Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
To say I loved this book is an understatement, and I am honestly taken at just how *much* I loved this book. Based on its description, I assumed it would be a classic will-they-won't-they love story, but also fairly unrelatable given the Hollywood angle. It was so much more than that. The characters are complex, and I felt deeply invested in and attached to them, and there is commentary about race, gender, sexuality, without being hit over the head with it. This was a book I didn't want to finish but also couldn't put down, and I will definitely be coming back to it again. Highly recommend.
4 stars becauae I read it in one sitting without ever even considering setting it down
A truly fascinating look at the PR, etc that shapes what we know about celebrities. This felt like a unique take on a celebrity romance!
When I saw TJR’s blurb was on the front cover, I knew this would be good. I loved this so, so much.
there are no words for how much i loved this book. definitely one of my favorites now. what a great way to start the new year ✨ immediately want to re read this to annotate it.
Between a 3-4 for me. I think the writing style was a bit more removed than I like my romances, and the tone was definitely not as romp-y as I was expecting, but at the end of the day you’d be hard pressed to find me a fake dating “real or not real” setup that I didn’t enjoy. I did love how they let Whitman be mean and messy and controlling, but you still understood why the people in her life love her.
A frothy, pacy read. And, as romcoms go, this one nails the manufactured crises and separations between the two protagonists that undergird the genre. Not just misunderstandings for these love birds, no; full on PR and tabloid scandals with career-ruining implications!
I enjoyed - and also tired of - the references to online stan culture, found the idea of navigating a public profile as a famous person a wonky metaphor for more general experiences of selfhood, and wondered at the writers’ obsession with ‘belt loops,’ which are explicitly grabbed, hooked and generally toyed with no fewer than three times in the narrative.
It also joins a series of novels I’ve read in recent years that are intent on unpicking the idea of ‘celebrity.’ Swing Time by Zadie Smith and Sally Rooney’s latest jump to mind but there are bound to be loads of others. The writers of The View…, however, are distinctly un-famous, unlike the two wunderkind, Zadie and Sally, and so the default to autobiographical reading that it’s so easy to make is circumvented.
Otherwise [insert comments on its sorta mid-brow accessibility and thoughtfulness, attachment to the glamour of celebrity and something something something]. End of review!
I enjoyed - and also tired of - the references to online stan culture, found the idea of navigating a public profile as a famous person a wonky metaphor for more general experiences of selfhood, and wondered at the writers’ obsession with ‘belt loops,’ which are explicitly grabbed, hooked and generally toyed with no fewer than three times in the narrative.
It also joins a series of novels I’ve read in recent years that are intent on unpicking the idea of ‘celebrity.’ Swing Time by Zadie Smith and Sally Rooney’s latest jump to mind but there are bound to be loads of others. The writers of The View…, however, are distinctly un-famous, unlike the two wunderkind, Zadie and Sally, and so the default to autobiographical reading that it’s so easy to make is circumvented.
Otherwise [insert comments on its sorta mid-brow accessibility and thoughtfulness, attachment to the glamour of celebrity and something something something]. End of review!