You know those books that you can tell actually where it’s going pretty early on? This is not one of those books. I love the parallels to real life celebrities who had their own struggles during this time - Hankin does a fabulous job showing how differently young women are treated in Hollywood and by the public. The characters are all very relatable and likeable even though they all have flaws. I've seen comparisons to Daisy Jones and I think that is fair - but I liked this one more!

I loved this one so much! My kids grew up on the iCarly, Hannah Montana, Drake and Josh era of television and I feel like this one took you behind the scenese!

The Daydreams was a hugely popular teen drama until a life show finale ended the series for good.

Fast forward to when the cast, now adults and many no longer in show business, reunited to give the fans what they wanted for a finale.

Told in dual timelines, which I feel was perfection - the back then and the now. We also have little side bar talks from each character similar to reality TV.

This one had it all - love, loss, deep friendships, broken friendships, lies, betrayal - just to name a few.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley books for an ARC and for allowing me to be a part of this Berkley Buddy Read!

I loved this one!

It was perfectly nostalgic and familiar, but didn't feel like it ripped off any specific pop culture moment. It kept me incredibly engaged and I couldn't get enough. The characters and the timelines perfectly balanced and complimented each other.

I wish it didn't end!

Thank you for the early copy, Berkley!

Whew! This was a drama filled, snarky and fun ride. I absolutely loved the way the story alternated between the past and present, all around the premise of former teen stars and some Britney and Justin-esque scandals. I understand the comparisons to Daisy Jones and The Six, in that The Daydreams were actors who also played bandmates, so the story does revolve around a band and the music industries in some ways, but I wouldn't go into it expecting the same mood and tone as Daisy. However, if you're looking for a salacious, thrilling story that examines obsessive fandom and Hollywood's treatment of young (and older) women, add this to your list!

this was SO GOOD!

if you loved daisy jones & the six, then you will love this.
i’ve wanted a good celebrity fiction book for a while, and this was it.
the characters were all so funny, and fleshed out. i loved the plot lines, and the development of them.

"This is the terrifying thing about being famous, isn’t it? You occupy people’s minds even when you don’t want to. You never really know all the people who are thinking about you at any given moment, wanting to possess you or ruin you."

Laura Hankin’s The Daydreams is being published at a time when many people are reconsidering the often-cruel treatment of many young female stars in the late 1990s and early 2000s: Jessica Simpson, Amanda Bynes, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, etc. The novel has a dual timeline, taking place in 2004, when the stars of the wildly popular TV series “The Daydreams” are preparing for their live season finale, and in 2018, when their lives have turned out very different than they might have expected a decade and a half ago.

Kat, the show’s Mean Girl and the book’s narrator, gave up show biz and became a corporate lawyer; Liana, the supportive sidekick, married a baseball star and is now striving to make it as an influencer. Summer, the female lead, known for playing a sweet virgin on the show, has been in and out of rehab, a walking punch line in late night talk show monologues. And Noah, Summer’s love interest, is about to be cast as a superhero in a new blockbuster movie.

What went wrong at the 2004 live show, and why are these four getting back together for a second shot at stardom? The answers roll out slowly, with plenty of unexpected twists. Each member of the quartet has his or her own reasons for agreeing to the reunion; in Kat’s case, it’s that she fears she was partly to blame for what has become of Summer.

The Daydreams is both a cautionary tale and a slightly soapy celebrity saga; no matter how famous the actors get, Hankin warns, most of the real power still rests with the people offscreen: the directors, studio heads, managers, and others who will use and abuse their stars before simply discarding them and moving on to the next fresh face.

Thanks so much to Berkley and Let's Talk Books Promo for the copy of this book.

I am LOVING the reunion-show trope and 90s references in a few books I've read lately, and The Daydreams has both of these.

The messy, off-the-wall cast from The Daydreams comes back together for a live reunion show years after their first live show totally imploded. I absolutely loved watching this drama play out in the past and present timelines, and then having each character give a soliloquy thoughout the story to explain their POV. This story is so engrossing I finished it in a day - all the scandal and secrets make it move so fast I didn't want to stop! I love where the characters ended up and thought that while this was a messy drama, it was also a great narrative on the expectations of teen stars and women in the TV/film industry.

Read if you:
- watched the Disney Channel
- ever imagined yourself in the TRL audience
- had a teen magazine with celebrity stickers in it
- love lots of drama

Brimming with betrayal, envy, and young love, THE DAYDREAMS follows a cast of young actors as they meet for a band reunion show years later. If you grew up in the early 90s this story will feel reminiscent of the blossoming careers of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.

What might be misconstrued as a lighter read takes on some heavier topics such as consent, body image, and exploitation of young actors at the hands of big media executives. The story offers an interesting social commentary on the consequences of living life in the limelight during formative years and the impact being viewed as a public commodity can have on someone.

