Ah, Kasie West. She's become a go-to for clean YA romance, and I could not wait to get my hands on her latest release, Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss. (Well, I did have to wait because I was way down the list on library holds, but I didn't want to wait 😃.)
Lacey Barnes has dreamt of being in a movie for as long as she can remember. However, while her dream did include working alongside the hottest actor in Hollywood, it didn’t involve having to finish up her senior year of high school at the same time she was getting her big break. Although that is nothing compared to Donavan, the straight-laced student her father hires to tutor her, who is a full-on nightmare.
As Lacey struggles to juggle her burgeoning career, some on-set sabotage, and an off-screen romance with the unlikeliest of leading men, she quickly learns that sometimes the best stories happen when you go off script.
I'm really ending up with mixed feelings about Kasie West's novels. I've absolutely 100% adored some (like P.S. I Like You and On the Fence), others I've liked but not loved (By Your Side and The Distance Between Us), and a couple I didn't like much at all (Love, Life, and the List and Lucky in Love, which I didn't even finish). Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss is one of those falling in the middle category for me.
Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss is loosely connected to Love, Life, and the List (though I didn't figure that out for a while, as Love, Life, and the List didn't really stick with me)—main character Lacey was a minor character in Love, Life, and the List, and Abby and Cooper make a few small appearances in Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss. All that said, you can (obviously) enjoy this book while knowing nothing about Love, Life, and the List!
I really enjoyed Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss. Though it took me a while to get into, once Lacey and Donovan started spending time together, I couldn't get enough of it. (The scene where I knew I was all in was when Lacey showed up at Donovan's school.) I liked the progression of their relationship, and Donovan's sister's reaction to Lacey was completely adorable.
I also liked the glimpses into the—what could only be termed "truly terrible"—movie script. It was a fun addition to an already enjoyable book.
While this isn't my favorite of West's novels, I liked it leaps and bounds more than I liked Love, Life, and the List, and I'll be eagerly anticipating her next novel! 3-1/2 stars.
Buy the book.
Read my reviews of West's Love, Life, and the List (2-1/2 stars), P.S. I Like You (5 stars), By Your Side (3-1/2 stars), On the Fence (4-1/2 stars), and The Distance Between Us (4 stars).
Disclosure of Material Connection: I borrowed this book from my local library and chose to review it. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
i really wanted lacey to end up with grant, i basically skipped to the end to see if she did and when she didn't i basically didn't read the parts i missed to see how it happened
ReplyDeleteThis book really hasn't stuck with me in the two years since I read it -- when I read your comment, I was like, "Who's Lacey? Who's Grant?" :-)
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