Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Review: Stars Over Sunset Boulevard by Susan Meissner

Title: Stars Over Sunset Boulevard
Author: Susan Meissner
Format: Ebook
Publisher: NAL
Publish Date: January 5, 2016 (Yesterday!)
Source: Publisher






What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Los Angeles, Present Day. When an iconic hat worn by Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind  ends up in Christine McAllister’s vintage clothing boutique by mistake, her efforts to return it to its owner take her on a journey more enchanting than any classic movie…

Los Angeles, 1938.  Violet Mayfield sets out to reinvent herself in Hollywood after her  dream of becoming a wife and mother falls apart, and lands a job on the film-set of Gone With the Wind. There, she meets enigmatic Audrey Duvall, a once-rising film star who is now a fellow secretary. Audrey’s zest for life and their adventures together among Hollywood’s glitterati enthrall Violet…until each woman’s deepest desires collide.  What Audrey and Violet are willing to risk, for themselves and for each other, to ensure their own happy endings will shape their friendship, and their lives, far into the future. "


My Two Cents:

"Stars Over Sunset Boulevard" is a story that takes place in the heyday of old Hollywood, which is what initially drew me to this book. I think that old Hollywood seems so glamorous and so full of life that I love reading anything fictional or nonfictional about it. At the center of the story is the friendship between Audrey, a woman who dreams of being on the silver screen, and Violet, a woman from the south who dreams of just being in the background. Despite these women having very different motivations for being in Hollywood, their friendship and care for each other carries through this book. There's also a part of the book that is set in the present which surrounds some of the family members of these two main characters.

I loved both the characters of Audrey and Violet. They are both very different women and interact with the world very differently. It's these differences that makes the story so interesting. The author is able to create two very different characters that play off each other so nicely through the book. It was so interesting to see how the story of them flowed as their relationship changed. This book is the story of family secrets and keeping up appearances. Add to that the glamour of old Hollywood and you have a book that will definitely keep you entertained!

This is the second book that I've read by this author. The first book was "Secrets of a Charmed Life," which is set during World War II. I liked this book better than I like the book that I previously read. I think that the author made the characters and the writing much stronger in "Stars Over Sunset Boulevard." I look forward to reading more by this author!



1 comment:

  1. This one sounds interesting. I'm enjoying reading about this era and the glamour of show-biz. Did you read All The Stars in The Heavens? If not, you should take a look. It's another set in the glamour era of Hollywood.

    ReplyDelete

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