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The family dynamic present in the Moon family was really strong and supportive. Aside from the family component, the additional hilarious side character friendships was the icing on the cake. Chloe added a lot of hilarious moments with her obsession of the Hollywood lifestyle, more specifically, all things revolving around Adam Jakes. When Carter, your best friend, starts dating the boy you have pictures of on your bedroom wall, things might get a little awkward, especially when your boyfriend becomes jealous. Together with Carter he runs a blog revolving around all things stars, space, and alternate life forms.
In between select chapters there are snippets of their blog posts that provide insightful messages interlinking life lessons with views of the galaxy. The subtle details of space throughout the book was really fun. I mean, Carter Moon falling in love with a movie star , while blogging about space. Of course I have to save the best for last: It was everything I wanted it to be.
Adam Jakes starts off appearing like a snotty, uptight celebrity who only cares about himself. It was the perfect pairing with Carter, who already has zero interest in celebrity affairs. Although their relationship starts off completely professional, including scheduled kisses, their feelings for each other turn into something more real. I mean it when I say this relationship is predictable, but it is the perfect guilty pleasure for a sweet, slow burning romance. Mar 01, Ornella Nyx rated it it was ok Shelves: This book mainly got my attention because every time I read the title I would start singing that song from the movie Princess Diaries.
So I read the blurb and it sounded like a cute light read. And I guess it kind of was, but not good enough. I just didn't connect with Carter. She actually frustrated me to no end. She tried coming off as this totally mellow, well adjusted teen who had all her shit together but instead she was just so into the self denial that I just wasn't buying any of t This book mainly got my attention because every time I read the title I would start singing that song from the movie Princess Diaries.
She tried coming off as this totally mellow, well adjusted teen who had all her shit together but instead she was just so into the self denial that I just wasn't buying any of the crap she spouted. I'm not saying she was a horrible, unrelatable character.
I just didn't like her, personally. She was so close minded about almost everything. She, again, tried coming off as this totally great, forward moving person, but she just wasn't. She was trying too hard. As for Adam, I couldn't really get a reading on him. At first he was a grade A jerk. Which didn't feel right to me. It actually felt like Culbertson was pushing him into this role because that's what was expected.
Then they share one laugh together and suddenly he just isn't a jerk anymore. It was too much of an abrupt face. The romance went along with the voice and atmosphere of the book itself. Slow, mellow, and a bit stunted. I just felt NO spark, no chemistry between them. What I got out of it was a nice start to a solid friendship, not a romance.
It came out of left field. Again, it was like Culbertson was forcing it because the reader just expects that kind of ending, but I was honestly all for how things would have ended right before that last chapter. It would have felt much more real to me. It wasn't a bad read, but it also didn't do anything for me. Nov 14, Gillian Berry rated it really liked it Shelves: Originally posted at Writer of Wrongs Rating: What a lovely, entertaining summer read.
I bought this book partially on a whim and partially because I just love this kind of fluffy, modern-Cinderella story. Hell, blame Camp Rock , if you want to. I love them all. And while this book is definitely that, it's got quite a bit more heart than I was expecting, and was actually way Originally posted at Writer of Wrongs Rating: And while this book is definitely that, it's got quite a bit more heart than I was expecting, and was actually way funnier.
I am so glad I listened to that whim, because I really enjoyed Catch a Falling Star in a way I was not expecting, and here's why: Our improbably named main character is funny. Oh, is she funny. She made me laugh so many times and was really the reason I became so engrossed in this book.
She's the rare small-town girl who loves living in her small town and never wants to leave. Her friends call her a Hobbit, since she's content to stay in the Shire. She's mature, private, has a dog named Extra Pickles, and I love her. She very easily could have fallen into a lot of cliches, but she always felt very real to me. I LOVE reading about small towns, probably because I grew up in the polar opposite of a small town, and Carter's hometown is like a NorCal version of Stars Hollow so maybe kinda more like that town in Bunheads , and I loved it.
It's full of history, charm, and quirks. It has colorful characters, but it's just one stop short of zany, which keeps it anchored in the real world.
Chloe and Alien Drake: Carter's best friends are funny, supportive, and healthy. They also feel real, even though Drake being nicknamed Alien Drake due to his obsession with the sky and the cosmos and the possibility of life beyond is a bit strange. And again, Chloe--bubbly, celebrity-obsessed Chloe--could very easily have fallen into cliches, but she didn't.
I loved her and her close friendship with Carter. Movie star bad boy, man of many faces and facades. I found him very interesting. He's been in some tabloid trouble lately and needs an image rehabilitation. That's where Carter comes in. Adam is in Little to film a family friendly Christmas movie and needs a wholesome small-town girlfriend to complete the do-gooder image. Carter, immune to the lure of Hollywood and doer of community service, is the perfect choice. And behold the reason Carter agrees to be Adam Jakes' fake boyfriend for money. Her parents are wonderfully present and supportive, but her brother, John, has an addictive gambling problem, and it's tearing the family apart.
Carter needs the money to help him. I loved how much they truly did not like each other to start. He's far from perfect.
He's a different Adam to every person he encounters. He struggles with telling the truth. He loves acting and performing and playing to an audience. Plus you get to learn a bit how movies are made and how much work it is, and Carter gets a taste of what being famous is like, and also chemistry. But will things turn out? What I mean by that is we'd be listening to two characters talking in quotation marks, and all of a sudden Carter would summarize what it is she said. As in, "I told him about X and Y" instead of just showing us telling him, like she was just doing.
It's just a personal niggle, but that always tends to jerk me out of the immediate action. But those are small points. Honestly, I couldn't put this book down. It hit me at just the right time and in just the right way. A truly delightful summer read, and I hope you give it a try! It totally took me by surprise. View all 3 comments. Jun 01, Nasty Lady MJ rated it liked it. To See full review click on one of the following links: It also reminds me a lot of the Disney movie, Star Struck, though this book was better than that movie.
So what does that mean for Catch a Falling Star well it was okay. Not great To See full review click on one of the following links: The plot is pretty simplistic. Really, Adam is just man candy. In fact, the interactions between the two leads is probably one of the weakest points of the novel. And man these two are boring together. Also, Luke had much more personality than Adam. This might have been in part because Culbertson focused the book so much on Carter.
Oh, I knew enough about her but the explanations of her motives. The lack of ambition that this character had though was astounding. She basically begs to ho herself out for her brother. Instead of letting her brother face the consequences for his action, she hooks up with a movie star. Well, fake hooks up. Astronomy, UFOs, movie stars. When it comes to it, I really had ambiguous feelings about this character. Even though she was annoying beyond belief. May 04, Shane rated it liked it Shelves: Catch a Falling Star had an interesting premise. I liked the concept of Hollywood going to an unpopular location to film, and the idea of a famous guy falling for a regular girl.
It's a cute story with some sweet moments, along with some scenes that made me cringe. Carter wasn't a bad character. She was a young girl coming into her own, but with the troubles of her brother and not believing in herself enough, she made the decision to remain in her small town instead of going after her dreams.
An Catch a Falling Star had an interesting premise. And I like that her parents finally had that talk with her and made her open her eyes. As for Adam Jakes, he was swoon-worthy. We all know that tabloids fabricate stories so I was a little surprised that Carter, along with her friends, bought so much into his supposedly "issues.
He just seemed kind of off, then again any boyfriend would be upset with the way his girlfriend, Carter's other bestfriend, would go all fangirl over Adam. Chloe was a lot. I wanted to smack her at times and tell her to chill because of the way she was around Adam. No wonder he was a tad put off when she brought out the magazine with him and Carter on the cover.
Anyway, in spite of those few things, it was good read with fluid writing. Loved the summer setting and the way things worked out for the characters too. Apr 26, Sandy rated it liked it. I didn't really love the characters but the story was a light read. It was slow and I felt bored at times. I'm glad it wasn't insta-love though. Mar 30, Shay rated it it was amazing Shelves: Review - What to say? It's a perfect summer read. It's everything you want in a contemporary book, I don't know. I did love it though. The characters, the setting, the whole book is exactly what one wants when picking up a contemporary book.
This story is fun and cute and it has the realistic more serious real issues that I Review - What to say? This story is fun and cute and it has the realistic more serious real issues that I love in a contemporary. In this book it's mainly in the form of Carter's brother who has a major gambling addiction, owes bad people lots of money and just can't seem to stop himself from getting into more trouble, and then you have Carter who wants nothing more than to save her brother even if he doesn't want to be saved, this was one of my favorite aspects of this book.
