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The Real Real

by Emma McLaughlin (Goodreads Author), Nicola Kraus (Goodreads Author)

3.39 of 5 stars 3.39 · rating details · 928 ratings · 126 reviews

The bestselling authors of The Nanny Diaries introduce a new heroine to root for: Jesse O'Rourke, coffee barista, high school senior, and unwitting reality TV star.

Imagine there was never a Laguna Beach, a Newport Harbor, the shimmering Hills. Imagine that your hometown—your school—is the first place XTV descends to set up cameras.

Now imagine they've trained them on you.

Wh...more

ebook, 336 pages

Published May 19th 2009 by HarperCollins (first published May 13th 2009)

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Aug 28, 2012 cEe beE rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fail, hard-to-finish, a-total-mess

I bought it.
I read it.
I did not like it.
The end.

7 likes · like · see review

Oct 25, 2010 La Petite Américaine rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sucked, rants

There must be other fools out there like me who were conned into buying this book because they vaguely remember liking The Nanny Diaries.

Look. What made The Nanny Diaries so great was that authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus had both been nannies in New York City. They knew their material, they knew the intricate, scandalous, and absurd details of their uber-rich clients' lives, and they were able to write a mildly amusing best-seller. That SHOULD have been it. End of story right there. Bu...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Ashley rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library-book

I couldn't finish this one because I got halfway through and not much had been developed beyond the central premise that reality shows aren't real. This book is only 2 years old. I'm pretty sure "The Hills" was already over then and "The Real Housewives" was already full steam ahead. A lot of people know the reality shows they watch fabricate entire situations and put people together in a cast who aren't really friends or don't even know each other. I kept waiting for this book to either tell me...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: trt-posted-reviews

Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

The writing duo that brought us THE NANNY DIARIES have ventured out into the young adult genre. And the two have written a hit.

Jesse goes through the motions of the interview that all the students at her high school have to sit through. The hot TV channel XTV wants to film a documentary of life in a typical high school. XTV wants to select a core group of students to be the focus of the documentary real-life series.

Jesse knows that the A-list crowd includin...more

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Feb 14, 2013 Arra Abella rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Young Adult, Girls

Shelves: 3-stars, ebooks, its-ya

Lauren Conrad? Kim Kardashian? Does these names ring a bell?

Of course! They were discovered and renown because of reality TV. It is THE thing nowadays. Once you go reality, it will be instant popularity for you.

All the fame, money, designer brands and living the good life. Who doesn't want that, right?

Well Jessica O'Rourke doesn't and she even regretted it.

This book takes us to the other side of reality TV where the stars has no free will and what the characters always refer to as "options."

Jess...more

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Jun 12, 2012 Liviania rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

On the other hand, THE REAL REAL is a much frothier confection, much like the drings protagonist Jesse once served at a faux-Starbucks. She's enlisted to star in a reality show, with the rich kid clique and her equally cash-strapped crush. Unfortunately, her best friend is left out. Reality isn't interesting enough for the producers and scripted scenes quickly follow.

The blurb proclaims that Jesse struggles between telling "the difference between real and the real real." That's not quite true. J...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Brandi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary

I am going to tell you all a secret. I am addicted to a certain reality show that features men and women who keep the bronzer making people in business. The Real Real gives a peak into what the lives of these so called "reality TV" stars might be like. Jesse is a character who has her life turned upside down by the TV industry. Her and her parents are drawn in by the money that will allow her to go to college and they are basically "owned" by the TV station until her contract is up. During this...more

