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Cameron Paradise, a stunningly beautiful twenty-four-year-old personal trainer, flees Hawaii and her champion-surfer husband, Gregg, in the middle of one of his abusive tirades and makes her way to L.A. Tall, blond, with a body to die for, it doesn’t take Cameron long to find a job at an exclusive private fitness club where she encounters LA's most important players. She has plans to open her own studio one day, and while every man she meets comes on to her, she is more focused on saving money and working hard than getting caught up in the L.A. scene of wild parties and recreational drugs.
Until she meets Ryan Lambert, an extremely successful independent movie producer. Ryan is married to overly privileged Mandy Lambert, the daughter of Hamilton J. Heckerling, a Hollywood power-player son-of-a-bitch mogul. Ryan has never cheated on his demanding Hollywood Princess wife, but when he meets Cameron, all bets are off, especially since she’s seeing his best friend Don Verona, the devastatingly attractive talk-show host and legendary player.
In her latest sizzling blockbuster, internationally bestselling author Jackie Collins explores what happens when lust and desire collide with marriage and power—and the results lead to murder.
The prolific Collins's latest book details the lives of three Southern California couples and throws all of their dirty laundry into the street. Filled with the traditional Collins clichés, the story is far from original; however, the narration provided by Ilyana Kadushin, Jen Cohn, Greg Abbey and Collins herself, is actually quite strong. While Collins is clearly the odd one out here as her voice tends to carry a lofty, over the top, soap opera-esque tone, the rest of the cast deliver strong performances that bring a slight sense of realism to the story. Abbey in particular reads with a firm and confident voice in his understated performance, which helps to carry the story along. A St. Martin's hardcover. (June)
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Unquestionably. Jacqueline Susann may be the Emily Bronte of the naughty bits, but Collins is surely Charlotte, having filled her books to the rim with skin since her first novel The World Is Full of Married Men appeared in 1968. Since then, there has been a string of sexy Hollywood moguls, sexy models, sexy wives of Hollywood moguls, sexy divorcées and sexy children of Hollywood moguls in such titles as Chances, Lucky and Throb as well as The Bitch and The Stud (both made into movies starring big sister Joan).
The critics, when they take notice at all, tend to sniff. ("While no one expects Lady Boss to be a literary banquet, certainly a yummy little snack is in order" is about the best to expect from The New York Times.) But those who can look past the satin sheets and champagne flutes see more going on in the Collins canon. Hers is a dissection of the vacuous, viperish entertainment class hiding behind designer sunglasses in Los Angeles. Vanity Fair called her "Hollywood's own Marcel Proust.” The Advocate hinted that she might be the Charles Dickens of Beverly Hills. And Joe Queenan, a Hollywood player himself, said Collins's 1993 novel American Star was nothing less than a lament of the American family's demise.
"It would be easy to self-righteously label this book trashy and worthless -- but it's not entirely either," the Detroit News wrote in a review of Collins's 1983 novel Hollywood Wives. "Jackie Collins has a talent for titillation and a knack for wooing the most reluctant of readers into a plot that spends 15 percent of the time peeking at people in the sack and the other 85 percent daydreaming about it. Deliberately or not, she speaks eloquently of emptiness through the lives of people who would seem to have everything: French poodles, Mexican maids, American Express."
And Judy Bass wrote in the Los Angeles Times that Collins's gimlet eye for detail is what makes her novels such a gas: "Collins caricatures the life styles of the rich and famous with devastating accuracy. She spoofs every nuance of their attire, speech and relationships, never allowing tedium or predictability to dilute the reader's fun."
There are a number of recurring characters in Collins's books, though none better known than Lucky Santangelo, the sexy (natch) film studio owner who has appeared in Lucky, Lady Boss, Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge and Dangerous Kiss. The Lucky series bring together all the required ingredients of a Collins cocktail: the rich and famous, the shifty Hollywood shenanigans, scheming opportunists and a bug-on-the-wall vantage point of every -- or every other -- bedroom in the 90210 zip code.
Time once wrote of a Collins novel that it allowed the reader the rare opportunity to watch adverbs mate. Of course. There's a high art to the lowbrow. The Village Voice, writing in 2000, understood that: "The beauty of the trashy novel is twofold: It's a lightning-quick read, and you can howl in smug superiority as you turn the pages. Lethal Seduction, the latest from well-appointed and leopard-print-swathed Queen of Trash Jackie Collins, is a prime example of page-turning, literary-hauteur-stoking fun."
But it might have been People, reviewing Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge, that most succinctly summed up the contradictory seductiveness of the Jackie Collins novel: "embarrassing to pick up, impossible to put down."
Collins spends about a year writing each novel, and does so entirely in longhand.
She eschews the stodgy demands of grammar. "I don't basically understand grammar," she is quoted as saying in Contemporary Popular Writers. "I call myself a street writer. I write purely by instinct. I've decided people don't speak in grammatical conversations.... The important thing is I get people into the bookstores who probably wouldn't be there otherwise."
Bumblebee1955
Posted February 6, 2010
Enjoyed the book,...
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.BellaNY
Posted July 22, 2009
Don't bother. I have read many of Jackie's books throughout the years. This one is a real snoozer. Lacks lots of passion that her previous books were well known for. The charchter's were blah. It is not worth it....
