The idea behind this book really intrigued me, I absolutely loved the back and forth of Echo's past and how she got to where she is and Goldie's obsessive search for her. Hayley does a great job in portraying how obsessed people become with celebrities, making them their whole lives. I will say there was a point that I was not a fan of Goldie and her personality which slowed down my reading a bit for this book. I definitely think this is a great read and I loved how Goldie found herself and realized that she had a problem.

I was super into this one! The most famous 90s child star goes missing as she is supposed to go on a highly publicized appearance. Goldie knows there’s more to the story. She might be her biggest fan and as a reporter she’s bound and determined to get the story. This is a juicy one that I didn’t want to put down!

Thank you #Dutton and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

While a work of fiction, I feel like Echo's story was one that could easily be a ripped from the headlines story told by a former child star. It was a fascinating examination of the world of "fandoms" and how fans truly feel like they know their favorite stars, when in reality they only know what they choose to show the world. The reader is led to WANT Echo to remain "missing," if only to finally find the peace and stability she craved for so long. Echo's story did not end in the most dramatic way, but it was the most gratifying for the reader.

I want to talk...

A lot

Ill try to keep it short and sweet but, when you read this title, did you really think about where this chick went?

Where Are You, Echo Blue?

Throw in some 90s vibes and child actors and I was all about finding out what was going on with Echo Blue.

I LOVED THIS BOOK

Absolutely amazing and quite literally a masterpiece.

Check out this teaser :

When Echo Blue, the most famous child star of the nineties, disappears ahead of a highly publicized television appearance on the eve of the millennium, the salacious theories instantly start swirling. Mostly, people assume Echo has gotten herself in trouble after a reckless New Year’s Eve. But Goldie Klein, an ambitious young journalist who also happens to be Echo's biggest fan, knows there must be more to the story. Why, on the eve of her big comeback, would Echo just go missing without a trace?

After a year of covering dreary local stories for Manhattan Eye, Goldie is sure this will be her big break. Who better to find Echo Blue, and tell her story the right way, than her? And so, Goldie heads to L.A. to begin a wild search that takes her deep into Echo’s complicated life in which parental strife, friend break ups, rehab stints, and bad romances abound. But the further into Echo’s world Goldie gets, the more she questions her own complicity in the young star’s demise . . . yet she cannot tear herself away from this story, which has now consumed her entirely. Meanwhile, we also hear Echo's side of things from the beginning, showing a young woman who was chewed up and spit out by Hollywood as so many are, and who may have had to pay the ultimate price.

As these young women's poignant and unexpected journeys unfold, and eventually meet, Where Are You, Echo Blue? interrogates celebrity culture, the thin line between admiration and obsession, and what it means to tell other peoples’ stories, all while ushering us on an unruly ride to find out what did become of Echo Blue.

Once again, I was drawn in by a striking book cover, only to be let down by the writing. The concept is compelling — I'm very intrigued by re-examining the pop culture of the early aughts. I loved the idea of a journalist on a quest to find a maybe-missing celebrity, but as some other reviewers noted, this just felt lackluster. Hopefully other readers will enjoy it more than I did.

I've put off reviewing this book for a few weeks, but I think that I am finally in a space where I can talk about just how bad this was fairly comfortably.

As I've said a lot recently I think that I am starting to be the problem here. Books like this where the focus is on fame in the early aughts and how women at that time were treated by the media at large are like a siren call to me. So I keep reading them, and slowly as more of them trickle out to the mainstream they all sort of start to become muddled, none of them really crafting any new points.

This book does something a little different. For the most part it's all set at the dawn of the new Millennium when A-list actress Echo Blue misses a scheduled appearance on MTV's live broadcast of the ball dropping and upstart journalist Goldie makes it her mission to write a cover story on where Echo has gone. Told in alternating perspectives we get Echo's life story and Goldie's search for the actress.

The biggest problem I had with this was namely that Echo is still twenty-ish. She's young, around the same age as Goldie and this is what has given Goldie this parasocial relationship. The book reads as though Echo is much older, as is the people in her life that are part of the search for this missing woman. They read as though they have these long histories with one another when in reality they have just petty teenage drama that has festered in their lives. The commentary on stardom also just sort of falls flat. This doesn't read like a book grounded at the turn of the century. It reads like a book that is only set in the year 2000 to escape the problem of social media, while all of the characters acting as though they live in a world with that being a reality in their lives anyway.

