Secrets of My Hollywood Life

by Jen Calonita

Book Overview

For fans of The Princess Diaries and Famous in Love, an engrossing look behind the velvet ropes of stardom from a former Teen People Senior Editor who has seen it all.
What if your picture was taped inside teenage boys' lockers across America, your closets were bursting with never-worn designer clothing, and the tabloids constantly asked whether you were losing your "good girl" status?
It's a glamorous life, but 16-year-old Kaitlin Burke,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316154431
• ISBN13: 9780316154437
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Poppy Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 12 to 15 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 10

Customer Reviews

Clean Start for a fun teen series

This a clean fun teen read. No sex, no drugs, just plain teen drama with Hollywood thrown in. Great mix if you ask me.

The inside scoop we've ALL been waiting for!

So... In the book "Secrets of My Hollywood Life" we are introduced to young Hollywood star, Kaitlin Burke. Everyone in America LOVES her, heck, EVERYONE loves her, but Kaitlin is sick of the attention. Directors want her, girls want to Be her, and boys want to be WITH her. All Kaitlin wants is to be a normal girl with normal friends. If only her Beautiful blond waves and emerald green eyes didn't give her away. WAIT! What better thing to do then to disguise herself and go to the same school as her best (normal) friend Liz... right!? WRONG! Kaitlin soon finds out that being "normal" isn't exactly a walk in the park either. With her new cropped brown hair wig, brown contacts, fake name, fake but oh-so-good Brittish accent, and thrift-store threads, Kaitlin is labeled the GEEK of all GEEKS in her school. Only her closest friends and family know her secret. If anyone outside her inner circle found out, Kaitlin wouldn't be America's sweetheart anymore and her career would be on the line. Not to mention how much everyone would HATE her. Kaitlin is in a tight situation and it doesn't help that everyone in school is making fun of her. Everyone except for Austin. Austin is the all-around best guy that a girl can ask for. He's smart, funny, and HOTT! Austin likes the new girl Rachel (our favorite Kaitlin Burke in disguise) and he likes her for being so real and sharing interests with him. What he doesn't know is that Rachel is Kaitlin whos jealous co-star, Sky Makenzie, is out to ruin her career. Who knows what will happen next in this thrilling adventure!?! Will Kaitlin be revealed? Will Austin like Rachel AND Kaitlin? Will Sky FINALLY be fired?! It is all answered in this FANTASTIC book! Read it! The worst that will happen is that you won't like it (yeah right!) I rated it FIVE STARS for a reason you know! I hope you enjoyed my review! Check out all my other reviews! <3 tAyLoR =]

Krazy About Kaitlyn

What a refreshing change of pace in the world of "tween" novels! The author is wonderfully descriptive and the characters come alive, making you feel as if you've jumped right into the pages and have become part of the story yourself. This book is difficult to put down and always keeps you wondering what will happen to Kaitlyn next. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series! For those parents that are leery of the content, I can assure you this book is good clean fun! You will thoroughly enjoy it from beginning to end!

The "it" review

The "it" girl, Kaitlyn Burke has been a star ever since she has stared the TV show Family Affairs. Kaitlyn and her co-star Skyler haven't been able to stand each other, ever. Kaitlyn and Skyler are twins on the TV show Family Affairs. Kaitlyn is the "good" twin, and meanwhile Skyler plays the "bad" twin. Kaitlyn and Skyler are always in a feud, either off screen or on. The feuds happen mostly because Skyler is jealous of Kaitlyn, even though she tries to hide the fact that she is jealous of Kaitlyn's image. Eventually Kaitlyn gets tired of the TV star image and decides to be "normal." So she decides to go to a public school for a little while. You see that would be COMPLETELY out of the ordinary for any other teenage celebrity to do. So, of course, Kaitlyn had to go in disguise. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to see in the life of a teenage celebrity who is trying to "fit in", in a high school. Kaitlyn is the ideal teenage celebrity to read about, because she tries to be good always. Even though it is hard for her, because of Skyler. It's interesting to see someone who is so popular in the celebrity world, to seeing his or her status in the high school world. I recommend this book to people who want to see what it would be life for a celebrity to go to a public school This book is also a quick read, but that is because Jen Calonita is such a good author. Jen thinks of what it would take to keep a person interested in the book, and it really does work well. When I read the book it only took me three days! I loved this book! It was an amazing read! It was expecially good because it kept me interested in it, meaning it was very hard for me to put it down. It's amazing how something that sounds somewhat dull and repeated, or it seems to be, can turn out so well.

A fresh new voice in teenage fiction

Kaitlin Burke is a teenage superstar of the Teen People variety. Since the tender age of four, she has appeared as goody-goody Samantha Stevens on the nighttime soap opera Family Affair. Her archnemesis, Sky Mackenzie plays her always-in-trouble twin sister, Sara. The two have as volatile a relation as any pair of Hollywood starlets, but in their case think Paris and Nicole or Lindsay and Hilary. When Kaitlin decides to enroll in school during the show's hiatus, her spotlight-stealing mother (think Dina Lohan), overprotective bodyguard, and high-profile publicist all have something to say about it--and most of it isn't good. Still, Kaitlin is obsessed with living a normal life and it's agreed that as long as she can keep up with her public appearances, she'll be allowed to attend school for a few months. Disguised as Rachel Rogers, a British student who is new to the American school system, Kaitlin attends a private school in the suburbs. But will she be able to keep it up with her photo shoots and interviews as well as writing term papers and flirting with the Chad Michael Murray lookalike lacrosse player who keeps crossing her path? Only time will tell. Secrets of My Hollywood Life was entertaining and fun to read the entire way through. For teenagers who are obsessed with Access Hollywood and the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, this book will feel like home. Kaitlin is down to earth and easy to like, while Sky plays the villain to perfection. The verbal sparring between the two kept me on edge waiting to see how things would play out. Jen Calonita is a fresh voice in teen fiction and it's hard to believe that this is her first novel. I'd definitely buy it for the teenage girls in my life, and I look forward to reading her future work.