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Map to the Stars eBook Jen Malone

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Map to the Stars eBook Jen Malone

What a fun contemporary YA romance! Yes, the premise of the movie star falling for the nobody narrator is a cliche at this point, but Jen Malone does it so well, and adds such realistic details that it made it such fun to read! The first person POV is both fresh and refreshing as her small town heroine gets her first taste of Hollywood, making a mess of things along the way.

Annie Shelton grew up in Georgia, so far from the bright lights of LA that she was never interested in tabloid gossip or crushing on hot movie stars. Her best friend Wynn was the total opposite and a great counterpoint to Annie's hard focus on reality. When Annie and her mom move out to California, its not to pursue dreams, but to escape the reality of her father's deception.

Graham Cabot grew up in LA-LA-land, on screen from an early age, and now a genuine movie star at seventeen. Girls throw themselves at him all the time, but the real Graham is actually a little shy and insecure. He admits to Annie that he's never had a real girlfriend, hasn't even had real friends since his elementary school years, before the fame and fortune changed his life.

Their budding relationship is cute and sweet, and the one-POV storytelling has the reader riding along with Annie's confusion at Graham's shifting attitudes and emotions. I won't give away any more of the story except to say the ending is totally satisfying and everything worked out the way I wanted it to. This is a standalone read, no series or setup for the next book, which I also found refreshing. Quick, satisfying contemporary YA romance of first love and self discovery that I can totally recommend!


Tags : Amazon.com: Map to the Stars eBook: Jen Malone: Kindle Store,ebook,Jen Malone,Map to the Stars,HarperTeen,YOUNG ADULT FICTION: Performing Arts Film *,YOUNG ADULT FICTION: Girls & Women *

Map to the Stars eBook Jen Malone Reviews

This fun book is full of all things teen, brushed by Hollywood. It's very realistic portrayal of family issues, teen romance, and human dynamics give it a depth beyond a fluffy teen romance. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a good story with a happy ending.
This was a super-fun read which I'm sure YAs - especially those interested in real life details of a teen idol - will really enjoy. The inside scoop makes this legitimately fascinating as it's woven into the story brilliantly and seemingly without effort. Also, the humor. The banter, the similes, the real-life references were a pleasure to read. This author knows funny and that makes this story GREAT. More, please!
Annie, the main character, had a great relationship with her mom (who was very present in the book). So refreshing to see functional family relationships in books! (While still letting the characters get out their and find ways to get into trouble and figure out how to get out of trouble on their own. ))
This was cute! I’m always a sucker for stories where a girl meets the star her friend loves and ends up dating him lol
Standalone

Annie's POV

I liked this cute story. Annie found herself living in LA after growing up in rural Georgia. She didn't want to have senior year of high school in another state but was making the most of it. She became her mother's make-up assistant to celebrities. That's how she met Graham, the egotistical heartthrob that yelled at her by assuming she snuck into his room. Then the rest is history...
Annie Shelton didn't expect to be in LA the summer before her senior year in high school, but her parents have separated and her hairdresser mom's skills caught the eye of a movie producer. Soon Annie and her mom aren't simply in LA, they're on tour with one of the hottest boy stars around, and Annie's got more to oggle than the European architecture she came to see.

Map to the Stars is a fun beach read made even better by the knowledge that Jen Malone worked as a movie studio publicist, so she knows the kind of crazy that happens when movie stars go on tour. Any preteen or teen who has ever fantasized about the hot new star will enjoy reading this fun romance.
I don’t read a lot of YA romance novels.

Let me clarify I read a lot of YA books that have romance in them, and I’ve written flirty, romantic sequences in my own books. But I tend to gravitate more towards books that have something else (a contemporary issue or a fantasy/speculative/magical-realism element) driving the story with the romance being a subplot. Jen Malone’s Map to the Stars very well may be the first strictly YA romance novel I’ve ever read. After all, I’m a forty-something-year-old man and thus probably not the target audience.

I picked up a copy for my on the strength of the humor in the first chapter when it was read by the author at a YA book-reading event I went to. My daughters found the notion of a movie star getting a facial of nightingale poop to be utterly hysterical. And it is. The Hollywood satire peppered throughout the book made me laugh heartily enough to overcome occasional eye-rolls at main character Annie’s early waffling back and forth regarding her feelings for teen heartthrob Graham Cabot.