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Dec 12, 2011 Erin Forson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Real Real
by Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Kraus
This book left me feeling…
way more entertained than watching an episode of Jersey Shore!
Story Line:
Jesse O’Rourke has just started her senior year of high school when XTV ( the fictional equivalent of MTV) decides to select the cast of its new reality TV show, The Real Hampton Beach , from amongst Hampton High’s senior student body. She is shocked when she is selected to star in the show; and as an added bonus, so is the newly single guy she’s had...more The Real Real
by Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Kraus
This book left me feeling…
way more entertained than watching an episode of Jersey Shore!
Story Line:
Jesse O’Rourke has just started her senior year of high school when XTV ( the fictional equivalent of MTV) decides to select the cast of its new reality TV show, The Real Hampton Beach , from amongst Hampton High’s senior student body. She is shocked when she is selected to star in the show; and as an added bonus, so is the newly single guy she’s had her heart set on. Better yet, the contract also comes with a healthy paycheck—enough to pay for the college of her dreams after she graduates—something her parents cannot afford. But when the shooting begins, Jesse realizes that stardom and XTV’s version of “reality” has its own price tag, and she must sacrifice a great deal to pay stardom’s price.
Will you like it?
If you like (insert name of reality TV show here) you will love this book. I admit, I occasionally peek in on Jersey Shore, the Real Housewives of (insert geographic location here), and Big Brother (who doesn’t). Reality TV is like a cheaply made dessert; one can criticize the presentation, the finesse, even the quality of the dessert, but that doesn’t mean you won’t gobble it up when it’s placed in front of you. It’s the same with this novel. The Real Real is written with all of the yumminess of Dairy Queen and all the sticky mess that comes with it. The writers take the reader into the edgy drama, and show how easy it is to manufacture a show that is not “reality” at all. It’s hard to stop eagerly flipping pages to get to the next “Real” to see how badly things are going to turn out for the seemingly moral-less, A-List cast after the film hits the cutting room floor. Perhaps best of all is Jesse’s character; she is laugh-out-loud funny, quick-witted, and flawed like the rest of us. There’s no way you won’t want to stand in her corner, even when she makes poor choices—after all it’s the poor choices that make the shows worth watching, right? (less)

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Apr 09, 2011 Diane Morasco rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: beach-read, fun, my-library, review-copy, ya

Let me start off by saying I am not really into reality TV @ all! I find it to be a tad torturous. I do watch The Real Housewives in all its incarnations & The Real Housewives of Orange County is my fave! Hands down The Real Housewives of Orange County is a guilty pleasure. I don't consider it reality foolishness, I rather think it is me hanging out w/ older galpals. I don't give a hoot about The Hills unless they have eyes. I only want to lounge @ a beach -- Laguna or Jones!

I do believe tha...more

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Mar 31, 2011 Whatchyareading added it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, katie, young-adult

If you like Gossip Girls, Lauren Conrad books and MTV’s The Hills- but more to make fun and/or due to a sick fascination with that kind of lifestyle, The Real Real is the book for you. The reality begins in the offseason of the Hamptons when XTV (designed to represent MTV) comes to the local high school and announces they want to do a show about the real kids of the area. In a town where big money is the norm, and the wealth disparity is wider than the Mississippi river, everyone assumes the sta...more If you like Gossip Girls, Lauren Conrad books and MTV’s The Hills- but more to make fun and/or due to a sick fascination with that kind of lifestyle, The Real Real is the book for you. The reality begins in the offseason of the Hamptons when XTV (designed to represent MTV) comes to the local high school and announces they want to do a show about the real kids of the area. In a town where big money is the norm, and the wealth disparity is wider than the Mississippi river, everyone assumes the stars will be the crème de la crème of the high school. Little did they expect that a nobody would be chosen, especially not Jesse O’Rourke whose father serves and mother cleans for the rest of the elite cast. Her clothes aren’t designer, she has an afterschool job, and she’s more concerned with getting into (and financing) Georgetown University, than starring in her own reality show. But something about her catches the eye of supreme d-bag and show producer Fletch, and a $40,000 scholarship from Doritos sweetens the pot enough to make it an offer she cannot refuse.

Instantly Jesse’s thrown into a world that no one could have expected, nonetheless wished for. Her best friend hates her for making it when she didn’t, she never gets to see Drew- the only other normal kid on the cast whom she’s also kind of sweet on, and her life, clothes, and personality are no longer her own. Each day she’s staged with her new “best friends” who were chosen for the show, has thirty layers of make-up put on her, forced into designer clothes that the rest of her peers resent her for, and put into morally questionable situations. The drama continues to escalate, and as XTV ramps them up more and more, Jesse loses more of herself. The worst though, comes when the show is finally aired and the only thing real about it is the judgment passed by her family and friends.

