Quick Synopsis

When a famous former child actress meets a West Village bookseller, sparks fly and complications ensue in this queer homage to Notting Hill by the author of Just as You Are.

Publisher’s Synopsis

Katrina Kelly might have eight million Instagram followers and a multipage IMDb listing, but she also has a completely stalled-out career and some major questions about her sexuality, which seems to be moving closer to raging lesbian every week. Yet maybe she can solve both of those issues at once. . . . After all, rebranding as a queer icon is a great way to jump-start an acting career.

Jude Thacker is fine. Completely fine, so please stop asking. Has the queer bookstore where she works been taken over by a boss who’d rather sell branded tote bags than books? Yes. Does she have a panic attack every time she has to leave her comfort zone? Maybe. Has she been on a single date since her heart was shattered two years ago? Absolutely not.

When Kat and Jude cross paths in the bookstore, Kat realizes that their meet-cute might just be a meet-opportunity. But what’s meant to be a temporary publicity stunt quickly turns into real feelings for both women. As the media scrutiny intensifies, each must decide what’s real, what’s not, and if true love is worth losing everything they believe is keeping them safe.

Book Review

The Next Chapter is a sapphic romance novel between a bookseller, Jude, and a former child actress, Kat, who is coming out as queer while trying to revitalize her career. The super cute cover and setting grabbed my attention as I was browsing for LGBTQIA+ romances to read in June. Unfortunately, this sophomore novel was not for me.

Kat and Jude have a great meet-cute that sizzles with chemistry. However, that spark quickly fizzles out and never returns. The story includes some tender scenes, particularly among Jude’s friends and coworkers, and touches lightly on disordered eating and anxiety. I do feel like this representation was not explored in depth enough for inclusion, but I am also pro-normalizing conditions with which many people suffer. I also am not a fan of an entire relationship being built upon a lie. I think it is hard to salvage much from such circumstances.

I did not read the synopsis fully before picking up The Next Chapter, and I will admit that I am not a fan of the celebrity-normie dating trope. I think our society idolizes actors and influencers too much as it is. Plus, I do not understand the draw of being famous and having all your privacy stripped away. Anyway, this relationship type is not why I found the novel lacking.

I was personally insulted by the celebrity sighting scenes in this book. They are completely unrealistic for being set in New York. If they had occurred somewhere else, I could find them believable. However, people crowding and pestering a celebrity for photos or autographs in a non-tourist area (in a bookstore, nonetheless) is highly improbable. People do not react that way in this city where celebrities are just other New Yorkers.

My largest issue with The Next Chapter is that neither of the two protagonists are in a place where they are ready to date. Jude and Kat both have a lot of work to do on themselves before they can focus on each other. The relationship included so much miscommunication, lying, and avoidance that I found myself actively rooting against Jude and Kat staying together. Their problems are resolved too quickly and neatly for the chaos that proceeds the third act break-up. While this novel, like most romances, is a HEA, I can see the real epilogue being a flaming break up where both are emotionally destroyed.

Overall, The Next Chapter is a book about a trainwreck of a relationship that should rightfully not have prevailed. As a result, the story is both unbelievable and unsatisfying. I generally do not recommend it, unless this is the kind of novel you prefer.