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alisonjane's review against another edition
5.0
give me all the hollywood/famous people books. ALL OF THEM.
hmoser15's review against another edition
4.0
I definitely enjoyed this book more than the first. It was great seeing Vanessa grow with her life & feelings for others. Same as Josh.
This was a cute read and I loved that there was LGBT aspects in it. Go Van & Bri!
This was a cute read and I loved that there was LGBT aspects in it. Go Van & Bri!
thoughtsontomes's review against another edition
3.0
Before picking this book up, I had been following the author, Dahlia, on Twitter for some time. She was always very outspoken about diversity, especially the inclusion of queer girls in YA and New Adult. I knew I needed to pick up something by her, and once I found out that Under the Lights had a protagonist that was a queer girl of color, I decided this would be the first book of hers I'd pick up.
Under the Lights is technically the second book in the series, but it's a companion series and you do not need to read the first book to understand this one. You are not missing anything with the first one, if that synopsis doesn't interest you, and anything of importance is filled in at the beginning of this one. I chose to skip the first book as well.
Before reading this book, I didn't realize it would be a dual POV. Initially, I was not a fan of that. My main interest was in Vanessa and her story line, and I couldn't care less about Josh. As time went on and characters developed, I did come to like Josh more, which is saying a lot as he starts out very unlikable. But overall, Vanessa is the protagonist I care about.
The story line was fun. The majority of the characters are stars in a show that sounds very similar to Dawson's Creek or Gilmore Girls, and it was fun to see "behind the scenes" in a Hollywood environment like that instead of a more glamorous one. It provided just enough of a backdrop for the story, while not ruling the story.
I found the relationships to be the strongest element of the story. Vanessa is finding herself, without it being the overly angsty mess that it could have been. Any sexual activity is discussed maturely by the characters, and enthusiastic consent is a HUGE part of that narrative, which I appreciate seeing. It's not something I see often, if at all, in other YA contemporaries.
Overall, I enjoyed this story and it was an excellent gateway into Dahlia's other work. She has become an auto-buy author for me, and I look forward to working my way through her backlist, as well as any future releases of hers.This review was originally posted on Thoughts on Tomes
Under the Lights is technically the second book in the series, but it's a companion series and you do not need to read the first book to understand this one. You are not missing anything with the first one, if that synopsis doesn't interest you, and anything of importance is filled in at the beginning of this one. I chose to skip the first book as well.
Before reading this book, I didn't realize it would be a dual POV. Initially, I was not a fan of that. My main interest was in Vanessa and her story line, and I couldn't care less about Josh. As time went on and characters developed, I did come to like Josh more, which is saying a lot as he starts out very unlikable. But overall, Vanessa is the protagonist I care about.
The story line was fun. The majority of the characters are stars in a show that sounds very similar to Dawson's Creek or Gilmore Girls, and it was fun to see "behind the scenes" in a Hollywood environment like that instead of a more glamorous one. It provided just enough of a backdrop for the story, while not ruling the story.
I found the relationships to be the strongest element of the story. Vanessa is finding herself, without it being the overly angsty mess that it could have been. Any sexual activity is discussed maturely by the characters, and enthusiastic consent is a HUGE part of that narrative, which I appreciate seeing. It's not something I see often, if at all, in other YA contemporaries.
Overall, I enjoyed this story and it was an excellent gateway into Dahlia's other work. She has become an auto-buy author for me, and I look forward to working my way through her backlist, as well as any future releases of hers.This review was originally posted on Thoughts on Tomes
serenaasora's review against another edition
5.0
Under the Lights is a beautiful story about finding love and finding yourself, and I could not put it down. And the MC is Asian-American which is always a plus.
acdom's review against another edition
4.0
First of all, thank you thank you thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of a book I've been excited about for so long.
I loved Dahlia Adler's first book "Behind the Scenes". Was it perfect? No. But it was adorable and fun and I've gone back and reread it twice since it was published. So when I found out there was going to be a sequel, I was pumped.
UtL is cute and fun and everything I want in a good YA/NA book. There's swoon, there are ridiculous characters (ahem, Josh Chester) who learn lessons, and there are even Big Topical Issues. The treatment of Van's sexuality was honest without being schmaltzy or overdone. I love the way YA/NA books are starting to treat sexuality, like it's just another thing we deal with. With Van it's a big deal because of her career, but her feelings about this realization are just normal feelings people get, which is how it should be.
I love getting to see Ally and Liam again and seeing how their relationship has evolved with college and big-time movies intervening.
Like a certain character advises her later, "Anyone who doesn't want you to be happy with you who are is an asshole. Fuck pleasing everyone else." Fuck yeah.
