*review copy provided by publicist*
The Real Real is difficult to distinguish, after Jesse finds herself selected as a cast member on a documentary of real high school life. She and the others selected begin to realize that this glamorous life isn't what they expected. As their lives and choices are manipulated by the producer and betrayal and lies become common, they each struggle to remember what is real and what is contrived.
Things I Liked:
Ok, the premise sounds pretty hokey. I admit, however, that I became involved in the plot. It was like a dreadful soap opera that I just couldn't look away from. I started to care about the people, even though I really hated all of them, even Jesse. I think it will be highly entertaining for people who like Gossip Girl or reality TV shows. It also had some funny parts, though I didn't like most of the humor.
Things I Didn't Like:
I really hated that Jesse was made out to be the star of the show and everyone loved her, but I couldn't figure out why. She didn't seem to be or do anything on the show that would make her likable. She was supposed to be the one that didn't do stupid things, but she did. Lots of stupid things. The whole story was so unbelievably contrived that I had a hard time accepting it, though I became enthralled by it. It sure seemed like things worked out really nicely for Jesse in the end as well. Too nicely. It isn't really the type of book I like, but will provide a few hours of completely mindless entertainment.
Read-alikes:
I haven't read any Gossip Girl books by Cecily von Ziegesar, but it sure sounded like them
Reminded me of the Luxe series by Anna Godberson
BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@#$
Overwhelming numbers of non-mild swearing
mrg-factor: XXX
do they ever talk about anything else?
v-factor: none
*note that alcohol and drug use are common throughout*
Overall rating: ***
I really struggled with the overall rating on this one - I was entertained, but I didn't really enjoy it. How do you rate a book like that? Almost makes me want to give up on star-ratings.
If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage
