Blog Tour: Under the Lights (Review + Favorite Quotes)

12:00 AM Serena 0 Comments

Hello and welcome to day six of the blog tour for Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler! I'm super excited to be on this tour because I adore Dahlia, and I adored this book. I'm going to be sharing my review and a favorite quote from this incredible upcoming release. Let's get started! P.S.: Don't forget to check out the giveaway on the bottom of this post, and check out the other blogs on the tour. You can find the schedule at Fantastic Flying Book Club.

Expected Publication Date: June 30th, 2015

Format/Source: eARC from the author. Thank you!

Rating: 5/5 stars

Part of a series? Yes! It's the second in the Daylight Falls duology.

Goodreads / Preorder: Amazon - Barnes and Noble - The Book Depository

Josh Chester loves being a Hollywood bad boy, coasting on his good looks, his parties, his parents' wealth, and the occasional modeling gig. But his laid-back lifestyle is about to change. To help out his best friend, Liam, he joins his hit teen TV show, Daylight Falls...opposite Vanessa Park, the one actor immune to his charms. (Not that he's trying to charm her, of course.) Meanwhile, his drama-queen mother blackmails him into a new family reality TV show, with Josh in the starring role. Now that he's in the spotlight—on everyone's terms but his own—Josh has to decide whether a life as a superstar is the one he really wants.

Vanessa Park has always been certain about her path as an actor, despite her parents' disapproval. But with all her relationships currently in upheaval, she's painfully uncertain about everything else. When she meets her new career handler, Brianna, Van is relieved to have found someone she can rely on, now that her BFF, Ally, is at college across the country. But as feelings unexpectedly evolve beyond friendship, Van's life reaches a whole new level of confusing. And she'll have to choose between the one thing she's always loved...and the person she never imagined she could.

*Warning: This review contains spoilers.*

Under the Lights was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and I absolutely adored it. And let me tell you, there are fewer things that feel better than loving a book you were really looking forward to.

First let's talk about diversity. Dahlia Adler is a champion for diverse books, so obviously her books deal with diverse characters, which I love. Vanessa is an Asian-American, lesbian young woman working in the film industry, which is awesome. As an Asian teenager, I love that Van is Asian because that's not a part of myself I often see represented in books or any media really, at least not in a non-stereotyped way. Another thing I love is that Bri was bi because that's definitely not something that gets represented a lot. From what I've seen, bisexuals are often shamed for liking both boys and girls, which frankly sucks, so reading about a bi love interest was really refreshing. Major points to Dahlia for all that. Now on to other aspects of the novel because I seriously have so much to talk about.

I thought I liked Van a lot in Behind the Scenes, but I love her a whole lot more after reading Under the Lights. For one, she is so sassy and witty. For another, she's really strong. She never physically kicked-butt, though I don't doubt she could, but she juggled so many things and she still managed to be victorious in her endeavors. She was struggling with her family and her job and her sexuality and with being separated from her best friend, but she dealt with her issues well, and it was obvious that she felt a positive change in herself because of it. And I loved that. Van is the kind of person I'd like to be friends with/aspire to be, really.

Now we have to talk about the romance. Slow-burn romance is my favorite, and I loved watching Bri and Van's relationship progress. They work so well together, and I cannot believe I ever thought Josh and Vanessa would be a good idea together because Bri and Van 5ever, okay.

Platonic relationships are just as important as romantic relationships in this series which is another thing on the long list of things that I love about it. Vanessa and Ally's friendship made me smile. The fact that they now live on opposite sides of the country but are still best friends was inspiring. Josh and Van's friendship was fun too. Their banter was utterly enjoyable, and they helped each other through a lot. Their friendship was kind of a slow-burn like Bri and Van's relationship, but it was worth it.

Why don't we just talk about Josh now that I've mentioned him? That sounds like a good idea. Where do I even start with Josh though? Josh Chester is wild and perverted and hilarious and hot and really confused about his life. Adler took a very different direction with Josh than I thought she would go, but I liked it all the seem. He really progressed as a character, and watching him change and let himself be a little bit vulnerable made me happy. He didn't exactly have his life together at the end of the book, but he was getting there, and he was happier with himself and his life which was awesome.

Under the Lights was a beautiful tale of love, friendship, and self-discovery, with hilarity and a hot boy or two thrown in the mix. It's an incredible feat for the world of gay YA and wonderful end to the duology, and though I hate to say goodbye to these characters, I like where Adler has left them. I'd recommend this series to pretty much everyone.

So this next part of the tour is supposed to be where I talk about my favorite quotes. And though this book is filled with awesome banter and all sorts of hilarious stuff, there was only one quote that stood out to me. Here it is, That One Time Josh Chester Was Spitting Out Undeniable Wisdom:

I'm an Associate Editor of Mathematics by day, a Copy Editor by night, and I blog at The Daily Dahlia, YA Misfits, and the Barnes & Noble book blog. I also write contemporary YA (The Daylight Falls duology) and NA (The Radleigh University series). Rec-ing books is approximately my favorite thing in the universe, with macarons being a close second. Come say hi on Twitter, where I'm @MissDahlELama!

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