2015, 185, Clean YA Contemporary
My Rating=4 Stars
Source: Received a copy from the author for an honest review
Hadley Daniels is tired of feeling invisible.
After Hadley’s best friend moves away and she gets on the bad side of some girls at school, she goes to spend the summer with her grandparents in the Lake Michigan resort town of Grand Haven. Her next door neighbor is none other than teen TV star Simone Hendrickson, who is everything Hadley longs to be—pretty, popular, and famous—and she’s thrilled when Simone treats her like a friend.
Being popular is a lot harder than it looks.
It’s fun and flattering when Simone includes her in her circle, though Hadley is puzzled about why her new friend refuses to discuss her former Hollywood life. Caught up with Simone, Hadley finds herself ignoring her quiet, steadfast friend, Charlotte.
To make things even more complicated, along comes Nick Jenkins…
He’s sweet, good-looking, and Hadley can be herself around him without all the fake drama. However, the mean girls have other ideas and they fill Nick’s head with lies about Hadley, sending him running back to his ex-girlfriend and leaving Hadley heartbroken.
So when her parents decide to relocate to Grand Haven, Hadley hopes things will change when school starts…only to be disappointed once again.
Cliques.
Back-stabbing.
Love gone bad.
Is this really what it’s like to live…
Next Door To A Star?
Hadley's best friend is moving and the summer looks long. She gets the opportunity to go spend the summer with her grandparents, who live next door to TV star Simone Hendrickson. Things start out a bit awkward but they are able to become friends. Sort of. Hadley also meets a new friend, Charlotte, who she enjoys hanging out with, but she's not as cool as Simone. Then there's Nick who likes her and then doesn't. Hadley is one confused teenager trying to figure out where she fits in.
Ms. Hager has an ability to write about the awkward teenage years where I'm nodding my head, remembering certain feelings and then rolling my eyes at how oblivious Hadley is. Those are some confusing, frustrating years! Simone is tough for Hadley to figure out--there are times that she treats her as a true friend and other times when she acts like she doesn't know she exists.
I enjoyed getting to know all the characters, even the mean ones. Some of them developed into more likable characters along the way and others just stayed mean. This is a quick, fun read that teens and adults can enjoy. There's drama, friendship and romance. I'm looking forward to reading what Ms. Hager comes up with next!
Krysten Lindsay Hager is an obsessive reader and has never met a bookstore she didn’t like. She’s worked as a journalist and humor essayist, and writes for teens, tweens, and adults. She is also the author of the Landry’s True Colors Series (True Colors, Best Friends…Forever?, and the soon to be released, Landry in Like) and her work has been featured in USA Today and named as Amazon’s #1 Hot New Releases in Teen & Young Adult Values and Virtues Fiction and Amazon’s #1 Hot New Releases in Children’s Books on Values. She’s originally from Michigan and has lived in South Dakota, Portugal, and southwestern Ohio. She received her master’s degree from the University of Michigan-Flint.
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