Far from the A-List: A Novel by Stephanie BurnsPublication Date: December 9, 2025
Pages: 352
Add on: Goodreads
Rating: ★★★½
Source: From the Publisher
Genre: Fiction / Coming Of Age
Publisher: MIRA / HarperCollins
Fleabag meets I’m Glad My Mom Died in this fresh and witty debut novel about a former child star trying to step out from the shadow of the character she’s famous for, set against the tabloid culture of the aughts.
Michaela Turner wants you to know one thing: she is not Daisy Breyer, the character she played as a child on the hit TV series Breyer’s Town.
Who she is otherwise? She’s still figuring that out.
A decade and a half after her show’s cancellation, Michaela is doing her best to prove that she has escaped the trappings of former child stardom. She’s paid to party at New York’s trendiest clubs and she’s dating the hottest guy in baseball, even if she only sees him when his team passes through town. No one needs to know that behind the role of Queen of the Social Scene, she’s just a girl looking for life’s answers – a girl who can tell you every detail of “Daisy’s” history, but can’t tell you her own favorite color.
After a fall from grace in the tabloids and an embarrassing public breakup, Michaela must face the fact that she may not be fooling anyone, least of all herself. And when her newly engaged rock star ex seeks her guidance with an identity crisis of his own, Michaela finds her chance to rediscover the girl she once was – even if that means opening herself up to the one person who smashed her heart more than once.
Unfortunately it’s really not the ideal time for her estranged stage mother to resurface, looking to cash in on her genetic lottery ticket, but nothing about her mother has ever been ideal.
Torn between everyone’s concepts of who she is meant to be, Michaela faces a crossroad. Will she continue to let her past define her, or will she find the strength to step out of Daisy’s shadow and create her own path, unscripted?
REVIEW
Stephanie Burns kicks off her fiction career with Far from the A-List, a whip-smart, bittersweet look at what happens when the cameras turn off. The story follows Michaela Turner, once a child star, now an adult stuck somewhere between past glories and a future she can’t quite picture. Burns doesn’t serve up a comeback tale; instead, she unpacks the mess of identity, family, and reinvention in a world that can’t stop watching, even when you wish it would.
Michaela’s voice is sharp, funny, and painfully honest. She lurches through awkward romances, tangled family drama (her mother is a force of nature), and the constant scrutiny of fans and haters alike. The supporting cast, lovers, frenemies, and Hollywood parasites feel lived-in, even as they orbit Michaela’s emotional journey.
Burns writes with the kind of wit and honesty that makes you wince and laugh in the same breath. Her scenes snap with dark humour, and the dialogue crackles. Some readers say the novel starts slow, but stick with it; the payoff is a story that’s both satirical and unexpectedly moving.
The real magic here is how familiar it all feels, even if you’ve never been on a red carpet. Burns captures the universal struggle to outgrow one’s past and define oneself on one’s own terms. If you want a book that skewers celebrity culture while rooting for its bruised, lovable heroine, Far from the A-List is worth your time.
