The wonderful people at Little Brown send great books to review. They made me paranoid this week, though, as two days after posting my comments about the publicity for Joanna Philbin’s The Daughters, I not only received it for review, but I received the sequel for review, as well.
The Daughters is a debut by Joanna Philbin, daughter of Regis Philbin and the book itself seems written from some experience — this story follows three girls, Lizzie, Carina, and Hudson, who are all themselves daughters of famous celebrities. In particular, we get the story from Lizzie’s perspective as she deals with growing up with a world-famously beautiful model of a mother, Katia.
The girls are 14 and attend an elite high school, where all attendees are someone or are related to someone. When the school year begins, Lizzie runs into Todd — a boy she had befriended many years before he moved to England with his family — and he has moved back to New York City and will be attending school. Of course, romance blooms and fades, and we watch as Lizzie chases the boy and he chases her back. Will they end up together?
But this is more than a boy-and-girl-love-story. Lizzie has an opportunity to become famous herself through “ugly modeling,” since she has none of the looks of her mother. She forges permission from her mother, and her career begins skyrocketing before she can blink. It’s not what she imagined, and when she has to lie and cheat to maintain the lifestyle, she knows that it isn’t going to be good. That, and the fact that the world famous designer who wants to use her criticizes her for not being a size 2 or size 4.
The Daughters is incredibly clean: I don’t remember a single moment of swearing, and I believe that maybe there was a kiss discussed in the book. There are mean girls, a la books like The Clique, which makes me believe this will be a good sell to fans of that series.
What really bothered me throughout the book was that these girls were way too mature for 14-year-olds. Quite frankly, they were written as 17-year-olds and a lot of what happened required suspending a lot of disbelief — at one point, Lizzie leaves school in the middle of the day because her mom sent her a text message that she was in trouble and needed to be scolded and then she just returns to class. Weird. This required me suspending my reality quite a bit to let the stretches work. I didn’t want to give up the characters, either, so I let a lot slide by my reality radar.
But let me back up here a second, too. That will be the total appeal factor for the intended audience here. This book is perfect for the 12-13-14-year-olds. They are at the age they believe they are a lot older and more mature than they are, and I believe Lizzie and her crew are actually really good role models. They act too old, too, but there are consequences for their actions. This is sort of the realistic-fantasy that the age group likes to read about, and so I can see this working really well. Likewise, it’s the sort of book I wouldn’t have problems recommending since it is clean, the girls are mostly likeable despite their flaws, and parents won’t have a problem with what goes on. Sure, there are a lot of parties, but never once is there alcohol or any bad behavior at the parties; in fact, I don’t believe we ever hear what happens at them except that they happen.
Since there is at least one sequel, this is also appealing because fans will have more than one story to enjoy. And let’s be honest: the writer, daughter of a respected celebrity, is parent-friendly, too.
On a totally superficial level, another huge draw for this title will be the cover. It is so reminiscent of older books like The Nanny Diaries and will again appeal to the fantasy 12-14-year-old-girls will love. The New York setting, the technology-saturated worlds, and even the dialog will fulfill their fantasies without giving them wrong ideas.
Ms. Philbin, thank you. This was not MY favorite book nor the strongest written, but this will fill a nice niche. I suspect many parents will also be thanking you soon enough, not to mention the girls who will thank you for a positive story that combines clique aspects, body-positive aspects, technology, and the lure/drawbacks of fame and fortune. Here’s hoping that the second book meets these same high expectations.
*Review copy from publisher.