I. Could. Not.Put.This.Down
In 2004 the stars of the teen show The Daydreams had it all. They had a hit show, celebrity, money rolling in and a tv show with hit songs and a huge fan base, but when events cause the live season two finale to implode everything goes up in flames.
.
Fast forward years later and Kat is now a lawyer in DC. Liana is the wife a professional baseball player. Noah is on the verge of playing a superhero and Summer, who was once the star is now a cautionary tale.
.
With nostalgia hitting hard as reboots becoming the norm, The Daydreams become the latest show to get the reboot treatment. I loved the nostalgia in this one. The mention of #TRL, disposable cameras (the joys of waiting for film to see what picture you actually got!) and AIM instant messenger. If you have wore a pair of pants that said Juicy on the butt or carried a Motorola flip phone this one’s for you. Even if you didn’t do and are a fan of pop culture you will completely enjoy this one.
.
Thank you @berkleypub and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Child stars who haven't taken completely different paths and haven't spoken in years get back together for a reunion show. What could go wrong?
Even though plenty does go wrong, there's quite a bit that goes well including a very satisfying ending.

3.5 stars

In 2018, up-and-coming attorney Kat is approached to relive her past. In the early 2000s, along with fellow teen actors Noah, Summer, and Liana, Kat starred in The Daydreams – a hit teen drama that made them famous. After thirteen years, producers want to film a reunion show. But the actors haven’t spoken since the show’s dreadful finale. Since then, Summer spiraled into substance abuse, Noah became an even bigger star, and Liana married a big-shot athlete. When they get back together, things are awkward. Also, the ill-fated finale altered Summer’s life, and Kat, Noah, and Liana were seemingly all involved in Summer’s destruction.<br><br>The format of <em>The Daydreams</em> was fun, and I really felt like I was getting a behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood. Backstage was full of misogyny, pressure to maintain appearances, and some alcohol-fueled mischief. The story itself was a good one, but overall the execution was lacking. The immature dialogue felt silly and left little room for interpretation – it was all laid out plainly. None of the characters were particularly likable, and it seemed that each was trying to self-sabotage. I did like the journal storyline, and although the book was enjoyable, it wasn’t a must-read.

The Daydreams (May 2, Berkley Books), Laura Hankin’s third novel, imagines the four stars of a beloved 2000s TV show reuniting for a special episode thirteen years after a scandalous live finale taping derailed their lives. As the reunion grows closer, long-held secrets — including the real reason for their infamous downfall — come to the surface. ‘90s kids and anyone looking for a darkly satirical take on the entertainment world won’t want to miss this one.

I'm a big fan of Hankin's and I think this is her best yet. Sharp and insightful on the way our culture destroyed young women in the late 90s/early 2000s, but still funny and heartfelt.

Behind the scenes entertainment industry books are my catnip. Give me a celeb drama, extra points if it occurs on set filiming.

This book was exactly what I needed - loved the dual timeline of present day versus teenage celeb memories and the concept of book following the reunion of a trainwrecked tv show and its former starts was brilliant. Lots of twists and just the right amount of present day to historic flipping. First half of the book drags a bit, so there would be benefit to some editing on that front, otherwise this falls in the realm of Evelyn and Daisy as a great behind the scenes drama.

Laura Hankin has become a must-read author for me, and this book just cements that. She’s amazing at writing characters that could easily be unlikeable and imbuing them with such relatable humanity that you end up loving them. I will keep reading whatever she writes. 5 stars.

I liked this book and the characters, and for the most part it kept me guessing until the end. I liked the core 4 characters and how their different relationships unfolded.

As someone who grew up a a steady diet of 2000s teen dramas and celebrity gossip in their teen years I really enjoyed The Daydreams. It starts with a reunion of a short lived teen series but delves into friendship, fame and betrayal. The daydream cast finally has to deal with the things they’ve been running away from for over a decade. A fun, fast read.

An interesting story about teens in the entertainment spotlight in early 2000 and the challenges the face being celebrities at a young age. They reunite as adults and see what a mess their lives were - with a last chance to redeem themselves.

Honestly, I don't really know what drew me to this book on NetGalley but I'm glad it did. It was part flashback to behind the scenes of what I imagine to be the makings of a teen sitcom/dramady on what I imagine to be on something like the Disney channel and part present day-13 years later. We come to learn how they came to be and how they came to cease to exist and somehow end up doing a reunion show.



