LIKELY STORY

YA novelist David Levithan, playwright David Ozanich and soap-opera writer Chris Van Etten team up to swell the ranks of chick-lit offerings even further. After an argument with her soap-opera-diva mother, 16-year-old everygirl Mallory blogs about the unreality of soap operas and then finds herself creating one. This amusing story, written with a twinkle and a wink, gives readers the fun of seeing the nuts and bolts of soap-opera production. It’s also very metaliterary: Mallory was raised on the set of a soap opera, her personal life is like a soap opera and she, in turn, uses that life to create a realistic soap opera for teens. Despite the crackerjack punch-line ending, this novel, book one in a new series, is essentially all setup for the next volumes. Will Mallory enjoy a romance with the show’s hot young star? Clash with her mother on the set? Be ostracized by her once best friend? Find love with her high school crush? To find out, fans will have to read the next installment. (Fiction. 12 & up)