Now That I've Found You by Kristina Forest

Abstract

Reviewed by: Now That I've Found You by Kristina Forest Deborah Stevenson, Editor Forest, Kristina Now That I've Found You. Roaring Brook, 2020 [336p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781250295026 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781250295033 $9.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 8-10 Everything's coming up roses for Evie Jones, poised to be a breakout teen film star in an upcoming blockbuster, until her best friend, Simone, leaks a video that gets Evie fired and Simone the part. Eighteen-year-old Evie flees to New York to escape bad press and hostile paparazzi and to plan a PR redemption by working with her famous grandmother, noted actress Evelyn Conaway. Her grandmother proves elusive, though, and instead Evie is thrown together with her grandmother's protegé, Milo, a talented young musician. Evie finds herself falling for Milo, but she still needs to get her name back in the limelight. It's refreshing to have a generational Hollywood royalty story with an African-American cast, and this one has classic gossipy details both old school (Evie's grandmother has an Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton–style relationship with her ex-husband) and new school (social media lost Evie her career, online fame is making Milo's). The plotting is contrived and full of holes, though, and the human dynamics are shallowly constructed, with Evie and Milo's romance a foregone conclusion and Evie's character arc from self-absorption to greater understanding predictable. It's nonetheless a glossy romp in the fields of contemporary fame and fame adjacency, and young readers dreaming of stardom beyond virality may enjoy Evie's theatrical and romantic journey. [End Page 473] Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois