I think a few things about this book. Its set up started out as my catnip... Then quickly fell apart for some reason due to the forced proximity which I also totally love, but in this case I was hoping for some more organic. I also kept getting slightly caught up in the fact this felt like Taylor Swift fan fiction with stuff borrowed straight from tabloids. And the red lips. And she was 26.

Overall, it was a sweet story. Emmy did put me off by betraying there hero's privacy. I know it all worked out in the end, but I want impressed. I guess that's where it falls flat. The hero had a great story. I understood Evan. She was tougher for me.

It was a solid story, low conflict, cheesy ending with some good MN bits. A solid read, though not particularly memorable. 3*** ( )

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Emmy met Evan when she was a young bridesmaid, unaware of the world's realities and chasing a dream. As an adult though, her fame as Emerson Quinn means her dreams are managed by somebody else and her happiness and unhappiness is shared with everyone. She impulsively runs away to Evan Winslow, the handsome man who offered her an escape all those years ago. Evan is a quiet Art History professor who keeps to himself, his father's infamy for his crimes dashed his dreams of being an artist long ago. He doesn't want Emmy to ruin his well-crafted life, but when she crashes into it he can't help but let her in and soon his artist urges surge back to life. Together they find harmony, in living side-by side as friends, as fellow artists, but the attraction between them is hard to ignore.

Jenny Holiday delivers an easy, sweet romance with her new release, Famous. It's not your usual rock-star romance or famous girl, meets un-famous guy trope. Emmy and Evan are from different worlds and though they might have had a similar fame at some point, one left the world behind while the other rose to the top. What they do share, though, is a strong connection and a chemistry they fail to ignore. Emmy is hard to get into, she isn't as air-headed as she comes across, but she is stubborn and sometimes a bit of a ditz. Evan is handsome, hardened by life, and a fantastic hero in this novel. I think I loved his story more than I liked Emmy's, thankfully I really enjoyed them together too. Their romance is like a missed-connection, growing stronger with a small town as a backdrop and their shared love of art and hiding from the world.

I'll admit, the first 30% of the book wasn't my cup of tea, I felt like I was reading a story pulled straight from today's gossip columns. It moves slowly and Emmy is as cliche as they come, but overtime the sweet story grew on me. Emmy is your stereotypical pop star (read: Taylor Swift); her fame seems to have come easily and her life follows the same story line we are fed by the tabloids and TMZ. I am a huge TayTay fan, but I don't necessarily want to read a book based on her. What is different, though, is what happens when she steps out of the spotlight. She's no longer this wannabe book version TayTay. There is some really good character development in this book, if you can hang on through the slow stuff and some of the long stuff, like the lengthy push and pull Emmy and Evan engage in.

It was easy to see, from the very start, that Famous comes with an HEA. The journey to get though makes for a fun book and I really enjoyed how art played such an important part for both Emmy and Evan and the secondary characters. It's well written, funny, and a quick read for those that like that sort of thing. ( )