06 April, 2017

#BookReview :: Aura In LaLaLand by Skye Grace

When teenage theater geek Aura Lidell finds herself falling down a mysterious rabbit hole and hurtled 10 years into the future, understanding inconsistencies in the time space continuum is the least of her worries. Suddenly finding herself without her lifelong best friend Rowan, she must navigate her lifestyle as a 26 year old TV star in Los Angeles with no recollection of how she became one. All of the beautiful faces surrounding her are ones she can barely recall, her memories only returning at the sip of any beverage that calls "drink me!" A hit show and a dreamy, teen soap star boyfriend seem like the perfect life until her love for both of them begin unraveling before her eyes. All Aura wants is to find her best friend... Oh and maybe her teenage crush, actor Jacksen Andrews, who happens to be looking for a new leading lady, on and off screen. Meeting Jacksen and the cast turns out to be a much more magically complicated adventure than planned, and Aura wonders if she can find her true self amongst the craziness in order to keep herself from being sent back to her unabashedly normal old life.



At first glance, the blurb gives the impression of this story being inspired by Alice in Wonderland, a classic on its own rights. Just before her sixteenth birthday, Aura falls through the ‘rabbit hole’ not to land in a magical world but into her own future. At first she is confused with what and who surrounds her, but she soon learns to go with the flow. Will she be surprised or shocked by what she discovers about her future self? Does she like what she sees or does she wish to get back to her sixteen year old self?

At the beginning we are given a glimpse of Aura’s life as a sixteen year old. Her life may not have been perfect but she certainly seemed to have a grip on her reality even with somewhat unorthodox parents. Then, along with Aura, we are hurtled into the future… where Aura is a star and has a whole different lifestyle and set of friends. It was confusing at first with the way all the new characters were thrown at us. As a reader I was confused with who-was-who in this timeline. But Aura (with the help of her inner voice) seemed to grasp it all much faster than me. I liked Aura’s character – all the parts. She was absorbing to a point that even when I was confused with all the names that were being thrown at me and the pace lagged a bit, I continued reading. I wanted to know how she had changed and what she would do in the end.

The author has kept her language simple which was a blessing with all the confusion towards the beginning of the book. I have to say though, I did not enjoy the slang used in the book, it grew irritating after a while. The pace could have certainly been better as there was a certain period where I felt like things weren’t really moving forward. The pace picked up towards the middle of the book and then turning the pages was really easy.  Irrespective of its shortcomings, I think this could be an enjoyable book for many as the plot turned out to be a surprise.

Though I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this book, lovers of sci-fi and fantasy mash up may want to pick it up and judge it on their own.


Received a Review Copy from the Author



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