Not the typical book I read but it sounded interesting. I enjoyed reading it and plan on buying a copy for a friend.

I really enjoyed this book.I loved parts of the book were interviews and news post. Great characters, fast paced book. Loved the drama this is the book for you.

The headline read: “Hollywood Superstar Kelly Trozzo Found Dead.”

With no suspect in custody, authorities turn their attention to best-selling author Kaleb Reed, whose obsessive relationship with the star has been followed by social media and tabloids alike.

In his online confession, Reed claims that his relationship with Trozzo began with a tweet, an unexpected endorsement from the pop star herself. Almost overnight, Reed’s novel garners national attention, and the reclusive writer is thrust into the spotlight. But according to Reed, the endorsement came with a price.

In the days that follow, Reed is invited to Trozzo’s Los Angeles mansion, where he is solicited to write her memoir. Lured by her physical appeal and charisma, Reed delves further and further into Trozzo’s fantasy world, ensnared by a twisted story of betrayal and vengeance.

On the night of Trozzo’s death, Reed finally discovers his true role in this story, as well as the pop star’s alternative ending to his famous novel—one that leads to his arrest.

Set in Hollywood, She Died Famous is an innovative thriller that exposes the dark side of fame and obsession in today’s digital landscape. The story’s shocking twists and unreliable narrator will have every reader asking: Who killed Kelly Trozzo?

This book was written in a style that is very apt to our current digital age. There was a series of blogs and other social media extracts,.

This book was gripping edgy and suspenseful and proved to be a great read.

I would highly recommend this book

I absolutely loved the concept of this book and the first half had me completely wrapped into the story, however the second half felt a little flat to me. I didn’t develop any real feelings for any of the characters and therefore didn’t really care who killed Trozzo. I also felt like the ending wasn’t very clear. My preference for a thriller is to have all of the information presented to me, so that I should have been able to figure out “who dunnit” but I felt that the authors approach here was to confuse the reader so that the ending would be a surprise. Sadly, this book just wasn’t for me.

Wow. Just wow.
It is very rare that I can't conceive what's to come in a book.
At the very least I usually have an inkling mere pages before it's revealed.

"Without sacrifice, their love and affection were just empty words."

Kyle Rutkin surprised the hell out of me with this one!!!
Right down to the end.
I will follow you into any dark abyss you decide to write Sir.
Much love to NetGalley and Greater Path LLC for my DRC.

Normally I don't leave low star reviews, but I really really hated this book. The story was irritating, the characters insufferable, and the writing was mediocre. I know that others have really loved it, so it must be me personally that it wasn't right for.

How amazing is the cover and title?! It instantly captured my attention and the storyline was fantastic. Go read!

Pretentious. That’s the one word that came to mind about this clever idea that was written so weakly and pretentious that at times I felt embarrassed to be reading about these two selfish main characters. Not for me.

I really enjoyed this book! I liked the differing points of view throughout and how you heard different sides of the story from the people involved. I'm also a big fan of the unreliable narrator, which is big in this book. The book was well-written, easy to read, and I found myself rooting for Kaleb to pull it together. I would definitely recommend this to my friends!

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for my honest opinion.*

My lingering impression of this book is that all of the characters are a bunch of bastards.

They're all selfish, obsessive and destructive - they burn too bright as they race towards whatever it is they want, regardless of who it hurts. They're masters at rationalising their actions to make them seem less self serving and awful but really, they are just a bunch of bastards.

So many vices, selfish behaviours and untreated mental illnesses that they inflict on each other and thrive on.

I love the format of this book, with the chapters bouncing between time frames, narrators and styles - each one is as unreliable as the last and it's only at the end that you get a taste of the truth.

Kelly Trosso is a celebrity who inspires her fans and demands their complete loyalty - the book opens shortly after her death and we learn that her lover is on the run. We have to wade through all of these accounts to get to the truth of what happened to her and what led to her death.

Though I did find the pacing a little slow, it was a good representation of the self indulgent attitude of the characters. This is by no means a feel-good book, it leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth but at the same time - you can't stop yourself from turning the pages and seeing how the other half lives.

I had high hopes for this book! Unfortunately I just could not get into it. The synopsis grabbed me but unfortunately the story didn’t.

The writing of this book was good, I just found it to be too slow going for me to enjoy it. Unfortunately not a book for me.