I appreciated the dual timelines to compare the characters as young adults to years later when they are older and wiser. At times the book leaned a bit YA due to the age of the characters but the content grounded the story a bit for me. This story went down easy and would make for fantastic poolside reading.

READ IF YOU:
Can’t resist a reunion show
Feel nostalgic for the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse glory days
Want Daisy Jones with a YA feel

RATING: 4/5
PUB DATE: May 2, 2023

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was very middle of the road for me and I’m not exactly sure why because the setup had so much potential for me but there was something missing in the execution. I think I wanted more depth in the characters, things jump back and forth between 2004 and 2018 so I had assumed the characters would show some growth but sadly they didn’t for me. Kat narrates the majority of this with snippets from the other cast members and I didn’t connect with her at all either. The conflict was also lacking in my opinion, I expected something more juicy so overall this one was just ok for me.

The Daydreams is about a group of kids from a popular teen show who comeback together as adults for a reunion show. After thirteen years, the stars agree to give their fans the closure they need after the show went down in flames during season two. The story is told from alternating POV’s of the cast, and the past/present. The story also incorporates mixed media with news clips, social media and entertainment shows following the cast.

The first half the story is quite boring as nothing literally happens. It’s about the halfway mark BIG secrets get revealed leading to better story, and the second-chance at love unfolds. Secrets revealed, young love reignited, and wounds healed. For fans of Daisy Jones and Six, this book feeds the fix you need in this genre.

Thank you Berkley Publishing for the complimentary copy.

This book was so much fun!!

Short Synopsis:
The year is 2004. Teen dramas are all the rage. Add in singing and dancing and you have the number one hit-show The Daydreams. That is until a disastrous live finale. It’s 14 years later, and one of the stars mentions in an interview he’d love to have a reunion. Everything spirals, and the reunion is going to now happen.

My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this one so much. It was so much drama, and so much tension and so many secrets that I just couldn’t wait to listen to more. It was such a fun peek into life of a reunion show. Reunion show books have become popular lately, and it’s one of the best ones I’ve read.

Read if You Like:
📸 Celebrity Drama
📸 Reunion Shows
📸 Messy, messy relationships
📸 DRAMA
📸 High School Musical

In the early 2000s, the cast of The Daydreams were the teenage stars of a hit TV show and were living their best lives. That is, until the live season finale where everything imploded. Years later, they’ve all gone down different paths - Noah is still living the Hollywood Dream, Kat is a successful lawyer in DC, Liana is the wife of a famous athlete, and Summer’s reputation has never recovered from the aftermath of that live finale. With fans asking for a reunion special, they each have their own personal reasons to return, but what new secrets might come out in the process?
This book was so much fun and full of early 2000s nostalgia! While most of the story is told from Kat’s point of view, there were pieces of Summer’s diary from the early 2000s, as well as blog posts, and small sections from the POV other characters sprinkled in throughout the chapters. This book was full of drama and secrets from the beginning and takes a few surprising turns along the way. It was interesting to see how each character dealt with their history as a child star, their success, and their fall from grace in a different way.
Thanks to Berkley Publishing for the advance copy and to @berittalksbooks and @dg_reads for the buddy read!

This is a really interesting look inside a hit television show and the relationship dynamics and personal drama that can occur off set. While there is a good amount of plot, this one felt much more character driven. I really liked the way the author developed each of the characters, particularly Kat and Summer, and the very realistic and nuanced elements of their complicated relationship.

The Daydreams is a fictional tale of an early 200s group of teenagers who were in a musical TV show (think Disney or Glee) that rose to crazy heights of popularity before crashing spectacularly. Thirteen years later, the actors reunite and face the music (in more ways than one). It explores the exploitation of teenage stars and the result of having fame at such a young and impressionable age. The story alternates between time periods and is primarily told from the perspective of "Kat" now Katherine who was the "bad girl" on the show and is a promising big shot attorney. We also get bits of perspective from the three other bandmates: Liana, the "best friend" now an influencer and the "golden" couple - Noah, now a bona fide movie star, and Summer (the sweet good-girl star now "trainwreck."

If you liked Daisy Jones and the Six, Mickey Mouse Club, Disney channel shows/movies, Nickelodeon shows/movies, Glee, 90s/early 00s anything (music, tv, movies, pop culture), are a millenial, etc., then you'll love this book like I did.

Publishes: May 2, 2023

Thank you Berkley Publishing and Netgalley for the electronic advanced copy.

The Daydreams by Laura Hankin is a standalone novel, with POV’s from 2004 and 2018. In 2004, four unknown teenagers were chosen to star in a musical drama, Daydreams, where they will be singing, dancing and acting, with terrific ratings in the first season. Summer is the beautiful girl next door, Noah is the handsome leading man, Kat plays the mean girl, and Liana istheir best friend, who also has an amazing voice. During the season two finale, all hell broke loose, and the show was cancelled. All four of them went their own ways, unable to handle some betrayal, competition, stress, paparazzi and fans. 13 years later, they all agree to return in a new reunion that has fans excited.

