is trashed. She tells him again she didn't send in the photos and shows him the smoothie photo she posted and suddenly he believes her and decides he wants her back. She says no and just leaves even though this has been all she wanted while they were apart?

OH AND I forgot that she wrote this scene in her book about the guy getting into a bar fight and getting arrested which happened in his realm life and was buried so nobody really knew about it. But everyone know he was the inspiration for this book and with the smallest amount of digging, anyone could have found that out. THIS would have been a much more believable reason for the breakup and for him being fired from this dance show (which he blamed her for because of the hook up photos).

So to get her back he does this incredibly public flash mob with all kinds of his fans there which I'm sorry but that is so manipulative in this case. They get back together and dance a salsa? But then the pregnant ex girlfriend there with her boyfriend who, get this, is not only the actual father of the baby but is ALSO the father to the FMC's 12 year old daughter that she NEVER TOLD HIM ABOUT. And this pregnant ex starts going in to labor at this weird flash mob event thing and tells the MMC "oh its not actually your baby" and he's just like "ok cool" but now they have half siblings together which is kind of a huge deal?? WHAT IS HAPPENING?? So much random things happen in this book that could've used more time to be fleshed out (or cut entirely) but instead we keep talking about Marvel actors and Hugh Jackman...

But you want to know what was good? The audiobook narrators. Fantastic, really.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ALC

Emmy Ellison wrote a real-life inspired book around her celebrity crush. When she gets the chance to actually meet her crush, her life takes off in unexpected ways!
Dear God and Tom Hanks, this book is fantastic! The story was humorous and witty and really pulled me in. I love the pop culture and sci fi references. The characters in the story were well developed and had such great chemistry. I can't say enough good things about this book. I'll definitely be recommending it. This is the first book I've read by Christy Swift and I will absolutely be reading more from the author.

I listened to the audiobook version and found it very well done! The narration by Andrew Eiden and Stephanie Willing was so on point! The characters were easily defined and the voices fit the characters so well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

ARC/ALC BOOK REIVEW

Celebrity Crush by Christy Swift

Thank you Forever and Negalley for the #free eARC and ALC of this book!

SYNOPSIS: “Author Emmy Ellison is a sucker for a page-turning happy ending, but she’s no longer counting on one for herself. If she stays focused on her career goals instead of her love life, she just might find success. And now that her latest novel is about to become a movie, she’s determined to become the latest social media sensation.

When her secret celebrity crush (the real-life inspiration for her romantic hero) accepts the starring role in the big-screen adaptation of her book, she’s determined to team up with a fake dating scheme—now that he’s in need of some good PR of his own. Ideally, she can ride the wave of popularity all the way to the top of the bestseller lists. But when the harsh spotlight of fame exposes the truth, will they try to turn their on-camera chemistry into a real-life relationship?”

REVIEW: If you like celebrity gossip magazines and a comfortable, predictable romance, this book is for you! While I did not love it, it still had all of the wonderful underpinnings that I look for in a romance.

Overall, the plot was charming and fun, which is exactly what I look for in this type of story. It was an easy, feel-good read, but I found myself wanting more from the plot. I’m all for predictable and easy but this plot was just too perfectly wrapped up.

Unfortunately, I found our two MCs to be a bit hard to root for. However, the side characters were very engaging!

The constant space and nerd references were too heavy-handed and just far too much for my taste. While I love a punny moment in a romcom, there is art in subtly.

I listed to the audiobook of this one, and I felt that narrators Andrew Eiden and Stephanie Willing did a great job bringing the characters to life.

Publisher: @foreverpub
Pub date: 2/11/25