Amy SpaldingBesprekingen

At Her Service by Amy Spalding
Out in Hollywood series #2. Sapphic romance. Can be read as a stand-alone. New Adult.
Max Van Doren has a great job as a Talent Agent Assistant. She juggles tasks, phone calls, errands and reads scripts. Sure, she’d love to have her boss’s job one day, but she’s still learning. And her job keeps her busy so she really hasn’t made any friends. She does have a favorite neighborhood bar but that may be because she has a huge crush on the bartender, Sadie.
Max has goals but she is not really sure how to make them a reality. Roommate Chelsey, a gorgeous and self-assured influencer convinces Max to sign up for a new self-actualization app and document the process through Chelsey’s page. Max now has actionable items for her career, finding new friends, gaining strength and moving forward on love. Max feels like her life is finally coming together. But the public exposure can also cause problems.

Oh the angst of dating, career and responsibilities. It can be daunting in your 20’s. Or 30’s. Or any age. This story has heart and drama. It has sexy love and uncomfortable friendships. It has career ambitions and uncertainty. It’s has feel good moments galore as Max learns more about herself and what she really wants. And it has love. It takes work but finding and keeping love does. And it’s okay.
Chase your dreams. You’re worth it.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley.

I signed up for a book subscription over the Christmas holiday and on my survey I said I was looking for some escapism from the heavy news of the world and that I would read any genre. My first box contained this book: a YA romance about a plus sized, fashion obsessed lesbian in LA.

Perfect escape: Very light reading, quirky characters, snappy dialogue, sweet first love. It’s totally predictable (as are most YA novels and probably all romance novels) but thoroughly enjoyable.

Would I have ever bought this book on my own? Probably not. Am I glad to have read it? Sure!

Loved. Full review coming soon

My second attempt at trying romance and another early DNF at around 15%. It's too early and I am seriously not qualified to review these kinds of books yet, so no stars and more of a me problem.

It's definitely pretty cute and the writing is so much better than the last one I read, but it just wasn't for me. I think I liked the idea of experiencing the sapphic summer I never got to have, but I think I need something older, if not in character at least in tone.

I also just don't think I want to read a story in which everyone has a blog or app or whatever. Not knocking anyone who does that and I'm a long way from LA or 17, so maybe the cloud this old lady is yelling at isn't in the wrong.

Time to stop randomly picking from the Audible Included library and actually try and find something that sounds good for me.

Good plot but poor execution. Made it 50 pages in but couldn't get into it. I've liked some of her other books, but...

Cute LGBTQ+ romance about a woman, Nina, who is working for a publicist, and who secretly wants to be a writer / screenwriter. After a breakup, she has sworn off dating. Then, she meets Ari Fox, an out actress for whom she handles emails. Ari and Nina become fast friends, and after clearing things up about Nina's dating stance, become lovers.
But, Ari betrays Nina's trust, and vice-versa, and things get messy.
Nina's friends and her aunt stand by Nina, encouraging her and helping her to manage her sadness. Will Ari and Nina be able to work things out?
*Spoiler alert* - of course they will, it is a rom-com!

THIS BOOK IS ADORABLE!!! Sure the title and cover art might be embarrassing for a 30-something to be seen reading in public, but so what! I was LOLing like crazy and people were looking at me like I was a nut.... I didn't care a bit because I was SO happy. I'm pretty good at hiding my emotions while reading, but I seriously could not hold in all the happiness this book was giving me.

Riley- Riley is my new book BFF. I found her so entertaining and hilarious and awesome. I loved the way she talked in her head, it was so funny and cute.

For example:

"I'll be there with bells on," I say for some reason, even though I normally steer clear of old-timey phrases. Ted! Why do you bring out the dorkiest in me?"

And the way she talked out loud:

"No problem, I can meet you by your locker," I say "Not that I know where your locker is. I mean, it's alphabetical, I sort of know. Not by heart, not the number, just in general, it's near Mrs. Bullard's room, I think, right, is it?"

HAHAHA! How can you not love diarrhea of the mouth like that?? It's endearing.

I loved going along with her as she figured out boys and relationships and what SHE really wanted.
It was also really nice to read about sex and it wasn't made out to be this HUGE big deal. Yeah sex is a major thing, but not everyone obsesses about the first time endlessly like it's made out to be in books and movies.

