The Scene Stealer

"The name Devyn Dane was once lit up amongst the stars. Everyone worshiped me. But now, I'm on the edge of darkness. No one warned me about the fall. My crash was lethal. These days I'm nothing more than a forgotten child- star with a tainted reputation. Redemption is what I need. When a chance is handed to me, I vow not to blow it- I can't. This could launch me back to stardom. But nothing is given freely in Hollywood. Everything comes with a price. This time, mine is a bombshell waitress battling insecurities deep enough to rival even my own. The resilient Larsen is a mystery I can't wait to unravel. Her brokenness makes me feel not so alone. But together, we are a complete mess that should never work. I know it, Hollywood knows it, and someone is hell-bent on making sure we don't beat the odds. I truly believe she was my ally. An added boost on my rise back to fame. But the shine of Hollywood masks many things. She broke my focus, pulling me away from the most important goal. That's the thing with a scene stealer- you never see them coming."

I received an ARC of this book for my honest review. 

This book was not for me. I've never read anything from this author, so I really didn't know what to expect. There were so many inconsistencies in the story I just couldn't get on board with it. Everything in the first like 50% of the book happened in like a 2 day span, and if you've read my reviews before, you know how I feel about an insta- love story. I most generally can't get on board with them, you have to really make me believe in it, and I just didn't believe it could have happened the way it did in this story. 

The first half of the book is written like a straight up man meets woman, they fall in love love story. The second half of the book the author throws in some suspense, and I was confused. I had no idea this book was supposed to suspenseful, and it didn't really make sense with the first half of the book. And really all of the suspense and mystery in the book didn't start until about 80% so it felt like it was all thrown together and put on the pages. It all felt really rushed. 

I also had trouble believing that Larsen, the main character, was this shy, insecure woman that she was painted out to be. The author talked about how she kept to herself, and didn't really have any friends in town and didn't open up to anyone, but yet we were supposed to believe that without any hesitation at all she just warmed up to this stranger that came to town? It really seemed out of character for her. There was also a part in the book where she told one of the girls she worked with that she had always been expecting him to leave and that she didn't even like him when he first came, which was not true. There was never any reference made to her not liking him when they met? She agreed to go on a date with him, and he asked her the night they met. 

We were also lead to believe that Devyn was this man battling all these emotional problems, drinking problems, and family problems, but yet the author didn't really touch on the issues very well. In the beginning of the book, I felt like he was really struggling with his alcoholism, and that might be a huge part of the story, but it was like as soon as he found out about this dream job he just quit drinking and it wasn't really brought up much any more. He didn't really "struggle" with it. There was also this emotional turmoil with his parents, and you were made to believe they were trying to re-enter his life, but they never did. His cousin mentioned they were trying to get back into his life, but there was never that confrontation with them that I felt like the character needed for character development. 

There was one part of the story that I highlighted because I didn't really get where the author was coming from. The small part says, "But he should move on. I should move on. We don't belong together. We're like a messed up version of Romeo and Juliet, two star-crossed lovers destined to meet, but instead of the poison and dagger in the Shakespeare play, Hollywood wields an unforgiving weapon in the form of gossip and photographs. Truth holds no power over the desire to watch someone crumble beneath the words of falsehoods." I just don't get how this makes any sense in this particular story. They weren't star crossed lovers, they didn't have two rival families keeping them apart, they were two strangers who met, spent two days together, and then spent the rest of the story missing each others phone calls, writing one or two letters here and there, and visiting each other twice. I just don't understand, and I guess I didn't make that connection when I read the story. 

Overall, I'm giving this one 2 STARS. There is nothing I hate more than not loving a book, and while this one wasn't for me, it very well might be the book for you. I always hope that people will still give a book a chance, even if they see a not so great review for one. I just didn't connect with this story, and I was confused so I didn't connect well with the characters. This will also not detour me away from trying this author again in the future.