Likely Story

Reader reviewed by Megan

Mallory is a teenage girl living in L.A. and her mother is the oftnominated, never-winning star of a daytime soap; she is, in fact, the ultimate drama queen. After yet another blowout about her mothers awful plotlines and overacting, Mallory starts blogging about how she wishes soap operas were more like real kids lives instead of the ridiculous storylines the shows usually feature. Her mothers agent reads the blog, offers to show it around, and a star is born!

Soon Mallorys caught up in her own whirlwind drama, both at school and on the lot, as she works to protect the integrity of her original idea, cope with her mothers jealousy, get through school, and get her best-friend-but-not-the-best-actress a lead role on the show.

 

I thought this book was ok. The characters were hard to understand and not written very well. The plot seemed okay there wasn't much action or drama. But I did like the story of the book it just wasn't written very well. I might read the next book,But I would not reccomend this.

Reader reviewed by Booked Books

Mallory has spent all her life trying to stay drama-free in spite of the fact that her overbearing mother is a soap opera drama queen. The last thing she wants to do is follow in her mother's footprints and be a drama princess; she has little to no respect for her mother. Mallory is emotionally distant from her mother and scorns her overacting and poorly rated show. It is ironic then that she becomes a writer for a new soap opera, a show about believable rather than unrealistic people in unusual situations. Along with dealing with the challenges of being a scriptwriter, Mallory also has to deal with her personal relationships with others, including her best friend Amelia and her boyfriend Keith. AS she soon finds out, her life is already dramatic and soap opera-like as it is without her writing a soap opera.

Having grown up in a soap opera setting, Mallory soon adapts to the mind games of the television production crew; she realizes that it's impossible to please everyone every time. Still, she doesn't let anyone bring her down. Mallory is intelligent, spunky, and rebellious she refuses to tolerate nonsense from her mother. However, she is flawed, which makes her realistic despite her situation. Perhaps it was because the story was in Mallory's perspective, but I didn't like the other characters; Mallory was the most decent character.


Etten uses good choice of words Mallory sounds like a normal teenager, yet she's witty, a trait that nobody in the story seems to appreciate. I was hooked after reading the first few pages. One particular line that stood out was: "At school I learned addition, subtraction, multiplication, and long division. After school I learned seduction, distraction, manipulation, and long indecision (6-7)." That was a killer.

Reader reviewed by TheBookworm

Why did you do that? You did not need to.
Likely Story by David Van Etten
2 out of 5 stars

Likely Story Book One in the Likely Story Series by David Van Etten was unfortunately a disappointment.

Mallory is the daughter of an openly affectionate mother. She is here boyfriends only girlfriend. She is surrounded by tons of close friends. And she has absolutely nothing to do with the unrealistic Soap Opera, Good as Gold. Well, only in her dreams. Actually she has selfish, to the core Soap Opera actress for a mother. Her boyfriend is in another relationship than just theirs. Mallory is close to being anti-social. And she practically grew up on the Good as Gold set.

To blow steam, Mallory keeps a blog. After one practically nasty fight with her mom, she vents on her blog about how unrealistic Soap Operas are. Little did she know that her mothers agent would read it. Before she knows it she is typing out a bible for a possible soap opera she accidentally created. They like it. They it so much they decide that her show, Likely Story, would be an interesting new addition to their network. But will Mallory be able to handle a stressful job and her even more stressful home life?

I really like the idea of the book, a teen girl turns her experiences and thoughts into a show with real people viewing it. The skeleton or basic plot of the story was good. The fights with her mother, boy problems, and trust issues with friends are all realistic and added a lot of drama and plot buildup.

But I was greatly disappointed with the over all picture. Each chapter had improper matters in it. Sex and homosexuality were brought up way to often. It shouldnt have been added at all. It didnt add anything and I dont believe 14 years olds like me should be reading a book like that. There is no way that I would suggest this book to my siblings or friends.

Just because sex and homosexuality is brought up a lot in these modern times, doesnt mean its right. Would the book have been bad or worse without these improper matters? Definitely not. Would a Likely Story have been better without the improper matters? Absolutely.

Likely Storys skeleton or basic plot was good, but was taken over by unneeded additions that overpowered the good.

Reader reviewed by Bookluver-Carol

Mallory is a teenage girl living in L.A. and her mother is the oftnominated, never-winning star of a daytime soap; she is, in fact, the ultimate drama queen. After yet another blow-out about her mothers awful plotlines and overacting, Mallory starts blogging about how she wishes soap operas were more like real kids lives instead of the ridiculous storylines the shows usually feature.
When her mothers agent reads the blog, Mallory ends up in her own whirlwind drama, both at school and on the lot, as she works to protect the integrity of her original idea, cope with her mothers jealousy, and get her best friend a lead role on the show. Factor in her boyfriend with the girlfriend, the cute but bad brother to said-best-friend, and the super-cute male lead on her show, and Mallorys got plenty of her own melodrama to cope with.

I liked this book. It was good. It wasn't amazing but it wasn't bad.There wasn't much depth to Mallory's character. She grew up in a world full of soap operas and you would think she would hate soap operas but she doesn't. It was a short fun read. The plot was unique and it was better than most books that are set in Hollywood. Look for the sequel in October, 2008.

Reader reviewed by the book muncher

Mallory is fed up with her life. Her mother is a soap opera diva, and Mallory cant stand her fake lines and fake attitude. She cant understand why soap operas are so phony, just like her mother. So when she vents one day on her personal blog about this and how if she had her own show, it would be much more realistic, she never expects anyone except maybe her best friend Amelia to see it. But it turns out that her mothers agent Donald saw the blog entry. Soon, Mallorys ideas are being turned into reality, and Mallory gets caught up in making decisions for her show and in her own life.

I didnt really know what to expect when I started reading Likely Story, because I had never read anything quite like it before. The plot was unique, but I didnt really like how Mallorys life seemed to revolve around soap operas, although it was all she knew. I also found it kind of ironic that Mallory always thought that soap operas were so phony when her own life seemed played out like a soap opera. Besides this, I found Likely Story a refreshing break from other over-dramatized and -glamorized tales of Hollywood. The characters were easier to relate to than those in, for example, the A-List series.

Likely Story is not a particularly exciting novel all the time, but it was an enjoyable read. Readers looking for a milder version of the A-List will enjoy this novel too.

reposted from http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com