"You think I'm a monster, don't you?" The detective was right...I was...I am...a a monster. I am capable of terrible things.
She Died Famous by author Kyle Rutkin is written in a creative format for a thriller about an unsolved murder. This book is not what the blurbs advertised. As I attempted to read this compilation of confused thoughts, drug dreams, and dark imaginings, I felt dirty and repulsed. The CONTENT is NOT creative, interesting, nor does it answer the question of the murder.
So in the words of the author, " The truth wasn't that simple. My characters are products of my past.", I hope this is not true for the author, Kyle Rutkin. The book is not an interesting work, but dark ramblings. I could not read all of the book, and I do not consider it a psychological thriller.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The cover and premise of this book are what drew me in.
This author had quite a great premise for a book- a Hollywood starlet gets murdered along with her manager and her ex-lover is the one who holds all the clues to her death. However, the execution was poor.

The only good thing I have to say about this book is that I liked the format in which it was told. We have a blend of blog posts, police interviews, and magazine interviews, all of different perspectives. It was an enjoyable and highly readable format.

Now for the things I didn’t like about this book:

The writing- it was like reading a highly edited fanfic. Clunky, cliche, and at times difficult to discern which character point of view we were reading from.

The characters- stereotypical and annoying rich brats.
Kaleb has had a bit of a rough life that's lead him down a dark tunnel of drug abuse, anger issues, and obsessive and stalker-like behavior. He wrote a book of fiction that was more based on fact about a relationship he had with a married woman who was being abused by her husband, in which he thought it was his duty to protect her, so her proceeds to stalk her and try to force a romantic relationship (which is what eventually happens).

Kelly, this huge tv/pop star (think Miley Cyrus) read this book, becomes obsessed with it, arranges to meet Kaleb, has a sexual relationship with and ropes him into writing her life’s story.
Both have major drug abuse and mental health issues, they are selfish, toxic, horribly annoying people and easily the most unlikeable characters I’ve read about in a long time.
Kelly posts all this fake positivity inspiring bullshit to her fans, which she calls the #KTroops (eye roll), dubbing them as her “army’. She spouts all this crap about her ‘craft’ and the art of it all while intertwining one of her favorite stories from Greek mythology as her inspiration.
She comes off as a crazy full of herself cult-like leader (reminds me of Charles Manson). It’s also notable that one of her ‘friends’ in the book remarked on how Kelly craved the abuse from partners and people in her life. I thought that was super strange and felt like a romanticization of domestic abuse.
Kaleb is just as horrible. He’s also very selfish, never thinks of others, is quite misogynistic towards women, very possessive, has no idea he’s being strung along, and has no boundaries at all and feels like he always has to save the women in his life.

The sex scenes in this book are horrid (sex while so drugged up none of them could really consent.) Kaleb “wants” Kelly and she knows this. He is constantly fixated on her body, staring at “the way her ass jiggles and bounces as she walks up the stairs”, getting an erection as he stares at her ass while she walks away, noting how she doesn’t wear much make-up like other girls in Hollywood, is always so effortlessly pretty. He talks about how he undresses her with his mind and how he wants to be inside her- and as if Kelly was reading his mind he gets what he wants. I will not repeat the sex scenes here, I skipped most of them. The majority of these parts felt like Kelly was the typical manic pixie dream girl with substance abuse and mental health problems, and was the perfect male fantasy ripe for the taking and ready to serve Kaleb.
There is also a scene in which Kelly has a breakdown on stage while so drugged up she passes out. Kaleb takes her back to the hotel where they proceed to do the deed again after her huge meltdown. Very uncomfortable to read as it felt like no consent was taking place and Kaleb was taking advantage of her in a very vulnerable moment.

I think its safe to say that this is all around a bit of a trash book. I thought at some point it would get better, but it just didn’t?
The mystery around Kelly’s death and the events surrounding it were all very predictable. Quite disappointed and just mad that I wasted my time on this one.

2 stars.

**ARC Provided by Greater Path LLC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fine, Its not usually what I tend to read but I had heard good things about it so I thought I would give it a try, I liked the format it was written in, with the blogs, news headlines, and t.v. interviews but It just didn't draw me in like I hoped it would.

dark, edgy, and completely captivating. It is a story of not only betrayal and vengeance, but one of obsession, darkness, and the price you pay for fame. It is also a story of handling your inner demons and how every single one of us are dealing with our own wounds. The story itself kept me guessing all the way until the end because I spent the entire book having no idea who killed Kelly Trozzo. This was so fantastic because so many books can be predictable

Review: 5 Stars

I picked up an ARC of She Died Famous a couple months ago, mainly because the title and cover had intrigued me. But I was on a fantasy kick so I didn’t pick this book up for a while and it came back across my radar last week when looking for books for Top 5 Saturday’s topic, unreliable narrators. (Check out last week’s Top 5 Saturday post here!) Something about this book just drew me to it. I don’t know what I really expected, but what I got was a raw, and twisted read that kept me on the edge of my seat. She Died Famous is one of those books that I know will stick with me for a long time. I could relate to each character in the story even if I couldn’t relate to celebrity life I could relate to the humanity in each of the characters.

