2020 Beat the Backlist challenge
Review: Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss (Love, Life, and the List #2) by Kasie West
10:00
Series: Love, Life, and the List #2
Author: Kasie West
Published December 10th 2019 by HarperTeen
Goodreads Synopsis
Lacey Barnes has dreamed of being an actress for as long as she can remember. So when she gets the opportunity to star in a movie alongside one of Hollywood’s hottest actors, she doesn’t hesitate to accept the part.
But Lacey quickly learns that life in the spotlight isn’t as picture perfect as she imagined. She’s having trouble bonding with her costars, her father has hired the definition of a choir boy, Donavan Lake, to tutor her, and somewhere along the way she’s lost her acting mojo. And just when it seems like things couldn’t get any worse, it looks like someone on set is deliberately trying to sabotage her.
As Lacey’s world spins out of control, it feels like the only person she can count on—whether it’s helping her try to unravel the mystery of who is out to get her or snap her out of her acting funk—is Donavan. But what she doesn’t count on is this straight-laced boy becoming another distraction.
With her entire future riding on this movie, Lacey knows she can’t afford to get sidetracked by a crush. But for the first time in her life Lacey wonders if it’s true that the best stories really do happen when you go off script.
Goodreads
Review
I've had some misses with Kasie's most recent books, but had high hopes for this one, and I was pleasantly surprised. Meeting Lacey in Love, Life, and the List, I was intrigued about her love of acting, and thought that seeing her actually in her element, on a set in production would be fantastic. Lacey has bagged the lead role in an upcoming zombie romance, opposite the extremely famous Grant James. However, she doesn't have the right chemistry with Grant, and he himself is in a funk after a bad review went viral. To make matters worse, some people are speaking out against her casting online, and she's struggling to find herself while also completing the school work and battling her over protective father. When it seems that things are purposefully going wrong on set, just when Lacey is around, she has to work with the people she can trust to try and save her career before it's even started. Will her tutor and crush, Donovan, be able to help, or will her dream of acting crash down in flames?
Now, I really disliked Love, Life, and the List, and might not have read this one if I hadn't already bought it. However, the story line and romantic elements this time were soo much better than in the previous book, and I really engaged with Lacey as a character. I understood her worry and her anger at the situation she was in, and seeing her vulnerabilities as a 17 year old actress, falling for someone for the first time, and acting in her first big break, made her a real character. The chemistry and witty banter between herself and Donovan was fantastic, and it made me believe in Kasie's romantic pairings once again. I think this one has redeemed and revived my love of Kasie's books, and I will try Moments of Truth when I can get a copy.
Dates Read:
May 29-30, 2020
Rating
3 Stars
