Book Review: Pop Tart by Kira Coplin & Julianne Kaye
June 23rd, 2009 by Leah
Young make-up artist Jackie Reilly has always dreamed of making it big in TinselTown, concealing the flaws of the rich and famous. Stuck in a rut with a crazy boss, she thinks her big break will never come – until she meets a girl who guarantees her life will never be the same again!
16-year-old Brooke Parker is bubbly, vivacious, charming – and about to become the world’s most famous teenager. A pop singer on the verge of superstardom, Brooke instantly takes a shine to Jackie and draws her into a world of white-stretch limos, screaming fans and invitations to VIP events.
But as Jackie quickly finds out, fame has its dark side. Forced to juggle the various egos of Brooke’s entourage – from bitchy stylists to over-eager publicists and a manager that serves his own interests before all else – all preserving the golden girl image of brand Brooke. Caught in the tight grip of the P.R machine, Brooke starts to rebel, taking Jackie along for the ride. At first her bad girl antics are a blast, earning her even more column inches, but when her heavy partying brings Brooke’s demons to the surface she begins to fall apart and soon, she is taking Jackie down with her.
When Jackie is forced to learn the rules of showbusiness the hard way, her friendship with Brooke is put to the ultimate test – will she be yet another casualty of Brooke’s increasing quest for fame? Or can she save herself – and Brooke?
Pop Tart is the debut novel from Kira Coplin and Julianne Kaye. From the back cover it sounds like a very interesting read. A make-up artist, Jackie, is trying to make her way in LA when the chance of a lifetime comes in the form of Brooke Parker, a rising star. They form a firm friendship and Brooke brings Jackie into the life of the rich and famous. Until Brooke starts to rebel…
The cover is gorgeous and the blurb makes the book sounds like a must-read. Also after posting the cover and blurb on the site we got quite a few comments saying how fabulous the novel was.
Unfortunately I’m currently struggling to finish the novel. I’m almost half-way through and nothing of note has really happened. I will carry on for the sake of my review but I have to say it may well take a while… unless I just read it to get it over with which sounds like a good prospect to me right now.
It’s a shame that the novel isn’t living up to the hype as the premise of the story makes it sound like an incredible read and one which, while ficticious, will go behind-the-scenes of what really goes on with a young, famous person. I thought it was going to be a female, younger-ish version of Johnny Be Good (by Paige Toon) but it is nowhere as close to JBG.
On the back cover of the novel it says Brooke Parker is 16. However on page 58 a newscaster reports that Brooke is “just 18 years old”. That is a huge error to slip through the editing process I have to say. And a pretty basic one at that.
I think the first-person style of the novel is all wrong. For a novel with two female characters that are the core of the novel it would have been better written in third-person so we could get Brooke’s perspective rather than just Jackie’s.
Not only that but who on earth uses the word “beat” to describe something that’s “cool”. I have never read that word being used anywhere.
I just can’t get over how much I dislike this novel. The pace is a snail’s one and I know I’m not even half way through but it’s just so difficult to keep reading something this bad. I skim-read the last half of the book and I have to say I didn’t miss much.
The book is repetitive, cliched to the maximum and Brooke is like a younger version of the now-Britney Spears who had a meltdown.
Overall the novel could have been so much more. The blurb on the back made it sound like a must-read until you actually started reading the novel. A very, very poor offering on what was a well-raved about novel.
I hate writing bad reviews but I can’t lie if I hated a novel and unfortunately I hated Pop Tart. Read it at your own peril!
Rating: 1/5
Posted in 2009 Releases, Book Reviews, Rating: 1/5 | 17 Comments »
So you haven’t finished it then? Must admit I liked the sound of it but not any more!
Oh dear this book sounds terrible! And I hate those mistakes like the age thing, that would really annoy me. If you’re paying money for a book the least they could do is get the basic stuff right!
I agree! I am still going to read this as I bought it but am not holding out much hope now!
Mistakes like that are completely stupid and drive me insane. It’s not as if it was a difficult one to miss! Very poor!
I did finish it – in a fashion, I skim-read the last half just for the sake of the novel and to see if it got any better. It didn’t!
Glad to hear I’m not the only one who thought that book was a complete mess! At first I was a bit worried that I missed something because I just couldn’t believe that a book with so much potential could be so lousy, but now I’m relieved, lol.
