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lassarina's review against another edition
4.0
An adorable grumpy-sunshine romance. It was kind of weird reading this after having read book 5 because I knew where one of the major plot threads was going, but it was still delightful to see the story unfold. Charlie as a secondary character was absolutely a delight, and seeing Sabrina through Freddy's eyes was also great. This whole series just gives me warm happies.
clarissep's review against another edition
3.0
This was cute! I loved Freddie. She’s really likable!
Sadly I seem to be in a book slump. Not feeling the contemporary romance novels I’ve been reading. I miss my Rockton peeps lol.
Time for a genre switch.
Sadly I seem to be in a book slump. Not feeling the contemporary romance novels I’ve been reading. I miss my Rockton peeps lol.
Time for a genre switch.
syndi3's review
DnF.
Sadly this book does not work for me. Listening to the second hour, I realize the writing style does not click with me.
Sadly this book does not work for me. Listening to the second hour, I realize the writing style does not click with me.
leslielikesthings's review
5.0
There was a lot going on in this book, which could have made it a bit of a mess. It maybe was a little bit of a mess, but just about everything it had going on was appealing to me so I was okay with that. There was a grumpy-guy-falls-for-cheerful-woman love story with Jane Austen references and a literary mystery. I love all of those things! The one thing I didn't love was the cartoon villain, a spiteful and manipulative woman whose sole motivation seems to be her spite and who spends the entire book basically twirling her figurative mustache.
nlfrey's review against another edition
4.0
The "London Celebrities" series are the only Lucy Parker books I've ever read (I honestly don't even know if she's written any others), but they're good enough to make her one of my favorite romance writers.
I'm kinda picky about my romance novels.
I don't read a whole lot of them, so when I am in the mood for one, I want it to be good. After reading a ton of "Christian" romances during my teens and early 20s, I am thoroughly fed up with that genre, and want my romances to have at least some... "action." Steam. Passion. Ya know, s-e-x. The good stuff.
At the same time, I still need a storyline. Prince Charming has to ride in on his white horse and rescue the damsel in distress. She needs to fall in love with him (preferably after first hating his guts for a while. Because #drama.) There needs to be character development and a storyline that could survive without "steam."
Lucy Parker's books live up to my picky expectations. They have enough romance and "mush" to satisfy my romance craving, but also a good enough storyline that I don't feel as though I'm reading complete trash.
To put it another way, her story to banging ratio is perfect.
'Nuff said.
I'm kinda picky about my romance novels.
I don't read a whole lot of them, so when I am in the mood for one, I want it to be good. After reading a ton of "Christian" romances during my teens and early 20s, I am thoroughly fed up with that genre, and want my romances to have at least some... "action." Steam. Passion. Ya know, s-e-x. The good stuff.
At the same time, I still need a storyline. Prince Charming has to ride in on his white horse and rescue the damsel in distress. She needs to fall in love with him (preferably after first hating his guts for a while. Because #drama.) There needs to be character development and a storyline that could survive without "steam."
Lucy Parker's books live up to my picky expectations. They have enough romance and "mush" to satisfy my romance craving, but also a good enough storyline that I don't feel as though I'm reading complete trash.
To put it another way, her story to banging ratio is perfect.
'Nuff said.
brokenrecord's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars, but it might go up to 5 in the future. I really, really loved this. I liked it maybe a SMIDGE less than Act Like This, which is still my high watermark for this series, but much more than the others in the series (which I enjoyed but never felt invested in — this I felt invested in). I just adored both Griff and Freddy as individual characters, and their dynamic was so fun. I enjoyed the initial friction between them but how it was never really hatred. Like, even after overhearing him critiquing her performance at the very start, her reaction is just, "Well, he's not WRONG," and even though she's a bit chaotic and overwhelming to him, he doesn't think she's like terrible to be around or anything. I loved them getting to know one another and opening up and not being able to deny their chemistry and how they just kind of… grew from there. There are no dumb misunderstandings — even after the thing with her dad, she's not like, "I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN," or anything. She's pissed for a bit, but she was already forgiving him before Charlie even told her the truth about what Griff was trying to do. And their banter was a lot of fun! And how they both genuinely liked each other and were super protective of one another! And how she helped his relationship with his brother, and he kind of ended up helping her with her dad as well!
And the plot was interesting! I liked finding out about their families' sordid history, and I didn't expect the stuff with the at all. The Austen Playbook was also a cool concept, and I kind of wish it was a real thing. I mean, if it were, I'm 100% sure I would end up thinking it was terrible, but also secretly enjoy the hell out of it anyways. Everything about this was just really lovely, and I'm so glad to have loved it so much because I was worried Act Like It was going to be an exception for me and that Lucy Parker just wasn't going to be an author on my wavelength for whatever reason, but this was so wonderful, and just writing all of this brings to mind all the things I appreciated about it, so I think my appreciation of it is just going to grow from here.
And the plot was interesting! I liked finding out about their families' sordid history, and I didn't expect the stuff with the
Spoiler
plagiarismalinaborger's review against another edition
Loved every West-End-inspired minute of this romance where the grumpy critic and the idealistic sweetheart fall fast. It’s not *exactly* Elizabeth and Darcy, but it’s close.
mzdeb's review
4.0
Another enjoyable addition to the series, and it's interesting to see how intertwined the characters are in the British theater world, across these books. The writing still remains witty, and even when falling in love the characters still get to keep their prickly sides, instead of transforming into unrecognizable saps. It looks like Parker has gotten more comfortable writing steamier as this series has progressed, but doesn't detract from the story or seem out of place for the series overall. Highly recommended.