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3/5 stars
TW: eating disorders, bulimia, anorexia.
This book follows Dana and her best friend Olivia. Taking place in the late 90's (1997, if I remember correctly), Olivia has always wanted to be a popstar, and has worked her whole life on singing and dancing to get there. Dana, though, has grown up just wanting to not be like her alcoholic mom. Dana goes with Olivia to Orlando, and through a fluke, ends up auditioning too. Turns out, she has real talent and both girls are chosen as members of a new girl group, Daisy Chain. along the way, Dana meets Alex, a cute guy in a boy band belonging to the same music company.
My biggest thing with this big was that is was just one note (a problem I seem to have with a lot of contemporaries). After moving to Orlando to train, Dana realizes just how different her life has been from Olivia's and this causes a rift in their friendship. Throw in the boy, and that does too. Olivia grew up in a good neighbourhood, with parents willing to invest in her future, and got good grades. Dana was always scraping by, working part-time jobs, and just managed to graduate high school. And that's pretty much all this book is about. The one note.
Olivia is a terrible friend, let me just put that out there. She doesn't think before she speaks, and Dana is always rearing back from the words she says, but tries to brush them off, nonetheless. Dana's entire story here, ends up plagued by Olivia's constant overshadowing her. Her whole character ARC becomes based off the fact that she doesn't believe in herself, and I blame Olivia, her best friend, for not being a better friend and trying to lift her up. I liked this part. Being in the setting their thrown into, Dana can finally reflect on just how un-even their friendship has become. And on that note, I really liked the ending. (hence this tweet when I finished it LOL)
Also a quick mention that Olivia suffers with an eating disorder and I HATE the way it's dealt with. Her and Dana have this unspoken thing where Dana watches out for her and makes sure she eats, and if Olivia complies, she won't tell her mom. This is so stupid. If you think you're friend is suffering with something like this, you need to get them help, whether that is going to hurt their feelings or not. It reminds me of Play On by Michelle Smith, when the main character has to do this for his love interest. She hates him for it, but I think this is worth doing to help someone you care about. The novel never dives very deep into this (it's not even wrapped up at the end), but it's enough that you might be triggered by it.
So I liked watching Dana grow, and I liked the setting, and Alex was a pretty good character, too. That's why this is getting 3/5 stars.
I think you'll like this if you like books about musicians, like me. I think you'll like it if you're looking for a super light read. But if you're looking for something that's going to examine the lives of girl and boy bands in the 90's, you're not going to find it in this book.
TW: eating disorders, bulimia, anorexia.
This book follows Dana and her best friend Olivia. Taking place in the late 90's (1997, if I remember correctly), Olivia has always wanted to be a popstar, and has worked her whole life on singing and dancing to get there. Dana, though, has grown up just wanting to not be like her alcoholic mom. Dana goes with Olivia to Orlando, and through a fluke, ends up auditioning too. Turns out, she has real talent and both girls are chosen as members of a new girl group, Daisy Chain. along the way, Dana meets Alex, a cute guy in a boy band belonging to the same music company.
My biggest thing with this big was that is was just one note (a problem I seem to have with a lot of contemporaries). After moving to Orlando to train, Dana realizes just how different her life has been from Olivia's and this causes a rift in their friendship. Throw in the boy, and that does too. Olivia grew up in a good neighbourhood, with parents willing to invest in her future, and got good grades. Dana was always scraping by, working part-time jobs, and just managed to graduate high school. And that's pretty much all this book is about. The one note.
Olivia is a terrible friend, let me just put that out there. She doesn't think before she speaks, and Dana is always rearing back from the words she says, but tries to brush them off, nonetheless. Dana's entire story here, ends up plagued by Olivia's constant overshadowing her. Her whole character ARC becomes based off the fact that she doesn't believe in herself, and I blame Olivia, her best friend, for not being a better friend and trying to lift her up. I liked this part. Being in the setting their thrown into, Dana can finally reflect on just how un-even their friendship has become. And on that note, I really liked the ending. (hence this tweet when I finished it LOL)
Also a quick mention that Olivia suffers with an eating disorder and I HATE the way it's dealt with. Her and Dana have this unspoken thing where Dana watches out for her and makes sure she eats, and if Olivia complies, she won't tell her mom. This is so stupid. If you think you're friend is suffering with something like this, you need to get them help, whether that is going to hurt their feelings or not. It reminds me of Play On by Michelle Smith, when the main character has to do this for his love interest. She hates him for it, but I think this is worth doing to help someone you care about. The novel never dives very deep into this (it's not even wrapped up at the end), but it's enough that you might be triggered by it.
So I liked watching Dana grow, and I liked the setting, and Alex was a pretty good character, too. That's why this is getting 3/5 stars.
I think you'll like this if you like books about musicians, like me. I think you'll like it if you're looking for a super light read. But if you're looking for something that's going to examine the lives of girl and boy bands in the 90's, you're not going to find it in this book.