From #1 New York Times bestselling author duo Erin Watt
comes the addictive contemporary tale of a teen rock star in need
of an image makeover and the teen girl hired to be his fake
girlfriend.
Meet Oakley Ford-teen celebrity, renowned pop star, child
of famous movie stars, hottie with millions of fangirls… and
restless troublemaker. On the surface he has it all, but with his
home life disintegrating, his music well suddenly running dry, and
the tabloids having a field day over his outrageous exploits,
Oakley's team decides it's time for an intervention. The result: an
image overhaul, complete with a fake girlfriend meant to show the
world he's settled down.
Enter seventeen-year-old Vaughn Bennett-devoted sister,
part-time waitress, the definition of "normal." Under ordinary
circumstances she'd never have taken this gig, but with her family
strapped for cash, she doesn't have much of a choice. And for the
money Oakley's team is paying her, she figures she can put up with
outlandish Hollywood parties and a team of publicists watching her
every move. So what if she thinks Oakley's a shallow, self-centered
jerk? It's not like they're going to fall for each other in real
life…right?
My Thoughts
I love Erin Watt, it was love at first page when I began Paper
Princess, and this new story couldn’t be anything but amazing. It
isn’t something unheard of, but Erin brings a lot of fun to the
story and you can’t stop crying when Oak and Vaughn are sad or
laughing when they are being smart ass with each other. I had a
creepy day and this book made me smile again, which is something
amazing.
“The good ones put your character to the f lame and
burn away all the rest of the shit until you come out a better you.
She’s one of the good ones.”
Oakley Ford is the ex-teenage star - it reminded me a lot of
Justin Bieber - he’s the son of two amazing actors, had more fans
that can count, a lot of money, girls at every turn and so on. What
more could a young boy want? Well, Oak, what he wants to be called
by friends - and after spending four hours with our nose in his
life we can call ourselves hisfriends - is an ass. He believes that
he is the greatest thing that ever happened to the humanity and we
should all fall to his feet. He’s nineteen so we can almost forgive
him for that. But he’s stuck, he cannot write anymore, the girls
stopped being an inspiration some time ago and he doesn’t know what
to do with his life. His manager, Jim, comes with a proposition:
get a nice girl, pay her and take the media off your back.
“You know, if I was stranded in the middle of the
desert about to take my dying breath, and a bunch of fans came up
and found me? I honestly don’t think they’d save me. They’d just be
scrambling to get scraps of my clothing, locks of my hair,
something to show their friends later—look, I got Oakley Ford’s
shirt right before he died!”
Here comes Vaughn. Her parents are dead and she and her sister
need money to pay her parents’ debts and take care of their little
twin brothers. A little bit cliché until now. But it gets good, I
promise. Vaughn is really good at pretending and clinging to what’s
safe and not what makes her happy. She’s the nice girl next door
with sassy comments and baggage and Oak will bring only trouble in
her already planned life, or maybe he’ll bring life into her
world.
“I think I’m scared of life. I’m good at pretending,
but not so great at living.”
Oak is really a nice guy but everything around him is fake.
His friends and his relationship with his parents are awful. But
what I really loved about Oakley is that he loved Backstreet Boys
and Iron Man. So when my favorite band and my favorite superhero go
in the mix the book that comes out is normally a success.
“But look at me being all serious. Let me tell you
about the time I caught Oakley singing Backstreet Boys in front of
the mirror when he was seven!”
“What pictures?”
Vaughn smiles. “Nothing too embarrassing. Unless you
consider dressing up as Iron Man for Halloween
embarrassing.”
And it gets even better: Vaughn has a boyfriend. How she can
have a fake boyfriend and a real one at the same time is a really
sad story, because her real boyfriend is a real jackass. The
problem is when feelings begin to stir and she no longer knows what
is real and what is not.
“You already have a complex. It’s called
egomania.”
As I said in the beginning, this isn’t a new plot. I have read
this kind of books before, but this one is a must read. It has
everything. What I thinks makes a good story become great are the
characters. There are some bad books out there that are famous only
because of a memorable character. Oak and Vaughn are real life
people when you read their story, they aren’t just names on a page,
but humans that have a life and feel just like everybody
else.
