Customer Reviews

Broadway Lights (Secrets of My Hollywood Life)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a huge fan of the Secrets of My Hollywood Life series and eagerly awaited the arrival of the fifth book. Broadway Lights is just as cute, fun, and sweet as its predecessors.

Hollywood switches to New York for this installment (as you might guess from the title). Kaitlyn is starring in a Broadway play for the summer. Her entire world makes the move to NYC with her - Liz, her family, Nadine, Rodney, and even Sky. Lauren and Ava are continual crashers as well. The only missing character is Austin, who is at Lacrosse camp in Texas. The two struggle to keep their relationship going as obstacles come between them - bad phone skills; a cute Lacrosse girl; Kaitlyn's handsome co-star Dylan; etc. The Broadway scene matches the LA scene in cattiness, as Kaitlyn learns from her co-star Riley.

The book follows the same plot formula as the entire series - Kaitlyn is a sweet, normal girl who goes through life trying to be the best she can be and please everyone while still having some backbone. She loves fashion and embraces the celebrity culture without becoming status-obsessed like her mom or conceited like her brother Matty. In some ways Kaitlyn never grows in these books, other than to rediscover that she's already a great person and just needs to stay true to herself. But she's such a likable character that I don't mind at all. She needs to stay the same more than she needs to change. On the other hand, Liz and Sky both grew as characters in this book. Broadway Lights also continues with the insider information about Hollywood and Broadway culture. I love learning "how things really work," whether it's true or not. The book also has lots of information about NYC, especially the cupcake shops. I get a kick out of the script excerpts from the play at the beginning of each chapter - mostly because it's so ridiculous - I can't imagine it being a Broadway production.

My chief complaint about the series is the name-dropping of celebrities. I enjoy the detailed description of fashion and name brands; it's fun to hear about what people are wearing. But the name-dropping is rather silly - "my friend Miley...my friend Vanessa." Some is fine, but I got tired of it after awhile. More importantly, the name-dropping of celebrity and fashion brands dates the books. In five years, the celebrities and fashion will be old news. That's sad because the characters and basic plot are timeless. I'd hate to see the books disappear.

Jen Calonita is a Hollywood journalist. I haven't checked her work, she might be a gossip columnist. Regardless, she knows Hollywood, she knows the stars, she knows who is IN, who is OUT, and she knows the Hollywood drama. She gives the reader a backstage pass to how stuff really works.

Kaitlin is a star. A really big star. The kind that gossip magazines LOVE to torture. The kind that attract the D-Listers (Reality TV with surgery) to engage. So Kaitlin's series ends. Kapoot. Not canceled but completed. She's now a child star without a job. So she takes on Broadway. This means that her family moves to New York City so she can pursue this dream. Meanwhile, her boyfriend, Austin is at lacrosse camp which is coed. Just a heads up here - this is the sweetest romance without any salaciousness. Very, very sweet - without being cheesy.

During this summer on the opposite coast, her former co-star, Sky the Total Diva, drops in to visit. Turns out that Sky and Kaitlin were the recipients of a paparazzi feeding frenzy because former friends, thinly veiled caricatures of Paris and Nicole (Ritchie) fight for validation through association or mud slinging. This is a hilarious aspect to the story. It's not essential for the overall story but it certainly is entertaining. Jen also takes just a few other shots at well-known untalented Hollywood clingers. Without naming names.

So Kaitlin's summer gig will be ending soon. Sooner than later if she can't handle another darling Diva while her former enemy, Sky, becomes her frenemy then friend. Co-star in the play is a total hottie who is definitely interested in K. But she has Austin. But he's in Austin (Texas).

Kaitlin's character is completely likeable. The romances are sweet, fun, and honest. Kaitlin, for all her Hollywood trappings, is surprisingly down home-cooked pie. Her mother is hilarious. Her dad is lost. Her brother is diva-esque, Sky is growing on me, Her supporting cast and crew (publicist, assistant, etc.) each have their quirkiness and clear personalities. Fun, clean read. I loved it.

Gold Star Award Winner!

Kaitlyn's leaving for New York City and ready to make her Broadway debut. She's not happy about leaving her boyfriend behind for so long, but she's convinced they can make it. She's not ready for a costar who likes her and a jealous boyfriend.

She and Austin keep missing phone calls and thus stop sharing details. Kaitlyn has enough on her mind trying to get ready for a live audience, a snarky costar, adjusting to a new city, and a media fight with two former friends.

As Kaitlyn explores the city, she can't help but wonder why her relationship is falling apart. Nor can she help but question the future. There's a great pilot she read, but it might mean working with Sky again. With Sky, in the city for work, they've moved towards friendship. Could she risk it all by attempting to work with her again? All she knows is that she's not letting the future scare her anymore and she's ready to take back control of her life.

I love this series: it's fun, flirty, and even though it's about Hollywood, Kaitlyn is a down-to-earth girl adjusting to life's curve balls. This fifth book in the series is next to last, and I can't wait to see how it wraps up.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel

Seventeen-year-old teen star and pop icon Kaitlin Burke's career takes an abrupt turn when she heads East from her Los Angeles home to spend the summer on the stage in New York City. On her big trip to the Big Apple, Kaitlin is accompanied by her parents, brother, friends and staff. Reluctantly, she leaves behind Austin, her gorgeous and thoughtful boyfriend whose summer plans include attending a lacrosse camp in Texas.

