"The Real Deal"

The Real Deal by Caitlin Devlin

Amazon First Reads

Pages: 351 Genre: literary fiction

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Belle Simon was cast on the reality TV show "The Real Deal" when she was 12, tucked under the wing of dazzling star Donna Mayfair. She and five other girls were meant to become stars. Now, at 26, Belle wants nothings more than to fade into obscurity where no one can have opinions about her. Until the production team of "The Real Deal" reaches out to her and offers her a big paycheck to be at the 10 year reunion. Everyone has formed their own opinions about how the show ended, but only Belle knows the truth. Now she has to go back and confront the past, and who knows what the world will think.

This book was different than I was expecting. It was more reflective and contemplative than I was expecting. That's not to say it was bad — just different than I thought.

The author definitely knows her stuff when it comes to reality TV. I appreciate the effort that went in to crafting a scenario that at least felt realistic.

I liked watching the truth unfold throughout the story. There was a reoccurring theme of "what's real" in all it's different forms: the cameras, the relationships, etc. It was beautifully incorporated into the narrative, allowing the readers to piece together the Actual Truth. I liked that the book slowly revealed this information instead of tossing us a bold claim and then working hard to back it up.

Some of the conflict, especially near the end of the book, was hard to follow. I got what we were going for, but because the reader wasn't privy to any of the public's perception, it was sometimes hard to pinpoint the difference. Towards the end I also had a harder time understanding what the other girls believed, both in relationship to their experiences and Belle's.

The story was told in both the time of the show and the time of the reunion. The show was really engaging (definitely the top part of the book). The reunion was where The Real Deal had a tendency to fall flat (although not consistently). I did still enjoy the story, but it got a little muddled at times.