Young adults who work in the entertainment industry are colorful main characters for YA novels. Radio Free Texas by Libba Bray focuses on Bowie James who is assigned community service which he serves at the local radio station. A Season for Falling by Kate O'Shaughnessy reunites child stars Luke Cordova and Claire Hopper, when he hires her to show him a normal teenager's life for his new upcoming show. In The Music of Us by Emerald Alexandrea, Lucy, whose mom is injured and is having trouble paying medical bills, asks childhood friend Jake, who is in a boy band, to help raise money for mom's medical bills.
In Radio Free Texas Bowie James starts his senior year in a small 1980 Texas town by taking the blame for setting off a firecracker that was actually set off by his crush Comet Jensen. His punishment is 100 hours of community service which he chooses to serve at a local radio station run by the anti-establishment DJ Marlon. In order to keep the radio station on the air, Bowie recruits his friends, including Comet, to work there as interns. When Marlon asks Bowie to do the Sunday night “sermon,” Bowie finds that he actually has something to say about rock and roll, love and coming-of-age.
In A Season for Falling child star CeCe Lafayette, is now Claire Hopper, a senior in a Connecticut high school. She was devastated when her show House of Bricks was cancelled, and she found out her dad had stolen all her money. When her former costar Luke Cordova comes to town to shoot a film, he hires her to show him what a normal teenager’s life is like. She is struggling to find a way to pay for college, so she is thrilled with the opportunity to earn some money. Accepting generous payment toward her college fund, Claire once again falls under Luke’s spell. Keeping her former relationship with him secret proves to be a challenge.
In The Music of Us Lucy, who is college bound, manages a cat café with her mom. When mom is injured, Lucy emails her childhood best friend Jake, who is now in a boy band. Even though he ghosted her when he joined the band four years ago, she hopes he and his band will play a concert at the café to drum up business. Jake shows up and they manage to corral his bandmates into doing a fundraiser concert. Misunderstandings between Lucy and Jake are orchestrated by his manager, who wants him to leave his past behind. But ultimately love prevails.
