Book Review – Hollywood Dirt by Alessandra Torre

Hollywood Dirt
OMG the magnificence that is this book!!! Contemporary romance perfection, that I read in its entirety with a goofy grin on my face, butterflies in my stomach and absolute exaltation once I reached that perfect P-E-R-F-E-C-T epilogue. My cheeks were hurting by the end, and my heart was overflowing in love and delight and I was SO good with that!

Now I know most of you already know I went crazy for this one. What, with my online blog post and all of my Facebook exclamations of urgent “must-read nows” —> like this one… Currently Reading… Hollywood Dirt by Alessandra Torre (and I’m loving it!!) and like this one:

Maryse: OMG THIS book is the best!! Okay I admit in the 60-70% area I was enjoying but mostly just… going with it, but I can’t stop awwwwwwwwing and sighing and tearing up and LAUGHING MY BUTT off once it hit that 75% and on… GAH!!!! BEST!!!!! So to break it down:
1% to 55% AMAZING
55% to 75% plenty good but not crazy-exciting… just good.
75% to 100% AMAZING. This book rocks my world. Best Sunday Ever! Cocky the chicken, the paper bags, the secret reveal, the whole “meet cute” OMG I FREAKING LOVE IT!!!!!! I WANT TO BE THEM!!!

Karen: I want my world rocked too.

Maryse: WOW… WOW you guys. This author… I will tell you. ABSOLUTELY in my top 3. Yes. I declare that. This book. THIS BOOK!!!!! I am ecstatic. Exhilarated. Delighted. I FEEL SO GOOOOOOOD!!!! 😀 Oh!!! In case you were wondering… 5 stars. Absolutely!!

Darci: I just started this tonight and loving it already 🙂

Maryse: You will have a GREAT reading journey, Darci!! 🙂

Lauren: Just finished this one!! I loved it!

Nikki: Cocky the chicken is my favorite! He’s afraid of loud noises…LOL

Sheree: I’m just about to curl up with it. 🙂

Suzan: Really enjoying it so far. Cole. Didn’t know what to think about him at first. Love Ben, And the mysterious reason summer…….. no spoilers. 🙂 Cocky. Hahah

Maryse: Just wait!!! Cocky is ADORABLE!!! Actually… COLE with Cocky is adorable. Did anyone get to the paper bags yet?

Nikki: Yes!!! Loved the faces they drew!!!!

Suzan: LOVE IT I was really disappointed in the people of Quincy making such a big deal out of her *spoiler*. They blew it out of proportion and didn’t really try to understand her..I understand southern decorum but she could’ve done worse things. I thought it was hilarious and they deserved more than what she did, her friends and fiance anyway… Maybe I’m just evil minded. Hahah

Maryse: OMG Suzan I WAS CACKLING LIKE MAD HERE. GAH I hate that I didn’t record that. Y’all would have had me committed. The GLEE!!!!!!

Suzan: Paper bags… ong. Hilarious!!! And nerf war was funny… love this book. Love Alessandra Torre!

Jennifer: I just finished this. The writing was excellent and the story so good! Totally five starts! My only complaint is I would have liked more really together time.

If you’re looking for just a bit of everything, not too much of anything, wholeheartedly believable (but still total escapism) all tied up in undeniable pro-writing and story telling, this is it!!! I giggled, I chuckled, I cackled, I grumbled and I swooned! I wanted to be her, and I wanted to be loved by him, and I wanted to cuddle and pet Cocky!  *snort*  Tee heeeeeeee!!! *blush* OMG I should make a video of me writing this review ’cause I’m back to tittering and blushing again. You’ll see. You’ll ADORE Cocky. He is the PERFECT sidekick, and OMG THAT!!!!

And the paper bags. Don’t EVEN get me started on how unique, fun and adorable the paper bag scenes were. I won’t say anything more, ’cause everything that unfolds in this book is so fun in it’s “snippets” of life. The scenes the author created… from intense, to hilarious, to introspective, to suuuuuuuper-steamy… real life moments that were just enough detail to make it real. To make THEM real, and to have us know them as people… just like us. Couple that with her ability to paint a palpable, realistic backdrop. *sigh* Did I mention perfection? LOL!

Jean: I am really loving Hollywood Dirt and I don’t usually go for the famous actor books, but this is so well done!

Lisa: Maryse just finished Hollywood Dirt today and LOOOVED it!! Great writing and wonderful dual POV. Summer and Coles chemistry is hot hot hot. 5 Southern stars y’all.

Jackie: I’m just updating that I finished Hollywood Dirt and it was 5 stars for me. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but this I has elements of other books I have liked-Hollywood guy meets small town girl, love/hate chemistry, etc…, but this felt new and original to me. I think that it based on a true element, that the main character don’t meet until 20%, and the writing about the filming of the movie felt so authentic-that’s what separates this from other stories.
Totally loved everything about this book.