So here’s the basic plot Annie’s mother has moved her out to L.A. (from a small town in Georgia) to be a stylist to the stars, and they get assigned to Graham Cabot’s worldwide promotional tour for his latest movie. Back home, Annie’s best friend Wynn is a huge Graham Cabot fangirl, but Annie’s first run-in with him is a total disaster. She lumps him together with all the other Hollywood phonies, he flirts a little, she flirts back but questions his motives, he turns out to be a really sweet guy. Romance ensues.

Okay, so maybe there are some signs of the “dreaded” insta-love going on, but you know what? Big deal! I was a teenager once, and I remember getting tingles if a pretty girl innocently and platonically touched my arm, and I remember suddenly deciding I loved them. And I know girls feel that way too—I had enough female friends that at one point wrote out their names with their crush’s last name attached. Insta-attraction—or better yet, insta-interest—happens in the real world. Love—all emotions—are irrational. Teens—well, most people—behave irrationally at times. And this is a fun story or two teens—one that’s normal but skeptical and one that’s airbrushed but sheltered and seeking normalcy—finding each other and just trying to have fun and do the things teens do.

Teens make mistakes, and Annie and Graham make some big ones along the way. Because he’s in the spotlight, being seen in public with a regular girl could harm his image. Or it could alienate his fan base of tween and teen girls that want to be writing his last name after theirs. That’s the main conflict for about the second half of the book, and it was fun watching them try to have a relationship, even though I correctly predicted the consequences they’d face.

Annie and Graham are likeable enough lead, and the book has a solid supporting cast. Though Wynn’s appearances are limited to emails and video chats, she’s well developed and a lot of fun. Bodyguard Roddy, who’s in on the couple’s ruses, has some nice hidden layers to him. Annie’s mom is well-balanced between supportive and overprotective, and her producer-friend Joe is an absolute riot whenever he appears.

The book is filled with pop culture references, as it should be when partially satirizing Hollywood and online-trending, but they don’t stick to one particular era. Some have stood or will stand the test of time, but some others are contemporary that may not. And some of them were from when I was a teen, including a Grease 2 reference that I didn’t quite believe both characters would get.

There’s no surprise that there’s a HEA ending, as that’s required for the genre, but I found it ironic after all the Hollywood satirizing that the ending was so Hollywood-ized. The only thing missing from the typical Hollywood-made teen romantic comedy ending was someone in the crowd starting a slow clap.

Overall, the satire is funny, the characters are fun, their chemistry is believable, and the ending is satisfying. No new ground is broken, but there’s nothing wrong with comfort food (like the cookies Annie’s Mom bakes), and this is an enjoyable, fun, light read. No map necessary for it to find its FOUR STARS.
What a fun contemporary YA romance! Yes, the premise of the movie star falling for the nobody narrator is a cliche at this point, but Jen Malone does it so well, and adds such realistic details that it made it such fun to read! The first person POV is both fresh and refreshing as her small town heroine gets her first taste of Hollywood, making a mess of things along the way.

Annie Shelton grew up in Georgia, so far from the bright lights of LA that she was never interested in tabloid gossip or crushing on hot movie stars. Her best friend Wynn was the total opposite and a great counterpoint to Annie's hard focus on reality. When Annie and her mom move out to California, its not to pursue dreams, but to escape the reality of her father's deception.

Graham Cabot grew up in LA-LA-land, on screen from an early age, and now a genuine movie star at seventeen. Girls throw themselves at him all the time, but the real Graham is actually a little shy and insecure. He admits to Annie that he's never had a real girlfriend, hasn't even had real friends since his elementary school years, before the fame and fortune changed his life.

Their budding relationship is cute and sweet, and the one-POV storytelling has the reader riding along with Annie's confusion at Graham's shifting attitudes and emotions. I won't give away any more of the story except to say the ending is totally satisfying and everything worked out the way I wanted it to. This is a standalone read, no series or setup for the next book, which I also found refreshing. Quick, satisfying contemporary YA romance of first love and self discovery that I can totally recommend!