Rachel Carmichael, a former global movie star, disappears from the spotlight after her high-profile marriage ends. Her niece, Harley Roth, struggling to make it in Hollywood, sees an opportunity when a movie about Rachel’s life is announced. Hoping for her big break, Harley gets unexpectedly close to Rachel, who is finally ready to share her story. But in Hollywood, truth and illusion blur.

Told from both women’s perspectives, the novel explores fame, ambition, and identity, with twists that keep readers guessing. Rachel’s diary offers a raw and humorous look into her life, while Harley wrestles with her own motivations. A gripping and well-crafted story, this novel delivers both depth and drama.

This book fell a little short of my expectations. I found the mystery surrounding Rachael Carmichael to be quite contrived, and while I don't dislike a flawed main character, Harley was extremely pretentious and had a sense of entitlement that she did not deserve. She was very laissez-faire about things that actually mattered, but very particular about things that did not. I personally could not empathize with her whatsoever.

While the main idea of the novel was interesting, it just fell flat for me.

I had a hard time getting into this book. It might be the mood I am currently experiencing. As I have written with other reviews, I am a major mood reader.. I may give this book another shot when I am in the mood.

Caitlin Devlin has done it again. This book took me on a rollercoaster and I loved it.
Rachael and Harley are both two exceptionally well developed and well written characters, and as I read each one of their perspectives, I found myself completely involved in their lives and ways of thinking. Rachael is a character I feel I understand so well. Her ideals and morals were so clear to me even as she was stepping into the grey areas of Hollywood. Harley was a little more confusing at times. Her ideas about nepotism were so interesting to me and I found that she didn't quite understand herself at times. She wanted to work for her success but also as soon as she had done a single grain of work, she thought she had done enough, not realising that she had to keep going.
I loved the twists and turns. The way Greg and Elias started to become one in Harley's head and then as readers, we weren't sure who it was on Sun's Up. I completely understand why Rachael did what she did. She is such a complex character, both good and bad at the same time. As is Harley. But I especially loved Rachael. Her diary was so raw at times, and she was really funny too. I really enjoyed the way we could delve into her life and see the woman behind the persona.
This book was beautifully written and perfectly executed. I love, love, loved The Real Deal, and I think Caitlin Devlin has only get better with her second novel. These stories continue to impress me.

A very nice read that kept me guessing. It's fun and still a bit of a thrill in it. The writing suits the characters very well. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I really enjoyed this one. I took it on vacation and it kept me entertained without having to think too hard. This is a slow burn family drama, told in alternating POVs, using the glittery and seedy side of Hollywood as a backdrop.

Rachel Carmichael was the most famous global movie star of her time. When her high profile marriage ends, she becomes a recluse overnight. Harley Roth is Rachel’s niece. She is desperate to make it big, as an actor, in Hollywood. But in spite of her relationship to Rachel, she has not succeeded. When Harley discovers that a movie is being made about Rachel’s life, she is all over that. This is the big break she needs to propel her to stardom. Surprisingly, Rachel welcomes Harley into her world and is ready to tell her story. But is Rachel telling the truth? It is Hollywood after all!

I love stories that explore family dynamics and I love stories that expose the inside glamorous world of the rich and famous. I think people who enjoy Taylor Jenkins Reid will also love this book.

Thank you Netgalley, Lake Union Publishing and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on February 25, 2025

This book was fascinating, it was hard to put down.

I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

We follow two timelines, Rachel in the early nineties and Harley in a contemporary setting. This film centres around the film industry and the experiences of two related actors. Harley is trying to break in to acting but a series of failed pilots has her wanting to approach a different angle. With the encouragement of a screenwriter she knows, she befriends and approaches her reclusive, movie star aunt Rachel. They want to tell Rachel’s story in film and want her to divulge all her most personal experiences for entertainment.

We see two very different experiences here, Rachel who grows up with very little, has to support her mother and sister, and who succeeds through determination and hard work. She carries many burdens and has to take roles she doesn’t particularly like to be able to support her family and meet their growing demands. She is also naturally very talented. Harley has grown up with a huge amount of wealth, has rich friends and family in the industry. She regularly makes reference to how being wealthy makes her different to others and is quite patronising about people she knows who don’t have wealth. She believes she is supremely talented and doesn’t need to take direction.

What I found so interesting in this book is how unlikeable Harley is. This creates such a fascinating conflict for me because I wanted the project to succeed for the other people involved, but I also struggled with Harley’s attitude and didn’t want to validate her sense of entitlement. Harley sees herself as the hero of this story but really, she takes advantage of others, always thinks she knows best and is quite callous and cruel to other people. She’s quite hypocritical and can get venomous when this is pointed out to her by other characters. Her sense of entitlement to other peoples’ secrets and stories is really quite shocking and she never thinks she is doing anything wrong, always justifying her decisions to herself. It was so interesting and thought-provoking to read her sections from her perspective when I found her so morally questionable.

