Red Carpet Riot

October 1, 2009
Gr 7 Up-An amusing yet uneven installment in the series. Mallory's innovative new soap opera has garnered raves and Emmy nominations for her writing and for her mother's acting. Being a prodigy in the world of daytime drama is demanding enough, but the 16-year-old is also wrestling with boyfriend issues, formulating a plan to sabotage her mother's current relationship, and trying not to fail gym class. A story line leak to a soap-opera magazine leads to major friction between Mallory and her mother. The award ceremony can't come fast enough; when it finally does, with all its glamour, giddiness, and grotesquery, the show's stars and staff are in for some dramatic surprises. While the individual strengths of the three authorsChris Van Etten, David Ozanich, and David Levithanmake for some laugh-out-loud moments, several scenes, particularly those that switch between Mallory's television and school worlds, don't flow well. The novel's best moments poke fun at daytime drama, from revengeful actors demanding more face time to implausible story lines, breathless dialogue, and rabid fan-club presidents. Scenes set at the Emmys are particularly funny, especially the inane and pretentious dialogue parroted by presenters and outbursts on stage. In contrast, scenes involving Mallory at school are quite colorless. Buy where the series is popular."Jennifer Schultz, Fauquier County Public Library, Warrenton, VA"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2009
With her increasingly disastrous personal life, sixteen-year-old Mallory, creator of the soap opera Likely Story, would prefer that the drama stayed onscreen. Instead, she's fighting with her boyfriend and second-guessing her mother's motives--and an insider sells her out to the tabloids. The scheming and intrigue help advance a plot that has difficulty moving beyond what's already been done in previous books.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)