Emma Hearts LA

Emma Hearts LA by Keris Stainton

Paperback, 256 pages

Published June 7th 2012 by Orchard

My shelves: arc-or-review, books-i-own, contemporary, cover-appeal, read-in-2012, realistic-fiction, series-or-companions, young-adult

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Emma's not sure that LA's for her, but when she accompanies her sister Jane to an audition, a chance meeting with a teen TV star starts to change her new sunshine lifestyle for the better... But what about Oscar, so far her only friend in LA, who's turning out NOT to be the idiot she thought he was?

Soon Emma begins to find herself torn between two boys and reconsidering her entire future.

Maybe LA's not that bad after all.

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My thanks go to Orchard for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not quite sure why, but I never did get around to reading Della Says OMG or Jessie Hearts NYC, even though I purchased them both and they're sitting on my bookshelves (somewhere!), but I know I've made a silly decision to neglect them for so long. After reading Keris Stainton's latest, Emma Hearts LA, I only find myself wanting to read more of her books - as soon as possible!

As soon as I read a couple of pages of this book, I knew that I would enjoy it and that is just such a good feeling! I instantly loved Stainton's writing - it was simple, pleasant to read and it flowed really well. I loved the whole idea behind the book - Emma and her family moving to LA and trying to move forward with their lives. It didn't try to be anything 'deep' and it wasn't full of action and drama - it was just a lovely story about Emma and her adaptation to a new city and home. Quite simply, it is a perfect, relaxing read - just what what you need for summer! 

I absolutely loved all of the characters that we were introduced to in this book. Our main character, Emma, just seems so real and felt like a friend that I would love to have. I absolutely loved her personality and, in particular, her slightly-snarky but fun attitude. It was great to see her interact with her family, seeing how their past family life was affecting her. I thought her relationship with her sister was especially lovely to read about. Although, as aforementioned, I haven't yet read Jessie Hearts NYC, I loved hearing the connections that Emma has to Jessie, her best friend. Their friendship was genuine and their banter was great. I am definitely looking forward to visiting NYC with them both and discovering more about Jessie and her life. 

For me, the real star of this book was Oscar. Oscar is geeky. Oscar wears Harry Potter shirts and pretended to live in the 'cupboard under the stairs' when he was younger. Oscar has bright red hair. Oscar, most importantly, is extremely caring and such a fantastic fan. Oscar is, in a nutshell, is basically my perfect guy. There is a sort-of love triangle when Emma meets a famous, obviously gorgeous, actor, but to be honest, I think there is only one way that this book will turn out and it's blindingly obvious to most people (apart from Emma) and I am totally glad about that. You always seem to know where this book is going, but for me that wasn't a problem. 

Keris seems to be very up to date and knows what teenagers/young adults want. There are a few great references to popular culture within this story and it seems authentic - unfortunately, I find a lot of authors try to be too 'cool' (or insist in putting what they think is cool with teenagers into their books), but Keris doesn't have to do this and yet is able to make a connection which really pays off. I learnt so much about Emma's new environment in Los Angeles through her experiences and thoughts, rather than having to sit through overly-descriptive scenes, which I was really grateful for.  

To be honest, I can't really fault this book. There isn't really anything 'shocking' that happens, or any big twists or turns, which I'm usually a big fan of. However, it was just nice to sit back and see what did happen, happen. It was really nice to, for once, have a feel-good book and a nice happy ending. For those of you who haven't already sorted out their summer reading, be sure to put this one on the list!