Perhaps the best part of The Real Real is its commentary on reality shows and the falsities they promulgate. For the first time I found myself thinking about all those people on TV whom I blindly judge and declare that they asked for it, because they signed up for it. Yes, clearly they did agree, but I can’t fathom the way it takes over, and in some cases, destroys their lives. No wonder they become caricatures of real people. Watching Jesse struggle and try to overcome that, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, put that whole pop culture phenomenon into perspective. It’s certainly a scathing commentary on painting teenagers in such a light and having the audacity to ever call it reality.

I would definitely recommend this book, even if you don’t enjoy mocking The Hills. It’s a quick fun read and the ending will surprise you. But most of all, the characters are real.

Reviewed on WhatchYAreading on March 4, 2011.(less)

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Mar 21, 2011 Ten Cent Notes added it · review of another edition Recommends it for: Readers looking for a smart and funny take on reality TV.

When XTV (a fictionalized MTV) comes to Jesse's high school to shoot their first-ever teenage reality show about living in the Hamptons (The Real Hamptons Beach), Jesse is uninterested, knowing the show will be -- of course -- a spotlight on the popular, uber-wealthy students. She's surprised when the producers want her to be one of the main cast, but with a hefty scholarship attached to the show, the Georgetown-bound senior can't pass it up. Unfortunately, being a part of the show means being f...more When XTV (a fictionalized MTV) comes to Jesse's high school to shoot their first-ever teenage reality show about living in the Hamptons (The Real Hamptons Beach), Jesse is uninterested, knowing the show will be -- of course -- a spotlight on the popular, uber-wealthy students. She's surprised when the producers want her to be one of the main cast, but with a hefty scholarship attached to the show, the Georgetown-bound senior can't pass it up. Unfortunately, being a part of the show means being filmed all day, every day. It also means being forced to hang out with the super-popular Nico and Melanie instead of her best friend. It doesn't take long for the show to overtake her life as the producers stage scenes and pull the puppet strings of their casts lives; it might make for riveting television, but living it sucks. Soon, it's hard for Jesse to tell what's real and what's not as weekends end up as planned scenes and a date with her crush ends up being completely staged by the show's producers. And if Jesse's "life" was hard to manage during shooting, it gets complicated in a whole new way when the show actually airs. Suddenly everyone has an opinion (most not-so-nice) about her and her parents think she has a secret life she hasn't told them about, all because of a few edited-beyond-recognition episodes.

Wallflower-turned-famous stories are always a bit hit and miss with me, but The Real Real was definitely a hit. The storyline plays off of the reality show scenes we've seen again and again -- the short conversation that, thanks to a fitting soundtrack, seems so important, or the rivaling groups that seem to be fighting over absolutely nothing -- while giving a "behind the scenes" story that's so much more complicated and interesting than the one on screen. Jesse is intelligent and mostly level-headed, but it's her humor and go-with-the-flow attitude that makes her so relatable. Sure, the show isn't exactly her idea and she does think about quitting early on, but despite this she doesn't spend her time whining about how unfair everything is, even as the show seems to be ruining all the good things in her life. Instead, she takes control of the few things she can control and views her fellow cast members as allies instead of enemies. Though some of the characters here are fairly stereotypical, they're interesting and entertaining stereotypes. This book earnestly touches on a few themes: friendship and personal responsibility among them, but it never lingers too long on these themes.

This book is funny as it simultaneously mocks and shows a real affection for reality television shows. I reached the end of the book hoping there would be a sequel; I think originally this was the start of a planned series but I can't find any information on the next book, which is a shame as the ending works so much better as the first in a series than it does as a stand-alone. Despite the lack-of-closure in the form of a second book, The Real Real is one of the best wallflower-turned-famous books I've read. Just like its protagonist, the novel is funny and smart, great for those of us who like to watch reality television and those who like to make fun of it.(less)

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Jun 11, 2010 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-or-before-2009

Jesse knows that she does not have what it takes to be cast in the first ever "documentary" show. She does not lead the glamorous life like the popular girls at her school, so when she is cast as the part of the core 6 she is shocked. While she wants to turn down XTV's offer, she finds the tuition check of $40,000 too tempting to resist.

