Likely Story Bk. 1
by David Van Etten

    LIKELY STORY by David Van Etten
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 6+
    Release Date:  5/13/08
    Publisher:  Knopf
    Reviewed by:  Jaglvr
    Rating:  5 Stars


    Mallory’s life is like a soap opera.  She literally knows the set of Good as Gold better than her own home.  Her mom
    has been the reigning queen of soaps for as long as Mallory can remember.  Her mom has been married numerous
    times, engaged just as many, and they’ve lived in over ten different places in Mallory’s sixteen years.

    However, Mallory and her mother have a hard time relating.  They barely talk in passing.  Mallory has more of a
    relationship with her mom’s make-up person, Gina.  Mallory has always thought that the script for Good as Gold
    was a joke.  The characters keep going through the same situations:  being abducted, being killed off, falling in love
    with long-lost relatives, being locked in trunks, and other ridiculous themes.  So one night, on her blog, she brashly
    notes that she could create a better soap opera.

    Little does she realize that even though only a handful of people read the blog, the right person does.  The next
    morning, she receives a call from Donald, her mother’s agent.  He asks her the routine Hollywood questions, and
    Mallory lies, saying she’s got everything written out.  Of course she can send it over.  She spends that night in a
    writing frenzy, creating a synopsis or “Bible” of her proposed idea.  The hardest concept was coming up with a name
    for the show.  After many ideas, Likely Story is what she comes up with.  Her rationale is that the story would be
    about normal people and all the messes they get into.  Not the far-fetched stuff that is on TV currently.

    Everything moves quickly after she hands over the bible she’s written for Donald.  Executives are calling her, meetings
    are arranged, and casting is in full swing.  She wrote the part of Sarah with her best friend, Amelia, in mind.  The
    casting people may want to go in a different direction, but they keep Amelia in the running through the different
    audition rounds.  An unknown from Julliard, Dallas Grant, is the exact image of Ryan and is easily agreed upon by all.

    LIKELY STORY is the first novel in a new series by a trio of male authors making up the pen name David Van
    Etten.  The three authors write a fun quirky novel of how one girl’s big talk turns into a real TV show.  This novel
    gives the background of the show’s inception and brings everyone into play.  Book two, ALL THAT GLITTERS, is
    due out in October 2008.  I am already eager to see what will happen when the production gears up for the pilot
    episode.