Tag: Allison Rushby

Review: Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby

Posted March 5, 2012 by Rowena in Reviews | 5 Comments


Rowena’s review of Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby.

Main Character: Jo
Love Interest: ??
Series: None
Author: Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads

Meet Josephine Foster, or Zo Jo as she’s called in the biz. The best pint-sized photographer of them all, Jo doesn’t mind doing what it takes to get that perfect shot, until she’s sent on an undercover assignment to shoot Ned Hartnett—teen superstar and the only celebrity who’s ever been kind to her—at an exclusive rehabilitation retreat in Boston. The money will be enough to pay for Jo’s dream: real photography classes, and maybe even quitting her paparazzi gig for good. Everyone wants to know what Ned’s in for. But Jo certainly doesn’t know what she’s in for: falling in love with Ned was never supposed to be part of her assignment.

I’m not a big fan on the whole big secret storyline and I really wasn’t a big fan of it in this story but Rushby did a great job of making me more interested in how everything would pan out than in getting all fueled up on Jo’s big secret.

Jo is a paparazzo, trying to earn a living and save up for school. She has big plans for her future and she’s doing what she needs to do to make sure that the future she wants becomes a reality. Her father is a paparazzo and has big plans for Jo following in his footsteps but Jo’s plans don’t mesh with the plans her father wants for her and that doesn’t stop her from going after her dreams. When she is presented with a job that pays big money, she takes it even though the celebrity she has to go undercover to photograph is one of the only celebrities that has been good to her.

She’s not exactly thrilled with this job but if she takes the job, she’d get the money she needs to ensure that she can pay for college and take the classes she wants to take. So she takes the job, goes undercover at a rehab to take undercover pictures of Ned Hartnett. She wasn’t planning on getting close enough to Ned to actually get to know him but that’s exactly what happens.

This book was a cute book that I ended up enjoying more than I thought I would. Jo was a good character that did boneheaded things and made things right in the end. I really enjoyed getting to know her character and I loved the relationship that blossomed between her and Ned. Rushby did a fabulous job of surprising you at every turn because I went into the book thinking one thing and was pleasantly surprised when I was wrong.

I enjoyed getting to know everyone at the rehab and I enjoyed seeing Jo get close to her roommate Katrina. Overall, the story was enjoyable and ended the way that it was supposed to end. I loved Jake, Ned, Jo and I liked that things with Ned/Jake turned out the way that it was supposed to and I really enjoyed the way that everything panned out.

I wish that I could have traveled at the drop of a dime the way that Jo did, I wish we could have gotten more page time with her Dad but she had a good support system with Wendy and Manny so it was nice to see that there were people in her life that really cared about her (including her Dad). I wasn’t a fan of Melissa and ML Entertainment but I was glad that they got what was coming to them (well, you know what I mean).

It wasn’t the most perfect of stories but it was still enjoyable and I’m glad that I read it. I look forward to reading more books by Allison Rushby.

..and that’s your scoop!

This book was received through NetGalley and is available from Bloomsbury.
Buy the book: B&N|Amazon
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com


Tagged: , , , , , , ,