The Daydreams is another of those hot kids show cast reunites as adults to hash out their traumas, unrequited feelings and assorted miseries books which have become popular over the past year or so. Inspired by actual reunions for shows like iCarly and Boy Meets World, The Daydreams puts a bunch of (mostly) former stars back together for the reunion of a lifetime. But we, the audience, have read books like this before, and the narrative isn’t inventive or juicy enough to keep our attention, and its shifting perspectives never fail to properly solidify.

Back in 2002, four lucky teen actors found themselves the envy of every American youth when they were cast as members of the fictional band The Daydreams – think The Monkees meets California Dreams meets Glee meets The OC. Kat Whitley was the spoiler (or as she calls it, “the bitch”), written to come between the romance of good girl Summer Wright and golden boy Noah Gideon. Liana Jackson was the supportive best friend type. Their series was a runaway hit and launched some successful singles.

The Daydreams crashed and burned during their live second season finale, when Summer went wildly off-script, stripping off her clothing and singing provocatively in a show of rebellion for reasons unknown, which caused the network to cut the feed and cancel the show. That put most of the cast’s acting careers on ice for good, each of them entering adulthood in a different way.

Kat now goes by her full name, Katherine. She has moved to Washington DC, become a lawyer and is up for a partnership at her firm. She also has a wonderful boyfriend, an environmental lawyer named Miheer. Liana married a football player named Javier and is a rich and pampered wife who craves recognition and purpose in life, her talent stymied. Summer became a tabloid fixture who’s constantly in and out of trouble; she’s been to rehab twice, had a failed and embarrassing solo album, has a difficult mother and a dead father, and was sued by a paparazzo for throwing a drink with a pointy straw in his face. Only Noah is still in the acting game, and he’s a huge star who’s been nominated for an Oscar for his latest screenplay. When an interviewer brings up the question of what happened to The Daydreams and wonders if there’s a possible reunion in the cards, he states that he’s open to it.

An uproar of fan response results in the show being put back on track. Kat finds herself plunged back into the hell that is celebrity life – dodging paparazzi, trying to reconnect with her costars, and trying to salve old hurts. But will The Daydreams fly or falter?

I’m of a divided mind on this one. On one hand, I loved being sunk into Kat’s PoV. On the other hand, I feel like this is a book that would have benefitted from more consistent PoV chapters from Noah, Liana and Summer. As is, each of the other three band members get a chapter apiece, and their points of view are otherwise filtered into the narrative through articles and diary entries. While we get chunks of Summer’s doings throughout, the narrative suddenly switches to favor her PoV right at the end of the book. This is distracting as heck. Liana, in particular, feels underwritten, and since her belief was that she’s being ignored and pushed aside by the writers that’s somewhat ironic.

And that’s a shame, because the story is compelling, even if you’ve already read this sort of Hollywood redemption narrative before. The characters are winning, unique, and likable, even at their worst. And the story’s about redemption, healing, rejecting the past and embracing the future. But it will leave you feeling thirsty for more. There are depths here that should be plumbed and aren’t.

As far as the romance goes, the majority of the story pokes at the unhealed wounds between Summer and Noah, a subject that seems very fraught until the truth comes out. Liana and Javier’s romance doesn’t get much play at all, but what little we get of Kat and Miheer is very cute.

The Daydreams has a heart and has nerve, but it never manages to rise above the level of being an entertaining beach reach that could’ve been more.

Thank you Penguin Random House for the book. #PRHInternationalPartner.

3.5 ★

“We all have stages in our lives that we must move on from and mourn.”

The Daydreamers es una historia que te enseña que luchar por lo que quieres tiene valor y también el pedir perdón para poder seguir adelante con tus metas y la vida.

No esperaba mucho del libro, lo que me molesta es que lo comparen con otras historias que nada que ver solo para llamar la atención de los seguidores de ese libro 😬, de ahí por qué el libro tiene rating bajo…

Destacó mucho la narración y formato, a mi me encanta cuando una historia está contando en dos líneas de tiempo porque hacen que me enganche y no me despegue del libro con tal de saber qué pasó. En este caso la autora decide contarnos entre el presente y el pasado lo cual genera que como lector quieres saber qué pasó con los Daydreamers, cuál fue el debacle que hizo que todo terminara cuando estaban en la cima del éxito.

