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A graduate of Georgetown University, Leila Howland spent five years acting in New York in everything from an MTV public service announcement to a John Guare play at Lincoln Center and was a proud company member of the award-winning Flea Theater in Tribeca. Currently, she is a school librarian in Los Angeles, where she lives with her family. Visit her on Twitter @leilahowland.
Hello, Sunshine
eBook
$10.99
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ISBN-13:
9781484729038
- Publisher: Disney Press
- Publication date: 07/11/2017
- Sold by: DISNEY PUBLISHING WORLDWIDE -EBKS
- Format: eBook
- File size: 6 MB
- Age Range: 14 - 17 Years
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A Prep School Girl with a Hollywood Dream Becca Harrington is a reject. After being rebuffed by every college on her list, she needs a fresh start, so she packs up everything and moves to LA, giving herself one year to land an acting gig or kill herself trying. Unfortunately, not everything turns out as planned, and after a few grueling months, LA is looking like the worst idea ever. As hard as she tries, Becca can't land an agent, she's running out of cash, and her mom is hounding her to apply to more schools. In an act of desperation, Becca and her friend Marisol start posting short videos online—with the help of their adorable filmmaker neighbor, Raj—and the videos catch the attention of a TV producer. Could this be it? Her big break? Or will she have to move back home with nothing but some bad head shots and a monstrous credit-card bill? Becca may not get the Hollywood ending she was hoping for, but perhaps she'll learn there's more than one way to achieve her dream. Readers will love every page of this funny, romantic, aspirational, and ultimately triumphant novel about a girl who just wants to make it on her own.
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Publishers Weekly
05/15/2017After Becca Harrington is rejected by every college she applies to, she moves to Los Angeles with a single goal: become an actress within a year, hoping it will boost her resume when she reapplies for school. Becca assumed that Alex, her boyfriend of two years, would be her rock, but plans change when he breaks up with her after dropping her off in Southern California with her cousin. So Becca draws up a 12-point list on how to get started on the path to success; steps include “Get an agent!” and “Get a job to make $$$!” Howland (Nantucket Blue) expertly navigates the ups and downs of a struggling actress in Hollywood. While she doesn’t skimp on the glamour (labels, parties, beautiful people), the narrative focuses on how Becca evolves into a confident and self-sufficient young woman. Howland portrays a grounded version of Hollywood (in a classic move, Becca takes a job as a waitress to make ends meet) while keeping the story fun, engaging, and splashed with romance and wish fulfillment. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties. (July)
From the Publisher
"Howland expertly navigates the ups and downs of a struggling actress in Hollywood... while keeping the story fun, engaging, and splashed with romance and wish fulfillment."—Publishers WeeklyPRAISE FOR NANTUCKET RED
"In this novel about finding oneself and following your heart, Howland creates a character that readers will be cheering for from beginning to end."—VOYA
"Give this to romance readers and anyone who seeks adventure in the great wide somewhere."—School Library Journal
PRAISE FOR NANTUCKET RED
"Enjoyable and introspective, this is more than just a summer beach read."—Kirkus
VOYA, June 2017 (Vol. 40, No. 2) - Lucy Schall
Rejected by every college to which she applied and dumped by her high school boyfriend, eighteen-year-old, prep-school graduate, Becca, embarks on an acting career in Los Angeles. With the help of her new neighbors, a struggling actress and an aspiring script writer, she juggles jobs, fleeting acting opportunities, and money. Becca explores the artistic life’s glamorous and seamy sides. She realizes her writing talents and, finally, the possibility of achieving her full potential, not in college, but through a film school education. Charming, somewhat fluffy, Becca learns that prep school stereotypes and her personal expectations do not fit the real world. She realizes that luck plays a role in success and witnesses the frustrations of talented, intelligent people who do not get breaks. After experiencing emotional blowups with her new friends, she acknowledges that she must give what she demands from others. Becca experiences difficult lessons about love when she hangs on to the high school boyfriend who exploited her for sex, and consents to a one-night stand with a handsome, Ivy League-educated leading man. Making love with her film-making neighbor is supposed to teach her that real love should be given to those who support and care for her. Becca’s story will have high appeal for the romance-minded, older teen, but a more thoughtful treatment of college rejection can be found in Rachel Toor’s On The Road To Find Out (Macmillan, 2014/Voya June 2014). Reviewer: Lucy Schall; Ages 12 to 18.School Library Journal
07/01/2017Gr 8 Up—Becca Harrington is going to be a star. Or at least that's what she hopes. After being rejected from 11 colleges, Becca decides to head out to Hollywood to become an actress and make it on her own terms. With her "life list" in hand and her boyfriend in tow, she sets her sights West. How hard can it be to make it in Hollywood? Does it matter that her rival in prep school got into her dream college and is already the fresh face of a national ad campaign? But often, big dreams come with big disappointment, and Becca experiences this firsthand. Clueless, dumped, and broke, the teen finds out the hard way just how difficult "making it big" really is. She realizes that paying rent, obtaining an agent, and trying to land acting work can't be accomplished in the 30-minute time span of a TV episode. When all the smoke clears and the dust settles, Becca embarks on an online video project with new friends and learns the meaning of true friendship, love, and identity. In this quirky tale of independence and triumph, a heroine takes a journey of self-discovery. VERDICT Give this to romance readers and anyone who seeks adventure in the great wide somewhere. Purchase where fans of Jenny Han and Susane Colasanti are in abundance.—Margie Longoria, Mission High School, TX
Kirkus Reviews
2017-05-10A college reject pursues an acting career in Los Angeles.After failing to get into college, Becca Harrington gives herself a year to live in Los Angeles and pursue her passion for acting. With little money in the bank and her mother hounding her to form a backup plan, the white 18-year-old tries her best to land an agent and get over her ex-boyfriend, who dumped her before heading off to Stanford. Raj Singh, the cute, Indian-American college-student filmmaker who lives in her building, may be able to help her on both counts. The author perfectly captures the feeling of fledgling independence, with nothing but wits, hopes, and a few hundred dollars in the bank. The narrative is well-built, charting Becca's ups and downs in the entertainment industry and in her social life. Supporting the episodic narrative are some winning characters, primarily Becca, whose motivations are rooted not in the desire for stardom but in the need for artistic expression. Her ambition and ability to get out of her own way make for an engaging protagonist, and her command over her own sexual wants and needs is refreshing in a sea of demure female protagonists. The novel's tone strays from the usual "dreams do come true" trappings and maintains an honest, grounded depiction of a young person's first steps into the real world. An engaging take on the pursuit of creative fulfillment. (Fiction. 14-18)