Review: When It's Real by Erin Watt

Summary/Cover Image form Publisher's Website:

Wealth, fame and a real-life romance she never expected—seventeen-year-old Vaughn Bennett lands it all when she agrees to become a pop star's fake girlfriend in this smart, utterly addictive novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author duo Erin Watt

Under ordinary circumstances, Oakley Ford and Vaughn Bennett would never even cross paths.

There's nothing ordinary about Oakley. This bad-boy pop star's got Grammy Awards, millions of fangirls and a reputation as a restless, too-charming troublemaker. But with his home life disintegrating, his music well suddenly running dry and the tabloids having a field day over his outrageous exploits, Oakley needs to show the world he's settling down—and who better to help him than Vaughn, a part-time waitress trying to help her family get by? The very definition of ordinary.

Posing as his girlfriend, Vaughn will overhaul Oakley's image from troublemaker to serious artist. In return for enough money to put her brothers through college, she can endure outlandish Hollywood parties and carefully orchestrated Twitter exchanges. She'll fool the paparazzi and the groupies. She might even start fooling herself a little.

Because when ordinary rules no longer apply, there's no telling what your heart will do…

Review:

Oh Erin Watt...you've done it again! 

After devouring the first three books in the Royals series (you can find my review for Paper Princess, book 1, here), I was in Royals withdrawal. Meanwhile, When It's Real, Erin Watt's standalone YA contemporary, was getting rave reviews so I thought that maybe, just maybe, this book could hold me over until Fallen Heir. Plus, I'm a sucker for any type of fame related book. Cases in point: Janette Rallison's My Double Life and Abbi Glines' Breathe. Luckily, When It's Real was everything I had hopped it would be and much, much more!

When It's Real is told in the alternating perspectives of Vaughn, the girl-next-door, and Oakley, a grammy-winning, multimillionaire signer. From the start Vaughn was incredibly likable. I could relate to her unwillingness to stir the pot. I also admired how much she sacrificed to help out her big sister and little brothers - not everyone her age would do that. Most importantly, she was sassy with a capital S, and it's no secret that I love sassy characters (I'm also sassy so I can relate.). She always had a great retort for everything Oak had to say, especially in the first half the story, and some of it had me laughing out loud. She constantly managed to bring him down to Earth, one of the few people who actually could. At first, I wasn't Oak's biggest fan. He was kind-off a jerk, but as the story continued and he began to become more humanlike and less godlike, I liked him more and more. At his core, Oak is just the standard jilted musician, craving normality and meaningful relationships, and really who wouldn't if they were in his shoes. It doesn't matter how much money you have, if you're not happy then you're missing part of yourself.

The plot of this followed the standard ro-com: boy meets girl, boy and girl hate each other, boy and girl eventually start to fall for each other, unwillingly and willingly. While I knew how this was going to end from the start, I still loved every single minute of it. I loved seeing the relationship between Vaughn and Oak develop, as not only did it cause for a lot of swooning on my part, but I also loved the character development that came from it. Vaughn and Oak grew a lot of the course of the book, and by the end, it was awesome to see how far they came. Additionally, I loved the pieces about Oak's writer's block, Vaughn's relationship issues, and Vaughn's sister and Oak's bodyguard's slightly forbidden romance. All these subplots caused me to race through this book, and I loved the occasional twist and turn that came up.

Erin Watt's writing in this was on point. I could see definite improvement from the Royals series. She did a great job of fleshing out the characters as well as making the POVs of Vaughn and Oak flow seamlessly. As I've said before in other reviews, multiple POV books don't always work for me, but in this one, it worked incredibly well. Without seeing both sides of the story, I don't think When It's Real would have been the same.

In all, When It's Real is basically the equivalent of an ice cream sundae, one from a side-of-the-road ice cream stand...you know the good stuff. Both start off super sweet, and as you go, you can't help but be hooked in by the deliciousness of it all, and by the end, you know you're full and satisfied but you're still craving more. When It's Real is absolutely adorable, and it proves to me that no matter what Erin Watt releases I'll be the first in line to read it!

Grade: A+

When It's Real (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads) is now out!

Source: Library