Sin embargo, como todo bueno, hay algo malo y en este caso fueron los protagonistas. Se supone e que son mayores de edad y adultos responsables, pero se comportan como unos niños, uno es peor que el otro. Eso sí, me sentí identificada con Katherine, en un momento he sido ella, y cuando eres joven, eres inmadura y no piensas bien las consecuencias que tus acciones pueden causar.

Este libro también nos hace ver la misoginia de la industria del entretenimiento, que es de nunca acabar.

Y no, este libro no es como Daisy Jones & the Six, es simplemente The Daydreamers.

What's it about (in a nutshell):
The Daydreams by Laura Hankin is an entertaining story about a group of people who enjoyed a bit of fame in their teens and early twenties and are now being asked to recreate the magic that people still talk about thirteen years later. It is a journey that has the potential to allow each of them and even their fans to let go of the past and embrace their future.
Bullet Point Review:
What I loved the most about the story was how realistic it felt and how incredibly thought-provoking it is regarding fame at a young age.
The story is incredibly entertaining and addictive, reminding me of my own teens and the popular teen shows back then.
The writing is full of wit and satire and is interestingly dark.
I loved being reminded of Disney shows and movies that stars teens in a musical setting and then considering how those stars have transitioned to adulthood.
The characters are flawed, and learning about their secrets makes the story utterly compelling and hard to put down.
My only minor niggle about the story is the amount of predictability in the plot despite those secrets.
The story is told by Katherine, the villain of the series and the one who has the most to learn by confronting her past.
The pace stays brisk from start to finish.
The story is told in two timelines – 2004 and 2018. These two timelines are never confusing and work exceptionally well to tell the reunion story.

Read, if you like
Stories of redemption and growth
Thought-provoking looks at fame and a male-dominated world
Teen shows

Thank you for an advanced copy of The Daydreams. I really liked this book!

The Daydreams made me feel like I was watching one of those old VH1 documentaries about a celebrity group, and I was here for it. I especially think fans of Daisy Jones will enjoy this one!

First, I liked that the tv cast being documented in the book gave me impression of Disney Channel/Nickleodeon casts from the past, and I was really interested to see what exactly made this group explode on camera. I was super impressed with the plot line, the characters, and the way the story was unveiled!

Second, I was really invested in these characters. I wanted to know what made then tick, what motivated them, etc. I was hanging on every interaction!

Overall, I was very impressed with this book, and I cannot wait for everyone else to read it!

Rating: 4⭐️

Hold on tight, this is a wild ride of friends vs. foes, second redemptions and the ugly, messy, underbelly of teen tv star life.

Thank you @prhaudio & @berkleypub for my copy of THE DAYDREAMS by @laurahankin , publishing May 1st.

If you like Daisy Jones vibes with teen tv stars reminiscent of 90210 and Shannon Dougherty, then you will immediately be drawn into Cat, Noah, Leonna, and Summer’s storyline.

Told in multiple character perspectives, with intermittent interview and journal entries throughout to progress the plot line, you’ll be drawn into the world of The Daydreams, as the young teens have not a clue about the reality of Hollywood and being stars- they only come with their dreams of acting and singing.

We’ve all known the publicly humiliating stories of actresses (let’s be real it is often females this happens to, with a clear double standard) and their trainwreck public displays, and we equally know the publicity teams and old white men running the shows “behind the scenes”. Hankin does a great job of portraying the innocence as well as the overall scumminess of those in power.

Yet interestingly, an observation I made while I was reading & listening: we still flock to these stars, we still flock to these shows, we still funnel millions of dollars into these networks…so do we have space to complain?

Yes, yes, I know, that was heavy for a review, but…the secrets, the behind the scenes, the world known as Hollywood that keeps chewing people up and spitting them out…I think you will definitely walk away thinking about things differently when you read this one!

If you are flowing with the recent Daisy Jones vibes, then definitely grab this one, it’s along the same vein, yet different!

I received a gifted galley of THE DAYDREAMS by Laura Hankin for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley Publishing and PRH Audio for the opportunity!