The characters: Summer, Noah, Liana, and Kat are all given at least a 'soliloquy' to allow us into their heads, but really, this story is told through the eyes of Kat (Katherine) who is now a lawyer and was the most resistant to doing any reunion show at all; it's only her enormous guilt that obligates her to do it. We learn through the weaving of past and present how all of them contributed to their ultimate failure and it's what makes the behind the scenes so interesting. You get to know them and see them form fast friendships and then as the attention and fame gets unevenly spread, you get to see how jealousy and hurt feelings and things that never get said seem to grow and grow until their big moment gets ruined. It was that friendship and tension and then the aftermath, years later, that I think many will find interesting. I suspect many of us have that one thing we did (or didn't do) that still haunts us all these years later and to have a chance to try to rectify it the best way that you can seems pretty appealing (and daunting).



The Daydreams gives us that chance to live through characters who attempt to 'make things right' and shows us how even when our guilt doesn't really change, we do, and that can make our fantasies of forgiveness or repentance that much harder to achieve. While the exploration of their youth was entertaining, it was the examination of them now that was so relatable and interesting.

Get ready to embark on an epic journey through fame, jealousy, betrayal, love and self-discovery with Daydreams by Laura Hankin - guaranteed to keep you hooked till the very last page.

The Daydreams by Laura Hankin is a stellar read for anyone who is a fan of Daisy Jones and The Six, The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes or fans of Deuxmoi. It was a perfect cross over between the High School Musical/Hannah Montana child stars and the TMZ coverage we had of it.

Noah is the golden boy of the group and he has emerged unscathed from the show. He is poised to become a household name and he seems to have it all together. However, as the story progresses, you start to see cracks in his perfect facade. Liana is the bored wife of a famous athlete. She has everything that she could ever want, but she is desperately searching for something more in her life. Kat is a lawyer in Washington, DC and she has worked hard to build a successful career. However, she still feels like something is missing. And Summer is the cautionary tale of the group. After the implosion of season two finale, she spiraled out of control. She was arrested, went to rehab, and lost everything that she had worked for.

The Daydreams is about the exorbitant exploitation of child stars and how easy it is (was) to discard teenage talent at their first mistake, yes, but it's also about the high cost of ambition, guilt, jealousy, love, personal and professional growth—and the rich rewards of all of the above.

Told in dual perspectives in 2004 at the inception of the Daydreams band and in 2018 when they reconnect, with snippets of articles, Summer's journal entries, and blog postings in between. This narrative about the four members of the band dealing with success and glory in their own distinct ways is so warm, hilarious, upsetting, and uplifting that I kept picking it up again and again. This is a new favourite.

Thank you to Berkley for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Link to Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5114696735

Man this gave me all the Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan and Amanda Bynes vibes. So many young women in Holly exploited and manipulated by powerful men and then cast aside and labeled as crazy or troublemakers. This is a fast and addictive read about a fictional group of older teens/20 something’s thrust into the spotlight on a hit show and then each crushed by it in some way. Coming back for a reunion show seems like a good idea…or is it?

I’ve been a fan of Laura Hankin since her debut and THE DAYDREAMS absolutely bopped its way into my heart. It hit all my nostalgic feels for early 2000’s TV and also had a gloriously twisting rollercoaster of a plot. I was stunned with each reveal. Loved it!

For fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Kate London Stayman. I loved the different formats the story was told in and the Soliloquy's that revealed the truths. Made it really interesting. I felt like I was reading about the Disney kids and every child star that went off the rails or got forgotten.
The story was a little predictable but it was definitely enjoyable to read. Funny how the strong, formidable Katherine transformed back to the teenage star of The Daydreams with all the same insecurities and jealousy. The takeaway is never go back to something that should be long in your past!
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

this book has the potential to be the Daisy Jones of 2023. An inventive take on what happens to child/teen stars, and the reality of what we expect from them. A great critique on the Disney/Nickelodeon machinery that churns these stars out, too.

Deeply fun if at times a bit cheesey (but hey, it's about a 90's teen show!). I think this will be perfect for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid.

This book was just So. Much. Fun. Laura Hankin dreamed up a nostalgic cast that was so true to the flamed-out pop stars of the early 2000s, they felt real. I loved the format, alternating from the past Daydreams to the where-are-they-now reunion setup. I loved the surprises and twists along the way, just when you thought you could predict exactly what had gone wrong. And I loved the idea that the past we've been running from might mean more to us than we want to admit. Fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid are going to love this one!

In 2004, The Daydreams were a popular teen show, with a cast of innocent-seeming teenagers, amazing ratings, and a romantic storyline that captivated fans. However, during the live season two finale, everything imploded and the stars went down very different paths. Thirteen years later, the fans are demanding a reunion special. The four stars all have their own reasons for coming back, but as they tentatively rediscover the original show, old secrets threaten to resurface. Will the reunion be a chance to make things right, or will it be the biggest mess the world has ever seen?

TO me this had the vibes of Laguna Beach, The O.C. with a splash of High School musical thrown in. I floved this story so much.

In the age of reboots and reckoning with how we treated women celebrities in the early 2000s, I loved the pop culture flair of this title.