From Goodreads: Years before Trip Wiley could be seen on movie screens all over the world, he could be seen sitting in the desk behind me in my high school English class.

This was back in 1990, and I cite the year only to avoid dumbfounding you when references to big hair or stretch pants are mentioned. Although, come to think of it, I am from New Jersey, which may serve as explanation enough. We were teenagers then, way back in a time before anyone could even dream he’d turn into the Hollywood commodity that he is today.

In case you live under a rock and don’t know who Trip Wiley is, just know that these days, he’s the actor found at the top of every casting director’s wish list. He’s incredibly talented and insanely gorgeous, the combination of which has made him very rich, very famous and very desirable.

And not just to casting directors, either.

I can’t confirm any of the gossip from his early years out in Tinseltown, but based on what I knew of his life before he was famous, I can tell you that the idea of Girls-Throwing-Themselves-At-Trip is not a new concept.

I should know. I was one of them.

And my life hasn’t been the same since.

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This was very well done. I thought it would be similar to Tammara Webber’s Between the Lines series, but it’s not, really–Trip isn’t famous in this novel yet, and it’s really the back-story before he gets famous (but if you’re a fan of Webber’s BtL series, then definitely pick this one up, anyway!). In fact, the only time they talk about his fame is in the very beginning, when Layla is reminiscing. Book two, I think, is where the fame piece will come up–and I can’t wait to read it, especially with a heartbreaking ending like the one Torrest left us with in the first novel.

I loved Layla’s voice in this novel. She’s full of spunk and she regales us with her memories of her senior year, making us a part of the story and she relives it–the good and the bad–and it was fun to read. Trip is a swoon-worthy character, and Layla is extremely sweet, though I think she allowed her best friend to control her a bit much. Things could have been so different if Layla has just followed her own heart and not taken her best friend’s advice to just let it go. Best friend or not, sometimes their advice shouldn’t be heeded.

I was happy that things sort of worked out in the end for Trip and Layla in the end, and that they at least got to spend some time happy together prior to leaving for college, but I really, really wanted things to end differently. But hey, at least the second and third books are already out, so I can start reading them now and find out what happens next for this fun couple. Four stars.

I purchased this novel from Amazon.

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