Review of The Daydreams by Laura Hankin

Do you love band reunion books like this one? Did you come of age in the early 2000s? Then you need to check out my review of The Daydreams by Laura Hankin.

The Daydreams by Laura Hankin

Published by Berkley on May 2, 2023

Plot Summary for The Daydreams:

Back in 2004, The Daydreams had it all. Four teenagers acting and singing their hearts out, amazing ratings, and a will-they-or-won’t-they romance that steamed up fan fiction forums.

Then, during the live season two finale, it all imploded, leaving everyone scrambling to understand why.

Afterward, the four stars went down very different paths.

Kat is now a lawyer in Washington, DC. Liana is the wife of a famous athlete. Noah, the show’s golden boy, emerged unscathed and is poised to become a household name. And Summer, the object of Noah’s fictional (and maybe real-life) affections, is the cautionary tale.

But now the fans are demanding a reunion special. The stars all have private reasons to come back: forgiveness, revenge, a second chance with a first love. But as they tentatively rediscover the magic of the original show, old secrets threaten to resurface—including the real reason behind their downfall.

What Else Has Laura Hankin Written?

Her first book was The Summertime Girls (2015). She followed that with Happy and You Know It (2020) and A Special Place for Women (2021)

Review of the Daydreams by Laura Hankin

Who doesn’t love a good band reunion story? Or a TV show reunion story? The Daydreams is a little of both.

I feel like these books typically fall in the YA category, like this one. But The Daydreams is written for an adult audience, though it has nothing in it that a teen couldn’t read.

I enjoyed The Daydreams overall but I wanted even more 00s ambiance.

I had the same issue with Daisy Jones, to be honest, though I feel like the vibey 1970s rock scene had more potential than the aughts, that fashion nadir of low rise jeans, Ugg boots, layered t-shirts, studded denim. I’m still a bit traumatized.

That said, The Daydreams did make me smile as I read the story of this foursome of teen stars whose show, The Daydreams, ran from 2002-2005 and sounded like a cross between High School Musical and Hannah Montana.

The Daydreams is narrated by Kat, who nearly fifteen years after the show imploded, is on the partner track at her law firm.

Kat is in her early thirties and nearly engaged to a guy she met in law school.

Miheer, Kat’s boyfriend, is a guy with the good-natured patience of Andy’s boyfriend Nate in The Devil Wears Prada. He encourages her to take a leave of absence from her job and tape a reunion special which has her constantly in the tabloids.

As in all good ensemble shows, the four were typecast:

Kat’s former castmates are girl-next-door Summer (who had an epic, Britney-style meltdown), Liana, the loyal BFF, and Noah, the love interest.

Who were the characters in The Daydreams based on?

If you watched a lot of Disney Channel of Nickelodeon back in the day, you could guess who some of these characters might be based on.

Summer is sort of Gabriella Montez + Lizzie McGuire + Tori Vega. Kat is London Tipton + Sharpay + Jade West. Noah is obviously Troy Bolton and no one else.

Though, as I read, I kept picturing Noah and Summer as Justin and Britney. Just saying. In the acknowledgments, the author says she read Jessica Simpson’s autobiography for research.

And who were the ones with purity rings? Miley? Jessica?

Does The Daydreams Dish the 2000s Hollywood dirt?

Not as much as I hoped! The Daydreams hints that some terrible scandal ended the show after only three seasons. Honestly, I was thinking it was something really dark. But not really. More of a personal betrayal.

While The Daydreams suggests the Hollywood child star machine has ruined the lives of some of its young talent, it keeps the mood lighter. The Daydreams reads more as a romance in which Kat, Summer, and Noah were in a quasi-love triangle.

Kat is keeping a Big Secret. And Noah did something that everyone in the book thought was horrible, but I only thought was slightly weird and not all that terrible.

If you remember the early 2000s fondly, I think you’ll enjoy The Daydreams.

Here’s a little 2000s book quiz: which two early 2000s TV icons wrote YA trilogies in the 2010a?

The answer: this 2000s icon wrote a YA trilogy back in the 2010s AND this 2000s reality show star did as well.