[Review] Catch a Falling Star by Kim Culbertson

ABOUT

Title: Catch a Falling Star

Author: Kim Culbertson

Series: N/A

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Release Date: April 29th 2014

Get it Here: Indigo Amazon BookDepository

GoodReads page

Source: The Library

Synopsis:
A deliciously charming novel about finding true love . . . and yourself.

Nothing ever happens in Little, CA. Which is just the way Carter Moon likes it. But when Hollywood arrives to film a movie starring former child star turned PR mess Adam Jakes, everything changes. Carter's town becomes a giant glittery set and, much to her annoyance, everyone is starry-eyed for Adam. Carter seems to be the only girl not falling all over herself to get a glimpse of him. Which apparently makes her perfect for the secret offer of a lifetime: playing the role of Adam's girlfriend while he's in town, to improve his public image, in exchange for a hefty paycheck. Her family really needs the money and so Carters agrees. But it turns out Adam isn't at all who she thought he was. As they grow closer, their relationship walks a blurry line between what's real and what's fake, and Carter must open her eyes to the scariest of unexplored worlds - her future. Can Carter figure out what she wants out of life AND get the guy? Or are there no Hollywood endings in real life?

I'm really a sucker for these kinds of books, where it's a non-celebrity getting together with a celebrity. I can't help it! It's like a modern day fairy tale and I absolutely adore fairy tales. I also can't help but be a sucker for stories about royalty, but that's a story for another day.

This book was super cute and adorable! It's a perfect summer contemporary read and a great thing to pick up if you love these types of stories or need to pick something light to read after a darker one.

This book touches on celebrity culture and how people don't see celebrities as people and rather as something to be gawked at. There was also an analogy made about child stars, comparing them to being raised like goldfish, "swimming through his childhood in the same bowl, alongside a tank of bigger, flashier fish." I thought this was an incredibly relevant point and I really like the way it was described in this book.

I enjoyed Carter's character and attitude. She didn't lose her head over Adam and she knew what was right and what was wrong. She didn't compromise her morals for a guy and that's admirable. She had a snark about her. Adam is a little troubled, I would say. That being said, he is a child actor who grew up under the limelight and that's a hard thing to deal with. He puts on a face to go with whatever audience he needs to appeal to. I suppose that it's a coping mechanism that he had to develop to deal with the life that he has.

"Belief is a rigid thing. yes or no. Possibility allows for all options to exist at the same time. I'm just not a black-and-white sort of person."

"When something feels right, why, just because we're turning a certain age, do we have to toss it all out in the name of some sort of adult success, in the name of growing up? Why do we always have to want something else, something better? What if it doesn't actually get better? What if everyone out there is just lying to me and it really doesn't get better than this?"

"One blogger we came across said he felt like the stars give people a chance to imagine their own possibilities; they provide a reminder that each of us has the capacity to make our best future, to find our purpose."

"Here's a hint from Grown-Up World. There's no right way. Not really. Just perspective. We choose whether we succeed or fail. We do. It's all our own spin on it. We create our own definition of success or failure. You can't hold yourself up to other people's versions of things. Not society's idea of things, and not other people's. Your own." 

I don't really know how the love developed. It just felt like it happened. I didn't see much of a lead up to it and that was a little weird. I thought the blog posts about stars was cute and I liked how they referred to stars and how they talked about them. (Real stars by the way, like the ones in the sky.)

Overall, I really enjoyed it and it was a much needed light-hearted read.

Happy Reading!