Review: Shooting Stars

SHOOTING STARS
Allison Rushby
Walker Childrens

Jo Foster is a teenage paparazzo (paparazza?) whose small size and young looks gives her an advantage over other, older paparazzi. Despite having a paparazzo dad who loves the life, for her it's a means to an end -- photography school, and a goal of becoming a portrait photographer in the same vein as Annie Leibovitz. When she's offered an undercover job taking shots of teen sensation Ned Hartnett at a treatment facility, she takes the job only because she needs the money for school; with any luck, it'll be the last paparazzi job she'll need to take. But Ned's the one celebrity she might actually care about and the deeper into the job she gets, the stronger her feelings become and the more she realizes this job is too underhanded for even a teenage paparazzo like herself.

The idea of a story about a paparazzo and celebrity falling in love is an undeniably catchy premise and right off the bat sets the book up as something unique. Though, to be fair, this story is much more about Jo's undercover job than her feelings for Ned and for much of the book the story is centered around Jo's ethical dilemma when it comes to the job. Though generally she has no problem (or at least not much of one) with what she does, the whole undercover aspect, along with the fact that she's starting to see Ned as an actual human being, makes her realize more than ever that she needs to get out of the game -- it's just a matter of when, and how.

This was a cute story with some unexpected twists. I kept trying to guess at what issues Ned might have that would land him in the treatment facility, but didn't even come close to what was actually going on. Sadly though, for as interesting as the story is and as surprising as certain twists are, there's not a ton of depth here. This book is cute, nice, entertaining enough, but not a whole lot more. It was fun to read and I recommend it if you're looking for a quick and cute romantic comedy, but it's also easily forgettable and doesn't stand out much in the genre.