This book was a fascinating read, often dramatic without resorting to shock twists. An enthralling character study and look into the way people view themselves and the narratives they spin. For a deep psychological study in a Hollywood setting, this book was a winner.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advanced reader copy.

At first BORN FOR THIS feels like a pretty straightforward commercial novel--Harley Roth, an aspiring actress from a well connected film family, wants to make it on her own and connects with her famous actress aunt Rachael (whom the family has been estranged from since before Harley was born) with the hopes of getting the chance to tell Rachael's story about her infamous relationship with her ex-husband--but then things go off the rails in a way that I definitely wasn't expecting. Rachael is a chameleon of a character and once you think you might understand her, she does something that makes you rethink who the "good" and "bad" characters are in this story. This was a fun read; definitely worth picking up and going for the ride.

Born for This comes out February 11, 2025

This is a really interesting read, dealing with the theme of nepotism in fame. It follows two different timelines, the present through wannabe actress Harley and the past through her successful aunt, Rachael. These timelines let us get to know both characters well, and although they are both deliberately dislikeable, I still couldn't wait to find out what would happen next for them. The story is reasonably slow but enough backstory is revealed throughout to keep you hooked. I would definitely recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

Well.... I loved this!
I read Caitlin's debut last year and enjoyed that a lot. I expected something similar to The Real Deal, however this was so much more. I have a soft spot for stories set around fame and the entertainment industry, so I was always going to be predisposed to love this, however I have to say I was repeatedly impressed by the writing and general craft in this book.
I liken Caitlin's work to Taylor Jenkins Reid, although I've had a few hits and a few misses with Taylor's work. So far Caitlin is two for two.
What I was really impressed with here was the complexity of the character work. I really love when it feels like you see the characters better than they see themselves. I was never quite sure what they were going to do, and I was completely invested in the drama of it all.
If you love complex, layered characters, a peek into 90s cinema and copious shocks and betrayals, this book is definitely for you.

I received this book as a d-ARC from NetGalley. When I was 40% through I stopped, because I was finding it incredibly tedious. Then I realised that Caitlin Devlin had written [book:The Real Deal|193771976], a book which I enjoyed (I gave it 4 stars). So I decided to finish it. I regret that decision.
There were a few things that were putting me off in the first half. This book is told in two timelines - Rachel of the past, through her diary, and her niece Harley in present, told in first person. The diary entries are completely unconvincing. That's not how people write in diaries. The book also has odd time skips, in both timelines, where they just skip over weeks and months. I didn't care about any of the characters. It took me ages and conscious reminding of which was Rachel and which was Harley. No one is likable - they are not meant to be, but that, combined with uninspiring writing and an insipid plot made for an absolute slog of a read.
The second part has endless repetition of a film set. Very boring. The themes of nepotism are addressed at the intellectual level of a 12 year-old.
Then there is a twist at the end that is so luckluster I just couldn't care.

One note (and this might be a slight spoiler).

If you think you are someone's child, and you know how old you are, it's not hard to do some maths and work out that you are 27 and the time being discussed is about 32 years ago.

I was engaged with what was happening in this story and how it worked in the genre. It had that element that I wanted and enjoyed from the writing style, I thought the characters worked well and was invested in what happened to them. Caitlin Devlin wrote this well and can't wait for more.

I was really intrigued when I read the book description and was excited to jump into it. While the story is good, it often felt slow or boring and I found myself having to force myself to pick it back up. The writing is excellent, but the characters are hard to like, which I do think is the point of the story, but it makes it difficult to want to continue reading. It is dual time line, which is one of my favorite writing styles, and I enjoyed seeing Rachel grow throughout the years, but she made me mad sometimes too. Overall, it is a good story, it just wasn’t as gripping as I’d hoped it would be.

This book was pretty good. I do think the characters were annoying with lots of whining and ignorance, so that took away for me from my overall enjoyment of reading this book. I think it could have been better, but overall it was okay

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

🎬 Born for this 🎬

This book was kinda giving The last great american dynasty meets Taylor Jenkins Reid (especialy The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo) and I was totally here for it.

Packed with family drama and secrets Born for this was certainly an entertaining read. The book unfolds through two different points of view, each set in a different timeline. On one side we get to know Harley, she wants above all to be an actress but although she comes from a wealthy family with a recognized legacy in the media, she is not being presented with roles to work on, neither as quickly nor as important as she expected, until one opportunity presents itself: to portrait her aunt Rachel, a legend, not only as a movie star but also for her turbulent love story with one of her directors. With it we have the second point of view and the other timeline of the story, located in the past.


