Competing With the Star (The Star Series Book 2)

After moving to a new town, Hadley starts dating Nick Jenkins, the boy of her dreams. Nick is crazy about Hadley, but she has the typical teenage girl issues: she isn’t pretty enough, she’s afraid Nick still likes his ex-girlfriend, and she’s also afraid he likes Simone, who has her own TV show and attends their school. The couple's  biggest problem is that Hadley’s newfound friends all keep tagging along on their dates. They try to go to both the malt shop and the movies and all her friends show up. Then Simone puts Nick in a sticky situation and Hadley believes Simone over Nick, which breaks his heart.

Ms. Hager’s book is filled with teen angst that the reader will feel right from the very start, and it makes it easy to sympathize and understand Hadley.  There are a plethora of characters in this piece, but it is easy to keep them straight because they are all so unique. Unfortunately, two of the characters, Lucas and Connor, have no depth and appear to be there just to fill out the roster of boys. "Competing with the Star" is a sequel, which becomes apparent when information is provided to new readers in a way that, at times, disrupts the story.  This is a nice, clean young adult novel written in a clear and true voice that is a joy to read.

Belinda Wilson