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Description from the book:
"Sixteen-year-old Molly Dix has just discovered that her biological father is Brick Berlin, world-famous movie star and red-carpet regular. Intrigued (and a little terrified) by her Hollywood lineage, Molly moves to Los Angeles and plunges headfirst into the deep end of Beverly Hills celebrity life. Just as Molly thinks her life couldn't get any stranger, she meets Brooke Berlin, her gorgeous, spoiled half sister, who welcomes Molly to La-La Land with a smothering dose of "sisterly love". But in this town, nothing is ever what it seems.
Set against a world of Red Bull-fueled stylists, tiny tanned girls, popped -collar guys, and Blackberry-wielding publicists, Spoiled is a sparkling debut from the writers behind the viciously funny celebrity blog GoFugYourself.com."
If you’re someone who loves following celebrity news and gossip, you’d certainly get a kick out of this. At the start you’re hit with an onslaught of name brands and name-dropping. It’s a bit much at first but when put in context it’s easier to swallow. It is L.A. and lord knows which A to D list celebrity is lurking about on every corner.
Shortly after her mother’s untimely death, Molly decides to move to L.A. to be with her father, Brick. Molly hopes this move will give her some semblance of a family that she has lost. Brooke, the other daughter who is accustomed the glitzy Hollywood lifestyle, is self-centered and spoiled. She is appalled at the thought of welcoming someone from an undesirable time zone and does everything she can to make Molly feel unwelcome. This includes feeding her to the paparazzi and giving her nonsensical fashion advice. After Molly’s less than stellar public debut at a party, thanks to no help from Brooke, Brick is determined to have his daughters get along and instructs them to share a bedroom together so they can bond. Oh and they have to share the car as well. But only Molly can drive since Brooke only has a learner’s permit. Yeah, that doesn't go doesn't go down well.
The whole arrangement has disastrous results. Brooke already feels slighted by her father’s preference for his work and his long, lost daughter. Molly just wants to fit in and create a new home for herself. Unbeknownst to her, Brooke is now ready for war to defend her territory. There is no way she is going to share what’s rightfully hers with someone who can’t appreciate the importance of a pair of Manolos.
It’s easy to think that you’d hate Brooke’s character because she's self-centered but she’s hysterical. You realize she’s not as narcissistic as she appears. She does feel moments of guilt for her behavior towards Molly. And she herself has her own mommy issues.
Molly’s reactions to L.A. and the people are fun. The great thing is that she doesn’t come across as judgmental. She’s just someone taking mental notes of the oddities of the Hollywood-type folk. Brick as the hapless dad who can't function without his Blackberry, doesn’t have a clue what his girls are going through but you can’t really hate him either. Every time he speaks, he reacts as if he’s just written an Oscar-winning script and reaches for his Blackberry.
What can I say? I had a blast reading this book. It was fun, nonsensical and light-hearted. I especially loved the mention of my Hollywood crush, Chris Pine, hurting his hamstring during a stunt for the next Star Trek movie. Brick’s reaction to this was to get on his Blackberry and arrange to send Chris Pine a ham. Really? Or when Brooke starts to question what's important, she muses: "Blood was thicker than smartwater, wasn't it?" You wonder if people really think like this out there!
My entire reason for reading Spoiled is that I'm a fan of the Fug Girls and their celebrity fashion-skewering blog. Many times I've found myself in uncontrollable fits of laughter because of them. Much like their blog, the book was very entertaining. And if you're at all familiar with them you know they've seen plenty to draw upon!
- Bel
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