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okelay's review against another edition
4.0
oh damn that was so cute.
the first book was alright but this is so much better.
part of that is the f/f romance of course, but I also like Josh a hell of a lot more than I like Liam.
he's a asshole but he's the funny,entertaining kind.
and Vanessa? oh shit what can I say about Vanessa. she's amazing. the whole story is wonderful.
definitely worth the read and probably a reread.
the first book was alright but this is so much better.
part of that is the f/f romance of course, but I also like Josh a hell of a lot more than I like Liam.
he's a asshole but he's the funny,entertaining kind.
and Vanessa? oh shit what can I say about Vanessa. she's amazing. the whole story is wonderful.
definitely worth the read and probably a reread.
bookishzelda's review against another edition
Under the Lights is a great story about love winning and finding your place in the world. We get to live life through the perspectives of Vanessa and Josh as they deal with being a part of Hollywood.
It’s hard to explain my relationship with Josh. I didn’t like him, his annoying vulgarness felt like he was trying too hard. If I met him in real life I would call him out on it. He’s the guy that I would roll my eyes at if I met him at a party. I don’t hate him either though. Which is weird. The thing about Josh is that he is what he is. Take it or leave it he doesn’t care. As the book progresses and he forms a stronger bond with Vanessa, my opinion of him changes. By the end of I actually end up liking him.
I loved Vanessa. She is sassy and snarky but still a little vulnerable. I liked how even though she spends some time confused she doesn’t really lead people on. Sometimes she gets sucked into what other people want for her and starts following along a track but once she takes hold of her life. She makes good decisions.
Vanessa and Brianna are such a great couple. They have chemistry right from the get go and we get so see how things develop from them. To be honest as much as I thought Van and Bri are perfect for eachother I almost wanted to rip Van in half so that Josh also could be with her. I don’t if I have ever liked both love interest so much. When Van picks one over the other it’s not heartbreaking or terrible. She still has a great friendship.
There is so much a love about this plot. I mean Dahlia Alder’s writing is perfect first of all but get to see Hollywood through the eyes of a minority. That is definitely something different. Van brings up many good points. She might be a star of a major network tv show but how many Asian-American’s do you see holding the lead in a movie? Every time she made a point about that and why she felt she needed to do what people said it made sense. I felt sorry for her and realized it seems ridiculous that it’s even the case. So we have two things that Van is struggling with, that she might be gay and how that will affect her job and the fact that she is asian and how will that affect her job in the future. The way it’s laid out is great. Also we have Josh’s side of things where he is more struggling with the fact that maybe he isn’t so sure what wants to do and have a Hollywood starlet for a mother might have influenced is life more than he even realized.
I really enjoyed this book and now I need to go back and read the first one. Which you don’t need to read in order to read Under the Lights, but I want to know more about how Ally and Liam got together. I loved the plot and the writing and I hope we are not completely done with Daylight Falls.
It’s hard to explain my relationship with Josh. I didn’t like him, his annoying vulgarness felt like he was trying too hard. If I met him in real life I would call him out on it. He’s the guy that I would roll my eyes at if I met him at a party. I don’t hate him either though. Which is weird. The thing about Josh is that he is what he is. Take it or leave it he doesn’t care. As the book progresses and he forms a stronger bond with Vanessa, my opinion of him changes. By the end of I actually end up liking him.
I loved Vanessa. She is sassy and snarky but still a little vulnerable. I liked how even though she spends some time confused she doesn’t really lead people on. Sometimes she gets sucked into what other people want for her and starts following along a track but once she takes hold of her life. She makes good decisions.
Vanessa and Brianna are such a great couple. They have chemistry right from the get go and we get so see how things develop from them. To be honest as much as I thought Van and Bri are perfect for eachother I almost wanted to rip Van in half so that Josh also could be with her. I don’t if I have ever liked both love interest so much. When Van picks one over the other it’s not heartbreaking or terrible. She still has a great friendship.
