The Daydreams is another of those hot kids show cast reunites as adults to hash out their traumas, unrequited feelings and assorted miseries books which have become popular over the past year or so. Inspired by actual reunions for shows like iCarly and Boy Meets World, The Daydreams puts a bunch of (mostly) former stars back together for the reunion of a lifetime. But we, the audience, have read books like this before, and the narrative isn’t inventive or juicy enough to keep our attention, and its shifting perspectives never fail to properly solidify.

Back in 2002, four lucky teen actors found themselves the envy of every American youth when they were cast as members of the fictional band The Daydreams – think The Monkees meets California Dreams meets Glee meets The OC. Kat Whitley was the spoiler (or as she calls it, “the bitch”), written to come between the romance of good girl Summer Wright and golden boy Noah Gideon. Liana Jackson was the supportive best friend type. Their series was a runaway hit and launched some successful singles.

The Daydreams crashed and burned during their live second season finale, when Summer went wildly off-script, stripping off her clothing and singing provocatively in a show of rebellion for reasons unknown, which caused the network to cut the feed and cancel the show. That put most of the cast’s acting careers on ice for good, each of them entering adulthood in a different way.

Kat now goes by her full name, Katherine. She has moved to Washington DC, become a lawyer and is up for a partnership at her firm. She also has a wonderful boyfriend, an environmental lawyer named Miheer. Liana married a football player named Javier and is a rich and pampered wife who craves recognition and purpose in life, her talent stymied. Summer became a tabloid fixture who’s constantly in and out of trouble; she’s been to rehab twice, had a failed and embarrassing solo album, has a difficult mother and a dead father, and was sued by a paparazzo for throwing a drink with a pointy straw in his face. Only Noah is still in the acting game, and he’s a huge star who’s been nominated for an Oscar for his latest screenplay. When an interviewer brings up the question of what happened to The Daydreams and wonders if there’s a possible reunion in the cards, he states that he’s open to it.

An uproar of fan response results in the show being put back on track. Kat finds herself plunged back into the hell that is celebrity life – dodging paparazzi, trying to reconnect with her costars, and trying to salve old hurts. But will The Daydreams fly or falter?

I’m of a divided mind on this one. On one hand, I loved being sunk into Kat’s PoV. On the other hand, I feel like this is a book that would have benefitted from more consistent PoV chapters from Noah, Liana and Summer. As is, each of the other three band members get a chapter apiece, and their points of view are otherwise filtered into the narrative through articles and diary entries. While we get chunks of Summer’s doings throughout, the narrative suddenly switches to favor her PoV right at the end of the book. This is distracting as heck. Liana, in particular, feels underwritten, and since her belief was that she’s being ignored and pushed aside by the writers that’s somewhat ironic.

And that’s a shame, because the story is compelling, even if you’ve already read this sort of Hollywood redemption narrative before. The characters are winning, unique, and likable, even at their worst. And the story’s about redemption, healing, rejecting the past and embracing the future. But it will leave you feeling thirsty for more. There are depths here that should be plumbed and aren’t.

As far as the romance goes, the majority of the story pokes at the unhealed wounds between Summer and Noah, a subject that seems very fraught until the truth comes out. Liana and Javier’s romance doesn’t get much play at all, but what little we get of Kat and Miheer is very cute.

The Daydreams has a heart and has nerve, but it never manages to rise above the level of being an entertaining beach reach that could’ve been more.