AUGUST 2023 - AudioFile
Jamie Lamchick narrates a second-chance romance between two former pop stars. Kathleen Rosenberg, formerly the superstar Katee Rose, wants to perform the Broadway role that was literally written for her, but the show is being directed by the cause of her downfall. Lamchick creates a generally relatable persona for Kathleen, making her desire to succeed on her own merits, rather than on the coattails of her past, entirely believable. Frequent flashbacks give Lamchick the opportunity to portray Kathleen at different points in her life and career. While Lamchick's wry delivery can make some of the more emotional moments fall slightly short, overall it's a good match for the audiobook's sly humor. K.M.P. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 03/06/2023
Sussman (Funny You Should Ask) dazzles in this smart second-chance romance. The artist formerly known as Katee Rose—now Kathleen Rosenberg—gets a second chance at her Broadway dreams 10 years after her music career was torpedoed by her vengeful ex-boyfriend, Ryan. Her best friend, songwriter Harriet Watson, has written a part specifically for Kathleen in her new 1940s-set musical. There’s just one problem: the director is Cal Kirby, who was in a popular boy band with Ryan and whom Kathleen has been crushing on since their theater camp days. The press has painted Kathleen as a man-eating “slut” ever since Ryan leaked news that Kathleen cheated on him—but no one knows that she cheated with Cal. In the fallout, Cal stayed far away, and Kathleen struggled to rebuild her life. But when they’re forced to work together, old feelings reignite. Sussman skillfully toggles between flashbacks and the present, teasing out her characters’ fraught backstories. Her leads are complex, appealing, and multilayered, and the perfectly paced plot offers real insight into celebrity culture and media slut-shaming. Sussman’s first-rate latest will please her existing fans and win her many new ones. Agent: Elizabeth Bewley, Sterling Lord Literistic. (May)
From the Publisher
Once More With Feeling is as fun and frothy as a Britney [Spears] concert mashed up with a musical comedy. . . . There’s no need to do it once more, as the book is already brimming with plenty of feeling—warm, engrossing, and satisfying in every way.”—Entertainment Weekly
“I’m a huge admirer of Elissa Sussman. Once More with Feeling delivers a pitch-perfect second chance romance with off-the-charts tension and chemistry. Elissa’s deep love of pop culture and the arts makes every page sparkle.”—Carley Fortune, New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After
“This book is catnip for those of us who love boybands, musical theater, and second chances at first love. Written with humor and a fan's eye for adoration, Elissa Sussman has given us another hit.”—Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow
“Once More with Feeling is the angsty, sexy backstage romance of my dreams. Elissa Sussman elegantly weaves the threads of past and present into a love story that’s impossible to put down.”—Ava Wilder, author of How to Fake it in Hollywood
“Once More with Feeling puts romantic tension and juicy celebrity drama centerstage. Elissa Sussman expertly crafts the love story of two artists set across three timelines, building to a powerful finish worthy of a standing ovation. This stellar romance has all the passion, energy, and showstopping moments of a real Broadway musical.”—Susie Dumond, author of Queerly Beloved
“Elissa Sussman has given a gift to all of us theater nerds and boy band obsessives. Smart and sexy, infused with crackling chemistry, Once More with Feeling deserves an enthusiastic round of applause. I devoured it in a day.”—Laura Hankin, author of Happy & You Know It
“Sussman . . . dazzles in this smart second-chance romance. . . . Her leads are complex, appealing, and multilayered, and the perfectly paced plot offers real insight into celebrity culture and media slut-shaming. Sussman’s first-rate latest will please her existing fans and win her many new ones.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A winning second-chance romance that’s fun, steamy, and full of crackling chemistry.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Elissa Sussman returns with another dual timeline celebrity romance that explores the pressure cooker of fame and the gift of growing older and wise. . . . Kathleen and Cal’s evolution as a couple is refreshingly complex.”—BookPage
Library Journal
04/01/2023
A decade ago, Kathleen Rosenberg was Katee Rose, a pop megastar known for her breathy vocals, blonde hair, and buxom figure, beloved until she was caught cheating on her fellow pop star boyfriend, Ryan LaNeve, with his bandmate Cal Kirby. Now after all this time and healing, Kathleen must decide if she's willing to put herself back in the spotlight for the comeback of a decade with Cal Kirby at the helm of a new musical that her best friend Harriet wrote with Kathleen as the star. Both Cal and Kathleen blame the other for the pitfalls of their former lives, but they must work together to ensure the show must go on, even when the feelings they've both harbored for each other threaten once more to ruin all of their hard work. VERDICT The novel drags out the mysterious past events between Kathleen and Cal and focuses far more on musical theater, boy-band references, and Jewish summer camp nostalgia than the romance. Recommended for purchase where the author's previous book Funny You Should Ask circulates well.—Elizabeth Gabriel
AUGUST 2023 - AudioFile
Jamie Lamchick narrates a second-chance romance between two former pop stars. Kathleen Rosenberg, formerly the superstar Katee Rose, wants to perform the Broadway role that was literally written for her, but the show is being directed by the cause of her downfall. Lamchick creates a generally relatable persona for Kathleen, making her desire to succeed on her own merits, rather than on the coattails of her past, entirely believable. Frequent flashbacks give Lamchick the opportunity to portray Kathleen at different points in her life and career. While Lamchick's wry delivery can make some of the more emotional moments fall slightly short, overall it's a good match for the audiobook's sly humor. K.M.P. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-03-28
When two former pop stars reunite for a Broadway show, the drama spills offstage and into their personal lives.
Kathleen Rosenberg always knew she wanted to be on stage—she just never imagined it would involve reinventing herself as Katee Rose, a pop star who was more famous for her contrived nasal singing voice and famous boyfriend than she was for her talent. Together with Ryan LaNeve, one-fifth of the boy band CrushZone, she made up one-half of America’s favorite couple. That is, until things went awry and she found herself falling for another, more sensitive CrushZone member: Calvin Kirby. When her relationship imploded, so did her career. More than 10 years later, Kathleen has mostly moved on from her Katee Rose days—until she gets the chance to star in a Broadway show written by Harriet Watson, her best friend and songwriter, and directed by none other than Cal Kirby. Kathleen hasn’t forgotten how he abandoned her when her career went up in flames, and she doesn’t trust him. But the opportunity to live out her dream and show off her natural talent is too great to resist, and soon she’s working side by side with the man she hates. Through long hours and lots of dance practice, though, Kathleen discovers that their chemistry never went away—in fact, it’s stronger than ever. Would a relationship with Cal destroy everything Kathleen has worked so hard to build? As she did in her adult debut, Funny You Should Ask (2022), Sussman creates a dual-timeline story, simultaneously showing Kathleen and Cal’s past as pop stars and their current lives as they attempt to move on and reinvent themselves. The chemistry between Kathleen and Cal is smoldering, and the stakes feel high—Kathleen doesn’t want a dramatic romance to take attention away from her best friend’s writing or to fall back into the same mistakes she made when she was younger. Fans of 2000s pop music will eat up the details of Kathleen’s early singing career—and her downfall, which mirrors the media’s treatment of female pop stars at the time.
A winning second-chance romance that’s fun, steamy, and full of crackling chemistry.