The drama begins even before Kaitlin hops on a plane for her Broadway debut in the live theater production of Meeting of the Minds. Attention-craving reality show wannabes Lauren and Ava (dubbed LAVA by the media) try to hog the limelight during a movie premiere party. After LAVA show up at the party uninvited and are unceremoniously asked to leave, they set out for revenge. The scheming pair are determined to publicly humiliate Kaitlin and her former "Family Affair" co-star (and one-time nemesis) Sky Mackenzie. But SKAT (Sky and Kaitlin) have a few plays of their own. While in New York, they turn the tables on LAVA after they are invited to co-host "Saturday Night Live"!

For Kaitlin, co-hosting the popular television show is a chance of a lifetime and a shining moment of her summer, but not all goes well during her stay in New York. Disrupting Kaitlin's plans are clashes and cat fights between her best friend Liz and Sky. And Dylan, Kaitlin's dreamy British co-star, evokes feelings that make Kaitlin question her long-distance relationship with Austin. Also contributing to the stress are Kaitlin's overbearing and controlling mother, who wants to plan every aspect of Kaitlin's life, and Riley, a "real" theatric actress and Broadway diva who criticizes and belittles Kaitlin's every move on stage.

Despite all the chaos and confusion, Kaitlin savors the sights, the sounds, the smells --- and the snacks --- of New York. Yet she still misses Austin, who seems to have some drama of his own going on in the Lone Star State. Will Kaitlin's love for Austin survive the months they spend apart, or will hers be another story of broken dreams and sad endings?

BROADWAY LIGHTS is the fifth book in the stylish and breezy Secrets of My Hollywood Life series. Author Jen Calonita's high-energy novel is written with sass and verve and is peppered with characters who shine. As a former celebrity interviewer and senior editor at Teen People and journalist for TV Guide, Glamour and Marie Claire, Calonita gives an insider's glimpse into the life of a teen starlet, complete with glamour, celebrity, haute couture, insecurity and drama --- lots of drama. But beyond the novel's glitz and glitter and shining lights is a story of friendship, love, loyalty, change and determination. BROADWAY LIGHTS is smart, sassy and lots of fun.

Hollywood teen celebrity, Kaitlin Burke is leaving Los Angeles for the summer to star in the hot new teen Broadway play, Meeting of the Minds. However, tonight is the premier of her new feature film Pretty Young Assassins and she's getting ready for the questions about the unflattering press she received for her antics with bad-girls Lauren Cobb and Ava Hayden.

Kaitlin handles the questions like a pro, until she's asked what she's going to do now that the hit show she has been a part of for more than 10 years, Family Affair, is coming to an end--something Kaitlin has been wondering herself.

Kaitlin is excited about moving to NYC for the summer and starring in her first Broadway play, although she's not happy about being away from her boyfriend, Austin, who will be attending Lacrosse camp in Texas--although she'll fly back for prom and he'll come out for her opening night--they're thinking of this as a test run for when they go off to college next year.

When bad-girls Lauren and Ava crash the Pretty Young Assassins after party and start trouble, Sky and Kaitlin have them thrown out. Lauren and Ava vow to make both girls' life miserable.

While Kaitlin deals with Lauren and Ava bashing her in the press and on YouTube, her Broadway co-star, Riley is doing everything she can to ruin her Broadway experience. Luckily Kaitlin's other co-star, the gorgeous Dylan, has her back and cheers her on; but Dylan's attention is starting to confuse Kaitlin, which is something Austin has been concerned about from the start. As work pressures build and phone calls between Austin and Kaitlin dwindle, Kaitlin is worried that her trip to NYC may cost her everything she cares about.

Although Broadway Lights is the fifth book in the series, it's perfectly fine to read on its own. The story is entertaining, written in a young, light voice. Kaitlin is a good-girl, with high morals, but seems to lack any real depth. The overall feel is a bit Disney-esque, but not necessarily in a bad way. Kaitlin is a good role model. A girl with her priorities in order and her head on straight--and her healthy appetite round out the hat-trick for a higher life form that may, one day, exist in Hollywood.

in the last chapter it says the next book is coming march 2011 it is april and i cant find the book a yearish a ao i preorded that book and it like disappeared.

i love this series and can`t wait for the next book
as usual jen calonita totally deliverd
this book is fun flirty and fabulas
5 stars

I bought this book at the airport for something to read on my flight. Being a musical theatre student, the title caught my eye, so I purchased it. It was in the young adult section, so I wasn't expecting brilliant literature (even though I've read amazing young adult books), but I cringed through the entire book. The writer obviously has NO idea about the theatre community in New York whatsoever, but tries to impress the reader by writing as if she is in the know. Her periodic "examples" of the play the protagonist stars in (which she inappropriately compares to Spring Awakening), is nothing but a bad script to a teen romance novel. Look at the plays currently on Broadway. Nothing like this would even get a reading or workshop! There are numerous hints to the lack of knowledge the writer has about Broadway plays. For example, Broadway shows don't rehearse in the theatre from day one. Nor do reviews in Teen Vogue chump reviews in New York publications. I almost stopped reading when Jesus Christ Superstar was compared to Gypsy in an attempt to sound literate in theatre. Most of this bad writing could have been fixed if the writer had just done some research, but instead, most of her time was spent on all of the Hollywood references, even though the setting of THIS book is set in New York. Maybe habitual readers of the series will be more forgiving (as it is a book about a Hollywood star) but I found the poor writing to completely shatter the image.