The bestselling authors of "The Nanny Diaries" introduce a new heroine to root for: Jesse O'Rourke, coffee barista, high school senior, and unwi... read full description
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Oct 25, 2010
La Petite Américaine
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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 More...
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 More...
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Jan 19, 2012
Brandi
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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
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Dec 12, 2011
Erin
rated it:
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 t More...
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 t More...
Apr 09, 2011
The
rated it: 
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 bel More...
I do bel More...
Mar 31, 2011
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 st
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Mar 21, 2011
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
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Jun 11, 2010
Kate
rated it:
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 More...
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 More...
Mar 23, 2010
Erin
rated it:
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 friend More...
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 friend More...
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Jan 13, 2010
Cindy
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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 More...
When the line-up is announced, there’s no More...
Sep 01, 2009
Hilary
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Aug 17, 2009
The Dreamer Reader
rated it:
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 te More...
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 te More...
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Aug 09, 2009
Jennifer
rated it: 
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 More...
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 More...
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May 31, 2009
Talia
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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
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Aug 01, 2009
Sara
rated it:
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
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Oct 18, 2010
Erin
rated it:
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 st
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Jan 22, 2010
Debbie
rated it:
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 t
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Apr 17, 2011
Amanda
rated it: 
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
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May 14, 2010
Books and Literature for Teens
rated it:
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 More...
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 More...
Feb 25, 2011
Kerri
rated it:
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
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Oct 25, 2010
Raina
rated it:
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 More...
Jesse is supposedly a somewhat nerdy outsider in school and she spouts a More...
Sep 24, 2009
Jodysegal
rated it:
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 More...
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 More...
May 22, 2010
Christa
rated it:
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
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May 06, 2010
Kelly
rated it:
Jesse is a high school senior in the Hamptons. Her school's been picked for a reality show (The Real Hampton Beach) and they're looking for cast members. She doesn't think she'll get picked (she's not rich or popular) but she is.
It's exciting at first but it quickly gets pretty awful. Her best friend's jealous (she wasn't cast), she's not close with most of the other cast members and she and her crush (also on the show) keep almost getting together, only to have it get screwed u More...
It's exciting at first but it quickly gets pretty awful. Her best friend's jealous (she wasn't cast), she's not close with most of the other cast members and she and her crush (also on the show) keep almost getting together, only to have it get screwed u More...
Jul 05, 2010
Cienne
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jul 03, 2010
Bookworm1858
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Summary: Jesse receives the opportunity to be part of a reality show at her high school. While it won't feature her best friend, it will feature her crush Drew and push her in to the popular crowd. It will also dramatically change her life and have her questioning what's real and what's the real real.
Thoughts: I guess my big problem was with the main character Jesse. I liked her at the beginning but then she just went downhill. She sucked. I almost liked her at the end when she stood More...
Thoughts: I guess my big problem was with the main character Jesse. I liked her at the beginning but then she just went downhill. She sucked. I almost liked her at the end when she stood More...
Mar 26, 2010
Ashley
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 09, 2010
Amanda
rated it:
Would kind of like to give this 3.5. It wasn't a really creative book- a lot of it was predictable, and I found it less interesting than Lauren Conrad's book, which follows the same format: girl next door gets thrown on a reality show, has to pretend to be friends with people more rich and glamorous than she is, and her life is thrown into whack when they misrepresent her life and she becomes insanely famous. Maybe if I'd read this before LC's book, I would have been more impressed. But, the cha
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Dec 21, 2009
Dana
rated it:
I had a tough time getting into this book, but once I did it was a quick read. The problem for me was how it was written. I am about 15 years older than the intended audience and so assume that teens would like the writing style...I just found it annoying. The story itself was fine and creative and a kind of expose on "reality" TV or at least from the Author's point of view. I was not really all that impressed, but have to say that 2 days later the characters and scenes from the bo
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Nov 09, 2009
Kandi
rated it:
I've never watched The Hills or Laguna Beach, but it makes me wonder how "real" those shows were after reading this. Everything they did and everywhere they went was scripted for the "story" of the show. Jesse's character was so real I loved her. I cringed when she did stupid things, but cheered her on at the end when they worked things out. Sure, there were a few things that were left unanswered, so it makes me wonder if there will be a sequel. The ending was a little odd so
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Jan 18, 2010
Tracy
rated it:
Why did I read this? I was looking for an easy read, and I have a vague recollection that I liked The Nanny Diaries, which was written by these same authors. I also enjoy good teen fiction. Ugh. This was not teen fiction that works for adults, not this adult, anyway. The premise sounded interesting--a group of high schoolers is selected by a popular network to be the basis for a new reality show--but we never got to know the characters beyond their shallow appearances. I just didn't care a
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