When It's Real

Gr 10 Up—A rollicking story that will consume readers right up to the last moment. When pop star Oakley Ford needs to change his bad boy image, he hires ordinary girl Vaughn Bennett to date him for a year. It sounds like the perfect solution to orphaned Vaughn's money troubles, except that she has a boyfriend. It's true that Vaughn was once a fan of Oakley's music, but since her parents died, she's been busy working and taking care of her brothers. When Oakley shows up two hours late to their first meeting and calls Vaughn "baby," Vaughn lets him know that she's less than impressed. Oakley can't believe that this girl isn't falling all over him like the rest of the people in his life. Narration alternates between Oakley and Vaughn, and tweets from Oakley's obsessed fans are embedded throughout. Skillful character development makes this technique effective, and the result is a fast-paced, "he said, she said" page-turner. The pseudonym Erin Watt is a partnership between romance authors Jen Frederick and Elle Kennedy, who previously coauthored "The Royals" series. Sexual content is realistic given the age of the main characters.