Unscripted by Natalie Aaron and Marla Schwartz: A Review

Unscripted by Natalie Aaron and Marla Schwartz

When Was It Released?:  28th November 2011
Where Did I Get It From?: From the authors in exchange for a review. Thankyou
Who Published It?: Carina Press

Have you ever wanted to know what really goes on behind the scenes of your favourite reality television show? I know that I have always wanted to find out the gossip and dirt on what really goes happens and Unscripted by Natalie Aaron and Marla Schwartz defiantly takes you there. Add a splash of romance and some chick lit and you have a novel that you will fly through.

As a producer on a reality dating show, Abby Edwards knows that true love is a myth. When her screenwriter ex makes a hit movie based on their relationship, Abby's faults are projected on screens across the country. Suddenly the fact that her job depends on orchestrating hot tub hook-ups doesn't seem so impressive. Her friends rally to help. Zoë thinks she needs to meet a guy. Stephanie suggests an attitude adjustment. Nancy wants her to get in touch with her inner Goddess. Abby knows they mean well, but she prefers to focus on her work. Unfortunately, she's already embarrassed herself in front of her new boss, Will Harper, who she would find totally crush-worthy if he weren't so irritating.

Natalie Aaron and Marla Schwartz have both worked in reality television before, which really added an extra layer to Unscripted. I loved the way in which they were able to weave some extreme and hilarious goings on behind the scenes into their story. I was constantly left wondering whether these happenings were entirely made up or whether Natalie and Marla brought these in from first hand experience. With Unscripted being written by two different authors I have to admit I was a little sceptical that it would be obvious that which author had written which parts. Well my worries were sent packing, I found that the writing flowed smoothly with no interruptions. Unless you knew beforehand, there is no tell tale signs that Unscripted has been written by two different authors. While the pace of Unscripted was a little slow to begin with, once I got started on the story I found it very hard to put down. I kept flying through the pages, ready to find out what the reality stars were going to get up to next. I did, however, find the ending to be a little abrupt. I got to the last few pages and was really beginning to wonder how Natalie and Marla were going to wrap up the story in that limited amount of space. While I don’t want to give anything away, I will say that I would have liked the ending to progress a little more.

As a character, I really connected with Abbey finding her to be smart and funny, which are two qualities I enjoy a main character to have. I loved in way in which we see her at her lows and her highs, giving a full range of her character. I really enjoyed her interaction with her best friend, ,they go through some rough times in their friendship and I liked the way it was handled. I was constantly torn between thinking that they shouldn’t be friends anymore to wanting them to work through their differences. Something that anyone who has ever had an argument with a close friend can relate to. As well as liking Abbey, I also enjoyed reading about the secondary characters as well, finding almost all of them to be intriguing. My only issue, in terms of characters, was with the romance aspect between Abbey and her co-worker Will. I just felt that there was not enough of it and would have loved to see this develop more. While it is underlying throughout most of the novel, I really would have liked to see more of it. I would also have enjoyed seeing more of Will as a character as even at the end of the novel, I felt I knew very little about him.

Overall. I did enjoy Unscripted, finding it to be unique. In the romance and chick lit genre all too often some novels become predictable and similar, I really enjoyed how Unscripted took a different route into an area that has had very little exploration in this genre. Unscripted is a light, entertaining, charming read that will have you laughing out loud from beginning to end. If you are looking for a twist on a romance or chick lit novel I would defiantly recommend Unscripted.