Your summer guilty pleasure reading list just got longer.
Lauren Conrad’s highly anticipated debut novel, L.A. Candy, hits stores June 16, and the beautiful star has released a sneak peek to – who else? – her former employer, Teen Vogue. Whoever ghosted it isn’t half bad, either!
The heroine of her story is 19-year-old Jane Roberts, who moves to Hollywood and ends up the star of her own reality show. Sound familiar? Art imitates life for The Hills star, although Lauren Conrad says the book is entirely fictional.
“Some of the characters may symbolize people in my life,” the 23-year-old soon-to-be Hills retiree said, “but it is in no way calling anyone out.”
Just like Lauren Conrad in real life, Jane deals with drama in relationships with guys, one of whom is named Paolo. Wonder who he symbolizes.
Below is an excerpted portion of L.A. Candy, the first installment of a three-book, young-adult fiction deal featuring the protagonist LC created:
Jane spun around. Standing in the doorway was a guy with short, cropped blond hair and blue eyes. He was carrying a big, sleek leather portfolio.
“Hi,” Jane said, a little startled.
“Hey, there,” the guy said. “I’m looking for Fiona Chen, but I think I got lost. I have an appointment to show her my portfolio.”
“Across the hall,” Jane said, pointing. “She actually has someone in there … you may want to wait a minute.”
“I’m sorry. The girl at the front told me to come straight back.”
“Oh, no worries. She just pulled someone in there for a sec. Some mix-up with peonies. He’ll be out in a minute … a little less of a man.”
The guy laughed. “I’m Paolo.”
“You a model?” Jane asked, pointing at the portfolio in his hand.
Paolo laughed again. “No, no. I’m a photographer.”
Paolo smiled at her. He had the cutest smile. “Hey, this may be a little forward, but … could I call you sometime? Maybe we could go out for coffee or something? I just moved here from San Francisco, and I don’t know too many people in town.”
Jane was taken aback by his boldness. They had met all of 60 seconds ago. Still, he did kinda look like a young Brad Pitt. Besides, when was the last time she’d been on a date? Braden didn’t count. She had met him for drinks again at Cabo Cantina over the weekend, to celebrate her being on the show and moving in to a new apartment. It had been his idea. But that wasn’t a date. It never was with him. “Sure,” she said.
“Great!”
Jane blinked. Oh, yeah. The cameras were still rolling. Paolo was being filmed. But he didn’t seem fazed by it. Did that mean he had walked into her office knowing there would be cameras? Had Dana talked to him already and gotten him to sign the release papers? Had she told him to ask her out? Or did he just happen to be there for a meeting, like he said?
Just then, Fiona’s door opened and Damien, an intern, shuffled out and shamefully dropped his head.
“I’ll grab your number on the way out,” Paolo said before he disappeared into Fiona’s office.
“Okay.”
Despite just meeting him, Jane couldn’t help but be excited. She looked past the camera in the hallway and spotted Dana. Jane grinned and mouthed, “He’s so cute!” Dana nodded in agreement and gave her a thumbs-up. Jane noticed a release form in Dana’s hand. Did that mean Paolo had been released? Did that mean it had been a setup? Jane smiled to herself as she realized she didn’t care. She was already thinking about what to wear on what might turn out to be her very first on-camera date … her first date, period, since Caleb. Okay, so Paolo wasn’t Braden.
So what? It was nice to have a guy interested in her.
It had been a long time. Too long.
Follow the link for Teen Vogue’s longer book excerpt …