The Real Real is an intoxicating look into the world of reality television. The novel takes readers in the the glamorous (and fake) world of reality television w...more

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Mar 23, 2010 Erin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

Ugh. I didn't know that teen fiction could have so much foul language and drunken flings. I'm not sure why I even bothered finishing this book. I kept hoping it would end well, but it didn't. It's written by the same women who wrote Nanny Diaries.

The storyline is about a group of high school students who are picked to be on a reality tv show about living in the Hamptons. Jessie is just a typical teen who works as a waitress but is chosen to be on the show and forced to play friends with the rest...more

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Jan 13, 2010 Cindy Hudson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jesse is a senior at a high school in the Hamptons where she sees lots of celebrities and other wealthy people drop in for vacation. Life for most of the locals is anything but glamorous, that is until TV network XTV decides to train its cameras on the students in Jesse’s high school. What they want is real teens, doing real things in their real lives. Everyone at the school tries out, but Jesse is sure that she won’t be among the chosen ones.

When the line-up is announced, there’s no surprise th...more

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Sep 01, 2009 Hilary rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chic-lit, contemporary-fiction, teen

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. XTV, a popular television network has decided to film a reality TV series about teenagers living in Hampton Beach, NY. Jesse, our "hero", is chosen (much to her surprise, and many others) as one of the 6 teens that the show will be shadowing. Everything begins to spiral out of control, though, as the producers begin to stage more and more intricate plot lines to amp up the interest.
Three stars because I really couldn't put this down, I just had to know what was going to happen to Jesse and crew...more

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Aug 17, 2009 The Dreamer Reader rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: have-the-book, have-book, arc, already-reviewed

Wow, I will never look at reality television the same way again.

The Good: It's just SO creative and unique and just fantastic. The idea is very pop culture-ish, but unlike the really pop culture-ish books, readers will be able to read this book over and over again. Kudos for the authors for writing such an entertaining book!

And the reason it's so entertaining is because Jesse is an awesome main character! Not only is she sassy, she's funny, smart, and just your average teenage girl.

Sure she's ma...more Wow, I will never look at reality television the same way again.

The Good: It's just SO creative and unique and just fantastic. The idea is very pop culture-ish, but unlike the really pop culture-ish books, readers will be able to read this book over and over again. Kudos for the authors for writing such an entertaining book!

And the reason it's so entertaining is because Jesse is an awesome main character! Not only is she sassy, she's funny, smart, and just your average teenage girl.

Sure she's made some really stupid choices, but that only makes her that more relatable. Another thing that I adore about her is that, even through all the crap that's been thrown at her, she's still the same down to earth girl that makes me want to be her best friend.

Another character that I loved was Drew. He was just so funny and sweet, and he never acts out of character just because he wants to get his own fan club or something. Another thing, the characters are just so well developed!

Even though I hated some characters, I understood them and I knew where they were coming from. And for the characters that I loved, I cheered them on and though sometimes I wanted to slap them for being such retards, I still really liked them.

One more thing, I came into the book thinking about the characters in a certain way, but when I finished The Real Real, my perspective of them has totally changed. I'll let you decide if it's for the better or worse ;)

Basically, I'd totally become a screaming fan girl for any of them (except Trisha and maybe Caitlyn). But still... FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC characters. They are definitely the real real.

The Bad: These aren't really bad things, but... some chapters that left me going, "What was that?" I've had to re-read things more than two times to get it, and it's not because I'm slow or anything. Also, the transitions to different scenes are kind of confusing. So, as exciting as it gets, read the book slowly. Well, at least in the beginning.

Overall: The Real Real is an unique and insightful book which defies what everyone thinks of reality TV.

