L.A. Candy
Author: Lauren Conrad
ISBN: 9780061767586
I was pleasantly surprised when I finished reading L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad. As I mentioned before, I wasn’t expecting much from the MTV star, but I was truly impressed by her writing and the story.
L.A. Candy tells the story of Jane Roberts, a nineteen year old who moved to L.A. with her best friend Scarlett. Jane moved to L.A. to intern for prestigious event planner Fiona Chen, while Scarlett moved to L.A. to attend USC. After being spotted by a producer out at a club, the girls are asked if they’d like to be part of a new reality TV show for PopTV featuring 4 girls who moved to L.A. for different reasons. Jane and Scarlett are a bit skeptical, but they decide to go for an interview.
Jane and Scarlett find out that they have been hired for the show and instantly, their whole world changes. The girls meet Madison and Gaby, their co-stars and Scarlett immediately gets a bad vibe from Madison. Jane, always friendly wants to give them a chance. Almost overnight, Jane and Scarlett became famous leading to problems at work, with boys, and even in their own friendship.
Throughout the taping of the show within the book, Jane is shocked and surprised to learn that reality TV isn’t as real as she once thought. When she is asked to enter and re-enter a club’s entrance 5 times and when her producer text messages her during a dinner to ask Jane to smile and speak more loudly, Jane is confused and upset.
Towards the end of the book, Jane learns some tough lessons about who can and can’t be trusted.
Many people believe that this book is loosely based on The Hills. As a huge fan of The Hills, I definitely believe that and like to think that this book is Lauren’s “fictional” way of telling fans what really went down behind the scenes on The Hills.
I honestly LOVED this book. The only thing I didn’t love so much was the ending. The end of the book was fast-paced and exciting and I was turning the pages quickly and then all of a sudden it was over. I double checked to make sure I wasn’t missing a chapter. I quickly logged online and learned that Conrad signed a 3 book deal and that the chapter I thought was missing will be included in the next book. I’m all for a cliffhanger ending, but I do like a little bit of closure, at least to hold me over until the next book!
5/5
I so want to read this book! I have it on hold at the library and I'm number NINE! That's 2 months!! 🙁 I may have to bite the bullet and buy it! 🙂
Great review, glad you liked the book! I've bought it a whike ago but haven't read it yet. Looking forward to it though since I've heard that it's really quite good, just like you said – that's why it was probably ghostwritten. 😉
Thanks for reviewing this! I wasn't sure if I should pick it up but I definitely will now. I love the City and the Hills, can't wait for it to come back.
Cliffhanger endings really frustrate me — especially when the next book isn't even out yet! 🙂 But this does sound like a surprisingly fun read — reminds me a little of Laura Weisberger's Everyone Worth Knowing. I was skeptical, but maybe I'll look for this one! 🙂 Great review, Jess!
oh man i sort of want to read this, maybe once i get through some more books on my list. but glad you liked it!
I loved Laguna and loved The Hills until Spencer and Heidi took over! I still try to follow Lauren and heard this book kind of mimicked her life, even though she says it has nothing to do with her. I am glad to see you liked it. I can't wait to pick it up now!
I glad to hear it wasn't a disappointment. I've been wanting to read this, and now I'm pretty sure I definitely will!
You know I love you, right? With that said… I read LA Candy in its entirety in about three hours and thought it was the absolute worst thing i've ever read. It was poorly written, had no real story line behind what we already knew… THE HILLS ISNT REAL.
I don't know, I really wasn't impressed by this book. It was pretty mindless and an easy read, it gave me something to do on the flight back from minneapolis! I definitely wouldn't have bought it (and i'm grateful i didn't).