Erin Watt is the pen name for the duo of two authors that I really love to fangirl over – Elle Kennedy and Jen Frederick. I love them writing individually, with other writing partners, and in a variety of genres so I was looking forward to a standalone NA from these two. Sometimes I feel like I don’t have enough standalones! I love trilogies and series but a good standalone can be worth its weight in gold.

This book follows Oakley Ford – a teen singer who has been a celebrity pretty much his whole life and doesn’t really know what life is like out of the limelight. He’s pretty desperate to make some great music but can’t be taken seriously at this point with some of his antics. His ‘people’ convince him to have a fake relationship with an average girl for once instead of another celebrity or model and to stay out of trouble. Vaughn Bennett comes barreling into his life and is not exactly what he expected when he agreed to this. She thinks he’s an ass and isn’t afraid to say it out loud and doesn’t grovel at his feet like most girls do.

I really love YA and NA books and this one felt kind of in the middle of the two categories for me. For Erin Watt fans that loved the Paper Princess books I wonder if maybe some of them will be a little disappointed because this one isn’t as crazy-town as that series was. Don’t get me wrong – I love those books! But I like having different things in different books and this one brings more of a sweetness to it that I can appreciate.

I really enjoyed Vaughn and the relationship with her family and watching that develop with Oak as well. And not surprisingly there were a few background characters that intrigued me…but this was a really great standalone! Highly recommend for any YA fans.

Rating: 4 stars

Reviewer: Melinda

Title: When It’s Real

Author: Erin Watt

Release Date: May 30, 2017