The only thing I didn't LOVE about this book was that Riley was a tad bit too music snobby for my liking. It almost felt like she was tabulating points- for or against guys based on their musical selections and knowledge. I love music, and I love when books feature music, but I don't like it when characters get all high on the music they like, like it's the only thing worth listening to. There's a lot out there that even Riley couldn't have heard, so calm down girl, just because you're in a band, it doesn't mean you have final say on all that is good music-wise. Get me?

Reid is also perfectly adorable. He's super nervous and hard on himself, and I love that we got to see (through his notebook writings) that he was the more romantic one of him and Riley. It was also nice to see a guy and a girl who could be friends and NOT cross that line into something more. Although.... part of me almost started wondering if they would be cute together.... but no it was so much better this way.

It's been a while since I read a book that made me smile so big and so many times. I honestly couldn't get enough of this cute, funny, awesome Contemporary. If you've read and liked Freshman Yeah and Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin, then I would totally say go for this, they should be cousin companion books or something.

OVERALL: YES!!!! I loved this adorable, cute, squishy, fun Contemporary. It made me smile and laugh in public. That right there says something. I rec this to anyone who needs something light and happy in their lives. Riley could very well be your next book BFF... I know she's mine.

My Blog:

This was a really cute book, but I felt like there were some aspects that felt a little juvenile or unreal.

The relationship between Alex and Jules progressed way too fast since Jules supposedly was completely against boys and not at all interested in Alex. It would have been a lot more fun to see them have a longer period of flirting and of Jules trying not to fall for him. She ended up seeming just a total pushover in his regard; one kiss from him, and she's forgotten all of the reasons she had decided not to kiss him.

I felt like there were a lot of conflicts that just were solved too easily, that in real life would have been blown up a lot bigger and required a lot more discussion and solving than actually happened. If one has a huge conflict with their best friend, simply having dinner doesn't make it all better. I was frustrated by the lack of realism.

The main plot was a conflict over a dying newspaper, but the ending was honestly what I had thought of at the beginning and thus the entire conflict felt much more middle school than high school. I was also surprised by how many characters got involved within the conflict.

This was cute and I think the author has potential, but I felt that there were aspects that could have made it into a stronger YA rom com.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

For Her Consideration reminds me a bit of Behind the Scenes by Keralia Stetz-Waters but this was more emotional. Nina Rice answers actors' and actresses' emails for them. Ari Fox, up and coming actress is one of them. However, she's unhappy with the responses and suggests that she and Nina meet up so that Nina can get a feel for what Ari is all about. There's an instant attraction.

However, Nina is plagued by her ex's (Taylor) criticisms of her when they broke up. Nina feels cursed that her failures with Taylor will ultimately affect her relationships with her friends and future girlfriends. So she's steered clear of relationships, but can't seem to steer clear of Ari.

The familiar trope girl gets girl, loses girl, gets girl back is evident here but it's OK because you want them to succeed. Cash with a great group of characters, this is a story you'll enjoy. Go for it.

3.5 Stars
After having spent an embarrassingly long time being totally confused by this story I re-read the blurb and realised I somehow missed the very significant detail that this story is told in two different timelines going in different directions. I hadn't paid attention to the dates at the beginning at each chapter either. Yay me and my astute observation skills. I had to start again with fresh eyes and now I am sad. I am sure everyone who has been through a friendship break up knows it can be like losing a part of your identity, especially if you are 'do everything together friends'. You are left to establish a new version of yourself without your bestie and there can be quite an adjustment period. We are not talking about the slowly drifting apart breakups by the way. We are talking about the increasing 'tension and division, lost and bewildered, then shouting and ugly snot crying argument' breakups that leave your immediate future in disarray because you had quite a few things you were meant to be doing together in the near future. I thought the timeline and reverse timeline format was genius because it meant by the time the story ended we were left with a chapter showing how incredibly close and happy they had been, which brought clarity to how devastating the break up actually was.

Now I will say that I found Kat to be an incredibly self-centred and entitled person and she may be the cause of some DNFing. However, I encourage Readers to push through because she does have a journey of self discovery that may ease your dislike of her somewhat.

