The Stand-In

by Steve Bloom

Overview

The inspiration for the Netflix original film, The Perfect Date!

When Brooks volunteered to be a stand-in for Burdette's cousin who got stood up for Homecoming, it was with the noblest of intentions—helping a fellow human being, free of charge. But when he gets a tip of more than three hundred bucks, word spreads quickly and Brooks seizes the opportunity to offer his impeccable escort services to super-wealthy parents who want their daughters to experience those big social events of senior year.

Besides, Brooks could use the cash to hire a tutor to get admitted to Columbia University. So what if along the way he goes along with a few minor deceptions and cuts a few moral corners? What could be the harm?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781512410235
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/01/2016
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.60(h) x 1.40(d)
Lexile:	HL750L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Steve Bloom has written TV and movie screenplays for more than 30 years. The Stand-In is his first novel. He lives in western Massachusetts with his wife and their French bulldog.

Editorial Reviews

2016-07-20
A smart-aleck teenager who yearns to escape his dilapidated New Jersey town becomes a high school escort in Bloom’s debut novel.Brooks Rattigan—a superficial yet hardworking letter carrier’s son in his final year of high school—is desperate to attain upper-middle-class comfort. After the white teen offers to take a schoolmate’s dateless cousin to homecoming and scores over 300 bucks from the girl’s grateful parents in the process, he decides to expand his impromptu dating service to secure his path to Columbia University. Soon, Brooks is in the stand-in business, offering himself to girls from affluent families for senior year’s most important social events. Complications come in the form of two girls: Celia Lieberman, a girl with overbearing parents, and Shelby Pace, a socialite goddess. Though the setup seems entertaining enough, the narrative fails to capitalize on its promise to dissect high-class society, underserving its satirical wit in favor of high-strung melodrama. As Brooks slips deeper into the evidently all-white world of the superrich, he finds it hard to balance his demanding, college-bound life with the lies he spins to fit in. Brooks starts off a likable character, but his progressively less-than-admirable behavior is exhausting after 200 pages. And that’s halfway through the novel. A half-funny, half-tired novel with a fine protagonist to half-root for. (Fiction. 14-17)

Kirkus Reviews

"The Stand-In has humor, romance, and a definite dose of fun, and is a good choice for reluctant readers . . . . This is recommended for libraries looking for books that will appeal to those who want both an easy and a fun read, and, perhaps, those looking for a male lead in a romance."—VOYA

From the Publisher