HOLLYWOOD NOBODY
Lisa Samson
Th1nk Books
Fiction
ISBN: 9781600060915
221 pages

Lisa Samson's fans will be amused and entertained with this fresh new series featuring Scotty Fitzgerald, a wise-beyond-her-years teen who writes an anonymous Hollywood Nobody blog based on her insider status as the daughter of a longtime movie set food designer. Scotty, short for Frances Scott Fitzgerald Dawn, has lived her entire life on the road in an antiquated RV that has been decorated hippie style. Her mom, Charley, a vegan who allows Scotty to drive without a license and pretty much homeschool herself, is strangely oblivious to the laws of the land but ever so conscientious about the ills of eating meat and dairy. (Cheese, Scotty's secret addiction, is a special sore point.)

Still, Scotty manages to traverse the wilds of mother-daughter relational territory, finding pleasure and independence doing research on the Internet and scoping out the next town they find themselves working from during movie shoots.

Oddly, with all the traveling this pair does, Scotty senses that a deeper mystery is behind her mother's mood swings and escalating secretiveness. She tries to draw her mom out with pointed questions about their past and her father --- anything to help give her a sense of permanency and belonging --- but Charley is rarely forthcoming with any information. So Scotty makes the most of the situation and tries to adapt. An "in the know" Hollywood insider, she blogs daily, providing a growing number of readers with juicy tidbits of actor/actress happenings. Being the daughter of a hippie, Scotty dresses in vintage retro and has a way of engaging people's hearts with simple, off-handed transparency. What you see is what you get with Scotty, and in Hollywood her genuineness is indeed a welcome novelty.

As Scotty works on school subjects during the day, she meets a young wanna-be A-list actor and they hit it off. She also sees her adopted RV grandparents for which she plays matchmaker/job hunter to their niece, a wounded waitress/former New York designer. Throughout Scotty's days and nights, the funny and not-so-comical happenings around a movie set continue to alternately plague and comfort the teen. All the while, Charley grows increasingly on-edge, and an off-camera meeting with a mystery stranger force Scotty and Charley to a tell-all conversation concerning Scotty's past.

Every page is full of comical witticisms, and readers who love the ongoing intrigue and drama of the Hollywood scene but are puzzled by its clear hypocrisy will especially appreciate Scotty's dry humor. Samson does an excellent job of pairing teen angst with biblical truth, in subtle, easy-on-the-palate servings.

    --- Reviewed by Michele Howe

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