I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: word of mouth is one of the best ways to find books.
That’s part of how I came across Celebrity Crush by Christy Swift. At the end of my interview with audiobook narrator Andrew Eiden (aka Teddy Hamilton), I asked what books he was hyped about and he gushed about voicing Celebrity Crush. I had already requested it from the publisher, so of course, that moved it up the TBR pile.
Celebrity Crush [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM] is about a single mom named Emmy who is getting to live her best life. She wrote a romance novel based on her own celebrity crush. During the promo tour appearance on a talk show, the host brings out four actors she thinks it could be, and of course, Jason is right there, so she reveals the truth. They have a moment and start spending time together, so Jason gets cast as the lead in the movie based on her book.
But while everything is going so well, Emmy is keeping a secret. She found a part of Jason’s past and included it in the story… and he doesn’t know.
Meanwhile, Jason has his own boatload of drama. He’s estranged from his wife and the mother of his child. He can’t afford to screw up again or he’ll lose his job (think Star Trek meets Glee), but he also doesn’t want to be with her anymore. He wants something new with Emmy.
Celebrity Crush is a cute and fun romcom, especially if you’re a geek. There are so many sci-fi tv shows and movies referenced throughout and I don’t know that I caught them all. However, they aren’t over the top, so if you aren’t geeky, don’t think that will be an obstacle that could keep you from enjoying it.
One thing that makes this unique is I don’t think I’ve seen a romcom with both main characters being single parents. That extra layer of both of them interacting with the other’s child gave the story some depth, along with some other heavier topics, like #metoo and violence.
I listened to part by audio since Andrew talked about how much fun he had with it, and that was also fun. Parts have both narrators going back and forth as if in conversation, which is always something I enjoy. However, that was only utilized for a couple parts of the story, and I wanted more like that. The dual narrator parts had so much more life to them.
Overall, it was enjoyable. I wanted something more from it, but I couldn’t tell you what that would be. Maybe it’s just my distaste for one of the tropes involved (which I won’t name because it’s a bit spoilery), but it’s a solid debut.
Literary Hypewoman 
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