How to Be a Movie Star

Klune’s clunky second How to Be contemporary (after How to Be a Normal Person) focuses on Josiah Erickson, best friend to the previous novel’s main characters and an actor hoping to make it big in L.A. Despite those dreams, Josiah has only gotten a few roles in commercials and works part-time at an Applebee’s. He’s also high all the time, including when he wanders randomly into the library for an erotic fiction reading by Q-Bert, a screenwriter under his birth name of Quincy Moore. After Quincy offers Josiah the lead role in his next film, production moves up to Abby, Ore., and Josiah and Quincy’s relationship starts the slowest of slow burns. The novel has plenty of charming moments, and the main pairing is quaint, queer, and sugar-sweet—but Josiah is a frequently frustrating stoner, and the plot plods along at a snail’s pace. Readers will struggle to stay interested. (Feb.)