Grade: A-(less)

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May 31, 2009 Talia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-chicklit

In a world without Laguna Beach or The Hills, Jesse O’Rourke doesn’t give much thought when XTV announces they will be filming a teen reality show within her high school…until she is cast, along with the shallow “popular/beautiful people” and her crush Drew. Jesse agrees to film the show, she can get scholarship money and possibly get closer to Drew, but Jesse and her classmates learn the hard truth about reality shows: they are scripted and they are not real. Soon Jesse finds her life spiraling...more

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Aug 01, 2009 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Sara by: The DB

Shelves: 2009, young-adult

Most people know - or at least assume - that reality TV isn't actually reality. The Real Real follows high school senior Jesse, who's been cast in a new reality show following her and a few other classmates as the years goes on. She signs up mainly because of the money they provide her with and quickly discovers the show isn't worth the price. First, she loses her best friend, who's jealous of Jesse's newfound fame, then Jesse discovers just how unreal the show actually is, with the producers di...more

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Oct 18, 2010 Erin Straley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, audiobook

So, taking a break the bleak visions of the future that I've reading lately, I decided to to read something "fun". On the surface, The Real Real is a fun, guilty pleasure book that is very similar to watching a reality tv show. Jesse and her fellow cast members get to wear designer clothes, spend the weekends shopping, take glamorous trips, and become instant celebrities. However, once you can get past the ridiculous amount of product name dropping and overblown, evil adults in this story, there...more So, taking a break the bleak visions of the future that I've reading lately, I decided to to read something "fun". On the surface, The Real Real is a fun, guilty pleasure book that is very similar to watching a reality tv show. Jesse and her fellow cast members get to wear designer clothes, spend the weekends shopping, take glamorous trips, and become instant celebrities. However, once you can get past the ridiculous amount of product name dropping and overblown, evil adults in this story, there's an interesting little undercurrent about how little "reality" is actually present in reality tv. What starts out as a show about the real lives of ordinary high schoolers soon becomes a soap opera as the show's producers begin manufacturing drama and turn the lives of the cast into nightmares for the sake of ratings. It (almost) makes you feel sorry for the real life stars of such shows.

I really wish that the characters were better developed. Jesse, who is supposedly the "smart and responsible" one (she gets into Georgetown University) makes several bad decisions during the story, which doesn't really make sense in the context she's presented in. Several of the minor characters (the fancy, professional cinematographer, Zachariah, brings a lot of comedy to the otherwise tedious shooting scenes) really shine while those in the core group don't come off as very interesting. And, the romance between Jesse and Drew feels a little shallow- their only similarity is that they've both been cast on the show. Pretty much all of the relationships in this story seem like plot conveniences rather than believable pairings. This really is a plot driven story, which I was okay with, but a little more characterization would have made this a much stronger book.

On the bright side, I found this to be a light, breezy read that kept me entertained from beginning to end. I would recommend it for readers looking for a sneak peek behind the scenes of reality tv. There's actually the potential for some pretty great discussion about this book in regards to entertainment, reality tv, and corporate marketing directed at teens. I could envision this being a fun, summer reading book group selection.
(less)

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Sep 06, 2012 Book rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

THE REAL REAL is a fake fake account of a MTV-type series filmed at a high school in the Hamptons. During the winter. Which is your first big tip-off that there is nothing authentic about the book - because any intern working in TV would know how to use Google, and therefore would know that winter in the Hamptons is not the stuff of a reality series.

But let's go with it and accept that a MTV-type network would think filming Hamptons residents (as opposed to, say, the glamorous summer people) is...more

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May 28, 2012 Chev E rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Chev by: S

If a book is set in our world, it's kind of hard to imagine it without all the horrors of reality television which we cannot draw our eyes away from. Yet, that is what the authors of "The Real Real" expect us to do. Jesse and several of her classmates are chosen to be the first people to hand over their lives to the small screen, not knowing what they are getting themselves into. This small group of strangers, acquaintances, and friends, go through faux-ventures and adventures and have enough dr...more

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Jan 22, 2010 Debbie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While this book wasn't bad it took me awhile to get through it. It was a great idea and I can't imagine what it would be like to constantly have cameras around while having to pretend to be friends with a bunch of people you don't care for. Jesse's best friend's reaction to her getting on the show was a bit of a turn off but other than that everything else goes pretty much as expected and you know who Jesse is going to end up with in the end. Jesse's parents were a surprise though. The way they...more

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Apr 17, 2011 Amanda rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-lit-kids-books

