Novels about fictional actors and pop stars are nothing new (isn’t the world yet to recover from the Daisy Jones-Evelyn Hugo tornadoes?), but they seem to be particularly trendy this year.
As someone who was young and impressionable during those blessedly cursed years of Y2K tabloid culture, I tend to be excited about these releases. The twelve-year-old girl in me is still eager to experience the glamorous life of the rich and famous and to know all the hot insider goss, but adult me is often unimpressed by the execution of such stories. Are the authors unable to portray a lifestyle that is most likely alien to them? Or am I simply not as interested in reading about famous people as I would’ve been fifteen years ago?
Two valid theories, and there is probably some truth to them both. Still, I’m excited about the direction this particular trend seems to be taking lately - more emphasis on character development, less plot. I do love plot, but please give me a layered person to care about first. Give them flesh and bones and annoying traits! Then, we can run away from the papparazzi.
Here are four exciting fictional celeb novels, fresh off the printers.
Once More from the Top by Emily Layden
This one could be for you if: You’re looking for a portrait of ambition, female friendship, and the cost of fame. I haven’t read this one yet, but I have a copy on my shelves screaming my name like an adoring crowd. Extra points for the brat green cover!
Since releasing her debut album her senior year of high school, Dylan’s spent fifteen years growing up in the public eye. She’s not only perfected her skills when it comes to lyrics and melody; she’s also learned how to craft a public narrative that satisfies her fans, her label, and the media. In the circles of fame and celebrity in which she now travels, the careful maintenance of Dylan Read pop star is often more important than the songs themselves.
And so lots of people think they understand everything about Dylan Read. But what no one knows is the part of her origin story she has successfully kept hidden: her childhood best friend Kelsey vanished the year before Dylan became famous. Now, as Dylan’s at the height of her career, Kelsey’s body is found at the bottom of their hometown lake—forcing Dylan to reckon with their shared past, her friend’s influence on her music, and whether there’s more to their story than meets the eye.
Gold Rush by Olivia Petter
This one could be for you if: You’re looking for stories that explore the dark underbelly of celebrity culture, power dynamics and consent.
Imagine you’ve just spent the night with the most famous man on the planet. Except you don’t quite remember it. That is what happens to Rose, a twenty-something woman who seemingly has everything going for her.
Working for one of the most powerful publishers in the country, Rose spends her days doing PR for glossy magazines. There are tedious spreadsheets, fashion divas, and many A-list parties. It’s at one of those parties where she meets Milo Jax, the world-famous, globally adored, British pop sensation. An unlikely flirtation turns into an even more unlikely evening and then Rose wakes up, unable to piece it all together. What happens next changes everything.
Honey by Isabel Banta
This one could be for you if: You love Y2K nostalgia and pop star drama (think Britney, think Christina). It also sheds light on an industry that still bullies, abuses, oversexualizes and often destroys women.
It is 1997, and Amber Young has received a life-changing call. It is a chance thousands of girls would die for: the opportunity to join girl group Cloud9 in Los Angeles and escape her small town. She quickly finds herself in the orbits of fellow rising stars Gwen Morris, a driven singer-dancer, and Wes Kingston, a member of the biggest boy band in the world, ETA.
(…) Surrounded by people who claim to love her but only wish to exploit her, and driven by a desire for recognition and success, for love and sex, for agency and connection, Amber comes of age at a time when the kaleidoscope of public opinion can distort everything and one mistake can shatter a career.
Where Are You, Echo Blue? by Hayley Krischer
This one could be for you if: You’re into double POVs, books about obsessive fandom and mysteries. How Kate Moss is this cover?!
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. (…)
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.
Since posting this piece, I have found more 2024 celebrity novels for you to explore:
Got any fictional celebrity book recs you want to share? Leave them in the comments below. 💬
I hadn't realized it until now but yes!
I hadn’t thought about this but why are there so many books about fictional celebrities lately?! Interesting trend