In conclusion: Dear Dahlia, please write more of these...because they make my 34 year old heart happy and I'll keep reading them as long as you keep writing them. Also, you're generally awesome and I love your Twitter. If you need a BFF in Arizona, let me know! xoxo, Manda
I loved Dahlia Adler's first book "Behind the Scenes". Was it perfect? No. But it was adorable and fun and I've gone back and reread it twice since it was published. So when I found out there was going to be a sequel, I was pumped.
UtL is cute and fun and everything I want in a good YA/NA book. There's swoon, there are ridiculous characters (ahem, Josh Chester) who learn lessons, and there are even Big Topical Issues. The treatment of Van's sexuality was honest without being schmaltzy or overdone. I love the way YA/NA books are starting to treat sexuality, like it's just another thing we deal with. With Van it's a big deal because of her career, but her feelings about this realization are just normal feelings people get, which is how it should be.
I love getting to see Ally and Liam again and seeing how their relationship has evolved with college and big-time movies intervening.
Like a certain character advises her later, "Anyone who doesn't want you to be happy with you who are is an asshole. Fuck pleasing everyone else." Fuck yeah.
In conclusion: Dear Dahlia, please write more of these...because they make my 34 year old heart happy and I'll keep reading them as long as you keep writing them. Also, you're generally awesome and I love your Twitter. If you need a BFF in Arizona, let me know! xoxo, Manda
reviewdiaries's review against another edition
4.0
This review was written for The Review Diaries
You can read the full review here
Huge thanks to Netgalley and Spencer Hill Contemporary for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review
If you’re after a contemporary romance this summer but you’re bored of all the cliché, boy meets girl and butterflies and tingles ensue, then this is the book for you.
It’s the second in the Daylight Falls books, but don’t let that put you off as I didn’t even realise there was a preceding book until I was well into the story. It works really well either as a standalone or as a sequel and you won’t have to play catch up to get into the story.
Going into the story both point of view characters, Josh and Vanessa were incredibly unlikeable and hard to connect with. Josh particularly is a grade A horror – think Chuck Bass, but worse. But the story was compelling, it swept me up and pulled me in and so despite the fact that I wasn’t sold on either of the characters who were showing me their world, I wanted to know more. And I am so glad I did. The further into the story you get the more you begin to warm to the characters and to relate to them. Vanessa is such a wonderful character once you get past her self absorbed superficial act in the first few chapters. Josh takes infinitely more time and patience to reach a point where you genuinely care about him, but he too is worth the wait.
Like I said this isn’t your stereotypical boy meets girl story, so whilst there is some attraction between these two, it is only a tiny side part of the whole. It is more two viewpoints into these two very different people’s lives and all the confusions and messed up things they’re going through. Both of them are stuck in situations they don’t know how to deal with, and whilst we may not all be actors in Hollywood, they are situations that everyone can relate to.
The book tackles friendship, family, sexuality, emancipation and trying to find your place in the world. It’s an incredible book, one that doesn’t shy away from tough subjects and flags up so many things. I wanted to weep and hug this book at times for giving such an honest and realistic portrayal of these problems.
Whilst Josh was a fascinating character and I did even come to like him by the end, this book was, for me, all about Vanessa. She’s determined, she loves her job, she wants to succeed and please her parents and satisfy her agent/fans/public. She works insanely hard and never really does anything for herself. And as well as all that she is Korean and has a major part in a tv show, and she never forgets how lucky she is to have a major role. As well as all her difficulties as a young adult trying to find her way in the world and balance everything in her life she is going in with her eyes wide open about the difficulties placed on her in her chosen profession because of her skin colour and ethnicity. She’s type cast in minor roles and desperately afraid that her career will end with the role on the show. It is a brutally honest look at the acting business and how girls, particularly girls who aren’t straight, white and skinny, have everything stacked against them.
But not only all of that, which is awesome just on its own, she is also coming to terms with her feelings for another girl and her own sexuality. And this isn’t just a book that glosses over the subject and the feelings, Adler refuses to compromise and makes this a wonderfully honest and frank portrayal of the relationship Vanessa begins to build. She gives it as much time and development and detail as you would find in any straight romance book, and I love that.
This book is awesome on so many levels, and it is so bold and brilliant and honest and I flew through it in a matter of hours. I became so invested with the story and characters and I was desperate to see how it would all turn out.
The only reason that this wasn’t a full five star read was because of the unlikeability of both characters in the first few chapters, that was the only thing that knocked down what is otherwise a fantastic book.
