The Dollhouse Academy
A Novel
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Feb 11, 2025
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From the NATIONAL BESTSELLING author of GMA Book Club Pick OONA OUT OF ORDER, a novel about two best friends and aspiring actresses who join the Dollhouse Academy, where stars are made and dangerous secrets are hidden
“Deliciously sensational…What could be more fun? As if the wives of Stepford went to the Valley of the Dolls.” —Kirkus
Ivy Gordon is living on borrowed time. For the past eighteen years, she has been the most famous star at the Dollhouse Academy, the elite boarding school and talent incubator that every aspiring performer dreams of attending. But now, at age thirty-four, she is tired of pretending everything is fine. In secret diary entries, Ivy begins to reveal the truth of her life at the Dollhouse: strange medical exams, mysterious supplements, and something unspeakable that’s left Ivy terrified and feeling like a prisoner.
Ramona Halloway and her best friend, Grace Ludlow, grew up idolizing Ivy. Now both twenty-two, neither has made much headway in showbiz until a lucky break grants them entry to the Dollhouse. They’re enchanted by the picturesque campus and the chance to perform alongside their idols. When Ramona begins to receive threatening anonymous messages, it’s easy to dismiss them as a prank from a rival. Her bigger concern is Grace’s skyrocketing success, while Ramona struggles to keep up with the fierce competition. As the messages grow more unsettling, so does life at the Dollhouse. Can Ramona overcome her jealousy and resentment to figure out what’s really going on? Will Ivy finally find her voice, before another young performer follows her catastrophic path?
With dark academia twists and enormous heart, The Dollhouse Academy is a novel about the complexities of friendship, our desire to be seen and understood, and the true cost of making our dreams a reality.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ambitious 20-somethings learn the price of fame in this frothy, 1990s-set thriller from Montimore (Acts of Violet). The elite and secretive Dollhouse Academy in the Catskills is known for producing platinum talent for Dahlen Entertainment's hit music, film, and television offerings. Dollhouse attendance is the surest path to stardom, so when founder and pharmaceutical heir Genevieve Spalding invites 22-year-old best friends Ramona Holloway and Grace Ludlow to enroll, they can't believe their luck. Grace becomes Genevieve's protégé and lands a role on a top prime-time drama, while a bitterly jealous Ramona receives remedial training, is fired from her first TV gig, and gets anonymous notes urging her to leave Dollhouse. Ramona initially suspects a rival student is trying to scare her, but as Dollhouse's required medical exams and treatments grow stranger and more invasive, encompassing frequent blood work and psych evaluations, she begins to fear for her and Grace's safety. Terrified diary entries from Dollhouse's first and biggest star, which punctuate Ramona's increasingly anxious first-person narration, effectively ratchet up the suspense. Though the plot occasionally slides into soapy melodrama, readers won't mind amid all the twisted fun. It's a darkly enjoyable takedown of the entertainment industry.