Book Review: The Rise and Fall of a Theater Geek

Book: The Rise and Fall of a Theater Geek (Justin Goldblatt book #2) by Seth Rudetsky

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Publisher: Random House Children's: Random House Books for Young Readers

Description:

Broadway, New York.

The shows, the neon lights . . . the cute chorus boys! It's where Justin has always wanted to be--and now, with a winter internship for a famous actor, he finally has his chance to shine. If only he could ditch his kind, virtuous, upright, and--dare he say it?—uptight boyfriend, Spencer. But once the internship begins, Justin has more to worry about than a cramped single-guy-in-the-city style. Instead of having his moment in the spotlight, he's a not-so-glorified errand boy. Plus, Spencer is hanging out with a celebra-hottie, Justin's best friend Becky isn't speaking to him, and his famous actor boss seems headed for flopdom. Justin's tap-dancing as fast as he can, but all his wit and sass might not be enough to switch his time in New York from nightmare-terrible to dream-come-true terrific.

Seth Rudetsky's second YA novel is endearingly human, laugh-out-loud funny, and for any kid who's ever aspired to Broadway but can only sneak in through the stage door.



Rating: 5 stars

Review:

I laughed so much while reading this, I just couldn't stop laughing at all the ridiculous things Justin Goldblatt did.

Thanks to his Long Island high school's JobSkill program which gives juniors a chance to earn credit during the winter semester with a two week internship, Justin will be heading to New York City to follow his dream of one day being a Broadway actor. Well not quite, he'll be interning at Big Noise Media, a theatrical publicity firm and unfortunately they only deal with off-Broadway shows. But at least he will be in NYC, right? So, for now he will settle for just the glitz and glam of just being near Broadway.

But his luck changed (but was it truly for the better?) when he and his boyfriend Spencer went to see The Phantom of the Opera. Justin was surprised when he spotted actor Chase Hudson sitting in the audience and had to go speak with him. After talking with Chase he found himself with a new internship, working for the actor who will soon be appearing in an upcoming Broadway play, Thousand-Watt Smile. As good as that sounds the downside is, Justin will have to work with Chase's imposing and some what controlling assistant Herbert (and that's pronounced Oo-bare).

Days before he was to start his new internship, Spencer broke up with him. So, now Justin is in NYC and ready to work and for the two weeks he's there he will be staying with his cranky grandmother Sally. But staying with his grandmother does have one perk, Devon. He's the cute young man that stops by once a week to play scrabble with his grandmother and he also happens to be a huge theater geek just like Justin. Maybe being dumped will turn out to be a good thing.

His first day at his internship was not going well at all. And to make matters even worse his best friend Becky and his ex-boyfriend Spencer (they decided to try to be friends since they were friends before they started dating) were also having a horrible time at their internships in NYC at GlitZ (a modeling agency). And they knew exactly where to place all the blame, Justin. Well, he did sort of get Becky the internship there (so she would be in NYC with him) but he didn't force her to take it. After accepting the position she then brought Spencer in. A huge argument broke out while the three were catching up at the local Starbucks. They accused Justin of being selfish (he is indeed that) and after that argument it left Justin completely on his own without his two friends.

His internship wasn't getting any better in fact he was doing nothing but running crappy errands for Herbert and being virtually no where near Broadway. But just as Justin was starting to wonder if he may have made a huge mistake quitting his original internship, he found himself in a bit of a mystery. He's been receiving anonymous notes and he has no idea what they mean. He's also starting to get really suspicious of Herbert who appears to be lying about where he is and what he's doing.

This was such a fun read. Justin is a little crazy but he's so likeable. During his internship he got a healthy dose of reality about both Broadway and himself. He also learned the importance of friendship and being in a relationship. And also about scaling back on being so self-centered and selfish. I enjoyed the mystery aspect of this with Justin trying to figure out what Herbert was really up to.