Review + Giveaway: Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler

Review: Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler
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Series: #2 in the Daylight Falls duology
Release date: June 30th, 2015
Publisher: Spencer Hill
Length: 321 pages
Source: won ARC and finished copy from BEA15
Rating: HOTCHACHA

Josh Chester loves being a Hollywood bad boy, coasting on his good looks, his parties, his parents' wealth, and the occasional modeling gig. But his laid-back lifestyle is about to change. To help out his best friend, Liam, he joins his hit teen TV show, Daylight Falls...opposite Vanessa Park, the one actor immune to his charms. (Not that he's trying to charm her, of course.) Meanwhile, his drama-queen mother blackmails him into a new family reality TV show, with Josh in the starring role. Now that he's in the spotlight—on everyone's terms but his own—Josh has to decide whether a life as a superstar is the one he really wants.

Vanessa Park has always been certain about her path as an actor, despite her parents' disapproval. But with all her relationships currently in upheaval, she's painfully uncertain about everything else. When she meets her new career handler, Brianna, Van is relieved to have found someone she can rely on, now that her BFF, Ally, is at college across the country. But as feelings unexpectedly evolve beyond friendship, Van's life reaches a whole new level of confusing. And she'll have to choose between the one thing she's always loved...and the person she never imagined she could.

Double disclosure: Firstly, I haven't read the first book slash companion book in the Daylight Falls duology, Behind the Scenes. Secondly, I've had diner margaritas with Dahlia and we talk on twitter on the reg, usually about dirty things or macarons or...wait, I think that might be the bulk of what Dahlia talks about, actually. Wether or not you think this has altered my opinion, well, i don't know, because I loved this book with all the dirty macarons on top.

NSFW

This book made me SMILE and ship and squee and laugh and make sure I was completely alone while I read CERTAIN SCENES because holy guacamole. Not only do I love this book for talking about issues I think are "important" (usually a book descriptor that does not draw me in, because you know I'm here mostly for ships or dragons or things on fire or DRAGONS ON FIRE), but because it was just a damn good read besides. This book tackles independence from your parents, finding your own path, sexuality, growing up, best friends, racism, Hollywood (MY TOWN Y'ALL), sex, romance, sex, sex, sexy times, attractive people, attractive people with red hair and tattoos, really steamy but also meaningful, beautiful love scenes, by love scenes I mean sex, wait did this paragraph get carried away yes it did A+ 10/10 would read this banging again

talk dirty to me

So clearly I shipped the ship. And clearly I loved the SCENE.

This book has two main characters: Vanessa Park, Korean-American actress and best friend of the heroine of Behind the Scenes, and Josh Chester, douchebag dudebro. Van and Josh, for all their faults and flaws, are totally relatable, and their voices are not only incredibly distinct, they're hella entertaining. Stars: They're Just Like Us! But hotter. Like many people who read UtL without reading BtS, I was more enamored with Van's POV and storyline than Josh's, as Josh is, as I said, a douchebag dudebro and that's a bit harder for my brain to connect with. it's not that Josh isn't compelling; he is. I actually thing he's a GREAT character (unlikeable héros ftw you guys, what a novelty)
(my browser put an accent there for reasons that are beyond me but it's fancy so I'll leave it). And I actually really do like him. I'd read a third book about Josh if it had a smashing ship fo sho. it's just that his storyline was not the reason I fell so hard for this book.

Obviously, that was Van and Bri.

 Blair Waldorf seal of approval

If you like diversity and ladies who love ladies and ladies who love ladies AND boys and ladies who don't know what the hell they want and go through a messy, raw, real, relatable struggle to figure it out, you'll like this book. If you like strong friendships between girls, and girls who have to deal with many things at once--in Van's case, living on the opposite coast as her best friend, the wishes of her strict Korean parents, her career, her staged love life, the love life she ACTUALLY wants, and her sexuality--you'll enjoy this book.

CUTENESS SO SHIP SO VERY VERY SHIP

So...I'mma give it to you! Fill out the rafflecopter to win a signed finished copy of Under the Lights!Woooooooo. (My browser tried to correct that to wood, which...wrong book, Safari autocorrect. Wrong book.)

US only, alas, since this is out of pocket. Sorry!

a Rafflecopter giveaway