The Kari AnnAlysis

Juliette is on a much  needed vacation after her ex-husband was murdered and her most recent fling was with a movie star, secretly battling cancer  in the hotel where she worked. But her vacation is cut short when one of Hollywood’s biggest starlets takes a plunge in a fountain. Juliette, who has dealt with Mercy a number of times in the states, takes the drug filled star to the amazing property that she and her cousin share, complete with villas and a mini castle.

Juliette thinks she’ll let the star sleep it off and they’ll be done. Little does she realize that Mercy’s fling was just found dead and Mercy believes it is murder. Getting Mercy off the fountain was probably one of the most drama inducing decisions Juliette will ever make. This decision will put her on set of a movie, in the middle of a huge drug investigation, in the face of another possible murder and deciding between the arms of the hot-to-trot cancer fighting actor and her boss.

Upfront, I am going to say the books that The Starlet most reminded me of are the books written by Chuck Palahniuk. There are some of his I love, others I hate, but they are all so crazy. The Starlet follows in those footsteps. There is another crazy twist, murder, sex story around the corner and to me, it was definitely not what I expected. For that fact, I give props to Mary McNamara. I often read books and wonder “how did someone ever think of this?”. This is one of those cases.

Underneath all of the drama and drugs and death, this book does tell a good story of a woman who has been fighting getting over the death of her parents for over a decade. Juliette will not talk about the death with anyone, including her cousin, who also lost his parents during the tragic train accident. It’s a story of growth and recognition, with a little crazy mixed in.

I couldn’t help but fall in love with the characters in this book. Mercy, through all of her drug problems and show-stopping antics, is just a teenager, doing the one thing she is good at. Juliette may be hard-headed, but she has a huge heart. This has gotten her in trouble, with her cheating ex, but she means well and all she wants is to help this troubled, young star. Gabe may have a rocky past that was riddled with cocaine, but now he is extremely level-headed and straight forward. And finally, oh my Devlin. Dev is Juliette’s boss and I absolutely love him. He always has the answers, even a sea away and is there in a second when he believes his girl, Juliette, is in trouble.

While reading this book, I wasn’t in love with it. I felt that it was slow at times and although there was a lot of drama, it didn’t really pull me in and keep me there. Looking back though, I don’t hate it. I give The Starlet 3 bookmarks. It was just Meh for me.

ISBN: 9781439149843
Published: June 20, 2010
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Kari got this book from Crazy Book Tours