Thursday, June 2, 2011

Watch Me

Title: Watch Me
Author: Lauren Barnhodlt
Rating: 3/5
Summary:All-hour study fests . . . all-night parties . . .
Going away to college means total independence and freedom. Unless of course your freshman year is taped and televised for all the world to watch. On uncensored cable.
Sweet and normal Ally Cavanaugh is one of five freshpeople shacking up on In the House, a reality show filmed on her college campus. (As if school isn't panic-inducing enough!) The cameras stalk her like paparazzi, but they also capture the fun that is new friends, old crushes, and learning to live on your own. Sure, the camera adds ten pounds, but with the freshman fifteen a given anyway, who cares? Ally's got bigger issues -- like how her long-distance bf can watch her loopy late-night "episode" with a certain housemate. . . .
Freshman year on film.
It's outrageous.
It's juicy.
And like all good reality TV,
it's impossible to turn off.
My Thoughts: In the House is a hybrid of The Real World and Big Brother, and when Ally finds herself as a late addition to the cast, she’s pretty naïve about how it will impact her life. I was a little bothered by this, as she seemed to be a pretty smart girl who would probably realize that being on a nationally broadcast show would mean life wouldn’t be “normal” for her. In this book, Barnholdt has found a way to touch upon some pretty big issues, but they never feel so huge because the story has a light feel to it. I zipped through this book in a matter of hours, completely swept up in Ally’s story.

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