Reviewed by Leah on
I have to admit that when I started LA Candy, I wasn't expecting a whole lot from it. I certainly wasn't expecting to enjoy it. It appears, though, that American celebrities are better writers than their UK counterparts - at least in my opinion anyway. LA Candy isn't anything particularly special but it's a fun and enjoyable read nevertheless. Lauren is (or rather, was) a reality star herself so she has insider knowledge about just how real reality shows are and she really inserts that into the book. Gossip websites have always said things like The Hills are scripted and if LA Candy is anything to go by, it's certainly not as real as I'd have thought.
The book caught my attention pretty much from the off. It begins just before Jane and Scarlett get the chance to star in LA Candy and we learn why they came to LA in the first place. It oversees their transition from regular human beings into the hottest stars on the hottest TV show. The way Jane and Scarlett are found by Trevor, the exec-producer of LA Candy, is relatively unbelieveable but since this is Hollywood, I suppose anything could happen so the outrageous-ness just made it all the better. As the book is told from the third person point of view, we manage to see what's happening at all times with everyone involved in LA Candy. The majority of the book is told from Jane's point of view but it does switch to Scarlett, Trevor and others at random intervals. To see everything unfold without Jane knowing about it was very clever but also made me feel incredibly sneaky for knowing what was going on without Jane knowing!
As far as characters go, I really liked Jane. She sounds like the girl-next-door type as well as being slightly naive about the whole LA thing. I warmed to her almost immediately and couldn't help feeling sorry for her when everyone around her was trying to plot her downfall. I adored Scarlett. Her attitude to the entire thing was so blase and the way she tried to protect Jane was incredibly sweet. Lauren has made two incredibly nice characters as her main characters and I loved them both. I can't say I cared for Madison - she was incredibly two-faced and just so unlikeable it was unreal. Her sidekick Gaby seemed sweet enough, if a little dumb. The book wouldn't be complete without a love interest or two and here we have Jesse and Braden. I liked both of them even though Jesse comes across as a womanizer and Braden has a girlfriend. It'll be interesting to see where it goes from here in the other two books in the series.
I wouldn't say Lauren's writing is anything special but it flows nicely and I found myself really getting immersed in the story. It does also appear that Lauren wrote this herself rather than going down the ghostwriter approach so I hugely applaud that - it seems it's all too easy to get a ghostwriter these days. The ending of the book is rather abrupt which will feed nicely into Sweet Little Lies. If I didn't have the second book on my shelf I would have found the ending irritating because of having to wait to read it but I actually quite liked it. It was like a TV cliffhanger of an ending and it worked quite well although I didn't see it coming.
I really enjoyed reading LA Candy and I can see it has wide appeal. It was published by HarperTeen which tells me that it's aimed more at teenagers than adults but adults can very easily read LA Candy and enjoy it. I can fully recommend LA Candy and I can also admit that I was totally wrong about Lauren Conrad. No she's not Sophie Kinsella but she's written a very enjoyable book about what it's like to star in a reality TV series and I really loved reading it.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 20 February, 2010: Finished reading
- 20 February, 2010: Reviewed