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A review by pagesplotsandpints
Behind the Scenes by Dahlia Adler
4.0
Initial Impressions 1/10/15: YAY I finally read this! It was so much fun. I loved the friendship between Ally & Vanessa. I always get scared with celeb-books because I hate the drama of bratty actors/actresses so I was SO glad it wasn't a diva best friend! Totally reminded me of Dee & Reagan in Open Road Summer. The romance was so cute and lots of fun.
Full review posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 2/18/15:
Shame on me for taking so long to read this book! I’ve been talking to the lovely Dahlia Adler for a while but only really got to know her after BEHIND THE SCENES had already come out so somehow this book fell to the wayside (aka: got stuck under my massive TBR pile) for way too long! I’m glad that I finally got to read her debut earlier this year because it was such lovely book and I pretty much inhaled it in two days!
The best thing to come out of BEHIND THE SCENES for me was the wonderful friendship between Ally and Vanessa. I absolutely loved how the two girls were there for each other through thick and thin but also that their friendship is imperfect — which made it even more realistic to me. While I’m definitely not in the same situation (my best friends aren’t the stars of their own TV shows, ya know?), my friends and I each have our differences which really make our friendships unique, and that was something that I really connected with in Ally and Vanessa’s friendship. They connect on so many things and they really love and support each other but they also end up butting heads on some hot button issues because even though they’re best friends, they’re bound to disagree on some important things. It just felt very realistic to me and opened up that line of connection for me to really feel like I knew these characters.
This also really spanned to the family aspect of the book as well. Ally is really tight with her family — especially with her father being sick — so that really sets up a situation where Ally needs to be there for her family, both emotionally and physically. Through Vanessa’s close friendship with Ally, she ends up sort of being part of the family too, which I loved seeing since that’s something I’ve had with a few of my best friend’s families. Vanessa is also there for Ally as she tries to support her family (and herself) throughout this hard time in her life. There’s a giant crossroads with Ally and her decision about college. She doesn’t want to leave her family but she’s always had her dream school in mind so it’s really a constant rotation of support between Ally, her family, and her best friends for everyone to really figure out the best possible situation. I really admired how well all of these relationships work and really how positive everyone seemed to be throughout it all!
What was also really fun about BEHIND THE SCENES was actually the “behind the scenes” look at Hollywood and the acting business. Obviously it’s not something that I know anything about so it’s really fun to get a glimpse at that lifestyle and also see the normality of it all. It’s easy to get caught up in the fame of celebrities but I really loved that the “human side” of each of the TV stars (minus the divas) was portrayed. These actors really are just normal people who have a job that makes them famous. It was just a really fun peek at that side of the business.
And of course, the romance was delightfully swoony. I really loved how it developed and it was really interesting to see each character’s approach and how so many people were actually involved. I loved Ally’s resistance, actually. She tried to think the worst of Liam because in her mind, he really was just a celebrity with a built-up reputation so it was especially exciting to get to know him more as Ally did! I really loved him.
All in all, BEHIND THE SCENES was another hit for me! I’ll admit that I had a few preconceived notions about a book portraying show business but that was something the characters and I learned — things are not always what they seem! It was so great to get to know these characters and I can’t wait to get to know even more in the companion novel, UNDER THE LIGHTS, this year!
Full review posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 2/18/15:
Shame on me for taking so long to read this book! I’ve been talking to the lovely Dahlia Adler for a while but only really got to know her after BEHIND THE SCENES had already come out so somehow this book fell to the wayside (aka: got stuck under my massive TBR pile) for way too long! I’m glad that I finally got to read her debut earlier this year because it was such lovely book and I pretty much inhaled it in two days!
The best thing to come out of BEHIND THE SCENES for me was the wonderful friendship between Ally and Vanessa. I absolutely loved how the two girls were there for each other through thick and thin but also that their friendship is imperfect — which made it even more realistic to me. While I’m definitely not in the same situation (my best friends aren’t the stars of their own TV shows, ya know?), my friends and I each have our differences which really make our friendships unique, and that was something that I really connected with in Ally and Vanessa’s friendship. They connect on so many things and they really love and support each other but they also end up butting heads on some hot button issues because even though they’re best friends, they’re bound to disagree on some important things. It just felt very realistic to me and opened up that line of connection for me to really feel like I knew these characters.
This also really spanned to the family aspect of the book as well. Ally is really tight with her family — especially with her father being sick — so that really sets up a situation where Ally needs to be there for her family, both emotionally and physically. Through Vanessa’s close friendship with Ally, she ends up sort of being part of the family too, which I loved seeing since that’s something I’ve had with a few of my best friend’s families. Vanessa is also there for Ally as she tries to support her family (and herself) throughout this hard time in her life. There’s a giant crossroads with Ally and her decision about college. She doesn’t want to leave her family but she’s always had her dream school in mind so it’s really a constant rotation of support between Ally, her family, and her best friends for everyone to really figure out the best possible situation. I really admired how well all of these relationships work and really how positive everyone seemed to be throughout it all!
What was also really fun about BEHIND THE SCENES was actually the “behind the scenes” look at Hollywood and the acting business. Obviously it’s not something that I know anything about so it’s really fun to get a glimpse at that lifestyle and also see the normality of it all. It’s easy to get caught up in the fame of celebrities but I really loved that the “human side” of each of the TV stars (minus the divas) was portrayed. These actors really are just normal people who have a job that makes them famous. It was just a really fun peek at that side of the business.
And of course, the romance was delightfully swoony. I really loved how it developed and it was really interesting to see each character’s approach and how so many people were actually involved. I loved Ally’s resistance, actually. She tried to think the worst of Liam because in her mind, he really was just a celebrity with a built-up reputation so it was especially exciting to get to know him more as Ally did! I really loved him.
All in all, BEHIND THE SCENES was another hit for me! I’ll admit that I had a few preconceived notions about a book portraying show business but that was something the characters and I learned — things are not always what they seem! It was so great to get to know these characters and I can’t wait to get to know even more in the companion novel, UNDER THE LIGHTS, this year!