Then you have the movie star, who Carter thinks she is actually falling for but she doesn't know what's real and what's fake when it comes to Adam whose whole life seems to be one big publicity stunt. I liked how realistic their relationship was, I think the author took a bit of a different take on the movie star role than a lot of authors, while she showed the side where Adam is just liked anyone else she also made it abundantly clear that he wasn't and that he knew that. I loved and hated Adam, I wanted them to end up together and I didn't, but I was completely satisfied with the ending, non the less.
Favorite Things - - Carter - I absolutely loved her character, I loved that she wasn't completely drawn into the movie star imagine, she wasn't obsessed with Hollywood but also she wasn't immune to it, because really who would be? I liked that at the end of the day Carter knew who she was, knew she didn't believe in Adam's superstar, every thing's an act life, and that she was completely happy with who she was, she wasn't like everyone else, she wasn't waiting to leave her small town behind the second that she could, you know?
I loved her for that and I loved her when she started to realize that it was okay to want more and that she could always come back. I loved both these secondary characters and the part they played in this story. Though in the beginning part of me wanted to slap Chloe a little bit. I loved the little bits that were supposed to be posts from Alien Drake and Carter's blog and how it fit into the story.
Least Favorite Things - - In a way I didn't like the way Carters parents acted forcing her to want something more than her small town, but this was a minor small annoyance. Overall - I loved it, it's a perfect summer read, if you love YA contemporary you will love this. Smith let me put it this way, as much as I loved that book this one is slightly better.
Jul 22, Teresa rated it it was amazing. I checked this book out because I thought it would a fun, light read--it's barely pages and the blurb makes it sound like one of those typical, cliche stories about a girl discovering that not everything you see in Hollywood and the press is true: I thought it'd read like your typical fan-fiction you'd see online where you'd have a typical, ordinary girl next door given the chance of a lifetime to meet and, predictably, fa I checked this book out because I thought it would a fun, light read--it's barely pages and the blurb makes it sound like one of those typical, cliche stories about a girl discovering that not everything you see in Hollywood and the press is true: I thought it'd read like your typical fan-fiction you'd see online where you'd have a typical, ordinary girl next door given the chance of a lifetime to meet and, predictably, fall in love with a celebrity who was not as one-dimensional as she thought, and the book would end with them living happily ever after.
This was not the case. I didn't expect to learn anything, but I did. I didn't expect to have any questions raised about life, philosophize, or wonder, but I did. It's filled with lovable characters like Carter, her best friends Alien Drake and Chloe, Adam Jake, and the rest of the small town of Little, California, which was described so beautifully and shown so that I fell in love with it and wanted to move there myself. A lot of the times authors will lack in description to create an atmosphere that I can imagine, but Kim Culbertson manages to do this well: It's great with showing the problems people have growing up, making changes in their lives, deciding things, living with no regrets, trying to "expand your horizons" versus being content with where you are in life.
This book is chock-full of quotable things. It might seem a little preachy, as in trying to teach you too many things at once, but I for one loved it. The blog posts that Carter and Alien Drake have in the book are some of my favorites, and I love that you don't know the author of each post so it could be from Alien Drake's feelings and hurts or Carter's.
It also blends science, metaphors, and life lessons perfectly. I tried collecting some quotes to add in this review, but, unfortunately, there were too many, so I've added some that I can find, going back through the book: In , John Kennedy said that we should explore space because it "may hold the key to our future on Earth.
Why are they and the lives of their stars so important to us? We think it's much the same reason as Kennedy suggested. They might hold the key to something in our own future, in our own lives. Whether we search for answers in space o in the books we read, in the music we listen to, or through the movies we watch, the essential thing is that we keep exploring, that we keep pushing ourselves to find our possible lives.
What possibilities will you seek out today? See you tonight, under the sky. Even though the story actually focuses more on Carter and her deciding her future, there IS a cute romance involved. Adam, the celebrity love interest, is surprisingly insightful, full of wisdom, sweet, and funny.
He pulled the sheet off my face. I'm not long for Little, and I want to take you on a trip. For a guy who'd shot a movie all night, he didn't even look tired. View all 5 comments. Jun 11, tomato girl rated it liked it Shelves: I liked being reminded of being small, mostly because it took the pressure off when people pushed you to be big. I can't say I enjoyed this book.
