Reality Check

REALITY CHECK

By:  Jen Calonita

FIRST SENTENCE

“It’s only 3:47 PM.”

SUMMARY
from goodreads

Sixteen-year-olds Charlie, Keiran, Brooke, and Hallie live on the quiet and quaint North Fork of Long Island.  It may not be glamorous, but it’s real - and that’s exactly why they’ve get signed to star on their very own reality TV show.

But the cameras and the interfering producers surreptitiously scripting their lives start to affect their relationships.  Brooke seems to want all the screen time.  Keiran is written off the show - and consequently the group’s friendship - when she doesn’t rate well.

When Charlie realizes what’s going on, she figures out the perfect way to give the studio and her home audience a much needed reality check.

REVIEW

The reality of reality shows is that they are not reality.  I knew that going into this book, but I enjoyed the clever way Calonita presented it.  In fact, I am going to view reality shows in a whole new light now.

Before The Cliffs reality show, the girls were truly best friends.  They were nearly inseparable.  However, they learned that the cameras were only capturing part of their story and most of that was staged by the producers.  As you can expect, their relationships were put to the test.

The characters each had their own personality.  Leader-of-the-pack Charlie was bossy when she needed to be and she was a good friend.  Keiran was quiet and often had to babysit her younger siblings.  The producers thought she was boring, but I didn’t think so.  Brooke was the back-stabbing, camera-hogging bad girl of the group.  Finally, Hallie was easy-going and just along for the ride.  They were a typical group of teen girls.

I liked how the story ended and I found this to be a quick read.  Thank you to Little, Brown, and Company for sending this book for me to review.

RATING

4        Plot

4        Characters

4        Attention Grabbing

4        Girlie Meter

4        Ending

20      TOTAL

4        STARS