As the four of them reunite, they learn how so much has changed for all of them. Noah became a famous movie star, as he was the only one truly unscathed from the show. Kat is now a lawyer in Washington, DC, hoping to become a partner. Liana is a trophy wife influencer, married to a famous sports athlete. Summer, who in 2004, was the rising star, but her life now was a meltdown, with her going to rehab.

What follows has the four of them rekindling their friendship, working together to sing and dance even better now, as they fall into the magic of the original show; but secrets are revealed, including betrayal, revenge, and love. I truly liked all four of them, as they were flawed and somewhat broken in many ways, especially owning up to mistakes they made years ago. Noah and Summer were still very much attracted to each other. Will there be a second chance to love?

The Daydreams was a thought-provoking emotional and fun story, with wonderful characters. I loved the epilogue, which was very good. The Daydreams was an entertaining story that was so very well written by Laura Hankin.

It's no secret that the 2000s wasn't a great time to be a young celebrity pursued by the paparazzi. We need only look at the past stories of Britney, Lindsay, or Paris to know that being followed for headlines made for a challenging existence.

The premise for this one immediately intrigued me. In this fictitious world, The Daydreams was a popular teen show in the early 2000s, but during the live season two finale, it all fell apart. Thirteen years later, the stars are reuniting for a special that could be their shot at redemption or their ultimate downfall.

Hankin opens her story with this line, "We All had our roles to play, and I was The Bitch. Or, to rephrase in the family-friendly language preferred by the corporation that aired our TV show: The Mean Girl."

Yes, Kat hasn't had it easy being the show's teen villain, especially playing this role opposite a cast that all had golden storylines with redemptive threads. However, despite her villainous role, Kat has moved on to a more anonymous life with a successful career as a lawyer in Washington, DC. At the same time, her former castmates have pursued their own paths, ranging from blockbuster films to influencer lifestyles to cautionary tales exposed by the paparazzi.

Living in the time of reboots isn’t easy, and each carries secrets that could change how they interpret those past years and their future. We get snapshots of what they endured as teen celebrities through viewpoints from memories, slanted media articles with fabricated headline news, forums, and journal entries.

Hankin's novel delivers another inventive and captivating read with intriguing backstories, moral explorations of Hollywood's role in a teen celebrity's life, and page-turning plot twists from shifting viewpoints. As the middle fell into a lull, I was surprised to be pulled in again by the shifting viewpoints that turned the story on its head.

Fans of Daisy Jones & the Six or The Reunion are sure to be hooked by this unique take on the challenges of fame, the power of secrets, and the complexities of reunion.

Pair this novel with a celebrity memoir from Jessica Simpson or Paris Hilton for the perfect book pairing.

4.5 rounded up!! 🤩

I went in with no expectations because this is my first Hankin novel + I’ve read SO many books lately about a Hollywood/celebrity/TV/music reunion, ya know?!

BUT!! I was honestly blown away 🤩

✨4 main characters who all had a “role” to play on screen + off
✨a Disney-machine like company
✨addiction, body image issues, slut shaming
✨jealousy both professionally and personally but misplaced envy
✨the sexualizing of young teens + the insane pressure put on them to be “pure”

It was a full cast audiobook + I highly recommend you preorder your copy now!

The Daydreams is another of those hot kids show cast reunites as adults to hash out their traumas, unrequited feelings and assorted miseries books which have become popular over the past year or so. Inspired by actual reunions for shows like iCarly and Boy Meets World, The Daydreams puts a bunch of (mostly) former stars back together for the reunion of a lifetime. But we, the audience, have read books like this before, and the narrative isn’t inventive or juicy enough to keep our attention, and its shifting perspectives never fail to properly solidify.

Back in 2002, four lucky teen actors found themselves the envy of every American youth when they were cast as members of the fictional band The Daydreams – think The Monkees meets California Dreams meets Glee meets The OC. Kat Whitley was the spoiler (or as she calls it, “the bitch”), written to come between the romance of good girl Summer Wright and golden boy Noah Gideon. Liana Jackson was the supportive best friend type. Their series was a runaway hit and launched some successful singles.

The Daydreams crashed and burned during their live second season finale, when Summer went wildly off-script, stripping off her clothing and singing provocatively in a show of rebellion for reasons unknown, which caused the network to cut the feed and cancel the show. That put most of the cast’s acting careers on ice for good, each of them entering adulthood in a different way.

