Review: Behind the Scenes (Daylight Falls #1) by Dahlia Adler

Book Title: Behind the Scenes (Daylight Falls #1)

Author: Dahlia Adler

Published Date: June 24th, 2014

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Genre: YA Contemporary

Series: Book 1 in Daylight Falls

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

High school senior Ally Duncan's best friend may be the Vanessa Park - star of TV's hottest new teen drama - but Ally's not interested in following in her BFF's Hollywood footsteps. In fact, the only thing Ally's ever really wanted is to go to Columbia and study abroad in Paris. But when her father's mounting medical bills threaten to stop her dream in its tracks, Ally nabs a position as Van's on-set assistant to get the cash she needs. 

Spending the extra time with Van turns out to be fun, and getting to know her sexy co-star Liam is an added bonus. But when the actors' publicist arranges for Van and Liam to "date" for the tabloids just after he and Ally share their first kiss, Ally will have to decide exactly what role she's capable of playing in their world of make believe. If she can't play by Hollywood's rules, she may lose her best friend, her dream future, and her first shot at love.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from Spencer Hill Press via Edelweiss.

Review:

I was really excited about this book despite the fact that it isn't normally my cup of tea. I am definitely a sucker for good friendship stories and that's what Behind the Scenes gave me. Ally and Vanessa's friendship was solid and it was an equal friendship. Vanessa is talented and she is set to be one of the stars of the new show Daylight Falls. Yet, she is careful not to flaunt her success in front of Ally.

Ally's going through her own problems. Her father is in the hospital, fighting Stage IV skin cancer. Doctors are saying that he doesn't have much time left so Ally spends a lot of time in the hospital with him. Her family is very close and supportive of one another. Ally has been planning to attend Columbia, but now that her father's medical bills are eating up the college fund. So Ally wonders just how she is going to be able to go to Columbia when all this is going on in her family.

That's where Vanessa sweeps in and hires Ally as her assistant so that Ally can go to Columbia like she's dreamed of. It's here where Ally met Liam. Ally tried her hardest to ignore Liam. She doesn't want to have anything to do with a guy who makes a living as an actor. What she doesn't know is that Liam has his own demons.

When Ally begins to talk to Liam, she learns that he has gone through absolute hell. His mother died from cancer when he was 8 and he was whisked off to his father's house. He didn't know his father at all and things between his father and him never improve.

"Sick as it was, there was something oddly nice about being able to talk cancer with someone who already knew the terminology." -Ally-

I totally understood that as I have often said the same thing about my own health problems. It is definitely really nice to be able to talk about my heart problems with others who have experience with it. That means I don't have to stop and explain everything that I'm talking about, which sometimes drives me batty. I could tell Ally really needed someone who knew about cancer to talk to them about it.

It wasn't just the cancer thing that brought Ally and Liam together. They have great chemistry even as friends. Liam desperately wants to prove to Ally that he's not a total douchebag and Ally wants to believe that he's not like every other actor on the planet. But as things begin to deepen between them, Ally starts to wonder if she can really deal with being the secret girlfriend to an actor. She starts to think that maybe she's not cut out for this. Maybe she's not okay with seeing him "date" Vanessa.

"I just wanted to be enough" -Ally-

That line pretty much broke my heart. Ally's best friend is a beautiful actress and her boyfriend is a very attractive guy. Ally lives in the real world. The world of high school and homework and prom, and sick dads and money problems. She doesn't feel like she's good enough for Liam. She doesn't feel pretty enough, she doesn't feel sexy enough. Not feeling good enough is definitely a high school thing so I was happy to see Adler put this in the book as I felt like Ally didn't feel good enough for Liam for the longest time.

I really enjoyed this book a lot. More than I expected to. I am definitely excited to see what happens next. It was a book that combined friendship, family and love and those seem to be my favorite books regardless of the setting. 4 stars to this book and I'm excited for Vanessa's story next.