Yeah, I noticed that age mistake too (on top of many others!) – it seems like editors just couldn’t bother with this book and decided to give it a pretty cover. Underestimating readers much?
Agreed, first person narrative is completely wrong in this case. It could work, but not with this silly Jackie girl. Personally I’m quite fond of first person narration, but it only works if the character is describing their own life and not somebody else’s. As I said in my review, if you want a great first-person account of the life behind the scenes, pick up the Hollywood Car Wash – I really enjoyed that one and there’s plenty of action in it, whereas Pop Tart is just one messy bore.
I’m sorry for us who’ve spent money on this book, hoping other people won’t repeat our mistake!
I know, it did have so much potential and it just failed completely.
I think it’s silly an editor – and the writers – didn’t notice their mistake. Especially since both of us did and I rarely focus on grammatical errors.
First person just did not work. It’s not the type of novel to work with first person narrative, you’re right.
I’ll look out for Hollywood Car Wash particularly since you’re very good when it comes to good/bad books!
I only paid 3€ for this so it wasn’t the RRP price, will just take it back to the book swop for something better!
I read the book and quite liked it because I imagine most of the stories were probably based on Julianne Kaye’s experiences as Britney Spears makeup artist for so many years and that made me feel as though I was getting the ‘real’ story. I noticed that someone said that the authors were “inspired” by the Britney story but I would guess that it was more than that since Harper Collins is heavily touting the fact that Kaye did work with her.
Sorry you guys didn’t like it! I thought it was a great ‘behind the scenes’ book for hardcore Britney fans out there, like me!
I thought the book was a good read but not something that I would pass on to anyone. I didn’t appreciate how the book made the main character appear to have no sense of self. I almost stopped reading it because it was annoying me but since I finish what I start I continued.
OMG – You guys are taking a fun, beach blanket read waaaayyy too seriously. I’ve passed this along to a couple gf’s who all got a huge kick out of it. It’s funny and meant to be fun…if you’re looking for serious literature go read Grapes of Wrath! I hate how uptight people get over stuff like this!
Well, I guess we all enjoy books differently don’t we?! I haven’t read this yet so can’t comment but everyone has their opinion when they’re read a book – you don’t have to like everything you read! I don’t think Leah was expecting serious literature – just to enjoy what she read but she didn’t, hence the review! If you’d like to review it for us yourself, we’d be more than happy to put up a positive review!
How on earth are we? Because I didn’t enjoy it it’s because I “took it too seriously”. Oh boy. It is not funny and isn’t at all fun. I was in no way uptight about the book, I just didn’t enjoy it at all and found it really poorly written.
i must admit, i felt the same i felt near the middle majourity of it was pointless and could of been cut out. although saying this things got more intersting in the last few chapters which kept me reading. so i would recommened this book but it does take alot of work.
I completely disagree with you. I absolutely loved this book!! It is a fun, light read that kept me interested throughout. For those of us who read the tabloids and love keeping up with what is going on in Hollywood, this book offers a nice glimpse into that world. I am highly recommending this to all and look forward to future works from these authors.
Praise for Kira Coplin and Julianne Kaye’s Pop Tart book.
This is a great read for anyone who wants to learn what goes on in that weird world we call fame. Both the glamourous parties, nights out and shoots are described in great conversational detail, whilst allowing the seedy world of LA and the Hollywood nightmare to creep in. I loved it! 5 *****
How weird, i read this book and loved it. I thought it was a great insight into the music industry and I really empathized with the lead character, Jackie. I think having the book from Jackie’s point of view worked because it gave us an idea of how the industry was sucking the life out of Brooke and also how easy it is to get immersed into the trappings of celebrity life. Hence Jackie’s consistent partying and drug taking which which eventually screwed up her career. It is actually one of the best chick lit/expose lit books I have read. LOL I guessed different strokes for different folks. I love your site by the way and really like following you on twitter. Oh and I get really jealous when I see the pictures of your mailbox.
I liked the book. I DO agree it was quite boring in the beginning – I think it got more interesting around the time Brooke became a ‘superstar’ and that whole scene when Brooke was chased by fans on her way out of a store.
It was a decent book. There are much better books based on the “Britney Spears story” out there, and I agree that having Jackie narrate it was not the best choice. Third-person would have been better, or maybe a continuation in Brooke’s point of view.
Rating: 3.5 stars