A cleverly told story that actually left me feeling emotional and in need of a long phone call with my bestie.

1.5 Stars

Another cookie cutter romance. Quirky girl meets cool guy (I can't remember if he had a lopsided grin but he definitely had floppy hair). Romance blooms. But oh no! They are now on opposites sides of a school feud that nobody else cares about. However, their attraction to each other and the rightness of their love triumphs over adversity. The end.

Update: To be clear, I don't have an issue with formulaic romance novels at all. The elements that make some more enjoyable than others are: the characters are interesting and have depth, amazing chemistry that leaps off the page, and dialogue that can be witty, intelligent, meaningful and romantic.

Sadly this book did not have those elements hence the 1.5 Stars.

This is not my usual choice read, but I needed to make sure it wasn't a little too romantic for middle school readers. This is a fun read with plenty of romance and realistic friend troubles. It's perfectly appropriate for middle schoolers who love romance stories, and music fans will like it too because the main character, Riley, is a dedicated drummer in a band with her friends, and bands are name-dropped all over the story. The cover of the book is pretty ridiculous, but in reality the story is a healthy, realistic look at friendship and romance with strong characters.

This book shattered my heart. It's a love story about a life long friendship that somewhere takes a turn, causing a breakup. Told from two different POV, in two different timelines, James, who is stoic at times, keeps her thoughts to herself and Kat, wild child who always wants to be in the spotlight. I think the ultimate demise of this friendship was that one always wanted to be the center of attention, without actually "Seeing and hearing" what the other had to say. The story also focused on LGBTQ storyline, as well as the breakup of a love story, along the same lines as the friendship breakup. The ending had me questioning some things, however, I think this would be a great book for high schoolers to read, showing them that it's ok if those life long friendships fade away, it's inevitable. People move on, it's a part of life.

Contains Spoilers: For those who love the insightful writing styles of Sophie Kinsella, Beth O’Leary, or Casey McQuiston, Amy Spalding writes a romantic, yet cautionary tale of just how impacting the affects of a toxic relationship can truly be. This slower paced queer romance was made for anyone who has suffered a life altering break up and may have not made it to the other side, or worst yet - for those close to someone who has yet to realize their friend/sibling/parent may be slowly losing themselves in a toxic relationship. Amy reminds the reader that it is ok if you are not right for someone as that someone may be completely wrong for you. Don’t lose who you are to keep someone who may not deserve you.

What I liked about this book: Initially reading this book, truth be told, I was bored - not because it wasn’t able to capture my attention; but because, like Nina - I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. I was introduced to Nina running late to meet her girlfriend Taylor, causing her to hit a pedestrian, so the words Taylor subsequently uttered were valid and the break up was justified. Joining Nina three years later, I too believed what she was doing was for the best if she was truly that much of a burden - until I was allowed to see who Nina was through the eyes of those around her. Being privy to the world she shut out, suddenly my curiosity got the best of me, pulling me into the story and stirring a strong sense of suspicion that Taylor may have been more toxic than perspective. What broke my heart and made me want to hold on to Nina was constantly watching Taylor’s words poison everything good in her life. Amy did an amazing job of slowly burrowing into my heart; hoping, wishing, praying that Nina would finally realize Taylor for who/what she was and stop standing in the way of her own happiness.

What I didn’t like about the book: Nothing, I love everything about this book. I loved how much Nina evolved and the ying/yang of her and Ari. I loved how much friendship played a role in Nina’s growth and support as well as a reminder that a therapist is the most important ingredient when attempting to heal. Most of all I loved when we went full circle and Nina crossed paths with Taylor again, she had no idea how her night was going to end but she finally got the closure her heart needed to open for Ari. She became who she was meant to be, in her own time, letting go of a sense of foreboding that was suffocating herself.

Words cannot begin to describe the impact this book will have. The first thing I wanted to do when I finished was recommend it to a good friend who I swear could have been Nina, with the same list of faults given to her by her former girlfriend, making parts of this story more real than fiction for me. Amy’s message of love, forgiveness, redemption, mental health, and acceptance is the golden combination of what makes a good book a lasting memory.

DNF at 25%

Heather McCubbin's review (you can find it among 1*) pretty much nailed it.

