Review: Famous in Love (Famous in Love #1) by Rebecca Serle

Book Title: Famous in Love

Author: Rebecca Serle

Published Date: October 21st, 2014

Publisher: Poppy

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Series: Book One in Famous in Love trilogy

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Link: Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The romantic story of a girl who gets plucked from obscurity to star in the next major feature film franchise based on a book and the ensuing love triangles she gets entangled in on—-and off screen. 

Meet Paige Townsen, Rainer Devon, and Jordan Wilder…

When Paige Townsen, a young unknown, gets cast in the movie adaptation of a blockbuster book series, her life changes practically overnight. Within a month, Paige has traded the quiet streets of her hometown for a crowded movie set on the shores of Maui, and is spending quality time with her co-star Rainer Devon, one of People’s Sexiest Men Alive. But when troubled star Jordan Wilder lands the role of the other point in the movie’s famous love triangle, Paige’s crazy new life gets even crazier.

In this coming-of-age romance inspired by the kind of celeb hookups that get clever nicknames and a million page views, Paige must figure out who she is – and who she wants – while the whole world watches.

Disclaimer: I read this book with On The Same Page ARC Tours.

Review:

I was honestly a bit unsure about this book. I had had so many hopes for The Edge of Falling by Rebecca Serle, but it hadn’t worked for me. I wanted to give the author another try, so I joined the ARC Tour for this book and boy am I glad that I did.

Normally I dislike the books that are all about the romance. I love books that are grittier in nature, ones that give me those feels. Yet as it turns out, I really needed a fluffy romance book this time around. I’ve been experiencing a bit of a slump lately, and it was really starting to drive me crazy. Once I started reading this, I couldn’t stop. It was exactly what I needed. A fluffy book with a love triangle (I don’t normally like love triangles but this one worked somehow)

Paige has been a normal teenager, until she gets plucked from obscurity to play August, the female lead in a blockbuster movie. I liked Paige a lot even though I couldn’t really relate to her. She was dealing with a lot of sudden changes, and at first she seems to want to stay connected with Cassandra and Jake, her friends from back home, but then she seemed to let things shift, where it became more about the movie and becoming August, and less about still being herself.

I normally don’t root for the “bad boy” but Jordan was awesome. He showed more of his personal side to Paige than Rainer ever did. He treated Paige like an equal, and that was something Rainer didn’t do. He protected her and coddled her and acted like she was a poor helpless little girl just because she was brand new to the scene. Rainer used to be the type of guy I’d go after. The fiercely protective type, and in fact my ex fiance was very much like him.

The cliffhanger! It’s gonna be a long wait to find out what happens next. I’m sure the drama is only beginning now that Paige picked her man (for now at least) Definitely read it if you’re up for a fun read with drama and love triangles at the center of it all. I’m giving this book 4 stars and I cannot wait to see what happens next.

Review: The Edge Of Falling by Rebecca Serle

Book Title: The Edge Of Falling

Author: Rebecca Serle

Release Date: March 18th, 2014

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Growing up in privileged, Manhattan social circles, Caggie’s life should be perfect, and it almost was until the day that her younger sister drowned when Caggie was supposed to be watching her. Stricken by grief, Caggie pulls away from her friends and family, only to have everyone misinterpret a crucial moment when she supposedly saves a fellow classmate from suicide. Now she’s famous for something she didn’t do and everyone lauds her as a hero. But inside she still blames herself for the death of her sister and continues to pull away from everything in her life, best friend and perfect boyfriend included. Then Caggie meets Astor, the new boy at school, about whom rumours are swirling and known facts are few. In Astor she finds someone who just might understand her pain, because he has an inner pain of his own. But the more Caggie pulls away from her former life to be with Astor, the more she realises that his pain might be darker, and deeper, than anything she’s ever felt. His pain might be enough to end his life…and Caggie’s as well.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from Simon Pulse via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

This book was one of my most anticipated reads, but when I finally got to sit down and read it, I wasn’t interested enough to keep reading it. I would pick it up, read a few pages and then put it back down. I was hoping for a better pace to the story and more likable characters. Unfortunately I really only liked two of the characters. The rest of them seemed very superficial and their ability to be a true friend when Caggie needed them was definitely lacking.

There was a love triangle which normally I don’t mind but ugh I did not like the new guy, Astor at all. He gave me the creeps and I desperately wanted Caggie to return to Trevor. While Trevor had made some mistakes, he clearly still cared about Caggie. I didn’t know what Astor cared about but I don’t think it was Caggie. I think he was very disturbed and it took Caggie longer than it should have, for her to realize that.

Grief is processed differently for every person but I really wished that Caggie’s parents and brother were there for her more. Especially her parents. They were very cold and standoffish, which really bothered me. 

Caggie was convinced that her parents blamed her for Hayley’s death and watching how her parents reacted to her and about her, I suspected that she was right. The idea that Caggie lived with this guilt day in and day out was absolutely heartbreaking. For the most part I loved Caggie,but her attraction to Astor made no sense and once she started dating Astor I found her less likable.

The author spent a really long time with the inconsequential details which really bothered me.It was time that could have been spent developing some of the characters better like Astor & Claire along with the members of her family. These details centered around the fashions that were worn and I found myself skipping past those details because I honestly didn’t care about them and didn’t understand why the author thought they were so important.

The ending basically saved the book for me. Many times prior to reaching the end, I considered not finishing it and labeling it as a DNF (Did Not Finish) but I am glad I finished this book. I didn’t love it but I also didn’t hate it. The end was full of surprises and the pace had quickened which I was thrilled about.At the end we also found out the truth about what happened that night she supposedly saved a classmate from ending her life. Honestly that was something I had guessed awhile before so I felt a little bit let down about that.

So this book gets 3 stars. Some of it I loved like Caggie and Caggie & Trevor’s relationship as well as the ending. Yet some of it I hated like the lack of character development for everyone but Caggie, Caggie & Astor’s relationship and the telling of very minor and in my opinion, unimportant details.No I would not recommend this book, however other people have liked it so give it a try if you want to.