Reality Check

Charly's Epic Fiascos #2

by Kelli London

Charly St. James knows drama. Her home life—wretched. Her trip from Chicago to New York—disastrous. But she’s about to put all that behind her. . . .
Charly’s been waiting forever to put her acting skills to work, and now she’s been cast on the reality show The Extreme Dream Team. In each episode, the show makes over some lucky person's life. Charly's feeling pretty lucky already—she's to play the sidekick to kind-hearted Annison, a former child star; gets to work with Liam, a delicious cutie who performs double duty as male co-star and eye candy; and Mason is finally her boyfriend for real. Then Annison gets sick and Charly has to step up. Suddenly she's TV's fave new It-girl and she’s on fire. But behind the scenes, someone is set on changing Charly’s life—and not for the better...

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1992

Reviews

[Susana · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can really connect with the main character charly.

[Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t realize that this was a young adult book when I selected it. This is book 2 in a series about Charly St James, a strong-willed teenager who moved (ran away?) from Chicago to New York to pursue an acting career. She gets cast on a reality tv show with famous child star Annison and hotties Liam and Sully. There appears to be some intrigue involving making Charly look bad, but she cannot be sure if it is just her imagination, and she cannot be sure who can be trusted. Having missed book 1, I did not have the advantage of learning in detail about Charly’s difficult childhood circumstances. Perhaps that would have made her a more sympathetic character. However, simply based on this book, I found Charly to be stubborn, annoying, and a diva. The way she carries her little dog Marlow around with her everywhere just makes her appear pretentious, not caring, which is what I think the author intended. And the way she dashes off to handle personal situations without telling anyone, and then refuses to answer her phone, is also very annoying. She gives no thought to the inconvenience or worry that she is subjecting other people to. Some things in the book made no sense, such as characters traveling around the country at will, even though they supposedly have no money and cannot even afford to buy a box of gourmet popcorn. Charly’s father was one of the few characters in the book that I liked. He seemed like a good man who had the best interests of his daughter at heart. The book ended quite abruptly. I didn’t feel like everything was explained as fully as it should have been. Perhaps the author is saving those explanations for another installment.
I thought this book would be a quick easy read, but it was a chore to get through. I can’t recall the last time I was so happy to finally finish a book. Young adult readers will probably enjoy this book more than I did.
I received this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

[Jaime K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this in a Goodreads giveaway.

Charly's first showbiz stint didn't turn out well, but now she's back - for a reality show!
And, let me say, there's no way in hell they'd let teenagers be in charge of a room-makeover show.

Charly has to deal with a cute (but brotherly) Sully; a gorgeous, English Liam (who pushes Mason's buttons in all the wrong way); and a stuck-up famous actress, Annison - all of whom are her coworkers.

Her fiascos are much more realistic in this volume with boys, fame, her mother being a witch, and her father being quite protective.

[spoiler]I am so angry with Brigette. And with Liam. I was seriously hoping that he was setting Annison up because I think he's scum. I wanted to punch him in the face - I know he's setting Charly up too. I just know it. He's working separate from Annison, but he is purposeful in his actions.

At least Sully and Annison really did have food poisoning.

I'm also upset that Sully falls to the wayside in the last 100 pages. I enjoyed his character.

I do hope that Stormy is okay, that Brigette gets her comeuppance, and that Charly allows Annison the fame the latter wants.

Oh, and Charly's father is awesome. I loved him. He's so mysterious and truly cares about his daughter's future. I'm glad that he allowed Charly to follow her dream, but I'm super glad that he made sure that she kept up with her schooling. He's an intelligent man. Whenever volume 3 comes out, I hope to read it, if only to learn more of him and of what happens to Stormy.[/spoiler]