January 1, 2023
Back in 2004, Kat Whitley used to play the mean girl on The Daydreams, a TV drama about fictional high schoolers who start a band together. Life couldn't be any more different 13 years later when she's a lawyer on the partner track trying to live a normal life after their disastrous final episode ended the show's second season and tanked the female cast members' acting careers for good. When their unscathed and still thriving male costar agrees to a reunion in an interview, Kat and the original cast get pulled right back into the toxic chaos that led to the downfall of Summer Wright, once the brightest star of the show until her scandalous breakdown. Although the book is unflinching in its portrayal of the vicious realities of the entertainment industry, its most fascinating elements are the characters who each reveal their complexities, intentions, and secrets. Told through alternate timelines, journal entries, tabloid articles, and soliloquies, the narrative is well-paced and surprising as it takes unexpected turns. VERDICT Perfect for readers looking to reminisce about the early 2000s teen pop star scene, Hankin's latest novel (after A Special Place for Women) is a compelling page-turner and a must-read.--Hazel Ureta
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March 15, 2023
The Daydreams captivated teens and tweens during the early 2000s, until the show's live finale went horribly awry, turning its promising young star, Summer, into a punchline. Thirteen years later, Noah is an actor and screenwriter, Liana is an influencer, Kat is an attorney, and Summer has been in and out of rehab. Nostalgic fans are clamoring for a reunion, and the quartet obliges, each with his or her own hope for redemption or revenge. The truth of what happened during the live show is far more complex than any of the daydreams could have guessed, and each has a unique perspective on the incident that ended the meteoric rise. Hankin (A Special Place for Women, 2021) unspools the story of the reunion alongside the story of the show's original run, exploring how the early-aughts, teen-celebrity machine imposed unrealistic standards on its young female stars then punished them when they stepped out of line. Full of dishy drama that reads like a behind-the-scenes look at any number of Disney/Nickelodeon shows of the era, Hankin's latest will appeal to fans of Elissa R. Sloan and Ella Berman.
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May 22, 2023
Hankin (The Summertime Girls) delivers a sparkling story of lasting friendships amid the pitfalls of celebrity culture. Summer, Noah, Liana, and Kat starred on the smash teen TV show The Daydreams, about a pop music group of the same name, which imploded during a devastating live show 13 years earlier after Summer’s journal was leaked to the press (the details of the leak, and its implications, are teased out over the course of the narrative). After rumors of a reunion circulate on Twitter, the show’s former stars are asked by the network to get back together. Kat’s now a D.C.-based lawyer; Noah, a bona fide Hollywood star; Liana, trophy wife to a sports star; and the Britneyesque Summer, whose star has been marred by several trips to rehab. Kat, who’s on a partner track, is reluctant. Soon, though, she’s pulled back into the drama and unfinished business she’d left more than a decade earlier. The cascading revelations behind the leak of Summer’s journal, complete with an unexpected series of betrayals, will hit readers like a ton of bricks. Hankin keeps the plot tight and the flawed characters sympathetic—even the villain. Readers won’t want to put this down. Agent: Stefanie Lieberman, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.