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livloveslibros 's review for:
Something Real
by Heather Demetrios
Something Real
by Heather Demetrios
I was originally drawn to read this book because of the interesting perspective it promised. I know I'm definitely guilty of watching a bit of reality TV, and we've seen that the people who are featured on those types of shows aren't always portrayed as "realistically" as they the TV stations claim. I expected something unique from this book, and it delivered.
First of all, I loved how the author inserted random media bits about the show into the story. Don't get me wrong, it was excellent writing and I was never bored while reading, but I'm a sucker when there are extra little tidbits embedded into the story, such as interviews, parts of the show's websites, and news articles. As well as being entertaining, they also really served to explain the history of the show and the difference in how the media portrayed Chloe and her family as opposed to how they actually were. It was a good choice by the author to put the information in this way instead of having Chloe relate it all to the plot.
More about Chloe -- I really like the contrast of this book. It's about a "reality TV" show that couldn't be farther from the truth and it's told from the perspective of a pretty "real" girl. Chloe has done almost everything she could possibly do to distance herself from her past life as the star of Baker's Dozen television show. America watched her grow up from an adorable unexpected child from a mother who thought she couldn't have to kids to a troubled teenager who attempts suicide at one point. By the time the story begins, Chloe has changed her name (it was previously Bonnie™, always with the trademark) and is currently going to a high school where, with the exception of her brother Benny, no one knows about her past.
Of course, just when Chloe finally feels like she has a chance at a semi-normal life, her mother and step-dad renew the show for another season as Baker's Dozen: Fresh Batch. Chloe is understandably upset, and she reacts just as she has in the past, by lashing out and running away. Naturally, the cameras catch all of this. One of the more interesting concepts in this book was the way Chloe struggles to behave in a way that gets her point across without being portrayed as an out-of-control brat to the media.
This is why I really loved Chloe's character. She's got her good qualities (independent and tough) and bad qualities (tendency to run away from her problems) but what I admired most was the way she progressed as the book went on. She deals with a lot of shit through the course of the story as well as continually struggling with some previous baggage from the show, but she never completely shuts down and goes all "woe-is-me." She gets close a couple of times, but she's matured enough from her past to realize that she has to adapt to get through. For example, her parents' marriage dissolves because a producer of the show tricks her into catching her father with another woman, all while the camera is rolling. Then he threatens her to end the show if she doesn't cooperate (which is tempting, but she realizes that her large family needs the revenue from the show to survive) and forces her to be filmed while at school.
As you can probably image, the whole being-on-a-reality-TV-show thing doesn't exactly help Chloe's love life. However, she somehow manages to meet Patrick, and he doesn't run away when she finally has to tell him about her TV-star-status. The two have a bit of a "forbidden love affair" with Chloe trying to hide the fact that she has a boyfriend from the media. As expected, they're eventually found out, and things get a bit dicey for a while, but Patrick is a pretty understanding guy and things work out in the end. I really liked that even though Chloe was used to being pretty independent and dealing with her problems on her own, she handled things better when she was more balanced and leaned on Patrick for support sometimes.
The only thing I felt this book was missing was a little more interaction with her younger siblings. Benny, her half-brother (along with Lexie, he had a surrogate mother when Beth Baker thought she couldn't get pregnant) is Chloe's best friend, and while I enjoyed the friendship they had despite all their problems with the show, I kind of wanted to see more of Chloe's relationships with her little siblings. There are a couple of scenes where she is forced to babysit or interact with her siblings with the cameras rolling, but otherwise there's not a lot going on there. (The main exception is that when she leaves the house at the end of the book, she leaves notes and chocolates on their beds, but even that isn't too much.)
On the other hand, I adored the way Chloe matured in her relationship with her sister, Lexie. They fight pretty often at the beginning of the story, and Chloe has a pretty negative view of her sister. She privately thinks that her sister is kind of a slut, and doesn't think twice to point out when her clothes are extremely tight or when she's flirting with random guys. One of my favorite moments in the story is after Chloe breaks up with Patrick, and Lexie's there to comfort her (well, as well as she can, anyway) even though the two usually have a pretty hostile relationship.
Speaking of hostile relationships, I adored the main "villain" in the character - Chloe's mom, RealMom™ Beth™ Baker-Miller. I understand the fact that she's doing the show to provide for her family, but she's selfish. The whole reason the show started was because she contacted the company with her dream of having thirteen kids (although her husband was never completely on board) and then it became a lifeline as a way of keeping everybody fed. She might succeed in the technical aspect of parenting, such as organizing schedules and keeping everybody together, but she completely fails Chloe especially in many times of her life, when Chloe just needed some love and someone to see where she was coming from without the cameras rolling 24/7. To the public, it appears that she's a doting, concerned mother, but Chloe's point of view reveals that she's actually pretty absentee.
Overall, I really adored this book. As I mentioned, I had high hopes, and Something Real never let me down. Chloe was a pretty relatable character in spite of her extreme situation, which is a pretty big compliment to the author. I would read this book again!
by Heather Demetrios
I was originally drawn to read this book because of the interesting perspective it promised. I know I'm definitely guilty of watching a bit of reality TV, and we've seen that the people who are featured on those types of shows aren't always portrayed as "realistically" as they the TV stations claim. I expected something unique from this book, and it delivered.
First of all, I loved how the author inserted random media bits about the show into the story. Don't get me wrong, it was excellent writing and I was never bored while reading, but I'm a sucker when there are extra little tidbits embedded into the story, such as interviews, parts of the show's websites, and news articles. As well as being entertaining, they also really served to explain the history of the show and the difference in how the media portrayed Chloe and her family as opposed to how they actually were. It was a good choice by the author to put the information in this way instead of having Chloe relate it all to the plot.
More about Chloe -- I really like the contrast of this book. It's about a "reality TV" show that couldn't be farther from the truth and it's told from the perspective of a pretty "real" girl. Chloe has done almost everything she could possibly do to distance herself from her past life as the star of Baker's Dozen television show. America watched her grow up from an adorable unexpected child from a mother who thought she couldn't have to kids to a troubled teenager who attempts suicide at one point. By the time the story begins, Chloe has changed her name (it was previously Bonnie™, always with the trademark) and is currently going to a high school where, with the exception of her brother Benny, no one knows about her past.
Of course, just when Chloe finally feels like she has a chance at a semi-normal life, her mother and step-dad renew the show for another season as Baker's Dozen: Fresh Batch. Chloe is understandably upset, and she reacts just as she has in the past, by lashing out and running away. Naturally, the cameras catch all of this. One of the more interesting concepts in this book was the way Chloe struggles to behave in a way that gets her point across without being portrayed as an out-of-control brat to the media.
This is why I really loved Chloe's character. She's got her good qualities (independent and tough) and bad qualities (tendency to run away from her problems) but what I admired most was the way she progressed as the book went on. She deals with a lot of shit through the course of the story as well as continually struggling with some previous baggage from the show, but she never completely shuts down and goes all "woe-is-me." She gets close a couple of times, but she's matured enough from her past to realize that she has to adapt to get through. For example, her parents' marriage dissolves because a producer of the show tricks her into catching her father with another woman, all while the camera is rolling. Then he threatens her to end the show if she doesn't cooperate (which is tempting, but she realizes that her large family needs the revenue from the show to survive) and forces her to be filmed while at school.
As you can probably image, the whole being-on-a-reality-TV-show thing doesn't exactly help Chloe's love life. However, she somehow manages to meet Patrick, and he doesn't run away when she finally has to tell him about her TV-star-status. The two have a bit of a "forbidden love affair" with Chloe trying to hide the fact that she has a boyfriend from the media. As expected, they're eventually found out, and things get a bit dicey for a while, but Patrick is a pretty understanding guy and things work out in the end. I really liked that even though Chloe was used to being pretty independent and dealing with her problems on her own, she handled things better when she was more balanced and leaned on Patrick for support sometimes.
The only thing I felt this book was missing was a little more interaction with her younger siblings. Benny, her half-brother (along with Lexie, he had a surrogate mother when Beth Baker thought she couldn't get pregnant) is Chloe's best friend, and while I enjoyed the friendship they had despite all their problems with the show, I kind of wanted to see more of Chloe's relationships with her little siblings. There are a couple of scenes where she is forced to babysit or interact with her siblings with the cameras rolling, but otherwise there's not a lot going on there. (The main exception is that when she leaves the house at the end of the book, she leaves notes and chocolates on their beds, but even that isn't too much.)
On the other hand, I adored the way Chloe matured in her relationship with her sister, Lexie. They fight pretty often at the beginning of the story, and Chloe has a pretty negative view of her sister. She privately thinks that her sister is kind of a slut, and doesn't think twice to point out when her clothes are extremely tight or when she's flirting with random guys. One of my favorite moments in the story is after Chloe breaks up with Patrick, and Lexie's there to comfort her (well, as well as she can, anyway) even though the two usually have a pretty hostile relationship.
"Bonnie™." Her voice is soft, and I feel the bed sag as she sits beside me. "Did he break up with you because of this?"
I shake my head. "I bro-broke up with ... him."
"Wow," she says. "Your relationship is starting to look like a CW show."
This gets a begrudging snort out of me. "Well, Patrick is not a CW kind of guy, so it's just as well."
Lex puts a tentative hand on my shoulder. It's weird having her touch me, and I can tell from the stiffness in her hand that the feeling is mutual.
"That was brave of you," she says.
Speaking of hostile relationships, I adored the main "villain" in the character - Chloe's mom, RealMom™ Beth™ Baker-Miller. I understand the fact that she's doing the show to provide for her family, but she's selfish. The whole reason the show started was because she contacted the company with her dream of having thirteen kids (although her husband was never completely on board) and then it became a lifeline as a way of keeping everybody fed. She might succeed in the technical aspect of parenting, such as organizing schedules and keeping everybody together, but she completely fails Chloe especially in many times of her life, when Chloe just needed some love and someone to see where she was coming from without the cameras rolling 24/7. To the public, it appears that she's a doting, concerned mother, but Chloe's point of view reveals that she's actually pretty absentee.
Overall, I really adored this book. As I mentioned, I had high hopes, and Something Real never let me down. Chloe was a pretty relatable character in spite of her extreme situation, which is a pretty big compliment to the author. I would read this book again!