THE DAYDREAMS follows Kat. She is a lawyer working Washington with a great boyfriend and a life that seems to be heading the right direction. Back in the early 2000s her life looked a lot different. As a teen she was on her own, staring in a very popular show about a cast of singing teens seeking stardom. They seemed to have it made until a live performance galls apart and one of the stars seems to have a meltdown on stage. That is the end of The Daydreams.

In the present day, the stars are all living very separate life. When the one among them who has gone on to actual fame and notoriety mentions he’d be open to a reunion, the rest of the cast is assembled. Kat doesn’t want to derail her life for a return to the stage, but she is talked into it. Together again relationships are reformed, secrets revealed, and life is once more complicated.

This was a really fun listen and I think the author did a fantastic job of making this seem like a group who would still be known for their teen stardom and called upon to revisit the show long ended, especially in our present day of reboots. The paparazzi and adoring fans and the general public pressure really showed some of the highs and lows for the cast.

I think the dual timelines were also well done to slowly reveal some secrets and also show how the relationships between cast members and the show were formed and broken and reassembled. Seeing the way the show played on the cast’s personalities or worked against them was interesting as well. No one was as perfect as they were meant to be seen, but also the ‘villain’ wasn’t always so villainous either.

This is one that was fun to binge and the audio was really well done.

I was completely taken in by this book. It grabbed me from the first few pages and didn't let go until the end. I needed to know what happened to Summer, what happened the night of the Daydreams live show. But as I kept reading, I felt equal parts nostalgic and disgusted. Remembering the ways the early 2000s for myself: not fitting in, feeling inadequate compared to the beautiful thin superstars. And then realizing that those young women were just as vulnerable and confused as I was, but doing it in front of millions of people. And one "mistake" could, and did, change their entire lives. This book is fiction for sure, but it could be ripped from the headlines.

"But as it was, we were just two girls sent out into the world without any armor, and the only enemy we could see was each other."

A unique mix of the nostalgia of High School Musical, paired with the real life "downfall" of Britney Spears and her entire experience of the early 2000s. Interview past and present timelining of Daisy Jones and the Six. It is a complete cautionary tale of the impacts of the hollywood and entertainment industry's impact on young women and girls.

The sexual exploitation of Summer, the experiences she had as a child with her Dad and Mom (don't want to spoil), and ultimately the exploitation of Atlas and the industry was so hard to read. You love and hate Summer and Liana and Kat and Noah - all of them are complex. No person unscathed. All of them impacted.

"You ever wish we'd gotten famous just, like, seven years later? The world was kinder to girls seven years later."

I've been thinking about this line in particular - wondering if it is true. Is the world kinder to women now? Was it kinder to women in 2012? Kinder to girls who were trying to become or were famous? I don't know. I think about the hatred Selena Gomez experienced. Or Zendaya. All of the young Black girls who are forced to play stereotypes. The experience Chloe Bailey (and Halle for that matter) are having now. I don't think the world is any kinder to girls. I think it is just as horrible, exhausting, exploitative.

Picture this...

If Glee and High School Musical had a love child, it would be The Daydreams. Just much much darker.

I was born in 1985 (I hope my secret is safe with all of you) So I grew up surrounded by wholesome family sitcoms like Full House, The Wonder Years, and Boy Meets World. I fell in love with the "Topanga's and Corey's" of the world and wanted to have a love story similar to the ones I seen play out. The Daydreams had their very own couple to admire, Noah and Summer, that is, until everything came crashing down...

13 years later, the original cast of The Daydreams have not seen or heard from each other but a change in fate will bring them all back to the stage one last time.

Noah, Summer, Liana and Katherine (Kat) were built up to steal our hearts. I fell in love with each one of them despite the mistakes they made. If anything it humanized them. How many times when we felt threatened did we back ourselves up into the corner and then try to throw the spotlight in a different direction to save ourselves? With embarrassment, I must admit, I have done it too.

This story was one for the books. Laura Hankin pulled me right in with ease. I needed to see Summer get her happy ending. I wanted them ALL to get their happy ending..... but did they?

The only thing I hope for now is that this book makes it way to the big screen. I would love to see the flashbacks play out before my eyes and I am dying to see the singing and dancing!

The Daydreams is out May 2! I highly recommend you pre-order this one, I promise you, you do not want to miss it. In the meantime, here is a little teaser :

A deliciously entertaining novel about the stars of a popular teen show from the early 2000s—and the reunion special, thirteen years after their scandalous flameout, that will either be their last chance at redemption, or destroy them all for good.