There is so much a love about this plot. I mean Dahlia Alder’s writing is perfect first of all but get to see Hollywood through the eyes of a minority. That is definitely something different. Van brings up many good points. She might be a star of a major network tv show but how many Asian-American’s do you see holding the lead in a movie? Every time she made a point about that and why she felt she needed to do what people said it made sense. I felt sorry for her and realized it seems ridiculous that it’s even the case. So we have two things that Van is struggling with, that she might be gay and how that will affect her job and the fact that she is asian and how will that affect her job in the future. The way it’s laid out is great. Also we have Josh’s side of things where he is more struggling with the fact that maybe he isn’t so sure what wants to do and have a Hollywood starlet for a mother might have influenced is life more than he even realized.
I really enjoyed this book and now I need to go back and read the first one. Which you don’t need to read in order to read Under the Lights, but I want to know more about how Ally and Liam got together. I loved the plot and the writing and I hope we are not completely done with Daylight Falls.
vanessamaria's review against another edition
3.0
this book was cute and i liked the story and man, i loved van and bri (i shipped them from the very first moment they looked at each other) but something was missing, idk
ckreads28's review against another edition
5.0
Opening Thoughts:
Seriously nothing spurs you on more when reading a book than meeting the author. Honestly I was struggling with the first 20 pages, because I wanted to get to the part implied from the cover and summary! Honestly hearing Dahlia fangirl herself over those implied parts herself and saying you can skip other parts to get to the good stuff ^_~ Honestly this book even though I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars is one of my favorite of 2016! Well let's get this started explaining why it got a 4 before raving about the good stuff. So let's get started.
Review Continued on: https://cksreadingcorner.wordpress.com/2016/01/16/my-first-swoony-ff-read-of-2016-under-the-lights-by-2016-slight-spoilers/
Seriously nothing spurs you on more when reading a book than meeting the author. Honestly I was struggling with the first 20 pages, because I wanted to get to the part implied from the cover and summary! Honestly hearing Dahlia fangirl herself over those implied parts herself and saying you can skip other parts to get to the good stuff ^_~ Honestly this book even though I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars is one of my favorite of 2016! Well let's get this started explaining why it got a 4 before raving about the good stuff. So let's get started.
Review Continued on: https://cksreadingcorner.wordpress.com/2016/01/16/my-first-swoony-ff-read-of-2016-under-the-lights-by-2016-slight-spoilers/
kerrinify's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this.
Josh was unbelievably awful, but I actually cared about him a tiny little bit (kudos Dahlia Adler). Edward and Bell... Liam and Ally were tolerable, with them being gone most of the time. Van and Bri were very, very cute.
One extra gay star.
Josh was unbelievably awful, but I actually cared about him a tiny little bit (kudos Dahlia Adler). Edward and Bell... Liam and Ally were tolerable, with them being gone most of the time. Van and Bri were very, very cute.
One extra gay star.
mostlyshanti's review against another edition
4.0
This novel was really fun. I loved the character development and the way the author dealt with the Hollywood aspect. Also, it was cute.
My main problem with it would be that I basically knew the plot once I had read the blurb and the first three chapters. I knew that SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER. I'm not saying there wasn't tension-- there was-- but the way things were gonna play out was pretty obvious imo.
So Under the Lights has dual narration. I think it worked really well; I was never confused about who was narrating, mostly because the writing voices were perfect. Vanessa was awesome. I liked learning more about her relationship with her family, as they were just dismissed as 'bad' in Behind the Scenes. Her need for love and friendship, but also independence, made her narrative really appealing. Her love of acting really shone through, as well as her uncertainty and need for escape. As she grew to accept herself and her sexuality, I liked her more and more. Also, her relationship with Josh was awesome. Josh was my favourite, I must say. He was funny and crass, but he felt really real? I love how the 'reality' TV appearance made him question what he wanted out of life, and how he wasn't afraid to tell it like it was. I personally didn't approve of his lifestyle; but I loved his realisation that maybe everything he was doing wasn't best forhis liver himself, his friendships and his family. His ending was perfect. Also his relationship with Vanessa was everything.