I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like She Died Famous. It was so dark, gritty and authentic. It was really twisted and full of sick, flawed characters. But there was truth in this story. There was love in this book, even if it was a dark and messy love. The story took you into the mind of a stalker who had mental illness and a drug addiction and made you understand him and even empathize with him. I was able to relate to these incredibly flawed characters while they battled their darkest demons. Kelly, Kaleb and Sara battled abuse, trauma, loss, mental illness and drug addiction. While this novel was quite the thriller and filled with suspense it was also a story about human suffering. She Died Famous really got into my head and I don’t think that I will forget it anytime soon.

Kyle Rutkin did a fantastic job of creating a celebrity character that felt larger than life and he also made a fantastic choice to write in first person from Kaleb’s perspective. Through his obsession I started to feel obsessed with Kelly myself. Through Kyle Rutkin’s writing his characters shined so bright, but they also cast giant shadows that they drowned themselves in. She Died Famous is probably one of the best portrayals of drug addiction and mental illness that I’ve ever read. This book is dark, but it is fantastic.

I really loved the way that the story is told. Through interviews, news articles, blog posts and flashbacks the reader is told the events leading up to Kelly’s death. Reading the story as it was told in this way made me feel like a fan following the story of Kelly’s death. Each character’s perspective couldn’t be trusted. Some of the characters were mentally ill or suffered from drug addiction, viewed the same event drastically different from one another and some of the characters just flat out lied. It made the story so interesting because the whole time I was trying to find the truth underneath it all and I desperately wanted to know what happened. The suspense was built up so well and the climax of the book hit hard.

Honestly, I don’t think I will ever read anything quite like this book again. She Died Famous is truly a work of art that captured pain, love and hope in the most twisted way possible. If you enjoy gritty books, suspenseful thrillers or psychological stories I beg you to give this book a shot. You will not be disappointed.

Kelly is a child actor with a blossoming career but is riddled with obstacles including a suicide attempt.
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Kelly becomes enthralled with a book written by an author, Kaleb. She quickly becomes obsessed with Kaleb and wants him to tell her life story.
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I honestly don’t know how to describe this book as it is extremely unique and is written in a way I’ve never seen. The chapters include Kelly being interviewed by a media outlet, Kaleb writing in a blog and transcripts of Kelly’s friends being interviewed about her death by police.
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I really enjoyed reading the book and had trouble putting it down. I’m still not entirely clear on who committed the murder but this didn’t bother me. I think the story was fascinating and Kaleb reminded me of a character in a Hunter S. Thompson book. I think it’s worth checking out.

A thought provoking, jaw dropping psychological thriller that looks at the world of celebrities and fans. It's an intriguing and well thought out plot that keeps you guessing with all it's twists and turns.

Lady Gaga, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears. These are just some of the celebrities that came to mind while reading this story. She Died Famous celebrates the dark and twisted side of celebrity. This is all for the cameras and the Instagram posts and juicy gossip sites like TMZ.

Kaleb is hired to write a book about Kelly Trozzo after she reads his novel and sees him at his book signing. Kelly came up in the scene as a child actor and singer. She has a huge following called the KTroops who scream and fawn over her every move. Kelly tells Kaleb that she will make him fall in love with her and then break his heart.

This book begins when Kelly is found dead on her driveway and her manager is dead on the property as well. Told through interviews and blog posts and in a non linear timeline, readers will see how this format fits the theme of the book. There are three plot lines going at the same time. Don’t look for likeable characters, there aren’t any. In fact, the characters are so over the top that I found myself enraged at times. Like any car accident, it’s hard to look away.

I most enjoyed Kaleb’s personal story within the story. It was the only one that had some heart and redeeming qualities. This book won’t be for everyone but if you follow celebrity gossip and like the above-mentioned celebrities then this might be the book for you.

Thank you to @netgalley and @thegreaterpath publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.