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted April 13, 2012
I just started reading it and so far it's entertaining just like her Luck Santangelo Series.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted March 29, 2012
It wasn't what I thought it was
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted January 6, 2012
Awesome characters, wonderful sex scenes, and beautiful women throughout the whole story.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted August 10, 2011
This book was good but the swearing throughout it was unbelieveable. There was also a lot of yelling between the characters. I thought it to be a little too raunchy with how she described everything - not like secksual scenes but I mean saying things like "hes about as helpful as the boil on his d*ck"...I mean that kind of stuff is just a little too overboard and is not lady-like at all. In better terms, in the 60s a book like this wouldnt have been able to be published. I'm a 25 year old, I'm not some young teen that hears and bad word and yells, "my virgin ears". I just think it's a little too overboard to have this style of writing that isnt graceful and flowing. This is my first Jackie Collins book and may be my last - it's a little too inappropriate for me.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.5566982
Posted March 21, 2011
this book was super cute. slow at first but it gets way better as you get to know characters.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Glide24
Posted January 27, 2011
Jackie does not disappoint!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.guacamoleNYC
Posted September 13, 2009
I got this book because of Ms. Collins's interview with Craig Ferguson. And, because I needed something to take my mind off a friend having a bad accident on her bicycle. I couldn't concentrate on my school books or my homework, and I could just fall into this. It was mostly interesting, Ms. Collins's has a very strong omniscient narrator voice. My biggest surprise was that even in 2009 it was a huge example of what your teacher means when she/he says "Show don't tell" because as much as was going on, it was rarely filmic and just very talky -- telling not showing! It was my first Jackie Collins book, and it was a fun experience in many ways -- her characters are varied and lively, but I kept feeling let down when subplots would work their way to a resolution and it would be not shown the way I wished. I think Ms. Collins is a charming woman and I wish her books were bumped up ever so slightly to as good as they should be.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted August 17, 2009
I am not an avid reader and not much into the romantic novel, but occasionally I like to read and picked this one up on sale. It had a good plot and built a good foundation for the story. Since reading this book I will probably look for more Jackie Collins books in the future. She writes in a way that makes reading fast and captivating. Not too heavy but plenty of turns and character development.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted August 2, 2009
This is a perfect book for summertime reading. However it does not reach the level of the Lucky Santangelo books. Those books are Jackie Collins' best.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Married Lovers is a real disappointment. Not only was the plot paper thin, you could see every twist and turn chapters before the author played them out, but the characters lacked the depth and vibrancy that I have come to associate with Jackie Collins books. With the exception of a single character, and even that one pushed the boundaries, there was not a single person I cared for throughout the course of the book, I will continue to read Ms. Collins' work as I have long been a fan, but I suggest you save your hard earned dough and rent this from the library (that's where my copy is going to be donated), or borrow it from a friend who was unfortunate enough to buy it.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted October 21, 2008
I Also Recommend:
Jackie returns with another instant classic! MARRIED LOVERS is vintage Collins, a rollercoaster ride of bed-hopping, back-stabbing, Hollywood bitches and bastards. There's a mid-novel twist that will have you reeling, plus a dark rags to riches subplot involving a young Russian beauty that is the stuff of brilliant potboilers. Sinful summer reading. It's chocolate cake for the beach. She is the Queen of Sexy Fiction, but Barnes is not quite under her rule. Get the book and read about married lovers. Fanatastic read.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted July 18, 2008
Jackie Collins never ceases to amaze me with her writing. This book is wonderful.. I read it in one day... The Anya storyline threw me for a loop at first but in the end it played out beautifully!!! Wonderful book.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted June 30, 2008
I have read all of Jackie Collins' books. The plots are always the same perversion, cheating, betrayal, and a psycho lover who comes in at the end to screw things up. The players may change but the plot is fixed. It's getting old, Jackie.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted June 27, 2008
I usually enjoy Jackie Collin's books, but not this one, the character Anya is depressing and the last 10 pages are the best, the rest is pretty boring. I am sorry I did not wait for the paper back edition, instead of paying $25.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted June 30, 2008
I do agree, I suppose, that tieing the stories together and ending them in the last few pages was a little disappointing. I wanted the book to go on. As for boring-the book was everything but. I also couldn't put the book down. The details brought every emotion out in me: anger, embarassment, sexy, sad, giddy, etc. I thought the plot was fantastic...how Anya was tied into everyone's lives..and everyone was connected somehow. I think the ending could have lasted a few chapters longer, but overall the book was FABULOUS.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted July 3, 2008
This book was spledid. It was a refreshing summer read. It had humor, plot twists and naughty behavior. What more could you ask from a great summer novel.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted June 21, 2008
I thought this was a great book. I wasn't able to put it down. I have an eleven month old and I still made time to read it.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted June 17, 2008
I've always loved Jackie's novels, and was seriously looking forward to this one. However the story really let me down. It took forever to get going and then it all ends in a matter of 10 pages I felt.
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Overview
Three high-powered Hollywood couples, two hot affairs, one underage Russian ex-hooker, a passionate murder—and the players’ lives are changed forever.
Cameron Paradise, a stunningly beautiful twenty-four-year-old personal trainer, flees Hawaii and her champion-surfer husband, Gregg, in the middle of one of his abusive tirades and makes her way to L.A. Tall, blond, with a body to die for, it doesn’t take Cameron long to find a job at an exclusive private fitness club where she encounters LA's most important players. She has plans to open her own studio one day, and while every man she meets comes on to her, she is more focused on saving money and working...