Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance

December 13, 2010
"It's difficult to step off the fame track, mainly because now I don't know what I would do or who I'd be without a script," laments 17-year-old control freak Charlie Tracker, who has co-starred with arrogant Fielding Withers for several years on the Family Network's hit show Jenna & Jonah's How to Be a Rock Star, in which they play next-door neighbors in love. In real life, they are sick of each other, even as they are (resentfully) pretending to be a couple for the sake of ratings. When Fielding is falsely accused of being gay, he and Charlie escape to his beach house and attempt to get to know each other again. The question is, with so much fakery in their lives, have they lost their identities? The Half-Life of Planets coauthors Franklin and Halpin pen an introspective coming-of-age story that illuminates the realities and perils of celebrity. Although the story follows a predictable arc and the alternating first-person narratives are a bit too similar, the teens' dialogue is snappy, and romantics will enjoy watching as love blossoms off-camera. Ages 12–up.

January 1, 2011
After a successful first season of Jenna & Jonah's How to Be a Rock Star, teen idols Charlie and Aaron (aka Fielding Withers to his fans) are given an ultimatum: "fall in love or fall apart." Three seasons later, the Family Network actors must plot every kiss for the paparazzi, sacrificing freedom for stardom. But when Aaron is falsely outed as gay, and the "family-friendly" (rather, ratings-conscious) network drops their show, the acting duo tries to salvage their plummeting reputations as Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. As in their previous The Half-Life of Planets (2010), which garners a clever allusion, the dual authors alternate chapters and witty banter as the teens try to figure out how to act, live and love without a guided script. While the Charlie and Aaron/Beatrice and Benedick comparisons become overdrawn by the end, the biting commentary on "reality" TV and society's obsession with fame will keep readers laughing, as will all the remembered Jenna & Jonah scenes. Love, American style. (Fiction. YA)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

July 1, 2011
Teen sensations Charlie Tracker and Fielding Withers masquerade as a real-life couple to boost the ratings of their TV show. But when Jenna & Jonah's How to Be a Rock Star gets canceled, the costars realize--thanks to new face-saving roles as Beatrice and Benedick--that they're in love. Draggy patches slow the action, but fans of Shakespeare-repackaged-as-teen-fare will likely enjoy the ride.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)