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43 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet summer reading, June 17, 2009
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.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not So Sweet, August 14, 2009
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.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun, Light Read!, August 7, 2009
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.
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