Author Jen Malone draws on her real-life experiences as a movie studio publicist to bring you an insider peek at love, Hollywood-style. 

The California dream was supposed to give seventeen-year-old Annie Shelton a fresh start far removed from her dad’s unusual betrayal. But when things don’t go according to plan in La La Land, Annie’s mom snags a last-minute gig as makeup artist to a teen movie idol and finagles a spot for her daughter on his European promotional tour.

Down-to-earth Annie would rather fangirl architectural sights than an arrogant A-lister. That is, until behind-the-scenes Graham Cabot turns out to be more sweetly vulnerable than she could have imagined. 

Too bad falling for a poster boy isn’t all red carpets and star treatment, especially when you factor in obnoxious fans, an overprotective assistant, a stage mom/manager, and a beefy bodyguard.

But it isn’t until the paparazzi make an appearance that things get really sticky…

I picked up this one to read between A Court of Mist and Fury and going back into The Dream Thieves, just something light and fluffy before I dive back into some more magic.

Overall thought of Map of the Stars? Meh.


The main issue I had with this book was that it felt rushed. It wasn't a long book at all, but it could have been a little bit longer, more explanations, and possibly more room to build on the relationships and the life of the protagonist.

So, let's break down the part that I actually read because I put it down at 28%. Spoilers ahead, but it's honestly, I wouldn't even worry about it.

It's a very short book, and basically one unrealistic thing after another. The protagonist, Annie, who follows her mother to L.A. to help her with her make-up artist... stuff. To be fair, I skimmed a lot of it because I lost interest so fast, but all Annie did was complain. She is in a place where many people would love to be, and she's "helping out" by mucking things up (that token 'clumsy girl' thing irritates me), and being rude to A-listers because she doesn't want to be looked down upon. Gurl, please. Not long into the book, she meets a big star that only she doesn't find attractive at all because ~of course~ #speshulsnowflake. He meets her when he finds her asleep in his... bed? He kicks her out because 'oh my god, not another girl laying in my bed to seduce me'. Don't flatter yourself, mate.


He forgets about it because she's just that kind of girl who can get away with anything, and they bond incredibly fast. Graham, the A-lister who has creepy girls sneak into his bed, can't stop looking at the ordinarily plain girl, and invites her to lunch like a babbling idiot. That's after they give her a job to time the interview Graham is doing, because they let just any old moron do this, right? But she's so bad at it, she can't even press stop and start on a stopwatch, and of course Graham finds it so cute that is she is an idiot.


Anyway, the lunch. She only agrees because she's thinking to herself that there's nobody else in L.A. who is her age. And Graham happens to have no friends his own age, also. Nobody young lives in Los Angeles. A young, attractive famous actor can't ask girls out or even make friends.


And by this point, I've already had enough. I DNF'd this thing before it melted my brain. It says in the summary that the author wrote this due to her own experiences in the movie industry but still. I couldn't care less about any of the characters because we didn't really get a lot of time to get to know them. I felt like she couldn't wait to get this story written and out the way with, and I felt that it ruined the reading experience for me. I want to read authors who actually put their heart and soul into their story, and I just felt cheated by the £1.50 I spent on this. 

I'm writing a book quite similar to this, which I started for NaNoWriMo, which was why I wanted to read this - to see how different or similar they are. Luckily, it turns out that my story and this book are not the same at all. The cover gives us the same colour scheme as The Fault In Our Stars, which I think is a smart way of marketing it, and it is quite a nice, simple design. Shame about the words in between.

Annie - irritating, useless and written 10000 times.
Graham - Who? Oh, him. Meh.
Wynn - Annie's best friend who she Skypes with. Barely even remember her.
Annie's mum - Don't remember her name but meh.
Everyone else - Villains because they're so mean and Graham is the only nice guy in Hollywood.

So, yeah. I wouldn't bother with this one. I mean, you can if you want but it's nothing to write home about. I'm kind of disappointed in Epic Reads to recommending this book on the cover. Not good at all. 
Waste of £1.50 and 2 hours of my time really. Sorry to be harsh but I speak the truth.




There you have it. I tend to try and not be so harsh on book reviews, but I just get frustrated when I'm let down and spent money - even though it's a little amount - on books. I was quite worried that this will be very similar to my story, which I've yet to finish and who knows, maybe it's similar near the end, but meh.

Do you like books like these, just one's to break down some series when they're quite intense and you want something refreshing? Will you be reading this? Let us know by either leaving a comment below or finding us at any of the following social outlets: