Book Review: Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby

Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby

Paperback, 272 pages

Published February 28th 2012 by Walker Childrens

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Meet Josephine Foster, or Zo Jo as she’s called in the biz. The best pint-sized photographer of them all, Jo doesn’t mind doing what it takes to get that perfect shot, until she’s sent on an undercover assignment to shoot Ned Hartnett—teen superstar and the only celebrity who’s ever been kind to her—at an exclusive rehabilitation retreat in Boston. The money will be enough to pay for Jo’s dream: real photography classes, and maybe even quitting her paparazzi gig for good. Everyone wants to know what Ned’s in for. But Jo certainly doesn’t know what she’s in for: falling in love with Ned was never supposed to be part of her assignment.


My Thoughts:


    This book is especially close to my heart. Why? Well, the paparazzo/paparazzi thing is a main subject in the story, and I personally love browsing through Hollywood stars’ random shots, whether in US weekly, or Eonline, or wherever in the net actually. I admit I stalk some of my fave stars on the net whenever I feel so and if I have extra time. Seeing they have normal lives make me realize they’re nothing more special than us, it just so happens their work require them to be filmed and photographed.

    Other than that I totally love everything about this novel. The story, the characters, the plot, the twists, the everything! It’s not everyday we get to read a story from a paparazzo’s perspective. It’s such a fresh take of contemporary YA read.
    The main character, Jo, has been papping for a year and a half already, and her height is her advantage as she can pretend to be a non-pap as she disguises and take pics. But behind all her Paparazzi facade hides a dream of becoming a professional photographer, and yeah, she plans on quitting when she already can, and no, she doesn’t want to follow the footsteps of her famous Paparazzi dad. Then, she’s offered to go undercover and enroll herself into a retreat facility just so she can get exclusive photos of Ned Hartnett, the handsome singer/composer, whom she secretly likes and has helped her change her life’s perspective years ago through a surprising incident. This gets more complicated when her feelings overshadow her job’s goal. uh-oh. That doesn’t end there however, after all those things happened, I thought the usual “the guy runs away when he learns the truth then he realizes his mistake, the girl almost declares celibacy, then it’s almost too late until it’s not”. But, surprisingly, that doesn’t happen, and that’s when the oh-so-exciting and oh-so-interesting twist comes in!

    What I love about Jo, is that she has a very hilarious and honest mind, and that she’s a very practical, independent girl! The writing of Allison Rushby helps too! It’s very clean cut and funny! The story’s direct to the point and doesn’t go sideways anymore. The ending was just right, very realistic and nice. I totally had fun reading this one! Two thumbs up!

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