Blind Item Series, Book 1

April 3, 2017
Ohio native Nicola never thought she’d end up in Hollywood working as a publicist and attending birthday parties for the rich and mostly famous. But when her meth-dealing boyfriend is thrown in jail, her best friend Billy, a freelance “journalist” selling gossip to the highest bidder, sets up a new life for her in L.A., far away from the drama back home. Nicola soon finds herself in compromising situations with some of Hollywood’s biggest heartthrobs while trying to keep herself out of the spotlight. Falling in love with an actor is the last thing she wants to do, but leading man Seamus O’Riordan is doing everything in his power to sweep her off her feet. Between managing her roommate Kara’s burgeoning reality TV stardom, Billy’s romantic escapades, and scandalous entanglements, Nicola can barely keep herself rooted to the ground. Hollywood insiders, entertainment reporter Dickson and Hollywood publicist Ketsoyan, take “write what you know” to a whole new level: sprinkled throughout this rags-to-riches wish-fulfillment story are real scandals that busy publicists and managers managed to hush up and hide.

April 15, 2017
An ingenue from Ohio tries to make it in Hollywood only to find a city more flawed than she once dreamed.Nicola moved to LA from Ohio to work in public relations alongside celebrities she's idolized her entire life. Along with her roommate, Kara, and best friend, Billy, she further and further enmeshes herself in the culture of fame that defines the city, ultimately becoming the girlfriend of a movie star. But being a star isn't all she thought it was, and while Kara becomes a reality TV star and Billy joins the legions of paparazzi, Nicola is confronted by the ugly reality of invasive public scrutiny. Dickson and Ketsoyan trade on the very hunger for scandal that feeds the book's shallow revelations about Hollywood culture; they tantalize the reader by claiming the stories of sex, drugs, and depravity in the book are real, but they'll never tell which starlets got up to what. It's a transparent ploy to market a book that is ultimately hollow and unoriginal, with no new insights into the nature of celebrity or our societal relationship with fame's double-edged sword. From the opening pages, when Nicola goes from being an average young woman driving her used Toyota Tercel to being on the arm of a mega-star in the course of 15 minutes at a party, the book lacks depth, development, and realism that could make the subsequent stories of scandal more engaging and affecting. Nothing new in this tale of disillusionment with the pressures and culture of Hollywood.

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June 1, 2017

Gr 10 Up-A raw, expletive-laden peek at behind-the-scenes Hollywood, this novel doesn't just push the envelope but shreds it, perhaps telling far more than typical celebrity-obsessed readers might want to know. The tale revolves around Nicola, a savvy Midwesterner; her best friend Billy, who scoops scandals for celebrity rags; and her roommate Kara, a stylist willing to do just about anything to get ahead. While working at a Hollywood PR firm, Nicola runs up against the gorgeous and suave Seamus O'Riordan, a major movie star with whom she soon becomes intricately bound. Nicola is swept into a sometimes glamorous and often trashy web of fallen pop stars, ruthless paparazzi, and drugged-out reality TV castoffs. She is torn between her desire to live a semi-normal life and her attraction to Seamus, a complicated and seductive figure with secrets of his own. The teaser reads, "This is not a true story, but every story inside is true," setting the stage for readers to wonder which crass egomaniac is being represented in each vignette. This "Cinderella" tale, told by two Hollywood insiders, is a tawdry romp whose plot often feels like a mere backdrop for sexual escapades and raunchy talk. VERDICT An additional purchase for collections serving mature teens and new adults.-Sara Scribner, Marshall Fundamental School, Pasadena, CA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2017
Dickson, a tabloid journalist, and publicist Ketsoyan unite to offer up a frothy fictionalized look at celebrity scandals through the eyes of a trio of up-and-comers. Nicola is the assistant to a powerful Hollywood publicist who decides to set her up on a date with a television actor. The encounter is a disappointment to Nicola, but Scottish movie-star Seamus O'Riordan, whom she meets at a pop starlet's party, wants to sweep her off her feet. Nicola's roommate, Kara, is being similarly romanced by a rap star, but her aspirations of being a stylist fall to the wayside when she's pulled into the spotlight on a reality show. And Nicola's best friend, Billy, a freelance tabloid writer, is trying to escape the fallout from his own fling with a closeted film star. The celebrity antics are purportedly drawn from real life, but somehow the charmed lives of the three young protagonists feel far less believable than the antics of the rich and infamous. Nevertheless, for readers of US Weekly and In Touch, this will be an outlandishly fun ride.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)