Books to Gift Your Reality TV-Lover
I don’t know about you, but I am trash for reality tv. The more garbage the better. Laguna Beach. The Hills. Kardashians. Bug Juice (I really hope some of you remember this amazing Disney Channel reality tv show). Girls Next Door. These are a few of the iconic reality tv shows that I grew up with. I was fairly young for some of these, but I had a sister who was almost five years older, so of course I wanted to watch what she was watching.
Housewives fighting and people crying because they were dumped after meeting “the love of their life” and getting to know them for a whole 15 minutes – those things bring me joy. But I also love reality tv that roots for people, or brings together friendships. This list of books definitely has a mix of all these qualities.
On occasion, a book comes out that has elements of reality tv. Now, I’m not talking about the Hunger Games. We already know about that story. Instead, I want to share with you a variety of books that should be on your radar if they’re not already.
The following list is just a few of the books that are great literature but give me my reality tv fix.
The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Tiffany Brooks
This YA book takes a group of teens to an island that offers “Survivor”-like or Big Brother-esque competitions. But there's a bonus challenge...the island hides a secret treasure that the contestants can try to find. Local lore says it's cursed, and seven people need to die before the treasure will be found. So far, six have already died searching. Will the seventh be one of the competitors?
After giving an entitled rant on social media, the protagonist, Riley Ozment, is hoping to fix her social media image by participating in this competition, but the other contestants don't know she has a connection to this island and its lost treasure.
The entire read I kept thinking I knew what was coming, but I didn’t turn out as I expected.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
This thriller-lite novel features a satanic, creepy, abandoned theme park. I personally listened to this on Libro.fm, which I feel added an element of creepiness. However, I am a wimp when it comes to anything creepy or thriller, so I would categorize this as a before 7 book. (Before 7 book references when I need to stop reading a book before 7 PM so that I don’t have nightmares, because like I mentioned before I’m a scaredy cat.)
Fourteen people. Seven days to play a game of Hide and Seek in an abandoned amusement park without getting caught. If you’re the last one to be found, you win $50k cash prize. For Mack that would mean everything. No longer homeless nor living in the horror shadow of her past. She knows she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she's an expert at that. It's the reason she's alive and her family isn't. As the competition goes on, her competitors, one a day, begin disappearing. Soon the remaining people start to notice something else might be going on and that it might be more of a game of survival.
This one made my heart swoon. This is a hilarious play on the bachelor franchise, but make it QUEER!!!!! You don’t even have to be a fan of the franchise to love this book. The romance, the friendships, the open discussions about mental health really make it perfect.
Dev Deshpande believes in happily ever after, and as a producer of the reality dating show Ever After, he hasn’t lost that belief. Even after his own failed romances. He works hard to make sure those on the show get the perfect made-for-tv love story. But then comes in this season’s star, Charlie Winshaw.
Charlie is looking to reshape his image. After his former business partner made him out to be unreasonable, Charlie is determined to get his business back even if that means trying to find true love…which he doesn’t believe in.He’s not what the show typically casts as a lead. He’s awkward, not great at opening up, and clueless when it comes to dating twenty women on tv… which I mean who wouldn’t be? But that’s where Dev comes in. He is there to help Charlie feel more comfortable and find his true love. Soon Charlie realizes that the connection he has with producer Dev is better than he has with any of his female co-stars. But even reality TV has a script, and in order to find a happily ever after, they’ll have to reconsider whose love story gets told.
For all you cooking show lovers, this is not Gordon Ramsey screaming at people. Instead this cute romance features a non-binary character, a woman trying to start over, and really good-sounding food. Love & Other Disasters was so utterly cute.
If you're into cooking shows/competition shows and rom coms then you've found your jackpot. Dahlia and London are competing to win this cooking show and 100k. Both have different cooking backgrounds, and both have their reasons for wanting to win. London is non binary and faces many personal (and public) challenges for staying true to who they are. After announcing their pronouns on national television, London Parker has enough on their mind without worrying about the klutzy competitor stationed in front of them. However Dahlia's sharp personality breaks through London's hard exterior, and friendship and more begins.
It does have some steam to it, but it's sweet steam if that makes sense? Regardless, this story was adorable, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves a cute romance.
