Monday, February 18, 2019

REVIEW: Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss by Kasie West



Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss by Kasie West
Fan favorite author Kasie West delivers an effervescent story about chasing your dreams and following your heart, perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Huntley Fitzpatrick. 

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.



MY THOUGHTS
Kasie West is an auto-buy author for me. Even though the books she writes don't always become a favorite of mine, I can always count on a feel-good contemporary romance from her. While this book was an enjoyable read, it did not make the favorites list.

Our main character, Lacey, has just gotten her first lead movie role in an independent zombie movie (based on a book). So far, she hasn't gotten the best publicity. Her co-star is a famous movie star and his fans aren't too happy that a nobody is starring in a movie with him. It doesn't help that Lacey's director keeps complaining that there is no chemistry between Lacey and her co-star and that Lacey's father keeps bursting on set, worried that his daughter is being overworked. Also, things on set seem to be falling apart, items going missing, lights falling over, and it looks like it is Lacey's fault. Lacey's dad hires a tutor, Donovan, to help Lacey focus on her schoolwork, which Lacey is none too happy about. She doesn't want anything to distract her from her goal of being an actress. As it turns out, Donovan can help her with her chemistry problem and help her find out who is trying to sabotage her, but she has to be careful not to get too close.

One of the more interesting aspects of this book was the use of movie scripts throughout the book. Every so often we are given a snippet from the movie Lacey is in, which helps to understand what Lacey is trying to do in some of the book scenes. In many scenes, she's actually wearing zombie makeup, even during her study sessions! It was also obvious that West did research on the movie business, even if she likely took some liberties, and having a YA novel set on a movie set is unusual in itself. I don't believe I have ever read one until now.

Lacey was a great main character. She is a lot more outgoing than the contemporary YA characters that I'm used to. Although, she still has her insecurities. She's just starting out in the movie business and she is worried about how the public is perceiving her. Yet, she is trying her hardest not to let her worries show and instead show others that she is right for this role and can be a fantastic actress. When she thinks she is having trouble with something, she tries her best to grow and fix it. When she was having trouble with chemistry, she decided that she needed to get to know her co-stars better, and she gained friendships from that. Her two co-stars, Amanda and Grant, played minor roles in the story, but I loved seeing how all of them interacted, especially Lacey and Amanda.

As for the romance, because of course there was romance, it was fine. I liked the dynamic between Lacey and Donovan. They had different viewpoints. Lacey is much more outrageous, willing to break into an abandoned building in her zombie makeup, which Donovan is less likely to. Lacey considers Donovan  to be"straitlaced". When reading the book, I fully expected them to get together at some point and I enjoyed seeing them interact in order to get to that point. Part of the conflict that Lacey and Donovan encounter is that Lacey does not date because she wants to focus on acting, while Donovan does not date actresses. This is not a new conflict in contemporary romance and it did not feel much like an actual conflict because, again, I knew from the get-go they would eventually get together.

The main drawback to this book was the way the sabotage was handled. I understand why West included it because it creates a further conflict and it did make me want to turn to pages in hopes that it would get better for Lacey, but I figured out who was doing the sabotage really early on. This made me upset that the characters weren't seeing what I thought was obvious. When they did find out who was doing it, it was over really quickly, which was a bit anti-climatic, and the motive did not really make sense to me.


IN CONCLUSION
While I was a bit let-down by the end, this book did make for a cute contemporary romance and despite the fact that I knew what was coming, I couldn't help but turn the pages. Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss makes for a fun read and one that is great for the chilly months. This book is the second in a trilogy of companion books with interconnected characters (Lacey is friends with the couple in Love, Life, and the List). I'm curious who will be the focus of the next book. I'm hoping Amanda, but it's probably unlikely. Anyway, I plan on reading more from Kasie West in the future. I already have Maybe This Time preordered!


I hereby give this book
3 Stars
Meaning: I liked it.

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