Friday Reads: Reality TV Novels
The weather prediction is pretty bleak for this weekend in much of the U.S. “Roughly 160 million are under alerts for snow, sleet and freezing rain” according to the National Weather Service. Best to stay cozy indoors, with a good book, a good show or perhaps the pleasure of the two in one? You might be surprised to learn how many novels have reality show plotlines. We’ve gathered a good batch below offering peak escapism. Have a safe weekend!
Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus-size fashion blogger who has amazing friends, a devoted family, legions of Insta followers—and a massively broken heart. Like the rest of America, Bea indulges in her weekly obsession: the hit reality show Main Squeeze. The fantasy dates! The kiss-off rejections! The surprising amount of guys named Chad! But Bea is sick and tired of the lack of body diversity on the show. Since when is being a size zero a prerequisite for getting engaged on television?
Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game–like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.
Love Island meets The Hunger Games in this must-talk-about-it read, as bingeable as the best reality TV.
Lily—a bored, beautiful twenty-something—wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door. If Lily makes it to the end, she’ll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams—but what will she have to do to win?
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY VOGUE, HARPER’S BAZAAR, W MAGAZINE, AND VANITY FAIR
Iranian-American multimillionaires Ali and Homa Milani have it all—a McMansion in the hills of Los Angeles, a microwaveable snack empire, and four spirited daughters. There’s Violet, the big-hearted aspiring model; Roxanna, the chaotic influencer; Mina, the chronically-online overachiever; and the impressionable health fanatic Haylee. On the verge of landing their own reality TV show, the Milanis realize their deepest secrets are about to be dragged out into the open before the cameras even roll.
A zookeeper always on the fringe learns to go after her wildest dreams—including a certain television star—in this charming and laugh-out-loud romantic comedy by Kerry Rea, author of The Wedding Ringer.
Married at First Sight meets The Ex Talk in this heartfelt yet sexy second-chance romance debut in which one couple must decide if they can overcome their past for a chance at happily ever after, perfect for fans of One to Watch.
A sexy reality show. A missing contestant. A one-of-a-kind detective.
“Bless Jo Firestone’s quiet, mad genius . . . Hilarious and completely brilliant, [a] bloodstained love-letter to reality-dating television.” —Vulture
A “witty and wise” (People) debut novel about love and commitment, celebrity and obsession, poetry and reality TV.
“Palmer’s novel wryly tracks an earnest interrogation of art and selfhood.”—The New Yorker
An absorbing coming-of-age tale “that marks the debut of a significant talent” (Kirkus Reviews, starred), The Bachelor approaches—with wit and grace—the high-stakes questions of an overconnected world: If salvation can no longer be found in fame, can it still be found in romantic relationships? In an era of reality TV, where does entertainment end and reality begin? And why do we, season after season, repeat the same mistakes in love and life?
Whip-smart dialogue and an inside look at the seedy underbelly of reality TV come together in this critically acclaimed young adult debut perfect for fans of Unreal, John Green, and Frank Portman.
Witty, sarcastic Ethan and his three best friends are students at Selwyn Arts Academy, which has been hijacked by For Art’s Sake, a sleazy reality-television show. In the tradition of Ezra Pound, the foursome secretly writes and distributes a long poem to protest the show. They’re thrilled to have started a budding rebellion. But the forces behind the show are craftier than they seem. The web of betrayal stretches farther than Ethan could have ever imagined, and it’s up to him, his friends, and a heroic gerbil named Baconnaise to save Selwyn.
Lastly, could not resist this nonfiction title:
The rollicking saga of reality television, a “sweeping” (The Washington Post) cultural history of America’s most influential, most divisive artistic phenomenon, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker writer.
What happened to the first reality stars, the Louds—and why won’t they speak to the couple who filmed them? Which serial killer won on The Dating Game? Nussbaum explores reality TV as a strike-breaker, the queer roots of Bravo, the dark truth behind The Apprentice, and more. A shrewd observer who adores television, Nussbaum is the ideal voice for the first substantive history of the genre that, for better or worse, made America what it is today.
For more information on these and related titles visit Reality TV Books
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