L.A. Candy [Paperback]

Lauren Conrad (Author)

Book Description

Series: L.a. Candy | Publication Date: January 5, 2010

Los Angeles is all about the sweet life: hot clubs, cute guys, designer . . . everything. Nineteen-year-old Jane Roberts can't wait to start living it up. She may be in L.A. for an internship, but Jane plans to play as hard as she works, and has enlisted her BFF Scarlett to join in the fun.

When Jane and Scarlett are approached by a producer who wants them to be on his new series, a "reality version of Sex and the City," they can hardly believe their luck. Their own show? Yes, please!

Soon Jane is TV's hottest star. Fame brings more than she ever imagined possible for a girl from Santa Barbara—free designer clothes, the choicest tables at the most exclusive clubs, invites to Hollywood premieres—and she's lapping up the VIP treatment with her eclectic entourage of new pals. But those same friends who are always up for a wild night are also out for a piece of Jane's spotlight.

In a city filled with people chasing after their dreams, it's not long before Jane wakes up to the reality that everyone wants something from her, and nothing is what it seems to be.

L.A. Candy is a deliciously entertaining novel about what it's like to come of age in Hollywood while starring in a reality TV show, written by a girl who has experienced it all firsthand: Lauren Conrad.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—After high school, two best friends move to Los Angeles hoping to start "a new and amazing life," but their existence is anything but glamorous. Jane is an intern for a famous event planner and Scarlett is a freshman at U.S.C. However, things change quickly when a TV producer asks them to be in a new reality series along with Madison and Gaby, following their lives as they try to make it in L.A. After signing on, the two friends move into a posh apartment and get into the hottest clubs. Scarlett is skeptical about all the attention, but Jane enjoys being in the limelight. When Jane becomes the show's star, Madison is jealous and plots to bring her down. By story's end, Jane learns that having cameras follow you everywhere isn't what it is cracked up to be. The cliff-hanger climax indicates that there will be more to come. Conrad writes from experience (she stars in MTV's The Hills) and the result is a light read that will leave readers wanting more. The novel contains underage drinking and sexual liaisons, activities that are realistic for the lifestyle of the young women portrayed.—Shannon Seglin, Patrick Henry Library, Vienna, VA END --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Lauren Conrad is best known for starring in the MTV hit series The Hills. Her novels, L.A. Candy and Sweet Little Lies, were #1 New York Times bestsellers. She began her career as a fashion designer in spring 2008 with the debut of the Lauren Conrad Collection and expanded in 2009 with a second line, LC Lauren Conrad, exclusively for Kohl's. She has been featured on the covers of Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, Rolling Stone, and Entertainment Weekly, among others. Lauren also launched the m.powerment by mark charity campaign in 2008. She lives in Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (January 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006176759X
• ISBN-13: 978-0061767593
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (174 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Teens > Social Issues > Dating & Intimacy > Fiction

More About the Author

Lauren Conrad is the star of MTV's #1 show, The Hills. She has been featured on the covers of Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, Seventeen and Entertainment Weekly, among others. She lives in Los Angeles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet summer reading, June 17, 2009

By 

Madigan McGillicuddy "Librarian" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: L.A. Candy (Hardcover)

The book, about reality-tv star 19-year-old Jane Roberts certainly sounds like a semi-autobiographical journey for the author, the star of MTV's "reality" show, The Hills. I started on the assumption that it would be pure fluff. The story was an enjoyable quick read though and even a bit weightier than I had anticipated.

Naturally, the lion's share of the story centers around the social lives of Jane and her best friend Scarlett. They are both new to Los Angeles, starstruck and boy crazy. Despite being an attractive natural blonde, Jane considers herself a "plain Jane" while Scarlett is a confident brunette bombshell. Jane's just scored an internship with renowned event planner, Fiona Chen. Scarlett plans to coast through classes at USC while she decides what to do with herself. When Hollywood producer Trevor Lord starts talking to them in a nightclub, they initially assume that he's trying to hit on them... but eventually he convinces them to come for an audition for a new reality show filming in Los Angeles. In the interview, the producers are impressed with the girls' natural good-looks and unaffected demeanor. Just like that, they are in!