Back in 2004, The Daydreams had it all: a cast of innocent-seeming teenagers acting and singing their hearts out, amazing ratings, and a will-they-or-won’t-they romance that steamed up fan fiction forums. Then, during the live season two finale, it all imploded, leaving everyone scrambling to understand why.

Afterward, the four stars went down very different paths. Kat is now a lawyer in Washington, DC. Liana is the bored wife of a famous athlete. Noah, the show’s golden boy, emerged unscathed and is poised to become a household name. And Summer, the object of Noah’s fictional (and maybe real-life) affections, is the cautionary tale.

But now the fans are demanding a reunion special. The stars all have private reasons to come back: forgiveness, revenge, a second chance with a first love. But as they tentatively rediscover the magic of the original show, old secrets threaten to resurface—including the real reason behind their downfall.

Will this reunion be a chance to make things right? Or will it be the biggest mess the world has ever seen? No matter what, the ratings will be wild.

A big thank you to Berkley, Laura Hankin and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review The Daydreams before the big release in exchange for an honest review! Reading The Daydreams was an honor.

Laura Hankin, you made a fan out of me and I can not wait to see what you come up with next

It’s 2004, and Kat is starring as the mean girl on a teen show about high schoolers whose band gets discovered at a school talent show. The fictional band and the hit show blow up in parallel, but the fame and (mis)fortune doesn’t last long. Flash forward over a decade, the four cast members are reunited for a one-night-only TV special. Kat, now a badass lawyer, is going to have to face her past to move forward. Turns out, her and her former friends have a lot of secrets to catch up on.

Thank you to Berkley for the ARc.

Teenage tv stars come together again for a reunion 10 years after they imploded on live tv.
The story is told from the point of view of Kat.

This novel falls short of the page turning gossipy story I was expecting. It’s quite dull and repetitive and the pacing is slow.

It’s not Daisy Jones.

RATING: 4.25/5 STARS

THE DAYDREAMS brings back all that early 2000s nostalgia and drama - and what a treat it is! I loved how complicated and messy this story was. It had some great twists and unexpected reveals that kept my interest throughout. Even when the characters made the wrong decisions I emphasized with them and felt their emotions - a great testament to Hankin's writing. The ending was excellent and tied the pieces together in a very satisfying way. think this story will definitely appeal to fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid's Daisy Jones & the Six and Carrie Soto is Back, Curtis Sittenfeld's Romantic Comedy, and Jennette McCurdy's I'm Glad My Mom Died.

As a young adult, Kat was in a hit TV. show featuring four teenagers who formed a band. Kat was cast as the jealous mean girl, Noah, the lead male, Summer, the lead female, and Liana the token minority character. After a dramatic and emotional live finale, the four cast members drifted info very different lives. Years later, the idea of a reunion is pitched and they are all drawn back into the past and what they did.

This was a fantastic book, I absolutely loved it! The characters were well developed, well rounded, and highly relatable. The plot unraveled nicely, leaving me in suspense. I would love to read more from this author! 5 out of 5 stars.

Big thanks to Berkley & Netgalley for this early copy of The Daydreams by Laura Hankin!

I have loved the other books I read by Laura Hankin, and could not wait to get my hands on her newest one about a group of now grown teenage actors that were part of a popular teen show that totally blew up in a finale that no one has forgotten. On paper I should've loved this - the nostalgia, the juicy gossip, the mystery of what Kat's big secret was...but in the end I really just couldn't get into it. I wanted to like all of the characters and I never felt like I got enough depth from any of them to care about what they were doing.

I will still be reading Laura's next book because I still love her I just think this one was a dud for me.

Spectacular! I was hooked right from the first page (what an opening line!) and completely enthralled the whole time. Laura Hankin is an auto-read author for me and she delivers yet another whip-smart, razor-sharp bingeable novel that you won't want to put down.

The writing is superb, the characters are vibrant, the commentary is fantastic and there's some suspense, all of which will keep you turning the pages. There were so many things that I didn't see coming and I even cried.... that's how invested I was.