Although it had some really great concepts, I would have liked to have seen the author make use of the potentials it had. I must say, I did admire was how the author managed to tie in astronomy in with this. Plo "There were many things in this world to feel small — stars, cemeteries, oceans. A small town good girl meets a Hollywood star bad boy. Small town good girl is an obvious member the of Not-a-Fan-of-Hollywood fan club and is coincidentally hired to be the Hollywood star bad boy's fake girlfriend. But little had they'd planned, their friendship starts to become a little something more.
At least, that's what the synopsis said. You need not get any further than that, because nothing else happens. You won't miss a thing if you leave it at just reading the synopsis. It had mentioned how this was nothing like Hollywood, but fun fact — it totally completely was.
Protagonist, Carter Moon was a simple-town girl, whose biggest dream was to one day run her family restaurant, Little Eats in Little California. Then there is the energetic, lively Chloe, best friends with Carter. What is it with books having a simple minded protagonist with a dynamic best friend? It's unbelievable how often I see that. Seriously, is the main goal not to have an original story? This standardization has got to go. As for Alien Drake? He's that nerdy best friend of Carter's, that best friend that the girl will not have feelings for.
But here's the twist to that stereotype - he doesn't have feelings for her either. And then we have our charming love interest, Adam Jakes, who's as charming as a chair. They had nothing to themselves other than their assigned personality type. I was especially disappointed with the romance, if that's even what you can call this.
I wish, instead of being told of how she felt, it was shown.
I wish there were more solid reasons as to why Carter felt the way she did towards Adam, instead of merely being persuaded by teen hormones. Overall, if you're looking for an absolutely heartwarming story that will leave you in tingles, I suggest you walk away now. Don't get me wrong, it did have its moments, and I honestly think it really comes down to if you enjoy Hollywood-type books or not.
It is, however, a perfect book for a simple light rainy day read. Although it was nothing special or extraordinary, it wasn't completely terrible either. It was just another story with a typical Hollywood ending. Mar 06, Milka rated it liked it Shelves: The list goes on, but already from the synopsis of Catch a Falling Star several of the items from my list can be spotted.
Smith and The Distance Between Us by Kasie West, which kind of have a similar type of premises small town girl, rich boy , I knew that I had to give this one a go. Carter lives in Little, California, a small town filled with Victorian houses and cute little cafes. She's enjoying her summer holiday before her senior year in high school, working in her family's cafe and spending nights stargazing with her best friends.
She is content with her life in Little, enjoying the little things in life and envisioning her future in the town she had called her home for the whole life. Parts of the town are covered with fake snow in the middle of the summer for a Christmas shoot and suddenly Carter is pulled right into the center of the action. By making a deal with Adam and his agent to pretend to be Adam's sweet girl-next-door, small-town girlfriend to bump up Adam's public image, Carter becomes part of Adam's glamorous world of body guards and publicity stunts.
But as she spends more time with Adam, she starts to wish that not all between then was just play for the photographers. The relationship between Carter and Adam is one used in literature and film for ages. She's not interested in celebrities and glamorous lifestyle and makes the decision to pretend to be his girlfriend just to help her family. He is famous, handsome, and bit of a dick.
But as they spend more time together, the opposites start to attract and we learn that these characters are not all what they first seemed to be. Yes, it is a bit of a cliche, but hey, when you pick up a book like this, what do you expect? Probably something sweet and romantic? That this book can deliver to you. I think the major issue I had with this novel was the fact that though Carter is an interesting character, she occasionally seems almost too perfect.
Everyone around the town loves her, she helps the poor and the elderly and just in general she seems to do no wrong. I guess there might be people out there who are actually like that, but I constantly kept waiting some type of flaw to appear. I had some issues with Adam as well, mainly just with the fact that though he is charming and all, I never really felt any type of connection to him - there was not really any swooning involved while reading this one.
I really liked the stargazing scenes of the book and the little blog posts between the chapters. The book is generally well written and though the characters remain somewhat two dimensional at points, I still found myself enjoying most of it. I feel like this is the type of book you can bring with you to the beach or the pool and enjoy it there.