With the cameras rolling, Jane and Scarlett are soon treated to a new luxury apartment and VIP lifestyle. I liked the behind-the-scenes reality behind "reality" tv... the awkwardness of being miked, the staged "spontaneous" scenes... it all rang very true.

Of course, everyone's wondering whether L.A. Candy was ghostwritten. (And wouldn't it be the ultimate irony if it was?) A careful inspection of my copy didn't seem to reveal anything in the fine print... maybe Lauren Conrad really did write this herself! I can't help but think of one of the episodes from the first season of "The Hills" where Lauren is called into her bosses office. Her boss asks her, "Can you write?" and she nervously replies, "Um... Yes?" There's an eerily similar scene in the book between the character Jane and her boss, event planner Fiona Chen. Her demanding and cold boss suddenly turns into a warm mentor when the cameras are rolling.

While the celebrities mentioned are all fictional, the names of many of the businesses and designer-name items in the book are not. The name-dropping and general tone strongly reminded me of Cecily von Ziegesar's Gossip Girls and It Girl series.

The story's somewhat of a cliffhanger ending leaves everything definitely very much unresolved. Fans of MTV's "The Hills" or the genre that I'd term "Chick Lit Jr." will definitely be clamoring for more. Fortunately for them, Conrad has signed a 3 book deal, so there are certain to be at least 2 more installments in the series.

34 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not So Sweet, August 14, 2009

By 

J. King (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: L.A. Candy (Hardcover)

Lauren Conrad, famous for playing herself on the MTV shows Laguna Beach and The Hills, has somehow been allowed to write a book for Young Adults, and the result is "L.A. Candy." Jane and Scarlett are best friends that move to Los Angeles together. While visiting a club one night, they are approached to appear on a reality show entitled L.A. Candy. After the girls agree to star in the show, the book follows their lives as they discover that Reality TV may not be as real as television makes it out to be.

I picked this book up hoping for a fun guilty pleasure read, but was ultimately disappointed by a few things.

First, Lauren Conrad is not the strongest of authors. The dialogue and the storytelling is quite flat and uninteresting at times. Hopefully as she releases more books, her writing skills increase, but "L.A. Candy" seemed quite amateur and I'm surprised that her publishing company allowed it to be released as it is.

Second, the pacing is quite off. 100+ pages are devoted to the set-up of the plot. Once the reality show starts filming, which should be the meat of the novel, it seemed like most details were rushed and glossed over. Plus, the conflict and the climax were ultimately quite weak which leads the reader unsatisfied.

Finally, the ending did not work at all. It is clearly meant to be a cliffhanger, but it feels more like the story is incomplete and is missing a proper conclusion. I am alright with books that want to excite readers for the next book in the series, but not when it makes the current book feel like a story that is missing a proper conclusion.

Despite being a disappointment, it was fun reading how the characters viewed how reality television really worked and how the editors could portray an event differently from how it really happened. Conrad's experience definitely added a bit of interest to the otherwise flat story.

Still fresh off her stint on "The Hills," Lauren Conrad's debut novel will definitely appeal to her fans of all ages. Despite a few questionable words, the majority of the book is otherwise quite clean. And while the book has been a hit, and I predict it will continue to sell well, I was disappointed by it and hope that Conrad improves with future books in the series. Conrad's experience and insider information with this industry definitely brought some credibility to this book, but the writing was weak, the characters were flat, the plot was rather uninteresting, and the ending was quite abrupt. These faults are too overwhelming and hard to overlook what could have been a great guilty pleasure book.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun, Light Read!, August 7, 2009

By 

Lola Violet "Hello Kitty Girl" (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: L.A. Candy (Hardcover)

I loved this book!! I am a fan of Lauren Conrad, but admittedly I wasn't sure how good this book would be or if it would be too young for me. But I was hooked from the first page. If you love The Hills, I am sure you will enjoy this book as well. It was a fast paced, engaging behind-the-scenes look at the lives of young reality stars on a fictitious show called LA Candy on the fictional channel Pop TV, especially the character of Jane. I finished the book this morning and can't wait for the next in the series. I would recommend this book as a great book to take to the beach or on an airplane flight.