If you’re after a diverse read, a book that deals with a female same sex relationship and a whole host of other awesome, read this, read this now. I can’t wait to get my hands on everything else Adler has written now, I’m definitely a fan of someone who has the gumption to write a book like this and to pull it off with such style.
You can read the full review here
Huge thanks to Netgalley and Spencer Hill Contemporary for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review
If you’re after a contemporary romance this summer but you’re bored of all the cliché, boy meets girl and butterflies and tingles ensue, then this is the book for you.
It’s the second in the Daylight Falls books, but don’t let that put you off as I didn’t even realise there was a preceding book until I was well into the story. It works really well either as a standalone or as a sequel and you won’t have to play catch up to get into the story.
Going into the story both point of view characters, Josh and Vanessa were incredibly unlikeable and hard to connect with. Josh particularly is a grade A horror – think Chuck Bass, but worse. But the story was compelling, it swept me up and pulled me in and so despite the fact that I wasn’t sold on either of the characters who were showing me their world, I wanted to know more. And I am so glad I did. The further into the story you get the more you begin to warm to the characters and to relate to them. Vanessa is such a wonderful character once you get past her self absorbed superficial act in the first few chapters. Josh takes infinitely more time and patience to reach a point where you genuinely care about him, but he too is worth the wait.
Like I said this isn’t your stereotypical boy meets girl story, so whilst there is some attraction between these two, it is only a tiny side part of the whole. It is more two viewpoints into these two very different people’s lives and all the confusions and messed up things they’re going through. Both of them are stuck in situations they don’t know how to deal with, and whilst we may not all be actors in Hollywood, they are situations that everyone can relate to.
The book tackles friendship, family, sexuality, emancipation and trying to find your place in the world. It’s an incredible book, one that doesn’t shy away from tough subjects and flags up so many things. I wanted to weep and hug this book at times for giving such an honest and realistic portrayal of these problems.
Whilst Josh was a fascinating character and I did even come to like him by the end, this book was, for me, all about Vanessa. She’s determined, she loves her job, she wants to succeed and please her parents and satisfy her agent/fans/public. She works insanely hard and never really does anything for herself. And as well as all that she is Korean and has a major part in a tv show, and she never forgets how lucky she is to have a major role. As well as all her difficulties as a young adult trying to find her way in the world and balance everything in her life she is going in with her eyes wide open about the difficulties placed on her in her chosen profession because of her skin colour and ethnicity. She’s type cast in minor roles and desperately afraid that her career will end with the role on the show. It is a brutally honest look at the acting business and how girls, particularly girls who aren’t straight, white and skinny, have everything stacked against them.
But not only all of that, which is awesome just on its own, she is also coming to terms with her feelings for another girl and her own sexuality. And this isn’t just a book that glosses over the subject and the feelings, Adler refuses to compromise and makes this a wonderfully honest and frank portrayal of the relationship Vanessa begins to build. She gives it as much time and development and detail as you would find in any straight romance book, and I love that.
This book is awesome on so many levels, and it is so bold and brilliant and honest and I flew through it in a matter of hours. I became so invested with the story and characters and I was desperate to see how it would all turn out.
The only reason that this wasn’t a full five star read was because of the unlikeability of both characters in the first few chapters, that was the only thing that knocked down what is otherwise a fantastic book.
If you’re after a diverse read, a book that deals with a female same sex relationship and a whole host of other awesome, read this, read this now. I can’t wait to get my hands on everything else Adler has written now, I’m definitely a fan of someone who has the gumption to write a book like this and to pull it off with such style.
legobitar's review against another edition
2.0
To be fair I didn't actually read the whole book, I read the first 70 pages, then I skipped the middle and skimmed the last 3-4 chapters. Did not feel like I missed anything during those 150-200 pages. Josh was a douche that I didn't care about AT ALL and Vanessa was...I don't know. Not relatable. I need to read more books where I actually want to READ the (whole) book.
tyrostone's review against another edition
3.0
I came into this book with the attitude "okay, let's read some romantic trash" so I was surprised when I actually enjoyed the romance, plot (to the extent that it exists), and even characters of this book. Having the POV alternate between Josh (cis straight white guy) and Vanessa (cis Korean-American young woman who realizes she's gay) was both a blessing and a curse, but if nothing else, it made the book more interesting.
