Title: The Paparazzi Project
Published: December 15th, 2012
Source: I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Blurb from Goodreads: Livvie Peterson thought taking Interpersonal Communications her junior year would be an easy A. But when the first assignment is given, her world flips upside down. Here’s the deal: the class is assigned a six-week project and is split into three groups— Paparazzi, Tabloid, and Celebrities. The Paparazzi follow around the Celebrities taking pictures and grabbing any kind of quotes they can. The Celebrities try to navigate being tailed on a daily basis. And the Tabloid receives all the information collected by the Paparazzi and decides what makes the weekly summary report. Sounds harmless…and it’s all just pretend anyway, right?
Livvie is assigned as Paparazzi and when she is matched up with the über-cute Chas Montgomery as her Tabloid boss she’s pretty sure things couldn’t get much better. Livvie’s uncanny ability to capture the Celebrities in compromising photos matched with Chas’s skill of exaggerating captions and editing the photos make them an unstoppable team. And the long hours working side by side with Chas aren’t a bad bonus.
Livvie simultaneously launches an anonymous blog, leaking the class’ photos and stories on the Internet. Her rising follower number quickly becomes addicting and she possibly spills too much information online. Once she finds her own celebrity will she be able to give it back? And will Chas be gone before she ever has the chance to find out?
Review
My thoughts: This was such a fun read! It is really hard to come up with something new in a genre like YA, where it seems like everything is pretty much already out there. So, I don't know how the author manages it, but this sure wasn't something I've read before.
The Paparazzi Project is the kind of book I wish I could have written. Mostly because it reminds me why I like to read in the first place: because it is fun! While reading this book I forgot to check for grammar mistakes (not that this book has a lot or any from what I know) or little holes in the plot because I was really captivated by the idea behind the whole story.
How awesome would have been if I had a class like Interpersonal Communications and a teacher like Mrs. B back in high school? It would have been amazing! Seriously I don't think there is anything more interesting than human behavior out there. And being able to do a whole project based on tabloids, celebrities and the media in general and getting a grade for it sounds pretty cool to me. Don't take me wrong, I'm not that much into magazines and I don't keep tabs on celebrities, but I do have my celebrity crush just like the next person and I really don't mind taking a look on his whereabouts from time to time.
Our protagonist and from whom point of view the story is narrated, is Livvie, a sixteen-year-old girl in her junior year at high school. She's funny and creative but insecure and with a huge tendency to rambling. She has lived in the shadows of Emma -her little sister and piano prodigy- for too long to think she's anything more than average. Her parents make that clear anyway. So, she's more than fine with watching from the sidelines and tries to stay off the high school radar. Unless until this awesome project come her way. The class is separated in three groups: Celebrities, kids who had to allow others following them and taking pictures of their every move. Paparazzi, the ones that had to follow the celebrities around and try to get the best shot of them. An finally, the Tabloids, the ones that have to take everything the paps manages to get from the celebrities and edit the info in a sort of newspaper for the whole class to enjoy.
Things like that, Livvie ends up being a Paparazzi and the boy who she's starting swooning over, Chas, gets to be her Tabloid and so they start working together, and a sweet relationship begins. You can tell they like each other, but it's not insta-love-forever-and-ever, just that realistic crush type of thing you have in high school.
Through this whole project Livvie has to learn to set her boundaries and would make more than a few mistake in the way, some of them pretty avoidable, but well, teenagers, we all have been one... Could this innocent school project turn into a massive high school chaos? Give it a try if you want to find out :)
Rating:
About the author:
Kristina Springer is author of the recently released young adult novel, THE PAPARAZZI PROJECT, THE ESPRESSOLOGIST, which has sold in six countries, was acquired for film, and was a 2010 Society of School Librarians International Honor Book, and JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS, a Fall favorite. She also wrote the middle-grade novel, MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS, which was a Scholastic Book Club Bestseller and a 2012 YALSA QUICK PICK. She has a Masters in Writing from DePaul University and resides in a suburb of Chicago with her husband and children. Visit her at www.KristinaSpringer.com or @TinaSpringer.
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