Apr 29, Sherry rated it liked it Shelves: I think the book had potential, and I really liked the premise and title of the book, but overall the story fell a bit flat for me. I liked Adam well enough. I think Culbertson did a good job showing us that living a life under 2. I think Culbertson did a good job showing us that living a life under constant public scrutiny would splinter even the strongest person into different personalities and make it hard to trust people.
I think he meant well, but he came off kind of douchey to me. He seemed slimy and self-serving, though perhaps a good representation of a manager. Again, probably a good representation of someone with a gambling addiction, and he provided some darkness and drama to the story. It just felt slightly removed from the main story line. The problem for me is that it was hard for the developing relationship between Carter and Adam to feel real when it was scripted.
There was no magic there. I never knew whether Adam was sincere or lying, so I just assumed he was lying all the time. Then at least we might have known when something was real for him. The climax was less of a tidal wave and more like the wake of a boat: Way too little too late. I think I read about the purple sky a dozen times and watched them eat two dozen sandwiches. I wanted emotion, not just more emotion but any emotion, whether it was hopelessness and despair or giddy possibility.
Even the stargazing fell flat as Carter seemed to leave Chloe and Drake high and dry often. So yeah, the story was just okay for me. I think people who enjoy Sarah Dessen might enjoy this story. Jun 22, Joy joyous reads rated it liked it. Most of them have been really romantic. Catch a Falling Star, however, was as bland as they come. Maybe it was meant to highlight a realistic portrayal of these type of relationships; and if that was the case, the author was relatively successful. I know I was.
So when a Hollywood Invasion reaches Little, California, she was unprepared for the tremor of changes the caravan brought about. When circumstances backed her into a corner, she finds herself in a scripted romance with the Hollywood It boy. In a surprising twist of fate, Carter would find what she wants out of life through the manufactured relationship she has with Adam.
But the question remains, does she have what it takes to pursue a dream that she once put on hold? It really is about family and friendship. In the meantime, their home life is somewhat in disarray; the parental units seem to have given up hope that they can somehow save their errant son from a sure path to destruction.
Carter Moon, however will not have it. So yes, knowing the type of person Carter is, I was not surprise with the ease in which she made the arrangement. As far as the romance goes, there was no chemistry to speak of between Carter and Adam. So the basis of being friends first worked well. Thanks Netgalley and Publisher for this lovely book! It was worth the read with the adorable chracters and raw emotions.
It was a real kind of magic. The kind of magic that let's you discover who you are meant to be. It's the kind of magic that let's you dream and hope and wish. I wanted something that gave me a sense of hope. I wanted something fresh and raw and real. And what could be more real than fa Thanks Netgalley and Publisher for this lovely book! And what could be more real than falling in love with a celebrity? She has the same problems and fears that a lot of teenagers have: The fear of being forgotten. The fear of change.
Her two best friends are dating. The way the blog posts related to their lives. They way that the sun and the atmosphere and just the universe in general was all linked back to their own lives never ceased to amazed me. I loved it all. What can I say? There she meets Ben, a steel mill owner, and later when she goes to get a job in that small town, she meets Ben again. Sydney becomes a nurse at the mill. All the men adore her. There they have many great times together, and Sydney realizes how important real friends are and that small towns are better than big name Hollywood.
I just finished watching this painful Sunday film. My son was married on Saturday, and I was too tired to leave the couch and to click the remote. What a simple, predictable story. I never liked Sela Ward, who is one of the worst actors ever. Even a ton of red lipstick does not help. Anyone who knows mill workers, especially steel workers, sees the flaws in this. First of all, a steel town is not a charming, storybook place to live. Bowling, community theatre, a cozy dinner place at film's end were silly. In this economy Hollywood money would not save a dying industry! And the workers in line for splinter-in-the-butt removal and other such ailments -- dumb, dumb, dumb!
Hiring her as a nurse in a steel mill where serious accidents DO happen was unreal and dangerous. And that white-haired, panty-waist Ben -- was that his name? What a crummy job acting! His supposed-to-be dynamic speeches and serious looks were hilarious, and Ward's portions were miserable.
Near the end when the assortment of characters was-were speaking - ugh! How bad was that? And Fran -- horrible acting. What a way to end a perfect weekend. This destined for a tour of Lifetime film is awful so do not waste your time. It was not even sleep-inducing -- way more painful than "a splinter in the butt"! I cannot believe I actually wrote that stoopid word I never say.
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