Cari Gelber

Rising Star Cari Gelber

Most teens love music and celebrities, but sixteen year-old Manhattanite Nikki Bellinger is not satisfied with just dreaming about them. She wants more than just her humdrum high school classes and modest school newspaper column and she wants it now. With determination, cleverness, and a bit of luck, Nikki evolves from a typical student into a serious entrepreneur and music business industry phenomenon as she represents the pop rock band Long Story Short from its anonymous starting days to its stardom. But, Nikki has some choices to make. Will she put a personal relationship with a sexy band member ahead of her professional dreams? Should high school class work take second priority to her career goals? Will she let some of the recording industries' top moguls take advantage of her youth, inexperience, and femaleness?From Long Story Short's escapades on the road to Nikki's struggle being a young female in the music business, Rising Star takes a realistic look at almost every teenager's fantasy of touring with a rock band.