It's Time for Your Close-up

It’s Time for Your Close-up

by Renee Kohl

It’s Time for Your Close-up is a modern coming-of-age fiction novel. The storyline follows the life of a 9-year old, street-wise orphan girl named Shan from Spanish Harlem through her transition into adulthood. When her parents are killed, her staunch Christian grandmother who lives in Los Angeles takes her in.

In L.A., Shan forms a close relationship with her babysitter Joey, the teenage boy who lives next door to her. Like her grandmother, the sitter becomes a guiding force in the little girl’s life, and Shan is supportive of Joey’s aspirations to become an actor. By the time Shan becomes a teenager, the young man is already a star. Even then, Joey maintains his protective demeanor towards Shan. At the height of his career and at the onset of hers, their highly scrutinized relationship gives rise to a scandal that rocks Hollywood and threatens both their livelihoods.