I also loved the Hollywood aspect of this story. I know nothing about a)LA b) films c) the film business or d) Hollywood. I mean, I mostly watch animated movies. But Under the Lights felt really well researched, with the faux relationships, agents, obscene wealth et. cetera. I think Adler really addressed the problematic aspects of the industry well, while explaining how it works, not infodumping, and not ignoring the appeal. I really liked that aspect of the book. I also thought it tied in wonderfully with the title: the pressure of being; under the lights' and having the public scrutinise your every move. The character of Holly showed this aspect of the novel really well. (and how many times did you say really in this review, Shanti?)
So that was Under the Lights: a fast read with lots of diversity about Hollywood, friendship and characters. yeah, a lot of books are about characters. My brain is dead
My main problem with it would be that I basically knew the plot once I had read the blurb and the first three chapters. I knew that SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER. I'm not saying there wasn't tension-- there was-- but the way things were gonna play out was pretty obvious imo.
So Under the Lights has dual narration. I think it worked really well; I was never confused about who was narrating, mostly because the writing voices were perfect. Vanessa was awesome. I liked learning more about her relationship with her family, as they were just dismissed as 'bad' in Behind the Scenes. Her need for love and friendship, but also independence, made her narrative really appealing. Her love of acting really shone through, as well as her uncertainty and need for escape. As she grew to accept herself and her sexuality, I liked her more and more. Also, her relationship with Josh was awesome. Josh was my favourite, I must say. He was funny and crass, but he felt really real? I love how the 'reality' TV appearance made him question what he wanted out of life, and how he wasn't afraid to tell it like it was. I personally didn't approve of his lifestyle; but I loved his realisation that maybe everything he was doing wasn't best for
I also loved the Hollywood aspect of this story. I know nothing about a)LA b) films c) the film business or d) Hollywood. I mean, I mostly watch animated movies. But Under the Lights felt really well researched, with the faux relationships, agents, obscene wealth et. cetera. I think Adler really addressed the problematic aspects of the industry well, while explaining how it works, not infodumping, and not ignoring the appeal. I really liked that aspect of the book. I also thought it tied in wonderfully with the title: the pressure of being; under the lights' and having the public scrutinise your every move. The character of Holly showed this aspect of the novel really well. (and how many times did you say really in this review, Shanti?)
So that was Under the Lights: a fast read with lots of diversity about Hollywood, friendship and characters.
jessaminebooks's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
2.5
This book was pretty boring, to be honest. I've always seen it promoted as a cute f/f romance but there's hardly any of that. It's a split POV between Josh, a spoiled and massively annoying rich boy from Malibu, and Vanessa, an Asian American actress struggling to find herself while keeping a "good girl" reputation. I have NO IDEA why Josh was even a thing. His POV didn't really seem to have a purpose and, like I said, massively annoying. Vanessa wasn't too bad; her realization of her sexuality and her anxiety over her career was really relatable. The end was adorable, but getting there was such a goddamn chore.
em_reads_books's review against another edition
3.0
cute & fun! I especially enjoy the "lovable jerk" dude character who ends up exactly where he should. Made for a good counterpart to the more angsty central story.
keelin's review against another edition
4.0
Character development can really help a book let me tell you! Also this being LGBTQIA+, having a main character be POC, and being set in Hollywood, makes this even more appealing to me. I am super happy that I picked this up and randomly found it one day browsing LGBTQIA+ books. Is this book perfect? NO. But it does have so many important lessons like consent - CONSTANT CONSENT!!!! - and the reality of what it means in the world to be a WOC and how society still treats LGBTQIA+ people. So overall I say read this book but know that initially you may not like the main characters especially Josh who, let me tell you, I wanted to slap for a good majority of the time haha.