HOLLYWOOD HIGH

Four spoiled daughters of African-American entertainment-industry elite engage in constant posturing, cheating and back-stabbing as they attend exclusive Hollywood High.

The story is told in four not-entirely-distinct voices, including ex–New Yorker London, tabloid queen Rich and Rich's “ex-ex-ex-years ago-ex-bff” Spencer. Heather, the most sympathetic of the bunch, supports her alcoholic mother with her own acting career and struggles with an Adderall addiction. Drama escalates practically within milliseconds: Spencer gets a neck rash from a perfume Heather's mother gave her; Spencer Maces Heather in the cafeteria in retaliation; the head of Heather's fan club joins the fight; the story goes viral within hours...and that's just the beginning. Much of the drama involves competition over boys, and although Heather sets another series of fights and PR nightmares in motion by secretly videotaping one girl cheating with another's boyfriend, she is never revealed as the source of the video. One girl ends up pregnant, musing, distressingly, “If only he knew [a condom] made no difference.” Because conflict runs at a constant fever pitch, there is no real arc to the story, and neither a minor character's suicide attempt nor a hasty truce among three of the girls provides much resolution.

More messy than juicy; for gossip-blog devotees only.