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NetGalley Review of Some Kind of Famous

Posted on October 21, 2025September 5, 2025 by caritagardiner
Screenshot 2025-09-02 at 5.28.04 PM

title: Some Kind of Famous

author: Ava Wilder

publisher: Dell

publication date: October 28, 2025

pages: 432

peppers: 3 (on this scale)

warnings:

  • drugs/alcohol
  • addiction
  • abortion
  • creepy men taking advantage of teenaged girls

summary: Merritt Valentine has moved to a small Colorado town to (1) spend time with her twin sister, (2) escape her past in LA, and (3) continue her infamous past and many personal demons. Though she'd like to hole up privately in her sister's house, he sister has given her an until-my-twin-daughters-are-born move-out deadline. Since Merritt bought a fixer-upper house a while ago, now she has to start having it renovated by the town's best/only handyman/contractor, Niko. Despite people's warnings to both of them, they end up spending a lot of time together, dealing with their troubling pasts and falling in love.

tropes:

  •  used to be famous
  • handyman
  • younger man/older woman
  • recovery
  • family troubles
  • twins
  • small town
  • pining

what I liked:

  • sisters
  • recovery
  • family expectations/problems
  • humor

what I didn’t like:

  •  some of their assumptions about the other

overall rating: 4 (of 5 stars)

As always, you can click on the photo above if you want to buy the book.

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WHAT I DO

I serve as a class dean and teach English to high schoolers at a boarding school in Connecticut. I’ve earned a Bachelor of Arts (Amherst College), an Education Master in Learning and Teaching (Harvard University Graduate School of Education), a Master of Arts in English (Bread Loaf School of English), and most recently a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with a certificate in the online teaching of writing (Southern New Hampshire University).

As a writer, I hope to capture the complexity and joy of life in the New England boarding school world. On this site, I share what I know about trying to write fiction while deaning, teaching English, coaching, and doing the other tasks associated with helping to raise over six hundred other people’s children.

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Read my recent “Why” Wednesday Blog Posts

  • 359. Why Count Up
  • 358. Why Count Down
  • NetGalley Review of Not You Again
  • 357. Why Embrace the Devil
  • NetGalley Review of We Fell Apart
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