Natasha Bure is known to young adults for her popular YouTube channel which launched in 2014. Traditional TV viewers may recognize from Season 11 of The Voice or her performance with the Grammy Award-winning group for KING & COUNTRY on The View. At the time, the latter program featured her famous actress mom Candace Cameron Bure (Netflix’s Fuller House) as a co-host. 

Now the rising teen star is adding book author to her blossoming resume. Let’s Be Real is geared for teens ages 13-18 and offers insightful, encouraging and sometimes humorous advice on everything from dealing with acne, friends, relationships, body confidence, self-image and struggling with faith. After meeting her, I can tell you that at 18 years of age, she possesses the sort of wisdom and self-assuredness adults — let alone teens — strive for. 

It’s obvious that faith plays a large role in grounding her. She speaks admiringly of the passion that motivates her mom and her entire family (which includes her uncle Kirk Cameron of Growing Pains and evangelical film fame) in a manner that makes it perfectly clear that she’s not into judging others who hold different beliefs.  Her basic outlook comes down to “Be open, honest, and the best YOU, you can be!”

Let’s Be Real is on sale now and would be a great gift for a teen in your life — or maybe even yourself.

John Patrick at New York’s Sheen Center.

If you happen to be in New York City on Monday night, you might want to head over to 18 Bleecker Street where Pulitzer, Tony and Oscar-winning writer John Patrick Shanley will be reading excerpts from his work, including Savage in Limbo, Doubt, and The Portuguese Kid.  A Q&A will follow. Shanley, of course, also had a major hit with the 1987 classic Moonstruck with Cher and Nicolas Cage in the leads. Less successful during its initial box office run was 199o’s Joe Versus the Volcano. That surprisingly-deep romantic fantasy starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan has since gone on to develop a cult following and is actually one of my all-time favorite films.  For tickets to the Sheen Center event go here.