The beginning wasn't so bad. And I loved Reece and Bran!

Devan? Not so much. She's such a whiny snob. And she pretends to be white and fluffy and.... GAH!!!

I just couldn't handle it. So I quit. I refuse to waste my time on it.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Avoid this little... Um...

I'm sorry, but my polite vocabulary is currently unavailable, largely due to having experienced two horribly executed books with most ah-mazing premises, in a very short timespan of two days.

I hate how much I loved this book. When will they make literature this delicious and addictive. I guess that defeats the purpose. I don't totally want to think about the actual things I could have been reading in the time I read this but also, at least I was reading. Getting inspiration for my one day YA? We shall see. I need to move back to the lit soon. My brain is getting soft.

Firstly, don’t read this book when you are hungry. You’ll just crave food or snacks or coffee or numerous other things while reading almost every second page. Now, you can’t say I didn’t warn you 😀😀😀

I loved Abby’s character. She is very funny, has a great sense of style, loves fashion, promotes body positivity and wants everyone to be confident in their body and clothing choices. I love when she mentions that being fat is not an insult even though other people tend to make it that way. I thought the fat rep was great, atleast something that I could closely relate to, especially the part about parent’s opinions about our bodies and their belief that becoming thin will make us pretty and happy. As someone who is very subtly shamed about my weight frequently in the guise of “being healthy”, I was happy to see that neither Abby nor her friends consider her weight to be a problem.

The development of Abby and Jordi’s relationship is also very sweet. It starts off with friendship, hesitant smiles, little flirtations and the setup was so much fun to read about. I loved how Jordi never missed taking pictures of Abby because she found her so beautiful and considered it her best work. Their interactions, their well thought out dates and intense makeout sessions were too cute.

Along with the love story, my favorite part of the book were the friendships. Abby’s girl gang is awesome and I really loved their dynamic. It’s also realistically portrayed – Abby being closest to Maliah even though they are best friends with Zoe and Brooke, Abby not being very happy that Maliah is spending more time with her boyfriend leaving less for their girls only bonding. Abby’s almost accidental friendship with Jax is hilarious and I loved hanging out at all the burger joints with them. He may be a dudebro, but he grows on Abby over time and is also extremely supportive of her. There is one particular scene where he explains why he wanted to be her friend and it was very very sweet.

I love this book for a lots of things – bringing East LA to life for me (I’ve never been to the west coast), amazing friendships including f/f and f/m, a cute summer sapphic romance, well fleshed out POC characters and lots of beautiful clothes and food. But my favorite aspect of the book is definitely body positivity and also Abby’s belief that being confident in her body doesn’t mean that she needs to put herself (atleast her pictures) out there on social media.

teen fiction (summer before senior year, first love with queer interest in present-day L.A.)
I liked this more for its diverse main character (openly gay girl who is fat and pink-haired and an accomplished fashion blogger) and clever dialogue than for the story itself. Both girls are already 'out' and don't encounter any adversity for their gayness during this story--it is pretty much a sweet, simple love story, with gay (and very career-driven) characters. The book jacket rates this age 12 and up; I would say that's fairly accurate, esp. for kids who are interested in reading about characters like themselves (or their friends). There isn't any sex in here, but a lot of serious kissing.

An upbeat, sincere tone - 17 yr narrator is hoping to pursue a career in fashion, wants to have her own girlfriend/ "love story", but resigned to be the sidekick best friend to Maliah & her boyfriend Trevor. Treats gently her lesbian identity, family relationships, and her first falling in love with her fellow intern (Jorid Perez) at a trendy clothing shop in LA neighborhood. Full of breezy, southern Calif style experiences & a realistic coming of age plot line. An Evergreen book award nominee for 2021.½

Friendships can be intense in adolescence, when young people are struggling to define themselves. Friendships can be a tool for one defining themselves in relation to their close friends, but it can also turn into a barrier to struggle against. This book explores a best friendship that is struggling to accommodate the changes two young women are experiencing. Using the alternating chapter perspective that's really popular in YA romance was an interesting and insightful choice.½

This Nina Lacour “Every Thing Leads to You” read-alike features: two girl competing for the same paid job (and kissing), fashion, food, & going from feeling like the sidekick to being the protagonist.

