Shooting Stars
Genre: YA contemporary
publication: February 28th 2012 by Walker Childrens
copy received from publisher via NetGalley
Get your own:amazon (Kindle, Paperback & Hardcover) 
synopsis from 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
The synopsis something that totally drew me in. Sounds like a girls fantasy falling in love with a real Hollywood Star. And since I really love more and more to read cute YA contemporary books I was eager to pick it up.
Zo Jo – little girl Big Shot!
Jo is cute – she’s a half Japanese young girl whose father is a famous paparazzi. Jo also loves her camera and she absolutely loves to photograph – it’s her passion! And in order to finance an expensive art school she steps in her fathers foot steps and is one of the youngest paparazzi ever. And quite successful too! So when she’s offered this amazing opportunity to go undercover and lurk after the famous singer Ned Hartnett she’s all in – specially considering that she would finally have all the money she’d need for her school..
I really liked Jo as a character – she was quick, smart and cute and just about to discover her own values in life. She’s determined to go for what she wants – meaning going to this art school! For this dream she’d do anything! But the real question is – how far? And we accompany her on this journey of discovering herself and her limits.
A Story about discovering what is right!
Besides the fact that the synopsis sound like a cute love story it’s not the main focus of the story. It’s much more about what is right, what is wrong and where are the grey zones. Also it is about growing up making your own choices and figure our how to deal wich choices that were wrong in the first place. Jo finds herself in an unbearable situation and she has to make decisions that might go against her big dream but in the end, might be the right ones. We follow her journey of discovering this.
Ned Harnett – dream of every Teenage girl – with issues.
Ned is the love interest here and needless to say he’s very girls dream. Über talented musician at the age of 16 already super famous. Think Britney Spears meets Justin Beaver. Sort of. Ned is cute but we lack to really understand him fully. In the beginning of the story he’s just a shadow and we are not really getting to know him. This changes in the last part and I really begun liking him, yet I failed to fully connect with him.
Lack of real conflict.
My only complain about the story was that all turned out too picture-perfect. The story was lacking real conflict and while reading I thought it wouldn’t hurt to add some drama to get the story more emotional. If there was conflict it was just barely touched and over before we could explore it more. I was sitting on the edge waiting for something to happen that would challenge Jo emotionally but there wasn’t
Bottom Line
Very cute story, with a nice plot and a cute set of characters. The lack of drama or conflict made the story lacking a bit and it felt like it only scratched the surface. However, I enjoyed reading it and I truly think it would be perfect for a younger reader!
Much Love,
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Nice review Danny! I agree about a lack of conflict in books. Even just regular old romance books, I need some kind of conflict, within or outside the romance (preferably outside). This sounds like it'd be a good beach read though. Nice and fluffy with not a lot of conflict. 🙂
♥ Sarah @ I'm Loving Books
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The conflict was just not emotionally challenging and I was waiting for it to come, but everything turned out so nicely ….
It is the perfect beach read – it was a fun read and I finished it in 2 days – well to evening readings :))
My recent post Review: Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby
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This sounds really cute! It reminds me of the documentary, Teenage Paparazzo. It's about this 12-year-old paparazzi who gets interviewed by Adrian Grenier (Entourage). He's literally a kid on a skateboard with a camera. The celebs love him. I also love that the character is a girl… I can't imagine there are many female paparazzis!
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Oh yes that is the perfect comparison, though she was a little older. But she was quite young when she started and also the people love her since she's a girl and she manages to get pics no one else can!
My recent post Review: Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby
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This book sounds really cute! Sometimes lack of conflict works okay for me if the characters REALLY pop. But since the love interest was a bit lacking then maybe I'd have issues. I guess I'll have to see one day when I read it. It def sounds good though!
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Hm that was the point – I wished there would have been a deeper Ned but there wasn't. Jo herself was beautifully portrayed and I felt like I was really getting her as a person.
It is a cute read when you are looking for something light and fun!
My recent post Review: Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby
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It is nice to find a good book for the tweens. I find that the YA category needs some tweaking. At least this is a cute age appropriate read. I also love the cute cover. Thanks for the honest review Danny.
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I strongly believe that a younger reader would have looved this book so much more than I did! The romance was not huge – but sweet and the story itself perfect for younger girls! I agree that the YA genre is often difficult to label since mostly they appeal also to older woman just like me. This one however is a perfect example of a wonderful appropriate Tween novel!
My recent post Review: Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby
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I admit I'm definitely curious about it, but I don't like the fact that it seemed to have lack of drama and conflict. ;o I'm afraid I'd get too bored! But it does sound like a cute read. I'm glad you enjoyed it, even if it didn't blow you away:)
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It is a short and very quick read so there is bascially no time to really get bored! I just had the feeling that we were just always scratching the surface and I was prepared for something major to happend – which .. didn't ..
But in the end I liked it and found it super cute!
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Sounds like an interesting read. I appreciate that it tried to look deeper into teen issues, just sad that for you it failed to reach the platform. There are so many great hard hitting contemps out there that I'm sad to learn this one just didn't pull that off. Hopefully you will find one that amazes you!
Thanks for the great review
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There was even more about Teen Issues that just with what Jo had to deal with – but again all issues just have been touched and were not further developed. Maybe it wasn't meant to be a bigger issue but I myself was a little sad that it didn't explore a little more drama. Anyway, I did enjoy it and it was a quick and cute read!
My recent post Blog Tour: Perception by Kim Harrington (& Giveaway)
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Tweens need books too! Glad you read it! It's Justin Beiber, but Beaver works too! I had to laugh at that. He's got this squeaky clean reputation and this huge smile so Beaver fits perfect!! (Can't stand him though). Glad it was a sweet story and thanks for the review!
Heather
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R O F L!!! But see you did read my review carefully! *giggles* Well, you see I have no idea about this boy other than Teenage girls love him very veeerrrrrryy much!
My recent post Blog Tour: Perception by Kim Harrington (& Giveaway)
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Well, it does look like exactly the type of story where you'd get what you expected, and those can be nice when you need them.
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I'm very curious about this one – I am happy to hear it was a cute story!
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