Olivia (Liv) Bloom, the heroine of Katie Delahanty's debut novel In Bloom, gets to experience a Cinderella story, Hollywood-style. In this version, local hipsters Blair and Parker take Liv (who has recently moved to Tinseltown from Pittsburgh) under their wing and act as her fairy godmother/godfather, putting her through "Babe Boot Camp" and teaching her the rules of encountering a celebrity, like not acting like you know who they are (this is good advice for real life). The ball that Liv attends is not at a castle, but Elton John's Oscar bash at the Pacific Design Center, and her Prince Charming carries a guitar and has a microphone. She does not have an evil stepmother and stepsisters to contend with, but she does learn about haters on Twitter, the tabloid press, and publicity-obsessed starlets.
In Bloom is a really fun and light novel about Hollywood that just gets this city. After being cheated on, Liv moves to the West Coast, gets an apartment at a Melrose Place-sounding complex (complete with impromptu cocktail parties by the pool), and goes from watching Project Runway on tv one week to being at the Sports Ilustrated Swimsuit Fashion Show the next. While at the fashion show, she has a run-in with Berkeley Dalton, the lead singer of her favorite band, and she tells him he is taller than she expected (a huge no-no, even though most celebs are tinier in person, except David Hasselhoff and John Taylor of Duran Duran.). It is an awkward first meeting, followed by more awkward encounters, but something sparks between the two, and Liv is so charming that I (cheesy as it sounds) found myself rooting for her to snag her dream guy.
You can find out more about Katie Delahanty here, and her story of going from working in the fashion industry to becoming a writer is very inspiring; most likely, if she had not lost her job, this book (and the ones in the The Brightside series that are to come) would not exist. Liv, btw, works on the design team at a lingerie company. :-)
I just adored In Bloom. Whether you live in Los Angeles or hope to at some point, I think you will like it, too, and there are lots of insider tidbits, like getting a discounted wax at Queen Bee Salon with an apprentice (I have done this!), hiking in Runyon Canyon and passing women who are pushing tiny dogs in strollers, and shopping at Wasteland thrift store. Plus, as Liv transforms from unknown to It Girl, she gets some surprisingly refreshing advice that applies to all of us (like, find what makes you stand out and work it), whether we are in L.A. or LA (Louisiana).
In Bloom pulls back the curtain on fame and what goes into crafting/maintaining a celebrity image, and it might make you think twice about any dreams you have of dating Harry Styles of One Direction. The book also offers some astute observations on our celeb, self, and media-obsessed culture, and each chapter has some tweets from various characters' feeds. And guess what? You can follow them on Twitter in real life--check out @BloomOlivia, for starters.
Even though, in many ways, Olivia's life is a total fairy tale, it could also actually happen. Lives in Los Angeles can change so quickly, because you never know who you are going to meet standing in line at Coffee Bean or what opportunities might come your way. It is exciting, and is one reason why so many pack up their dreams and move here with everything they own in a suitcase, ready to go for it. As one character in In Bloom says: "You can't leave things to chance in this city. Sometimes you have to make your dreams come true."
P.S. I also loved the relationship Olivia had with her psychic mom: "...no [Olivia], I'm not inserting myself into your dreams. Maybe it's your True Self trying to tell you something by taking the form of me. Maybe you should listen to your mother!"
