How to Sleep with a Movie Star

by Kristin Harmel

Overview

When Claire lands the plum assignment of interviewing Hollywood's #1 hottie, she knows better than to mix business with pleasure, yet the next morning she wakes up in his bed—without her clothes. The tabloids pick up the story, and she learns that not everything printed is true.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780446694476
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	02/16/2006
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Kristin Harmel is the author of four women's fiction novels. She also reports for People magazine, and her work has appeared in magazines including Glamour, Runner's World, Woman's Day, American Baby, and Men's Health. She's also the author of two novels for teens. Kristin Harmel lives in Orlando, Florida.

Editorial Reviews

Harmel's modern-day fairy tale, her debut novel, takes a look at celebrity worship and women's magazines through the somewhat starstruck, somewhat skeptical eyes of self-described "nice girl" Claire Reilly, a 26-year-old entertainment editor at Mod magazine. After Claire catches her freeloading boyfriend, Tom, sleeping with another woman, she goes on an uncharacteristic bender, drowning her sorrows in tequila shots. At the bar, she runs into movie star Cole Brannon, whom she interviewed that morning for Mod. Cole kindly ministers to a weepy, drunken Claire and even follows her home to make sure Tom is gone. Cole is so perfect he's almost dull--and Claire's nemesis, beauty and fashion director Sidra DeSimon, is cartoonishly malicious, but Claire's frenzied narrative keeps the story interesting. Sidra leaks a rumor about Claire and Cole to the tabloids and fabricates a Mod article-with Claire's byline attached-about their alleged one-night-stand. But a red carpet confrontation sets Claire and Cole's reconciliation in motion, and the young editor has to weigh her job against the possibility of lasting love. Mod never had a chance. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Fashion magazine girl interviews hot actor guy, then the whole world thinks they slept together. Harmel's debut can occasionally be less than irritating, quite an achievement given the exhausted field of books featuring love-starved employees of New York-based women's magazines. Claire Reilly is a good Southern girl who works as a celebrity reporter at Mod, a sort of Marie Claire clone in a circulation death struggle with Cosmopolitan. Living with a boyfriend who does little but work on a seemingly endless novel, Claire is already sexually frustrated when she finds out she's going to interview Cole Brannon. Yes, the Cole Brannon, the charmingly naif superstar Hollywood hunk who, after hanging out with Claire, comes off as some combination of Jesus Christ and Brad Pitt. Claire's heart goes pitter-pat, even though she knows nothing will ever happen: he the big movie star, she the mere mortal. In a scenario lifted practically whole from the movie Sliding Doors, Claire's own relationship collapses, sending her despondently drunk into the night. A bar initially provides succor, only said bar also contains a still charming and down-to-earth Cole, whom the plastered Claire promptly vomits on. After coming to in his bed-nothing happens, he's a gentleman-Claire must confront confused feelings about Cole, whom gossip rags tell her is a raging sex fiend, and also navigate the tense waters back at the magazine, where uber-bitch editor Sidra is out for Claire's head; maybe a fabricated tabloid scandal about an unethical reporter sleeping with her interviewee will do the trick?Stale office politics, predictable crises and strangely priggish attitudes; if this book were a person, it would be nervouslytucking hair behind its ear, wondering if the reader thinks it's showing too much skin.

Kirkus Reviews