Was this book good? No. Did I enjoy it? Yeah, a little bit. Ridiculous teen drama is something I enjoy, I can't help it. I watched Laguna Beach and most of the Hills and I enjoyed them both (until Spencer Pratt was a part of the show and then I realized I can't handle that much douchebaggery in my life). I know they're not at all real, aside from the teens being actual human beings (and with Audrina, that's arguable as she's probably a robot), but I still enjoyed them. I wasn't shocked by the bo...more

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May 05, 2010 Books and Literature for Teens rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chick-lit, published-2009, realistic-contemporary, books-ive-read-in-2010, young-adult

The Real, Real is a story about what happens when you "sell" your soul to the camera. The only problem is, that "what goes on behind camera" gets put into a major reality TV show for teens.
Even though I didn't exactly enjoy the entire novel, it was a fairly good example of what happens when you become famous for something that wasn't suppose to be filmed. I liked the first half of the book because I admired Jesse's character and her sense of humor. Jesse seemed like she had a level head and coul...more

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Feb 25, 2011 Kerri rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not sure why I was drawn to this book - probably because I had read a book with a similar storyline and enjoyed it. Unfortunately even though there were some fun parts, mostly I just found this book hard to read. The writing style was very choppy. I had to reread many sections over and over to try and figure out what the author was trying to say. I found most of the characters overdone and stereotypically written. The one good thing I can say about this book is that every time I thought it w...more

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Oct 25, 2010 Raina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: funny, realistic, romance, ya, high-school

I can't quite decide if this is guilty pleasure material or just a really good read. Maybe it's both. It's the story of a working class girl growing up in Hampton Beach who gets picked to star in a reality tv show a la "The Hills." Jesse figures the crew will just follow her around in her normal life. Little does she know the extent that being on the show will get in the way of her having a life.

Jesse is supposedly a somewhat nerdy outsider in school and she spouts a line or two about hating co...more

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Sep 24, 2009 Jodysegal rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: high school

Shelves: young-adult, series, realistic-fiction, washyarg

To qualify my shelves and rating: I give it 2.5 stars; it's the first in a planned series; and rather than realistic fiction, this is "reality" fiction- as in inflated, television-style "reality" fiction.

When Hampton high school senior Jesse O'Rourke wins a spot on the cast of a reality television show being filmed at her school, she has no clue that earning the $40,000 paycheck that will enable her to be the first in her family to go to college will cost her so much. The Real Real is fun in th...more

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May 22, 2010 Christa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a fun read. I enjoyed it, since I like reality TV it was fun to look at some things from another angle. However, there were times when I thought "Really? Why would you DO that?!?" Of course, there are some plot angles that can be solved with a conversation or two. Though the lack of conversation is more excusable in the highly-controlled and constantly-filming world the characters are sunk into, I still found myself annoyed a few times. Why would you just talk to each other? Even if it...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Angeld01 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After the phenomenal success with Nanny Diaries these two ladies has a bit of a sophomore slump. But it's over. The last two books I have read by them have hit it out of the park. They have a way of allowing you to see the inside of celebrity which makes you remember that people are at the heart.

Jesse is just a regular girl. When reality scouts show up at her Hampton High school for a version of The Hills & Gossip Girl combined. She assumes the popular kids will get picked. And they are. But...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Lola rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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About Emma McLaughlin

My partner, Nicki, and I have been writing together for 12 years. We're obsessed by what makes a satisfying story. I'm excited to hear from our readers what does it for them -- and what doesn't. As a working mom, the only book time I manage to steal these days is right before bed. I'm not the girl who can watch SVU and go to sleep with a smile. Ruling out kids/the economy/the world in peril as sub...more

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Quotes from The Real Real

“You should totally get implants," she said admiringly in the mirror. I shake my head. "I don't yet know what I'm going to do with my life, Diane. But I'm hoping being shaped like a barbell could only be a hindrance.” — 11 people liked it

“Screw sharks; a Transformer could be stretching up on its tippy toes and would still have a mile of cover to eat me.” — 2 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10136966-the-real-real?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1294335108l/10136966.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10136966-the-real-real?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Real Real by Emma McLaughlin[/url]

The Real Real

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