Reality shows have for two decades now been churning out young, good-looking people hungry for fame. Perhaps her legions of teen and preteen readers will digest them and be more skeptical of what they see on MTV and in gossip magazines. But Conrad is still signing on to these observations and critiques. Sure, Conrad had a valuable partner in her “collaborator,” Nancy Ohlin, who previously wrote kids’ books about Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Jane gets carried away by celebrity at certain points and finds herself manipulated into story lines. And she doesn’t let herself-or, at least, her main character-escape criticism. Conrad is using her books to criticize the machine that made her a star. Candy books, too: The girls and sometimes their romantic interests are thrown together their work lives are manipulated to make things more interesting scenes are retaped accidental run-ins are planned conversations are conducted largely by meaningful glances. Other criticisms lobbed at The Hills are confirmed by the L.A. She’s not entirely convinced by producers’ explanations that audiences just like her very normalness, even plainness: The other three girls are just too hot, or too smart, or too fake to resonate with the average viewer who daydreams about a Hollywood life. In her books, Conrad demonstrates a surprising self-awareness through Jane, who is baffled by her popularity.
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