Likely Story (Book 1) »

David Van Etten is actually three writers: Chris Van Etten is currently a fulltime writer for ABC’s One Life to Live; David Ozanich is a freelance writer and playwright; and David Levithan is the author of Boy Meets Boy, and many other young adult novels for Knopf.

Watch out, daytime soaps, there’s a new kid on the channel!

Mallory is a teenage girl living in L.A. and her mother is the oftnominated, never-winning star of a daytime soap; she is, in fact, the ultimate drama queen. After yet another blowout about her mother’s awful plotlines and overacting, Mallory starts blogging about how she wishes soap operas were more like real kids’ lives instead of the ridiculous storylines the shows usually feature. Her mother’s agent reads the blog, offers to show it around, and a star is born!

Soon Mallory’s caught up in her own whirlwind drama, both at school and on the lot, as she works to protect the integrity of her original idea, cope with her mother’s jealousy, get through school, and get her best-friend-but-not-the-best-actress a lead role on the show.

KLIATT

The adolescent child of a celebrity is a familiar character these days in YA fiction, and likely to remain so as our culture can't get enough information about celebrities. Van Etten has done a good job with this drama—and we all like his character Mallory, the brilliant daughter of a soap opera drama queen. Mallory hasn't found much motherly love from this person, but she has been loved and nurtured by her mother's long-suffering make-up artist, so Mallory is a fairly well put-together teenager. And talented! She knows all about the TV drama world and puts together a proposal for a new TV show that she will also write. She understands demographics enough to know there would be a place for a daytime soap for a younger audience, not the usual fare. She has her best friend, a struggling actress, in mind for the lead. The idea goes forward, auditions are held, and Mallory's mother goes ballistic, especially since it seems Mallory's show will replace the soap opera the mother has been in for so many years. An ex-husband of Mallory's mother (one of many) is their boss, which only complicates matters. Witty, light, sophisticated—this story is a likely one to appeal. Reviewer: Claire Rosser