Meet Josephine Foster, or Zo Jo as she’s called in the biz. The best pint-sized photographer of them all, Jo doesn’t mind doing what it takes to get that perfect shot, until she’s sent on an undercover assignment to shoot Ned Hartnett—teen superstar and the only celebrity who’s ever been kind to her—at an exclusive rehabilitation retreat in Boston. The money will be enough to pay for Jo’s dream: real photography classes, and maybe even quitting her paparazzi gig for good. Everyone wants to know what Ned’s in for. But Jo certainly doesn’t know what she’s in for: falling in love with Ned was never supposed to be part of her assignment.
Paperback, 272 pages
Published February 28th 2012 by Walker Childrens
Shooting Stars is a book I would definitely recommend to teens of all ages. It follows teen paparazzo Zo Jo as she goes undercover to take shots of a popular teen singer. When reading the synopsis, there are some assumptions that I'm sure many of you easily were lead too. I know because I made certain assumptions about the plot as well. However, what ensues definitely wasn't what I was excepting. Thanks Allison Rushby for definitely going against the grain. Want to know what I mean? Well, you'll just have to check out the novel. I will say this though. The big twist in the plot is a definitive change in the game. Genius move by Rushby as this twist doesn't become revealed until the book is more than half-way through it's 272 pages.
So a great twist doesn't always make a great novel. In fact, a great twist occasionally makes a very crappy novel depending on how it's executed. So, I'm sure you want to know a few more reasons why I liked the book enough to give it a 4 star rating.
Well, firstly, I have to say I like it because it succeeds in being a YA contemporary romance, without all of the, for lack of a better word, fluff. There's no dramatic chases. There's no helpless teen girl delirious in love. It's more realistic. Adding all of the fluff is way to easy, and I'm sure sometimes it slips in without the author meaning for it too (I've plenty a lovey dovey fluffy short stories I've written and then recoiled at the extreme levels of fluff I've included). So, it's very commendable to Rushby's ability to separate that ideal of romance that many females harbor from the romance of reality, which can be endearing all the same.
Another reason I like the novel is the characters. They are believable. Many of them have issues and I enjoy the fact that Rushby made characters that all have some flaws about them, even if these flaws are just acknowledged as being present, because everyone has flaws. Everyone has problems. I guess when most of your novel is set in a rehabilitation retreat showing these flaws becomes way easier.
Another reason I like the novel is the characters. They are believable. Many of them have issues and I enjoy the fact that Rushby made characters that all have some flaws about them, even if these flaws are just acknowledged as being present, because everyone has flaws. Everyone has problems. I guess when most of your novel is set in a rehabilitation retreat showing these flaws becomes way easier.
Besides the flaws, the characters are great for different reasons. There's actually a boy-girl friendship that DOESN'T evolve into hidden feelings. There aren't those ever-present characters who are always so "high school". You know, mean girl sneers, eye rolling, and flipping of hair as a posse of evil chicks in mini-skirts scowl at the main protagonist. Yup, there is none of that. Thanks again, Rushby. And there is a totally crush worthy dude in the novel, and I am not talking about teen heartthrob Ned Hartnett.
Finally, I love the concept in general. I don't know about any of you but I have never glimpsed a fictional book on the subject of teen paparazzi..
So, that's something new as well.
Great book... 4/5 stars
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