Everyday girls find their lives are everyone else's business when they're picked to star in a Sex and the City-style reality show. Too-cool-for-school Scarlett and plain Jane have just moved to Los Angeles, where Scarlett will start as a freshman at USC and Jane will work for a demanding high-profile event planner. At a club, they're discovered by reality TV producer Trent Lord. As the show begins production and publicity, Jane is cast in the role of narrator and protagonist, much to the dismay of her pampered, two-faced castmate, Madison. The Hills "reality" show star Conrad uses an omniscient point of view to get inside the thoughts of major Hollywood players and the stars they shape. Despite an up-close view of their thoughts, all the characters except Jane are regrettably flat. Scarlett is smart and sarcastic, but those are her only defining personality traits. With little conflict until near the end of the book, there is not much here to keep readers interested unless they are fascinated by the minutiae of clothes and the hottest L.A. clubs. Completely unremarkable, with an unresolved ending. (Fiction. 14 & up)
As a child of the 80s and 90s, I’m hard-pressed to remember a time when reality TV didn’t rule the airwaves. It’s become such a basic cultural facet, whether it’s served up competition-style or you’re just watching a bunch of strangers claw each other’s eyes out (metaphorically, of course…mostly), that it’s amazing to think there […]