Young make-up artist Jackie Reilly has always dreamed of making it big in TinselTown, concealing the flaws of the rich and famous. Stuck in a rut with a crazy boss, she thinks her big break will never come – until she meets a girl who guarantees her life will never be the same again!
16-year-old Brooke Parker is bubbly, vivacious, charming – and about to become the world’s most famous teenager. A pop singer on the verge of superstardom, Brooke instantly takes a shine to Jackie and draws her into a world of white-stretch limos, screaming fans and invitations to VIP events.
But as Jackie quickly finds out, fame has its dark side. Forced to juggle the various egos of Brooke’s entourage – from bitchy stylists to over-eager publicists and a manager that serves his own interests before all else – all preserving the golden girl image of brand Brooke. Caught in the tight grip of the P.R machine, Brooke starts to rebel, taking Jackie along for the ride. At first her bad girl antics are a blast, earning her even more column inches, but when her heavy partying brings Brooke’s demons to the surface she begins to fall apart and soon, she is taking Jackie down with her.
When Jackie is forced to learn the rules of showbusiness the hard way, her friendship with Brooke is put to the ultimate test – will she be yet another casualty of Brooke’s increasing quest for fame? Or can she save herself – and Brooke?
Pop Tart is the debut novel from Kira Coplin and Julianne Kaye. From the back cover it sounds like a very interesting read. A make-up artist, Jackie, is trying to make her way in LA when the chance of a lifetime comes in the form of Brooke Parker, a rising star. They form a firm friendship and Brooke brings Jackie into the life of the rich and famous. Until Brooke starts to rebel…
The cover is gorgeous and the blurb makes the book sounds like a must-read. Also after posting the cover and blurb on the site we got quite a few comments saying how fabulous the novel was.
Unfortunately I’m currently struggling to finish the novel. I’m almost half-way through and nothing of note has really happened. I will carry on for the sake of my review but I have to say it may well take a while… unless I just read it to get it over with which sounds like a good prospect to me right now.
It’s a shame that the novel isn’t living up to the hype as the premise of the story makes it sound like an incredible read and one which, while ficticious, will go behind-the-scenes of what really goes on with a young, famous person. I thought it was going to be a female, younger-ish version of Johnny Be Good (by Paige Toon) but it is nowhere as close to JBG.
On the back cover of the novel it says Brooke Parker is 16. However on page 58 a newscaster reports that Brooke is “just 18 years old”. That is a huge error to slip through the editing process I have to say. And a pretty basic one at that.
I think the first-person style of the novel is all wrong. For a novel with two female characters that are the core of the novel it would have been better written in third-person so we could get Brooke’s perspective rather than just Jackie’s.
Not only that but who on earth uses the word “beat” to describe something that’s “cool”. I have never read that word being used anywhere.
I just can’t get over how much I dislike this novel. The pace is a snail’s one and I know I’m not even half way through but it’s just so difficult to keep reading something this bad. I skim-read the last half of the book and I have to say I didn’t miss much.
The book is repetitive, cliched to the maximum and Brooke is like a younger version of the now-Britney Spears who had a meltdown.
Overall the novel could have been so much more. The blurb on the back made it sound like a must-read until you actually started reading the novel. A very, very poor offering on what was a well-raved about novel.
I hate writing bad reviews but I can’t lie if I hated a novel and unfortunately I hated Pop Tart. Read it at your own peril!
Rating: 1/5
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