tl;dr friends to enemies to lovers except he's a movie star
Premise
High school senior Alexa Brooks had it all figured out. Study hard, nail the extracurriculars, stay focused, and life would follow the carefully crafted plan. The problem is this plan was designed for one thing: making her forget all about her once-best-friend, former-potential-boyfriend, Carson Knight. Four years ago, he was the boy who always made her laugh, the boy she loved, and the boy she mistakenly and very publicly betrayed. Oh, and he was also the boy who grew up to become a heartthrob A-list actor, named Cayden McKnight.
An innocent-enough school assignment suddenly brings Cayden to the forefront of Alexa's mind, and her celebrity-crazed best friend Lindsey discovers the old connection. Convinced that his Hollywood bad boy image is the direct result of Alexa and Carson's fallout, Lindsey convinces Alexa to find Carson and reconcile, but reaching an A-list movie star is not as easy as it used to be when he was the kid Alexa called every night before bed. Unable to apologize in person but determined to somehow right her wrongs, Alexa goes on a quest to remake Cayden's image, doing good deeds in his name. But nothing is as it seems in Hollywood, and even when she's able to finally face Cayden McKnight in person, Alexa can't break through to the Carson she once knew. Is it really too late to make amends?
Rating
4.5/5 stars
Review
friends to enemies to lovers AND second chance romance? unparalleled.
y’all. i ate this book up in a matter of hours. it consumed me to the point where i told three school friends about it and they got invested in how the story ended. it was so beyond entertaining, and i became so invested in the characters that all i needed to know was what happened to them.
chasing after knight follows alexa. three years ago, she was best friends (and maybe more) with carson knight. but after a falling out, they stopped speaking. carson grows up to become a teen heartthrob actor (and notorious bad boy) by the name of cayden mcknight. a school assignment causes alexa to think of carson again, and she sets off on a quest to reconcile with the boy she once knew, despite how cold he may seem now.
i’m in love with alexa and carson. there’s a lot of flashbacks to when they first met and became best friends, and if they aren’t the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. seeing carson’s change from golden retriever boy to bad boy over the years, but knowing that alexa is able to bring out his soft side. bad boy with a hard of gold!!! they have such a unique connection, and get each other like no other. inside jokes? banter? all of it, yes.
alexa is a great main character. she’s strong-willed, brave, ambitious, and just a little stubborn. she’s definitely not perfect, but i loved her nonetheless. carson is a character that showed a lot of growth, and it was great to see him accept his vulnerabilities. i am also in love with him ok thanks. the side characters in this book are all really strong — this book really emphasizes friendship and i love that.
only a few critiques! this is all subjective, as some people might love the things i’m about to comment on lol. i got some secondhand embarrassment at a couple scenes — they were written well but it’s just something that i don’t personally vibe with! also (bc my friend pointed this out) — i know it’s fiction, but there’s something at the end that i would’ve liked to be a tad more realistic.
part of me wishes that the ending had more of alexa repairing things after straining her relationships with her friends and getting off track with her schoolwork/extracurriculars, but as i think about it more, i don’t really need that. all the scenes of her doing that are valuable, and the things left more open are definitely there for a reason. it makes things more realistic and i like the idea of her friends still loving her, but not completely forgiving her right away.
this was so much fun to read tho!! would def recommend :DD
thank you to penguin random house and netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
Other Info
Standalone (out April 26)
13+
Buy link: https://amzn.to/3oLiuq7
Would I Recommend?
Yes!
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