At this point, I have read so many books about actors in LA, it's interesting to see what different authors emphasize about that experience. Here's where Josh's POV is interesting - he's the stereotypical bad boy partier - who we come to find has a bit of a secret heart of gold. Or something. I'm split on this decision - on the one hand, it's nice to see men (or anyone) grow emotionally and develop some self-awareness and empathy. On the other hand, I worry that an inadvertent message sent by this character is "there's a tender heart hiding behind each asshole boy if you can just get him to open up" which then provides an excuse for their behavior, or at least, a reason to forgive them without requiring they actually change. Regardless, through Josh we see LA as a place of wild parties, drinking and dancing at clubs, and having a lot of sex (although curiously, we don't see any of that sex).
Alternatively, we explore just a bit of the sexism, homophobia, and racism in the movie industry through Vanessa's POV. In this regard, the book reminds me of Something to Talk About (another book I read semi-recently with an Asian-American love interest). If I had to compare the two, I thought Something to Talk About explored these topics in more depth, but in other aspects (writing, character development) was not as good of a book. The way Vanessa's family was, I thought, very well done. Similarly, the way Vanessa also felt believable in its nuance and mess.
Ultimately I'd say this is just as much a coming of age story as it is a romance, if not more. I enjoyed it.
At this point, I have read so many books about actors in LA, it's interesting to see what different authors emphasize about that experience. Here's where Josh's POV is interesting - he's the stereotypical bad boy partier - who we come to find has a bit of a secret heart of gold. Or something. I'm split on this decision - on the one hand, it's nice to see men (or anyone) grow emotionally and develop some self-awareness and empathy. On the other hand, I worry that an inadvertent message sent by this character is "there's a tender heart hiding behind each asshole boy if you can just get him to open up" which then provides an excuse for their behavior, or at least, a reason to forgive them without requiring they actually change. Regardless, through Josh we see LA as a place of wild parties, drinking and dancing at clubs, and having a lot of sex (although curiously, we don't see any of that sex).
Alternatively, we explore just a bit of the sexism, homophobia, and racism in the movie industry through Vanessa's POV. In this regard, the book reminds me of Something to Talk About (another book I read semi-recently with an Asian-American love interest). If I had to compare the two, I thought Something to Talk About explored these topics in more depth, but in other aspects (writing, character development) was not as good of a book. The way Vanessa's family
Spoiler
reacted to her coming outSpoiler
was confused about her sexuality and as a result had this push/pull tension with BriUltimately I'd say this is just as much a coming of age story as it is a romance, if not more. I enjoyed it.
nday's review against another edition
3.0
The second book in the Behind the Scenes series, and I was very much looking forward to the downfall (in the romantic sense) of a complete scoundrel.
This book was not what I expected.
The usual format, quite often with romance, especially when it’s a two POV story, is that these characters fall in love. So, because I never remember blurbs when I go into reading a book… that’s what I expected. Until a little way in when it became quite obvious that that’s not where the book was going.
So, that confused me – the presentation of the story was a bit off in that sense for me. And while I felt like the stories of Josh and Vanessa weren’t completely separate, and had been merged well… I didn’t quite understand in a lot of ways why they didn’t just get their own stories and make them two whole separate stories? I would have loved that! Presented like this, I didn’t feel either got the story they could have… not to mention Josh’s journey didn’t feel whole and complete.
I enjoyed this book, but it didn’t feel quite there for me either and I didn’t get what I wanted in seeing Josh’s whole story.
This book was not what I expected.
The usual format, quite often with romance, especially when it’s a two POV story, is that these characters fall in love. So, because I never remember blurbs when I go into reading a book… that’s what I expected. Until a little way in when it became quite obvious that that’s not where the book was going.
So, that confused me – the presentation of the story was a bit off in that sense for me. And while I felt like the stories of Josh and Vanessa weren’t completely separate, and had been merged well… I didn’t quite understand in a lot of ways why they didn’t just get their own stories and make them two whole separate stories? I would have loved that! Presented like this, I didn’t feel either got the story they could have… not to mention Josh’s journey didn’t feel whole and complete.
I enjoyed this book, but it didn’t feel quite there for me either and I didn’t get what I wanted in seeing Josh’s whole story.
roguewonder's review against another edition
3.0
this book is always recc’d when I comes to f/f contemporary romance and as it should because I really did enjoy it
a korean American mc living in the world of showbiz and self discovery I truly loved her portion of the book
I did hate the other mc though ... like a lot, and it might be because I read this not recently but I really don’t know why his narrative was written.. for contrast? didn’t care for him at all and is the reason why I don’t recc this book as much as others might
3/5
a korean American mc living in the world of showbiz and self discovery I truly loved her portion of the book
I did hate the other mc though ... like a lot, and it might be because I read this not recently but I really don’t know why his narrative was written.. for contrast? didn’t care for him at all and is the reason why I don’t recc this book as much as others might
3/5