Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler

July 1, 2015     booklovi     Book review

Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler

Release date: June 30, 2015

Publisher: Spencer Hill Contemporary
Number of pages: 312
Format: eARC
Source: Thanks to Dahlia Adler for the ARC!!!Rating:

5 nuts!!!

Synopsis:
Josh Chester loves being a Hollywood bad boy, coasting on his good looks, his parties, his parents’ wealth, and the occasional modeling gig. But his laid-back lifestyle is about to change. To help out his best friend, Liam, he joins his hit teen TV show, Daylight Falls … opposite Vanessa Park, the one actor immune to his charms. (Not that he’s trying to charm her, of course.) Meanwhile, his drama-queen mother blackmails him into a new family reality TV show, with Josh in the starring role. Now that he’s in the spotlight—on everyone’s terms but his own—Josh has to decide whether a life as a superstar is the one he really wants.Vanessa Park has always been certain about her path as an actor, despite her parents’ disapproval. But with all her relationships currently in upheaval, she’s painfully uncertain about everything else. When she meets her new career handler, Brianna, Van is relieved to have found someone she can rely on, now that her BFF, Ally, is at college across the country. But as feelings unexpectedly evolve beyond friendship, Van’s life reaches a whole new level of confusing. And she’ll have to choose between the one thing she’s always loved … and the person she never imagined she could.

My Review:

Behind the Scenes was my first ARC I ever received. I was blown away by Dahlia’s writing and I gushed adoringly about that book to whoever would listen. (Seriously, if you haven’t read it, get on that!) She wrote beautifully developed characters with the best witty dialogue and girl friendships that were supportive and wonderful, not to mention laugh out loud funny at times.

So when I saw that she was writing a sequel to Behind the Scenes, I couldn’t wait to read it and Dahlia was super sweet to let me read an ARC of it. I was hoping that it would live up to the first book and I was so so happy that it did!

Josh is a character I love to hate. He’s the stereotypical Hollywood jerk, with a smart mouth and an entitled life. On the other hand, he’s a loyal friend and underneath all the talk, a decent guy. Even though he lives a super privileged life and knows it, he faces plenty of problems on his own. It’s really easy to see the lives of the super rich and powerful from the outside and assume that they should have nothing to complain about, but Dahlia did a great job of letting us see inside their heads. Even with all the money in the world, teenagers go through the same issues everywhere. And Josh isn’t alone in his insecurity or worry about what he’s going to do with his life.

I love love love Vanessa. A Korean American actress in Hollywood, she knows what it’s like to feel like she’s running an uphill battle everyday with ten pound weights on each leg. Not only does she struggle to land new gigs because of how she looks, she also faces constant negativity from her parents who just assume she’s going through a phase and will settle down with a nice boy soon. On top of that, her best friend Ally has moved away and now she’s left without that day to day support from her as well.

I feel like Dahlia did such a wonderful job making Vanessa a relatable character. She isn’t afraid to shy away from these serious issues about race and gender in the media, but she also puts such a great emphasis on the two girl’s friendship in this book. Even though they now have a long distance friendship, it doesn’t suffer and I can’t say how much it means that there is a supportive friendship between the two of them. It’s so common in novels to see girls tear each other down, so it was really refreshing to see a book where they had a healthy relationship.

And the big deal – this is a book featuring a lesbian romance! LOVE!! There’s been a lot of discussion about diverse books lately and I can’t agree more that it’s so important to have books that teens can read as good examples of diversity. Brianna is Vanessa’s manager’s daughter and it was really great to see how Bri didn’t let Vanessa hide from her feelings. Vanessa goes through a lot of indecision and emotional issues trying to get to a place where she knows what she wants, and I adored every single part of that. It was great to see her discover who she really was and watch Bri support her all along the way. Also, this book is definitely NA and features a sex scene that does not fade to black which I really approved of. There are so many hetero romance novels for teens to read and I think it’s great that this is one that portrayed such a sex positive, respectful relationship between Vanessa and Bri.

I really can’t say enough good things about this book. It had wonderful character development, great positive friendships, a sex positive f/f romance and Dahlia’s witty, entertaining writing. If you enjoy NA books, I think you should definitely pick it up!

About the Author:

Dahlia Adler is an Associate Editor of Mathematics by day, a blogger for B&N Teens by night, and writes Contemporary YA and NA at every spare moment in between. She’s the author of the Daylight Falls duology, the upcoming Just Visiting, and Last Will and Testament, as well as over five billion tweets as @MissDahlELama. She lives in New York City with her husband and their overstuffed bookshelves.

-Jenny

 

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