Under The Lights (A Daylight Falls Novel) by Dahlia Adler - ARC Review

 

Released: 30th June 2015 

Blurb:

 

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.

 

  

Kristine's Review:

Reviewed: June 2015.



I had not read Dahlia Adler previously to picking up Under the Lights, in fact when I dove in I was unaware that it was the second book in the Daylight Falls series, and it didn't lessen my enjoyment of this title, nor did it impact greatly on my ability to understand the story. In hindsight, I now want to go back and find out all about Liam and Ally, learn their story in the same way I devoured Josh and Van's.

Despite being the second in the series, Under the Lights focuses on characters introduced in Behind the Scenes, Josh Chester is the consummate bad boy, happily coasting through life using his parents wealth, his good looks and the odd modelling job to guarantee the unlimited parties and willing women that make his life the wide ride it is, taking a guest role on his best friend Liam's show Daylight Falls seems like a way to boost his profile, being blackmailed into starring on his mother's reality show keeps him in the media but the more he does, the more he begins to wonder if acting and Hollywood is something he wants to do, Josh has been coasting through life for so long that all of sudden when he looks at everyone around him he starts to question his life and what it is he truly wants.

Vanessa Park is a star in her own right, role model for young girls watching her show, she's finely crafted her good girl persona with the help of her publicist, she's been linked to the right boys in order to continue the image of a wholesome young woman saving herself for marriage further pushing her media presence, fake relationships, hand holding, appeasing her parents, keeping her agent happy, and doing with a smile on her face is what she's used to, but when Van is given a new handler in the form of Bri, things start to change, feelings start to emerge, desires grow, and confusion builds because all of a sudden Van has someone in her grasp that intrigues and interests her in ways that no one has before, but her image has been so carefully constructed that the slightest push back from her may just cause the house of cards she's built to come crumbling down taking her professional dreams with her.

Under the Lights captivated me almost immediately, so much so that as I write this review I'm kicking myself for having it sitting on my kindle for so long without diving straight in, Josh is definitely the quintessential alphahole, he's brash, can be a total arse and is used to getting his way, the more I read, the more I stepped into his world and saw it from his point of view the more I found myself desperately wanting him to find what he was searching for, the soft side he kept hidden so much of the time would come shining through endearing him to me so fully that I couldn't help but root for him.

Van has so much sass at times that she was this bright light you couldn't look away from, and yet she also had this softer voice that was so apparent when you crawled inside her head and witnessed her excitement and joy, her trepidation and confusion as she experienced lust and chemistry with the last person she ever expected to be attracted to, first times, first loves, first everything's are exciting and terrifying all at the same time and you feel every inch of that come across in Van's point of view. She's built this perfect image and life but she's not truly living, and at a point where she should be enjoying every second of this exciting time in her life she's stuck somewhere between reality and make believe, while I loved getting into Liam's mind and seeing his story evolve, what I truly adored was seeing Van come into her own, her journey of self discovery and coming of age was beautiful to watch, she grabbed me by the collar and demanded my attention, and I couldn't look away.

This may have been my first book by Dahlia Adler, but it certainly won't be my last, Behind the Scenes has just skyrocketed up my TBR and I can't wait to dive in.

 

 

 

Purchase Links:

 

Amazon US: http://amzn.com/B00X3ODI90



Amazon AUS: http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00X3ODI90
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00X3ODI90

 

 

About Dahlia Adler:

 



Dahlia Adler is an Associate Editor of Mathematics by day, a Copy Editor at Spencer Hill Contemporary by night, and a writer... of contemporary YA and NA and blogger at The Daily Dahlia, YAMisfits, and B&N at every spare moment in between. Her debut novel, BEHIND THE SCENES, is out now, with more to come soon. Author of contemporary YA and NA, generally with much kissing.

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