Fun read

This book was so CUTE! It wasn't super memorable, and it wasn't super unique, but it was hella fun, and the romance was adorable!

Short List of Thoughts:

- Abby was great! She didn't exactly stand out to me, but I liked her. She felt real. She had passions and hobbies and insecurities. She liked fashion and had bright pink hair and spent her spare time on social media (relatable haha). She was a compelling MC and I was rooting for her.

- Jordi was awesome! From the very first time she came in I knew I was going to love her! She made some (okay more than some) questionable decisions, sure, but she genuinely meant well. She loved photography and her family, and ahhhh I loved her!

- The romance between them was super cute! I was squealing and flailing the entire book, because they're SO GOOD TOGETHER AND I LOVE IT. I will say some of Jordi's actions at the end were... questionable and sorta uncool, but she also realized it and felt horrible and they were just so CUTE TOGETHER.

- Abby's friendship with Jax was amazing! Jax was sort of an ass, but also I really loved him, and they just had the most genuinely sweet caring friendship?? And I loved it?? I loved it a lot.

- This book was super funny! I was snickering the whole time, and ahhhhh I loved it!!

- Also I couldn't put it down? I read it in one day, which seeing how short it is maybe isn't saying much, except it was also CHRISTMAS DAY, and I still managed to binge it in a day. So. That says something haha.

This book was just so freaking fun and cute and I really liked it!

This is a lot better than Spalding's other books. The emotional resonance and realism are all there, mostly, except Amy Spalding manages to write another queer YA book without the words 'lesbian' or 'homophobia.' This book could benefit from an editor; the time jumps and non-linear format were confusing for about 3/4 the book before they coalesced. Also, James is a little too stiff and unlikable and uncharitable and unkind for us to want good things for her. Other than that, this is pretty good.

I really, really hated this book. I gave it an extra star because teens need more lesbian romances, but that's about it.

For one, I'm kind of tired of 'diverse' books where the things that make the character 'diverse' are no big deal/politically neutral to everyone around them. If you are an out lesbian in high school, that is a big deal. If you are a fat girl in high school, that is a big deal. Abby has no qualms about coming out to her parents, Jordi's parents have no problem with her being gay, none of her friends (even the popular prep school jocks) have a problem with her being gay, their BOSS at their internship has no problem with them being gay; even in progressive coastal cities, these are things gay kids have to worry about. Even if you want to write a 'positive' book about gay teens, you can't just write them into a world where homophobia doesn't exist.

Additionally, this book is supposed to be about a happy fat girl? Who puts Splenda in her coffee, drinks Diet Coke, can't finish her own order of fries, eats healthy all the time because of her mom, doesn't like sweets too much, and just walks walks walks constantly and even gets more exercise than her thin parents! I'm not saying that these things can't be true about a fat person, but these things are heartbreakingly self-conscious when writing a fictional fat character. We don't need all this 'proof' that she eats and exercises as a thin person to care about a fat character.

The story basically boiled down to... people bullying Abby into doing what they think she should do. Her sister forces her to drive, Jax forces her to make up with Jordi, everyone forces her to be okay with her photos at the art show, Abby had good reasons to not want to do those things; why did she have to do them? Why was it okay to push her into it?

The plot also had zero stakes. Jax, a guy whose name she didn't know, just wanted to be her friend, to help gather a tiny amount of data for an app that is essentially Yelp. Her mom said something basically unforgivable to her but that's fine because (scene missing). And the internship that she's agonizing about for the ENTIRE book? It's settled in a one-off sentence about how both girls can share a part time job, because Amy Spalding has never heard of King Solomon I guess.

My last complaint: the characters were... no one. What do we know about Brooke? Blonde, tall. What do we know about Zoe? Short, red hair. What do we know about Maliah? Rich parents, incredibly mean and neglectful of Abby, absurd grudge against Jordi, no real redeeming qualities at all. I was waiting and waiting for Abby to tell Maliah to go fuck herself and she just didn't. What do we know about Jax? Divorced parents, likes girls... BMW. Jordi? Mexican-American, artist, uhhh likes Hello Kitty? Who are any of these people? Why should we care about them?