Logan Gray is Hollywood's bad boy—a talented but troubled actor who the public loves to hate. Mattie Cole is an up‑and‑coming golden boy, adored by all but plagued by insecurities.
When Logan and Mattie are cast as leads in a new romantic film, Logan claims that Matt has "zero talent," sending the film's publicity into a nosedive. To create positive buzz, the two are persuaded into a fake‑dating scheme—but as the two actors get to know their new characters, real feelings start to develop.
As public scrutiny intensifies and old wounds resurface, the two must fight for their relationship and their love.
Title : Stars In Your Eyes
Author : Kacen Callender
Format : eBook (overdrive)
Page Count : 352
Genre : LGBTQIAP+ contemporary romance
Publisher : Forever
Release Date : October 10, 2023
Reviewer : Hollis
Rating : ★ ★
Hollis' 2 star review
Another queer fake-dating story, and another two-star review from yours truly. And the fact that, yet again, this is coming after having really loved another book by the author, despite a rocky start with their works, is just a little too weird and eerie. But I digress.
Initially I couldn't believe this was written by the same author that destroyed me with Felix Ever After. And then I remembered I had read This Is Kind Of An Epic Love Story and gave it one star so, I mean.. I guess it makes sense. But this wasn't bad in that kind of way, it was just not what I expected.
Mostly, and I think what was the main villain here, was the writing. This was so stilted and awkward and I don't just mean the moments where things either turn into a "listened to a therapy and trauma podcast TedTalk" manual, though those sure didn't help either (please note, this story deals with a variety of potentially triggering topics so please seek these out if you think you have need of content warnings). Everything about these characters was at arm's length and that made it so hard to connect with Logan, in particular, because this was a character who had been through some absolutely horrible traumatic things and was rightly so completely fucked up by it and so, naturally, did plenty of fucked up things. He ended up feeling so one-dimensional, despite everything that would otherwise give him layers and complexity and emotional depth, and the same too was true of Mattie. While he didn't have the same level of trauma he had hurts that had forced him into a certain box and yet.. again, nothing. So flat.
Equally flat was the romance and the build-up and any attempt to sell their real-life chemistry outside of the forcing-the-chemistry for the movie and press shtick.
A book that should've drop kicked me in my feels was just.. dull. Even when I tried to force myself to feel things, to lean into the moments when the author tried really hard to sell a moment, I couldn't connect. I am hella bummed because stories like this, what is at the heart of this at least, are really important.
Also the random inserts, ranging from fanfic to tabloid to weird vlogging updates, were really not helping matters.
All this to say.. I haven't given up on the author. I think they said a lot of things in here, including valid criticisms on a variety of topics, but this will not make any memorable reading lists like I rather expected it to ala Felix Ever After. But what do I know; my flist is full of top marks and it has all the makings of a winner -- fake dating, Hollywood types and various antics, trauma recovery and healing, and so much more. So maybe, once again, it's just me.
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