Book Review: "Hollywood Nobody" by Lisa Samson

Fifteen-year-old Scotty Dawn has spent her young life on the road, traveling to movie sets with her single mom, Charley, a food designer. Yet even though Scotty is wise beyond her years, she still struggles to find her identity. Complicating matters is a mother who offers no guidance and a father she's never met.

Now Scotty is determined to discover what she wants from life. She's even documenting the journey on her "Hollywood Nobody" blog. But as Scotty begins to find dark answers to tough questions, will her story have a happy ending?

Lately, I seem to picking up YA book after YA book about teens in Hollywood. They've been ranging from teen actors to behind the scenes looks but each has given a unique perspective into what it's really like in the movie industry. Some have been more realistic than others but overall I've found them to be really fun to live vicariously through these characters. What makes this book stand out from the others is that even though it's a Christian YA book, it has all the fun, wittiness and snarkiness as the general market books.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Samson makes Scotty into an actual believable 15 year old. It didn't seem at all that an adult was writing this book, it felt more like a teen was the one who penned the novel. Also, I really liked how real celebrities were used in the story. Obviously the main characters were going to be fake stars, but actual real life actors are mentioned throughout the book adding a touch of realism to the story. Somehow this makes the book more credible and realistic than books that make up stars. Scotty (and Samson as the author) shows that she actually knows her way around the movie industry and is not just a rabid fan who's in love with a teen heartthrob. There's lots of humor in the book and even a touch of mystery as well.

The only thing I question is how quickly her blog achieves fame. While I really liked the blog posts and appreciated the realistic comments, I just found it a bit hard to believe that so many people found it so fast. There are LOTS of Hollywood blogs out there and it would take a long time to achieve the popularity as them. But I did love how Perez Hilton's blog gets a small shoutout. Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. The storyline draws you in and the characters really get to you. Scotty is a very likable character, mainly because she's so easy to relate to. You really want to root for her and her fight for the right to eat cheese. While this book is published as a Christian novel, I didn't find it preachy at all. Scotty explores learning more about the faith but it's not done in a pushy way. I can't wait to read the rest of the books in the series.

Hollywood Nobody by Lisa Samson is published by NavPress (2007)

This review copy was provided by a publicist