Kat now goes by her full name, Katherine. She has moved to Washington DC, become a lawyer and is up for a partnership at her firm. She also has a wonderful boyfriend, an environmental lawyer named Miheer. Liana married a football player named Javier and is a rich and pampered wife who craves recognition and purpose in life, her talent stymied. Summer became a tabloid fixture who’s constantly in and out of trouble; she’s been to rehab twice, had a failed and embarrassing solo album, has a difficult mother and a dead father, and was sued by a paparazzo for throwing a drink with a pointy straw in his face. Only Noah is still in the acting game, and he’s a huge star who’s been nominated for an Oscar for his latest screenplay. When an interviewer brings up the question of what happened to The Daydreams and wonders if there’s a possible reunion in the cards, he states that he’s open to it.

An uproar of fan response results in the show being put back on track. Kat finds herself plunged back into the hell that is celebrity life – dodging paparazzi, trying to reconnect with her costars, and trying to salve old hurts. But will The Daydreams fly or falter?

I’m of a divided mind on this one. On one hand, I loved being sunk into Kat’s PoV. On the other hand, I feel like this is a book that would have benefitted from more consistent PoV chapters from Noah, Liana and Summer. As is, each of the other three band members get a chapter apiece, and their points of view are otherwise filtered into the narrative through articles and diary entries. While we get chunks of Summer’s doings throughout, the narrative suddenly switches to favor her PoV right at the end of the book. This is distracting as heck. Liana, in particular, feels underwritten, and since her belief was that she’s being ignored and pushed aside by the writers that’s somewhat ironic.

And that’s a shame, because the story is compelling, even if you’ve already read this sort of Hollywood redemption narrative before. The characters are winning, unique, and likable, even at their worst. And the story’s about redemption, healing, rejecting the past and embracing the future. But it will leave you feeling thirsty for more. There are depths here that should be plumbed and aren’t.

As far as the romance goes, the majority of the story pokes at the unhealed wounds between Summer and Noah, a subject that seems very fraught until the truth comes out. Liana and Javier’s romance doesn’t get much play at all, but what little we get of Kat and Miheer is very cute.

The Daydreams has a heart and has nerve, but it never manages to rise above the level of being an entertaining beach reach that could’ve been more.

Thank you Penguin Random House for the book. #PRHInternationalPartner.

3.5 ★

“We all have stages in our lives that we must move on from and mourn.”

The Daydreamers es una historia que te enseña que luchar por lo que quieres tiene valor y también el pedir perdón para poder seguir adelante con tus metas y la vida.

No esperaba mucho del libro, lo que me molesta es que lo comparen con otras historias que nada que ver solo para llamar la atención de los seguidores de ese libro 😬, de ahí por qué el libro tiene rating bajo…

Destacó mucho la narración y formato, a mi me encanta cuando una historia está contando en dos líneas de tiempo porque hacen que me enganche y no me despegue del libro con tal de saber qué pasó. En este caso la autora decide contarnos entre el presente y el pasado lo cual genera que como lector quieres saber qué pasó con los Daydreamers, cuál fue el debacle que hizo que todo terminara cuando estaban en la cima del éxito.

Sin embargo, como todo bueno, hay algo malo y en este caso fueron los protagonistas. Se supone e que son mayores de edad y adultos responsables, pero se comportan como unos niños, uno es peor que el otro. Eso sí, me sentí identificada con Katherine, en un momento he sido ella, y cuando eres joven, eres inmadura y no piensas bien las consecuencias que tus acciones pueden causar.

Este libro también nos hace ver la misoginia de la industria del entretenimiento, que es de nunca acabar.

Y no, este libro no es como Daisy Jones & the Six, es simplemente The Daydreamers.

What's it about (in a nutshell):
The Daydreams by Laura Hankin is an entertaining story about a group of people who enjoyed a bit of fame in their teens and early twenties and are now being asked to recreate the magic that people still talk about thirteen years later. It is a journey that has the potential to allow each of them and even their fans to let go of the past and embrace their future.
Bullet Point Review:
What I loved the most about the story was how realistic it felt and how incredibly thought-provoking it is regarding fame at a young age.
The story is incredibly entertaining and addictive, reminding me of my own teens and the popular teen shows back then.
The writing is full of wit and satire and is interestingly dark.
I loved being reminded of Disney shows and movies that stars teens in a musical setting and then considering how those stars have transitioned to adulthood.
The characters are flawed, and learning about their secrets makes the story utterly compelling and hard to put down.
My only minor niggle about the story is the amount of predictability in the plot despite those secrets.
The story is told by Katherine, the villain of the series and the one who has the most to learn by confronting her past.
The pace stays brisk from start to finish.
The story is told in two timelines – 2004 and 2018. These two timelines are never confusing and work exceptionally well to tell the reunion story.

Read, if you like
Stories of redemption and growth
Thought-provoking looks at fame and a male-dominated world
Teen shows