When It’s Real by Erin Watt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wealth, fame and a real-life romance she never expected—seventeen-year-old Vaughn Bennett lands it all when she agrees to become a pop star’s fake girlfriend in this smart, utterly addictive novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author duo Erin Watt
When It’s Real
Under ordinary circumstances, Oakley Ford and Vaughn Bennett would never even cross paths.
There’s nothing ordinary about Oakley. This bad-boy pop star’s got Grammy Awards, millions of fangirls and a reputation as a restless, too-charming troublemaker. But with his home life disintegrating, his music well suddenly running dry and the tabloids having a field day over his outrageous exploits, Oakley needs to show the world he’s settling down—and who better to help him than Vaughn, a part-time waitress trying to help her family get by? The very definition of ordinary.
Posing as his girlfriend, Vaughn will overhaul Oakley’s image from troublemaker to serious artist. In return for enough money to put her brothers through college, she can endure outlandish Hollywood parties and carefully orchestrated Twitter exchanges. She’ll fool the paparazzi and the groupies. She might even start fooling herself a little.
Because when ordinary rules no longer apply, there’s no telling what your heart will do…
Very Good!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙🤎🖤❤️💜
Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪🧪
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌎
Character development: 😍😚😉🙂🥰
Narrator(s): 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration
The Hero: Oakley Ford – he is a nineteen year old pop star who has a bad reputation. He has a great house on beachfront property and can’t even go out on the beach since the last time he tried, three years ago, his shorts were nearly ripped off and the tabloids posted fake stories about him going out like that and terrorizing kids. He is a Grammy winning artist who released four very successful albums between the time he was fourteen and seventeen and has been in a music slump for the past two years. He is in danger of becoming a has been before he reaches twenty.
The heroine: Vaughn Bennett – She is seventeen, has graduated high school early and works as a part-time waitress in order to help her twenty three year old sister provide for their family after their parents died. They have twelve year old twin brothers. Her sister works for Diamond Talent Managment in Los Angeles.
The Story: Oakley’s manager wants him to date someone, though Oakley is not wanting to do so, since the last time he dated another celebrity for press purposes, it worked great for a while until it ended and the girl told everyone what a terrible person she thought he was. Though this time, his manager wants him to date a normal girl so his fans think he is attainable. His manager tells him the successful producer he dreams of making an album with will produce his next record if Oakley can show he is down to earth.
Vaughn’s sister Paisely is posting family pictures on the bulletin board at the talent agency where she works, when her boss notices the picture of Vaughn and the decision is made that she is the one who will be the pretend girlfriend of Oakley Ford. Though when Paisley brings it up to Vaughn, she balks because she thinks Oakley Ford is kind of scuzzy. Also, because she already has a boyfriend who they call W because William Wilkerson is an unfortunate name. Though she re-asses after thinking about the fact that their family can use the money they will be paying her. The money will put the boys through college and pay off both mortgages the two of them are currently paying monthly.
This book is told in dual points of view via dual narration and was narrated by Caitlin Kelly and Teddy Hamilton. Teddy Hamilton is one of my favorite narrators and usually has a deep sexy voice, which he changed a bit to sound like a younger man which worked very well. I almost couldn’t tell it was him, but he did sound age appropriate for the young pop star. Caitlin has a great voice and is a very good narrator who can do multiple voices and she also sounds very age appropriate for this story.
The story was great and I liked it despite the ages of the characters and the fact that Vaughn was a virgin, there wasn’t much steam, but there was a ton of chemistry between the two main characters. I loved that both characters weren’t too happy about the arrangement they found themselves in and how they started out so antagonistic towards each other.
Oakley was so Bieber at the beginning, a spoiled little jerk who was too into the party scene and he lost his music mojo. He wanted to get it back and was tired of the hangers on that surrounded him. The relationship between these Oak and Vaughn was the main storyline and I really enjoyed their journey.
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