Book Review: The Real Real

Authors: Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus
Released: December 22nd 2009 by HarperCollins Publishers
Copy Provided by: Publisher
Summary from GoodReads:

Imagine there was never a Laguna Beach, a Newport Harbor, the shimmering Hills. Imagine that your hometown—your school—is the first place XTV descends to set up cameras.

Now imagine they've trained them on you. When Jesse O'Rourke gets picked for a "documentary" being filmed at her school in the Hamptons she's tempted to turn down the offer. But there's a tuition check attached to being on the show, and Jesse needs the cash so she can be the first in her family to attend college. All she has to do is trade her best friend for the glam clique she's studiously avoided, her privacy for a 24/7 mike, and her sense of right and wrong for "what sells on camera." . . . At least there's one bright spot in the train wreck that is her suddenly public senior year: Jesse's crush has also made the cast. As the producers manipulate the lives of their "characters" to heighten the drama, and Us Weekly covers become a regular occurrence for Jesse, she must struggle to remember one thing: the difference between real and the real real.

Jesse knows that she does not have what it takes to be cast in the first ever "documentary" show. She does not lead the glamorous life like the popular girls at her school, so when she is cast as the part of the core 6 she is shocked. While she wants to turn down XTV's offer, she finds the tuition check of $40,000 too tempting to resist.

The Real Real is an intoxicating look into the world of reality television. The novel takes readers in the the glamorous (and fake) world of reality television where who you really are may not be the person that you are portrayed as. A world where even the slightest disagreement can be turned into a world class feud.

I found this novel to be incredibility entertaining by giving readers a behind the scenes look at what a reality show is really about. Every aspect of the novel has a realistic and insightful feel about it as the reader learns more about the characters and their lives. I easily found myself rooting for Jesse as she transitions from a "nobody" to a star. My only complaint about the novel is that some of the chapters felt more like filler than part of the plot. While this happens more at the beginning of the novel, these chapters left me more confused about their true purpose than being able understand what was really going on. Despite this early misstep, The Real Real was a very enjoyable read. It is definitely a book that you would enjoy cuddling up with on a rainy day.