Review Detail

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.