Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - Secrets of My Hollywood Life

Secrets of My Hollywood Life
Secrets of My Hollywood Life
Author: Jen Calonita
What if? Your picture was taped inside teenage boys' lockers across America, your closets were bursting with never-worn designer clothing, and the tabloids constantly asked whether you were losing your "good girl" status? — It's a glamorous life, but 16-year-old Kaitlin Burke, co-star of one of the hottest shows on TV, is exhausted from the press...  more »
Info icon
ISBN-13: 9780316154437
ISBN-10: 0316154431
Publication Date: 5/1/2007
Pages: 256
Edition: Reprint
Reading Level: Young Adult
Rating:
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 44

4.1 stars, based on 44 ratings
Publisher: Poppy
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

GeniusJen avatar reviewed Secrets of My Hollywood Life on + 5322 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

Sixteen-year-old Kaitlin Burke has been on the same nighttime soap, Family Affair, for the past twelve years. In between interviews, press junkets, trips abroad, and other smaller parts, she's had to deal with a demanding publicist, a mother who seems to be living her own life through that of her daughters, and a growing feud with her co-star, Sky Mackenzie. Ever since the two girls were cast, at age four, as fraternal twins on the show, Sky has been the bad girl with Kaitlin playing the role of good girl--both on screen and off.

As this season's hiatus nears, Kaitlin realizes that there's more to life than being on Teen People's list of hottest young stars, or being number six on Entertainment Weekly's "It List." Sure, there's an audition for a new movie by hot director Hutch Adams that she'd love to land, but she's also supremely tired. Working nearly nonstop for twelve years has taken its toll. So Kaitlin has come up with the perfect plan to take a break over hiatus--she'll attend Clark Hall as regular student Rachel Rogers, a girl from London visiting the U.S. for two months.

Everything is going along according to plan. Although the principal of Clark Hall and her fellow student and friend Liz know her true identity, no one else has a clue that plain, studious Rachel is really Kaitlin from one of the most popular shows on television. As "Rachel" settles into normal teen life, signing up to be on the boring dance committee and indulging in her love of math, she feels for the first time like a regular teen. And when she meets Austin, a guy unlike every Hollywood celebrity she's ever met, she knows she might be falling in love.

But as rumors start to swirl in the tabloids and as her double life is threatened by exposure, Kaitlin will have to learn what's really important in life--true friends, whether they know her as Kaitlin or Rachel; the belief in herself as an actress; and the blessing and curse that is the media.

SECRETS OF MY HOLLYWOOD LIFE is a quick, entertaining read that sheds new light on what it means to be a celebrity. Not everything is as great as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, or Nicole Richie would like us to believe, but it sure is filled with excitement!
Read All 5 Book Reviews of "Secrets of My Hollywood Life"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

reviewed Secrets of My Hollywood Life on + 8 more book reviews
This book is AWSOME!!!!
reviewed Secrets of My Hollywood Life on + 45 more book reviews
great book for teens!! plus its not too explicit for YA readers.
skywriter319 avatar reviewed Secrets of My Hollywood Life on + 784 more book reviews
Meet Kaitlin Burke. Oh, wait, you already know everything about her: phenomenal star on the soap opera Family Affairs, best friend with her costar Sky Mackenzie, and voted hottest teen star by practically every magazine out there....Or do you?

Life is not well in Kaitlin's privileged world. Sky, with whom she has never gotten along, is spreading nasty rumors about Kaitlin's prissy personality to the tabloids (descriptions that better suit herself, quite frankly). Her career-crazy parents and pushy publicist seem to be trying to drown her in a ton of work and feature appearances on talk shows. Her only respite is with her best friend Liz, the "normal" daughter of a powerful lawyer, who attends the normal high school of Clark.

Desperate to know what it's like to be a regular teenager, Kaitlin goes undercover as the nerdy Rachel Rogers, British import, at Clark. The experience is so much more than she expected, however. There are annoying Sky-like girls there as well--but "Rachel" makes friends, too, and meets an incredibly cute guy, Austin, who seems to like her for who she really is: a nerdy, Star Wars-obsessed math prodigy.

But Kaitlin is teetering on the edge of her double life. How will she deal with it when it all comes crashing down on top of her?

SECRETS OF MY HOLLYWOOD LIFE has been touted as "what it's really like to be a celebrity 'It' girl" (Us Weekly), but having had no experience in the Hollywood world, I don't know whether that is true or not. What I do know is that it's always nice to have a down-to-earth, unjaded girl for a protagonist, even if Kaitlin's character doesn't really ring to me. Same with the other characters. They're likable...but only to an extent, the same way you'd like, say, your assigned chem lab partner whom you never get to know really well. Still, the book is a fun romp through the L.A. glam life, perfect for those who are tired of looking at it from the self-satisfied top.
xhollishx avatar reviewed Secrets of My Hollywood Life on + 68 more book reviews
This is a good and quick YA read.


Genres:

TagsTeens