Once More with Feeling: A Novel

Katee Rose isn’t Britney Spears, but when she cheats on Ryan LaNeve of boy band CrushZone I had massive JT/Britney flashbacks. Katee was thrown under the bus, she lost everything. Her career, her dignity and the one person she truly cared about - fellow CrushZoner Cal Kirby.But this is a comeback story and Katee isn’t done yet. She luckily has the most kickass best friend ever in Harriet who just so happened to write a Broadway show Katee is perfect for. Katee, Harriett and Cal met back in the day at the theater camp and this show has been Harriet’s dream her entire life. So when Cal comes knocking as a director, can Katee forgive him long enough to make it work for the show? Can she focus on her choreography and the changes to her body after all this time out of the spotlight to show who SHE really is. Kathleen Rosenberg! Will people even give her chance to showcase her real voice or will her past dictate the shows success?The setting of a Broadway show is everything. This may have started a tad slow for me but that’s more me then the book and the second half I inhaled and could not put down. Elissa Sussman bravo, once is quite enough with this beautiful book.

I love this book! The premise, the characters, all amazing. My one very small complaint was what I will call (for spoilers sake) the blip towards the end, before the very end. Not the biggest fan when a book does this, but the book was amazing altogether I love Elissa Sussman

One too many timelines…. Could have been better in chronological order. That being said, I felt like I couldn’t put it down. Unfortunately I did have to for certain obligations otherwise it would have been read in one sitting.

I'm a big fan of Elissa Sussman's writing. She crafts stories that are fun and pop-culture centric, with a witty style and characters that can banter like nobody's business.This book is her second novel that explores the "trope" of second chance romance. Unfortunately, I didn't care for Once More with Feeling as much as I did her adult debut, Funny You Should Ask.With that being said, there's still a lot to love here. The dual timelines are expertly paced and woven together. Sussman truly has a talent for crafting flashback scenes that slowly peel apart the layers of the couple's dynamics. In Kathleen and Cal's case, the slowly building love affair from their younger years added heat and anticipation to their scenes together in the present day.Ultimately, the lower star rating is because I had such difficulty rooting for the main character. Kathleen Rosenberg, as a main character, really tanked my enjoyment of the book overall. For a story that's largely about redemption and second chances at its core, I feel it's important to show significant character growth by the end of the novel - something I feel Kathleen ultimately did not rise to.

I came to love Elissa Sussman’s writing after reading “Funny You Should Ask”. I have to admit, I’ve re-read that book quite a few times. So, it wasn’t a super big surprise to me that this book would be another winner. Elissa does a brilliant job at creating characters who are relatable and who you want to root for, even if their worlds are somewhat unrelatable (like being a pop star). The relationship between Cal and Kathleen is so raw and authentic, and I felt like their story is very healing for anyone who understands second chances. The friendship between Harriet and Kathleen is also wonderful and very real. Basically, I loved this book!

This is my first introduction to Elissa Sussman. I’m excited to see what else she has

i’ll be reading it once more lol

For all the men decrying cancel culture, there’s a litany of women who were for nothing more than being the victim.Elissa Sussman continues spotlighting celebrity culture in Once More With Feeling, looking at 'fallen' female star given a rare second chance.As Katee Rose, child theatre nerd Kathleen Rosenberg, was the IT girl pop star. With her boy band boyfriend Ryan, she had it all. Until she gave into her attraction to his bandmate and her former theatre camp crush Cal. Her lack of backbone to dump vain, selfish Ryan (seen in flashback chapters) backfired on her resulting in her losing her career after a public shaming.In the intervening decade or so Ryan used his 'pain' for professional gain and public support (sound familiar, Justin Timberlake?), while Cal and Kathleen never spoke again, with Kathleen's name mud, destined never to be hired again.Cal and Kathleen's paths cross when Cal is hired to direct their former camp friend (and Kathleen's best friend) Harriet's musical. Old feelings are stirred along with the rancour and hurt.This book was a wonderful, easy read and I especially loved the chapters that focused on the work of putting together a professional musical. With flashback chapters we chart the past slow-burn between Kathleen and Cal which explains why she cheated on Ryan and how youth and lack of assertiveness (unfairly) contributed to her downfall.The book also takes aim at the sexism and misogyny high-profile women undergo; however, I feel that this was too subtle and a missed opportunity to make this a larger part of the narrative beat – Kathleen is told that fans are re-examining in a new light how badly she was treated, but we don’t see any real response, this missing what could’ve been a powerful emotional beat. Why didn’t Kathleen sit down to do a real interview with a trusted reporter to tell her side given the groundswell of support?Additionally, what was lacking for me was how Kathleen’s growth comes far too late in the book. For all her past therapy we don’t see much evidence of any growth in the intervening years. She even mentions that she should contact her therapist but chooses not to despite so much being at stake. I’d have loved to also have seen more of her working to get herself back in theatre ‘shape’ (figuratively speaking). She has an issue with the choreography but instead its just resolved with Cal changing it – I found the work scenes enthralling so this was another chance to see how she was working on herself.But despite these quibbles, I devoured this book. I am all about second chance romances, but especially ones where our lead characters are getting a second chance to rebuild themselves. If you like a well-layered, thoughtful story of triumph, add this to your bookshelf.