That's nothing of the fact that Goldie's investigation is horrible from beginning to end and doesn't really add anything to the story but a lot of foolishness. The ending... we won't really talk about it. <spoiler>Goldie denouncing something like a Perez Hilton or TMZ before either could really become a media staple after going full Stan to the point she could have inspired Eminem himself was certainly a choice...</spoiler>

All of this is to say that between the flat characters, Echo's lifeless chapters, and an overall story that just sort of does nothing and goes no where made for a pretty lackluster reading experience. Not all books need to be deep, but when they have this kind of premise I do wish that more had something to say about the nature of celebrity and if they don't that they could at least be entertaining and unfortunately this was neither.

Thank you so much to Dutton Books for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this one especially in a time when books are failing to hold my interest, this one definitely did!

I was so curious to learn what happened to missing star, Echo Blue! This one had a little bit of mystery, women's fiction and general fiction and I think it could be enjoyed by a wide audience!

The story is told in from two perspectives: Echo herself and Goldie who is a reporter and also Echo Blue's biggest fan!

This story had me thinking deeply about how much attention and pressure society places on our "stars" and how easily it can become toxic.

Some of the character's choices made me want to scream, but overall I enjoyed it and think it will be a hit!

I really enjoyed this book, set in early 2000 with flashbacks to the 90s. Goldie and Echo are two distinct main characters, we get Goldie as a journalist for a NYC magazine, researching when her favorite actress Echo Blue disappears from public life. We go back and forth between the beginning of Echo's acting career at age 11 and early 2000 when Goldie pitches the story idea and heads to L.A. to look for the truth and maybe find Echo.
TW for addiction, parental abuse and neglect, and grief over losing a parent. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the writing. Krischer is an author l've read before as this is her adult debut after publishing YA. The two main characters have distinct but complementary voices.

Oh, I had so much fun reading this one. Very clearly inspired by Tatum O'Neal and her father Ryan O'Neal, splashed with lots of early aughts troubled starlet vibes, this story perfectly captures that time and place when online media isn't even a thing yet and young women are still being put through the publicity ringer. I'm a sucker for novels about Hollywood, journalism, ambitious young women who are also messy, and daddy issues so I was fully sold from start to finish. I think the resolution of where Echo Blue is felt a little anticlimactic but overall this was a smart, interesting ride.

(Actual: 4.5⭐, rounded up) I loved this book. Prior to reading, I saw a lot of people compare this book to DJ&tS, except.... I don't really see that comparison here? I guess because they're both centered on famous people working within the entertainment industry? Regardless, I'd say those comparisons need to be put to rest because they're honestly not very alike at all. I find the inner-workings of the entertainment industry and how fame impacts those who start off in the business fairly young, especially women, to be extremely fascinating in all their complexities, and so WAYEB was very compelling to in that regard from the very start. The mystery aspect was also well-written and, as always, I'm grateful for dual POVs (which, sidebar, was also a really smart storytelling decision made by the author here imo, it works very well). I'd definitely recommend this book out to others and look forward to reading more works by Krischer in the future!

Child star Echo Blue has disappeared and her biggest fan, reporter Goldie, scores a shot at breaking the news story on her whereabouts. Told through alternate viewpoints, Hayley Krischer’s Where Are You Echo Blue is a nostalgic trip into 90’s/2000’s pop culture. The vibe is low rise jeans with a going out top, and MTV’s TRL with Carson Daley.

For fans of Taylor Reid Jenkins, Sloan Crosley, with a dash of TMZ.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Dutton for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

From the get go this was a page turner and the story remained good until the end! Though I wish we could have gotten more of Echo from the dual POVs, overall this was a very good read & one I’d recommend to clients looking for Taylor Jenkins Reid vibes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Me 🤝 books about troubled Hollywood starlets.

Maybe it’s because I’m a pop culture devotee or maybe it’s because I love books that invoke the nostalgia of cracking open a copy of Us Weekly at the doctor’s office, but any time I hear of a new book (preferably lit fic or lit fit-adjacent) that promises to delve deep into the psyche of a teen icon, my “I need to read that” senses start tingling.

(And don’t worry, I’m crafting a guide to this subgenre as we speak).

My latest in this niche? WHERE ARE YOU, ECHO BLUE?, Hayley Krischer’s adult debut. (TYSM @duttonbooks!)

When Echo Blue, a Hollywood nepo baby whose reputation is less than sterling, fails to show up for MTV’s Total Request Live New Year’s special, it’s not much of a story, until it’s revealed that no one knows where she is. Cue Goldie, a Manhattan-based journalist with a lifelong fascination for Echo. She persuades her boss to let her take on a feature story about Echo, and sets off on a chase to find her.