The plot unfolds little by little, showing how all the events actually took place and how during the present they are told with half-truths and the book reads almost like a thriller without actually being one.

The main characters (and most of the secondary characters as well) have gray morals and both of them do whatever it takes in order to achieve their respective goals and hidden agendas. This was very interesting for me to read and there were at least a couple of plot twists that I did not see coming.

I also liked quite a lot the writing style, is subtle but I felt like every voice on this story had a very clear personalitie and although the author plays with the similarities between the two leads, it is easy to mark and enjoy the subtle differences between them.

As for the ending, I would have preferred something more powerful, I was quite hooked and ended up needing a little more drama to be satisfied. I feel that, in addition, several things were resolved in a hurry and that there was "a lot of telling" and "a little of showing." Despite this, I think that in a general sense everything ended up closed without leaving any loose ends.

Born for this was, to sum up, an entertaining novel, well written and ideal for those, like me, who enjoy contemporary fiction with messy family backgrounds and a touch Hollywood aesthetic.

Harley Roth always says how loathe she is to use her familial connections to make it big as an actress. But when an associate asks her to put in a good word with her famous aunt Rachael, who she's never even met, she decides that maybe the time has come. She's tired of getting nothing more than bit parts and roles in shows that never make it past the pilot episode. She's not sure Rachael will give her blessing to a movie about her life, but she figures she has nothing to lose.

Surprisingly, Rachael agrees to meet with her and they do become close. Not only does she agree to the movie, but she wants the truth told, her truth - not Greg's like it's always been. Harley can't believe her luck, and pushes it further by suggesting she should play the part of Rachael. Not everyone is thrilled with that, as her acting abilities are nowhere near what they should be for such a starring role. Still, because Rachael doesn't speak to the producers directly, Harley pretends Rachael will only agree to the movie being made if Harley gets the lead. What could go wrong?

If Harley doesn't seem particularly likable, it's because she's not. Really, most of the characters aren't. The story is narrated by Rachael in the past, as she becomes famous, and narrated in the present by Harley as she gets to know Rachael and works on the movie. The story really isn't a mystery, except for determining what the truth is regarding Rachael's relationship with Greg and why she no longer communicates with Harley's family members. The book is more about the price of fame and how far people will go to become a star. You know it's not going to be as simple as Rachael revealing startling truths and Harley becoming famous and everyone living happily ever after.

Some parts you might see coming but other bits may surprise you. I think if I cared more about either of the main females, then I would have enjoyed it more. But this author has a way with words and drawing you into the story so even though you know it's just a breezy read about celebrity and fame, you don't care and you don't want to stop reading. I think everyone can relate to that to some extent!

I was captivated by this story from the start. I liked the movie star world and it was easy to get lost in the book about famous actors. I think Devlin did such a good job writing the complex characters and developing them throughout. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Bonus for an amazing cover!

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the eARC.
What a stunning book, it's one of my favorites of this year.
It features 2 female characters, both in the entertainment industry. Rachael, famous and accomplished and Harley, her niece who badly wants to make it as an actress.
The family is estranged, but Harley contacts Rachael and they start working on a film project.
At first I was in 2 minds as to the women ... who's the good guy and who's not? The answer was unanswered in the end - I went back and forth, but decided each had their reasons for their actions. All I can say is that the book was amazing, I.loved it a lot, plus it was a surprisingly twisted ending. Highly recommended!

Rachael Carmichael was a global movie star, living in a glamorous world of red carpets, money, awards—and a high-profile wedding to director Greg Foster. So why did she become a total recluse when they divorced?

Aspiring actress Harley Roth is desperate to be as famous as her aunt Rachael. But even with her industry connections, she’s still stuck on the outside, waiting for her big break.

So when Harley hears there may be a biopic in the works about her aunt, she jumps at the chance. After all, everyone has always told her she looks exactly like Rachael—so who better to play the part? To her surprise, Rachael welcomes Harley into her life, and agrees to talk for the first time about her marriage, and the mysteries surrounding it.

But the movie industry is a world of ruthless ambition, underhand favours and twisted promises. After a lifetime of acting, can Harley trust that Rachael is telling her the truth? Because family ties don’t mean the same to everyone, and fame always comes at its own cost…

Loved it. Will recommend to others.

Born for This by Caitlin Devlin was an okay read, but unfortunately, it didn’t fully grab my attention. I found it hard to get into, and there were moments where I almost considered DNFing it. The long chapters felt a bit drawn out, which made the pacing slow for me. While the premise was interesting, I kept hoping it would pick up, but it never fully clicked. It’s not a bad book, but it just didn’t resonate with me the way I’d hoped. If you enjoy slower-paced stories with a lot of detail, this might work for you, but it wasn't quite my cup of tea.