Book Review: Beyond the Lens

By Sara Steven

When twenty-six-year-old Lucy Mitchell loses her job, she momentarily loses her mind too and agrees to take part in a reality TV show. Before she knows it she’s jetting off to a piece of paradise on a beautiful Spanish island.

Much to her surprise, Lucy makes new friends and has the time of her life, even indulging in a behind-the-scenes romance with a hunky cameraman.

Convinced the production will never make it to the screen, Lucy returns home on cloud nine, but soon finds that things are not always as they seem. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon)

I’m a huge fan of reality TV, especially when it pertains to putting random strangers together. Think Survivor. While Beyond the Lens isn’t set on some remote island with participants battling it out for first place, there are certainly some similarities. As with most reality tv, what’s filmed isn’t always what we see on the small screen, and that’s exactly what Lucy encounters after being part of her own reality TV show.

It seems too good to be true. She’s getting along well with the other cast members. The locale is breathtaking. It seems that every need is provided for. There is no real guarantee that the show will even air, so she might as well enjoy the week as an all expenses paid trip. Only, she finds out the truth behind the show, the lies and the deceit, that turn her into a carbon copy of Courtney Robertson (think The Bachelor).

I’ve often wondered what’s real, what’s not when I’m watching reality TV. Hannah Ellis takes us into that world wonderfully, showcasing what it’s like behind the lens, and what goes into creating the people we often consider to be celebrities, even though they’d been like the rest of us before their fifteen minutes of fame. And what happens after their time is over? Can they ever return to any sense of normalcy? That dynamic is showcased well for Lucy, and for the relationship she tries to hold onto through the whole process of returning to the life she’d known before the cameras. A sweet, relatable read!

Thanks to Hannah Ellis for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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