The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo / Taylor Jenkins Reid / 388 pages

Evelyn Hugo is an aging and reclusive Hollywood star that has been married seven times.  Monique Grant is an unknown magazine reporter.  Evelyn is ready to tell her life story but only to Monique.  Monique is scheduled to report to Evelyn's Manhattan apartment for the interview that will jump start her career.  Over the course of several days Evelyn tells her story of getting to Hollywood in the 1950s to start her acting career that lasted through the 1980s and the seven husbands she had along the way.  Towards the end of Evelyn's story the reader discovers the connection between this Hollywood star and unknown journalist.

Dating You/Hating You / Christina Lauren / 353 pgs

This is a workplace romance which, given that and the title, has been compared to Sally Thorne's The Hating Game. I loved The Hating Game and I've liked a few other Christina Lauren books so I was really looking forward to this one.

Evie and Carter are Hollywood agents. They meet at a mutual friend's party, hit it off, and go on an adorable first date. Then disaster strikes. Evie's agency takes over Carter's agency and soon the two are pitted against each, vying for the same job. Despite Evie having more experience (she's about 5 years older than Carter) overall and in the exact position that is up for grabs, she's at a disadvantage because of her misogynistic boss. Women in the workplace and what they must deal with on a daily basis is a theme in this book and I really liked how Carter slowly realized how things were different for Evie. Because they have to put any potential relationship on the back burner while things are tense at work, the romance can seem a little MIA in this one. But Carter is a great hero who accepts everything about Evie, even the fact that she can stand on her own. So while I wished there was a little more actual romance here, the characters and smart dialogue make for a fun read.

The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine: A Novel / Alex Brunkhorst / 314 pages / 10 discs

   If you have read any my previous postings my penchant for The Great Gatsby is well-known. I have found yet another novel that has been compared to the classic. I should know better but I cannot resist. Mostly the comparisons have failed in my eyes and I am feeling a little ambivalent about Matilda as well.
   Our narrator is an exiled journalist who was accused of plagiarism in New York City. He has fled across the country and is working for the Times in Los Angeles. Thomas Cleary has been sent to collect a quote or two from the daughter of a famous film director. Thomas has been reduced from writing front page news to doing the obituaries in the entertainment section. From that incidental meeting, he is swept into the world of Lily Goldman and her high powered and monied Hollywood friends. He is showered with opportunities that change his lifestyle and work environment.
   During one of these events, he meets a young woman playing tennis at night. He is completely captivated by her beauty and odd sense of the world. Her name is Matilda and she has not been allowed to leave father's estate since she has been born. Her every wish has been catered to by her father. These two go to great lengths to protect their relationship and try to find a way to survive in the world outside of Bel-Air.
   The descriptions of Hollywood, its residents plus the trip to Hawaii was just skillful. I really enjoyed some of the word play

     "We walked out between the gates. They were timed to close quickly behind us-they 
        had secrets to keep after all-and when they did I heard the rattle of iron.
       Then it went silent."

    I recommend this book for the summer beach readers, who like romance, cliff-hangers and just a bit of heartbreak.

6 Degrees of Reading: The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin, Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford, The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee

Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology / Leah Remini / 228 pgs

This is my second autobiography by an actress in the last couple of weeks. I can't quite compare the two because Carrie Fisher's newest and last book The Princess Diarist was short and only focused on her time making Star Wars and afterwards, mainly focused on the new revelation of her affair with Harrison Ford.

However, I think Troublemaker was so much better. I've been meaning to read this book for a while, but it was her new docuseries, Scientology and the Aftermath that made me actively put a hold on the book and I finally got a chance to read it. I finished it over the course of this weekend. First, I must admit that I listened to the audio book while at home doing cross stitch. Ms. Remini narrates her book and does a wonderfully hilarious job with it. She's a girl from Brooklyn, and so Brooklyn salty language abounds, but I got over it pretty quickly. Ms. Remini goes over her childhood, her family, her introduction to Scientology, her time in the Sea Org, her trials in trying to get cast in 80s and 90s sitcoms, her fame, and her years slowly coming to the realization that Scientology was not all she thought it was. If you are a Scientologist, you will not care for what she has to say about her former religion. However, I loved listening to every minute of it and find that I admire Ms. Remini more and more. She begins the book with acknowledging all of her flaws. I admire her for that as well.

If you're interested in learning more about Scientology. If you like funny ladies. If you want to learn about how crazy Tom Cruise really is. If you want to read an honest account of a flawed human being (and we are all flawed human beings), then get this book and read it, or better yet, listen to it. Highly Recommended!

Honey Moon / Susan Elizabeth Phillips 440 p.

Honey Moon, the hottest child star, really wants a family and affection, but gets her puppy love stomped by actor of the century and co-star Eric Dillon while Dash, the cowboy movie legend, gives her a cold shoulder. Fast-paced, amusing, contemporary romance, steamy, and characters with human flaws.

The Next Best Thing/Jennifer Weiner/386 pages

Ruth Sanders is a writer on a television series. She's also writing a script that she is hoping to pitch as a series to network executives. The name of the series is The Next Best Thing and is loosely based on her life with her grandmother. She imagines it as an homage to The Golden Girls which she watched over and over again while she recovered from her many surgeries in the hospital. Seriously injured in a car accident that killed both of her parents, Ruth is cared for and raised by her grandmother from the age of 3 on. Now in her late twenties, the two of them have moved to Los Angeles so that Ruth can pursue her dream of being a writer. Nana jumps right into the industry making a living as an extra. Ruth spends six long years before she realizes her dream of getting a show "picked up." She thinks the hard part is behind her, but dealing with the network, the studio, the stars (the actors she didn't want) and the rewrites makes her realize that the show she wanted to do bears little resemblance to the show she ends up making. 

This was my first Jennifer Weiner book, and I enjoyed it very much. It was fun trying to decide which star she was describing even though "the names have been changed to protect the innocent." She does a fair amount of name dropping as well.