I mentioned this in Stories, but I picked the eARC of this book up a few nights ago when I couldn’t sleep and promptly devoured 40% of it in the middle of the night. It moves VERY quickly thanks to its short chapters and dual POVs. We peel back Echo’s Hollywood coming of age tale in the 1990s, and Goldie’s desperate search for the truth. Goldie is messy and cringy, but her chapters have an almost thriller-like feel as she puts together clues about Echo’s whereabouts. Most books with alternating celebrity and regular person plot lines suffer from the celebrity’s story being far more compelling, but Krischer deftly avoids that here.

This book had echoes (HA!) of Jeanette McCurdy’s I’M GLAD MY MOM DIED in that it’s not afraid to delve into the seedier sides of Hollywood, and examines the way having a famous family impacted Echo. It’s a nuanced exploration of both stardom and fandom. Even if parts of the ending weren’t my favorite, the whole thing was really well-done. Def rec this one if you like books in this vein!

I have been in my fiction moment and this was a great addition to it. I was hooked from the first page. I think examining the fasciation society and certain people have with celebrities is really current to the time we live in.

This book really examined celebrity and normalcy, humanizing all the characters. I really enjoyed it. I so identified with the main character and my fascination with certain celebrities so that peaked my interest. A

The pace of the story was great and I went through it so fast! I think this would make a great tv-show.

Looking at these two characters was really important! Humanizing Echo by telling her story through her perspective reminds us that the celebrities we put on pedestals are human. We build them up and tare them down just as fast. Looking at Goldies obsession with Echo, and Goldies need to validate herself and create herself through Echo is really important.

I wont give any spoilers! But this book really made me rethink my relationship to celebrities and the relationship society has with fame in general.

I really enjoyed the book and will be recommending it to my friends.

The cover is also soooooooo good!

I wasn't fully invested in this story, and wasn't sure that I really cared what happened to Echo. Ultimately I finished but I don't think it's one I'll remember.

3.5 stars*

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from this book but I was quite pleasantly surprised! The story is told from two POVs: Goldie Klein, the journalist/mega fan investigating Echo’s disappearance, and Echo Blue herself, detailing the truth about her rise to fame. I found both POVs very interesting, and although Goldie was quite an unlikable character at times, I think it really added to the dimension of the story. I think this book did a really good job highlighting the ugliness of fame in the late 90s/early 00s, with the rise of tabloids and paparazzi, as well as exploring the nuances of parasocial relationships. I found the latter half of this book to be a little less engaging but I still enjoyed the store as whole regardless!

This novel was such an interesting look at fame and child stars. I really enjoyed the chapters focusing on Echo’s early life and her rise to fame. The dynamics with her family (in particular, her father) were tough, but were really well parsed out and developed. Unfortunately, I did not love the alternating chapters with Goldie’s POV. Goldie was an interesting character, but I found her perspective throughout the book a bit grating; I wanted her pages to end so I could get back to Echo’s pages. Overall, an entertaining read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.

I’ve been so excited about this book since the first time I heard about it, and it certainly delivered! I adore books about celebrities, especially former child celebrities, so this was right up my alley. Between the two perspectives, Echo’s was by far my favorite. I could have read an entire book with just more from her. Goldie was an extremely complicated character, and while I appreciated all she went through, she did drive me a little crazy. This is quite a page turner that kept me wanting more, and a perfect pick if you enjoyed books like Honey and The Daydreams.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Dutton for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it now in your local and online bookstores and libraries.

Title: Where Are You, Echo Blue? By Hayley Krischer
Publication Date- 07/16/24
Publisher- Random House Dutton
Overall Rating- 5 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: This story is beyond incredible. I will read everything this author puts out. I hope you will give it a try. Based off the premise, I didn’t think I would love this book as much as I did. I don’t watch many movies or TV, I don’t know a lot about Hollywood and acting but I do know some about child star atrocities and abuse. I didn’t think it would be something I would enjoy reading about in fiction until I read Where Are You, Echo Blue?

This is one of the best written books I’ve read in a while. You really get to know both Echo (child star who is missing) and Glodie (a journalist who used to be obsessed with Echo and is writing a piece while trying to find her). There is so much heart, humanity, hurt and passion in this story. There is also some damn good humor. Hayley Krischer is witty and has great timing/ pacing.

There is commentary on a lot of topics: prenatal relationships, childhood abuse, journalism, sex, celebrity culture, and so much more. Though this is somewhat a literary thriller, some people may be upset by the ending. However, I think if you are upset by the ending you should rethink what the story was really trying to say.

In conclusion, I really loved this. I can’t wait to see what else the author writes. I hope this book gets more traction, I believe more people will enjoy this than they realize.