I also loved the deep dive into showbiz – the sexualization of teen stars, the double standards that male and female celebs are held to, how women are pitted against women, how you can become disposable at a moment's notice, everything! The author really did such a incredible job examining the unforgiving world of it all.

What a dazzling read. I adored both Happy & You Know It and A Special Place for Women, but truly think The Daydreams is Laura Hankin's best work yet.

The characters didn’t seem well-developed and the writing seemed a little young. Really wanted to love this one and it may just be that the trope of teen band is overdone but I just couldn’t get into it.

In 2004, four teens got the chance of a lifetime starring in the popular TV show, The Daydreams. Each played their roles well: You had Summer, the naive girl-next-door; Noah, the heartthrob; Kat, the mean girl; and Liana, the quirky best friend. The four sang and danced their hearts out in front of millions and were best friends behind the scenes. They had everything going for them until it all came crashing down. Now, fourteen years later, the cast agrees to participate in a reunion special. Some are doing it for forgiveness, others for revenge. But as they slowly reconnect, the magic that was once between them starts to stir. Will this be the shot at redemption they all hoped for, or will the past repeat itself?

Do you long to reminisce about the days of dELiA*s catalogs, TRL, and the era of Nickelodeon/Disney shows about teens having to balance their rockstar dreams with pop quizzes? If so, this book is for you. I kept picturing The Daydreams as a Nickelodeon version of Glee. It had all the makings of being a juicy book about castmates reuniting to pick up the pieces after their disastrous ending. There was all this betrayal, animosity, and awkwardness surrounding the characters, and I was excited to see all the drama unfold. I will give it to Hankin for throwing in some twists I wasn't expecting, but for me, this fell into the category of the plot being more interesting than the characters. None of them stood out or even felt fully developed. We're following Kat as our main character, and she was so boring. The pacing also dragged, especially in the middle, and it started to feel repetitive. However, I'd still recommend checking it out if you enjoy stories about celebrity drama.

The Daydreams had it all in 2004, until their disastrous live taping where it all imploded. Now the actors have all made different lives for themselves but are back for a reunion show.

I loved the look at the inside of a popular teenager tv show. It was similar to Nickelodeon and their shows, so I thought a lot about that. I was really curious how it all was going to turn out. I felt like the drama going on was petty, but also realistic. Sometimes we get mad about the little things. This is a story that while there is action, the characters really make the book.

“This is the terrifying thing about being famous, isn’t it? You occupy people’s minds even when you don’t want to.”

The Daydreams comes out 5/2.

By all accounts, I should have loved The Daydreams. I loved Hankin's debut and I love all things teen TV (especially that set in the 2000s), however, something was missing for me in this one to truly win me over.

3.5 stars

Taylor Jenkins Reid unofficially owns the retelling celeb drama genre (if there is one), and while this book attempts to go up against that notion, it falls flat. The blurb of the booking was more exciting than the actual book, which to a reader, is always a letdown. I felt like the characters never grew up from where the narrators were when they were 18-years-old.

I can see some newbies to this kind of story loving this, but if you've been around a couple of times with the genre, this won't be one to remember.

"The Daydreams" is a captivating novel that follows the story of four teenage actors, Noah, Summer, Kat, and Liana, who were once the stars of the hit TV show "The Daydreams." The book is narrated from Kat's viewpoint, and it shifts between the present day and 2004-2005, when the show was first filmed. While the four teenagers were living the dream, the show's live season finale turned out to be a nightmare, forcing them out of Hollywood.

As the story progresses, the four friends find themselves in the spotlight again with a reunion special. However, nothing goes according to plan, and secrets start to surface. The novel delves into the lives of teenage stars and the difficulties they face, as well as the behind-the-scenes drama of a successful TV show. Despite their flaws and imperfections, the characters are likable and relatable.

The book is a fast-paced and engaging read, particularly suitable for those who enjoy stories that feature dual timelines, second chances, and redemption. The inclusion of fan forums, social media, and magazines from the early 2000s adds to the authenticity of the story. Moreover, the diary entries, news snippets, and social media posts at the end of certain chapters help propel the story forward. Overall, "The Daydreams" is an enjoyable, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt novel about the pitfalls of teenage stardom and the significance of second chances.

https://duffrunstough.com/2023/04/12/book-review-the-daydreams/