Worldwide Crush Kristin Nilsen

Posted July 8, 2025 by jrsbookr in Uncategorized / 0 Comments

by Kristin Nilsen
Worldwide Crush Kristin NilsenWorldwide Crush Published by Simon and Schuster on July 11, 2023
Genres: Juvenile Fiction / Humorous Stories, Juvenile Fiction / Love & Romance, Juvenile Fiction / Social Themes / Adolescence & Coming of Age
Pages: 272
Find the Author: Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram,
Goodreads

Rory Calhoun is a teen popstar with perfect teeth and messy hair who’s inspiring first crushes all over the globe. Millie Jackson is just one of the millions of fans who love him—but that doesn't mean her heart doesn't break for him every single day in this laugh-out-loud coming-of-age story.

How many of Rory’s fans collect “data” about him in a special notebook hidden in their underwear drawer? Or have faked a fascination with whale migration for a chance to visit his hometown? Millie may not be Rory’s only fan at Susan B. Anthony Middle School, but she's convinced she's the biggest—and the best.

Rory’s new song “Worldwide Crush” is climbing the charts, and his lyrics are clear: he’s looking for love—and he’s looking in the audience. Meaning Millie’s secret fantasies of running in the surf and eating waffles with him may not be crazy after all . . . she could be that girl! But first she has to get to his concert—his completely sold-out concert in a city nowhere near her home for which she does not have tickets or a ride. She just has to figure out how.

Review:

If you ever had a crush on a major celebrity growing up, this is the book for you! This coming-of-age story was very relatable, and I could picture myself at Millie’s age, obsessing over Jordan Knight from New Kids on the Block while reading it. Nilsen used her childhood crush on actor Shaun Cassidy from The Hardy Boys to inspire this story. One of the coolest parts of this book was that Nilsen included twenty-five references to celebrity crushes throughout history. It was fun finding them while reading, and I wasn’t even aware we were supposed to be looking for them; I just noticed them throughout. A link on her website lists them all, and I found all but a couple. While reading this book, I felt Millie’s angst and could relate to her emotional ups and downs throughout the story. Her mother was a great character, and I loved her grandmother. With a nod to the Judy Bloom diary story, I felt the emotional heartbreak and mood swings of a teenage girl just trying to survive, and who truly believes she has a chance with a cute rock star. We all have dreams, and it was fun to revisit the feelings and the silly antics that young teenagers get up to. This was a fun and super quick read, so if you’re looking for a cute middle grade story to read at the beach this summer, this one is for you.

About Kristin Nilsen

Kristin Nilsen grew up in California and Minnesota, listening to the radio, watching Brady Bunch after school, and reading after bedtime. Vinyl records were still a thing and she had her very own collection of albums in her bedroom — like ABBA, The Bee Gees and the soundtracks to Grease and Star Wars. This is where she met all of her first crushes; they sang to her from the radio, her record player and the TV and eventually decorated the walls of her room with posters torn out of magazines.

When the lights went out at bedtime, Kristin would pretend to fall asleep and sneak a flashlight under the covers to read just one more chapter. She grew up in a neighborhood full of readers, friends who’d call her up and say, “you wanna come over and read?” And then she moved to a new town and felt like a huge nerd because no one else read as much as she did. That’s when Judy Blume became her best friend; she read every Judy Blume book in the library – even the naughty ones written for adults – because all the people in Judy’s books seemed to have the same problems she did. Kristin finally got to meet Judy Blume as an adult, when she was writing Worldwide Crush, and told Judy that her influence on Worldwide Crush was undeniable. “If this book gets published,” Kristin said, “you can consider yourself one of its creators.”

Kristin’s upcoming book, The Scott Fenwick Diaries (on sale 7/22/25 from SparkPress) is the sequel to Worldwide Crush and Nilsen’s second middle grade novel.

You can hear Kristin every week on the Pop Culture Preservation Society podcast where she talks about the totally crushworthy pop culture nuggets of the 70s and 80s with her co-hosts Carolyn and Michelle. As the show’s Pro Crushologist (aka Andy-Gibb-ologist), her job legitimately involves studying why she once fantasized about being married to Andy Gibb and walking around their shared apartment in their bathrobes.

Today, Kristin lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the city of lakes, with her husband and her chocolate goldendoodle, Axl Rose Nilsen (fur brother to her human child, Liam, who is in college but somehow still has dirty clothes on the floor of his old room).

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