Janice: Ok first time signing in.. Loved Hollywood Dirt…wonderful writing..finally in a long time, a book i couldn’t put down..thanks for the Great recommendation ..

Anne: Finished Hollywood Dirt and loved it! Cole and Summer’s chemistry is off the charts! The writing was amazing too. 4.5/5 for me  Don’t know what to read next…

Melody: Loved, Loved, Loved Hollywood Dirt! Sooooo good!!! Definite 5 stars!

Stephanie: Just finished reading Hollywood Dirt. I did enjoy it but wish the HEA had happened a little sooner. With a book this long, I would have liked not quite so much “angst” and a little more of them together. But overall loved it.

Cheryl: Reading Hollywood Dirt. I agree Maryse, I love this author’s writing!!

Fabi: I’m going to have to put Hollywood Dirt high up on my tbr. Too many people raving about the writing. I have to see for myself.  

Amy: Ooooooh, does Hollywood dirt have Love Unscripted feels?? Even if it doesn’t, it is by Alessandra Torre so we can’t go wrong!

Maryse: It does in “genre” but not as intense and angsty in the rip-your-heart-out department. BOTH excellent books, just in completely different ways.

Jean: Hollywood Dirt….that was pure perfection! Just sayin’…..lol

Marina: Just finished Hollywood Dirt and loved it!! Felt original and quirky… what next…

Nothing made me too crazy (even though I do enjoy over-the-top intense-angst… when it’s well done) but in this one? It didn’t need that rip-your-heart-out emotion. It was abundant in everything else to make this the ideal romance read! And here I am wanting to tout this one as my favorite of the year. Yep, it seems my 5-star favorites this year are so amazing, that every time I read one, I think to myself, THIS!!! This is the top one. Has to be. And right now, I’m saying it’s this one.  LOL!!! 

So what’s it about?

Summer lives in a small town in Georgia (I think 6000 people?) and over 60 of it’s residents are millionaires due to the Coca Cola company shares that they all got in on, once upon a time. Mind you, Summer is NOT one of the wealthy, and even her past is in question when it comes to her fellow-townsfolk (the gossipy ones, anyway).

In small towns, there are two types of secrets: the kind that we pull together s a mini-nation to protect, and the juicy. The juicy things don’t stay quiet. They aren’t meant to. They are a small town’s sole source of entertainment, the morsels of fat that keep us all healthy. Those secrets are our currency…

She tends to the property of an estate, with her mom, and intends on making just enough money to get a new start somewhere else. Why does she want to leave so bad? Something happened. Something BIG that we got hints of (oh SO CLEVER how the author subtly “knitted” the little hinty tidbits into her journey – she is SO good at tying everything together to come full circle as the story rolls out – WOW AND OMG this is one of the most AWESOME reveals – I was ecstatic!!!!) but I digress.

A big time movie is coming to their town (almost a documentary about the Coca Cola millionaires – but “fictionalized” for our entertainment) and she befriends one of the “scouts” (BEN!!!!! OMG I LOVED HIM!!!! LOL!!!!!!!) that offers her GOOD money for her help. Ahhhhh as the English would say… *bless*. Bless Ben!!! Bless THAT friendship that was (is?) SOOOOO FUN!!!!

But she knows that time is coming to an end… and soon her “movie-life” excitement will be out of grasp:

I anticipated it with fevered excitement and also dreaded its arrival because that meant our work would be done, and I would once again be an outsider, my nose pressed against the glass, watching the ball with no ticket to attend.

Tee hee! Little does she know… it is SO not over. We find out… he will SO need her…

I hung my head between my knees and took in a deep breath. I didn’t want to be famous.

“It’d be a ticket to the show…” Ben said soft and teasingly. A ticket to the show. Yes, being in the movie would put me in the middle of the action, would show me everything that I’d been worried about missing and then some.

But let’s talk about him, shall we? THE star of the movie is a Hollywood A-list heartthrob that is battling his own demons (aka, his soon-to-be gold digger of an ex-wife).

P.S. Advice from his lawyer (THE BRAD DE LUCA for you “Innocence” fanatics)

“This is all you do? Divorces?”

De Luca nodded: “That’s it.”

“Dismal job. Ripping apart marriages.”

The man grinned. “That depends. For me, my divorce was the best thing that ever happened. I lost a mistake and ended up marrying my soulmate. You can waste your life away, tied to the wrong spouse. Divorce can right at least one of our wrongs.”

Hopeful… and yet, a little sad, too.

But! Something happens and Cole the famous movie-actor has to arrive in town a little earlier than expected, and ends up waiting for his “help” at her house (since the movie scout is hanging out with her right at that moment. Sparks fly, but I’m not sure it’s the good ones.

Her eyes met his, and he smiled, the Cole Masten smile that unlocked every door. She didn’t smile back. Sh!t. Everything was falling to hell, including his smile.

He doesn’t know why she was not fawning over him (oh his poor egoooooo….)

Now, I know what I saw. I know what that something was. It was a$$hole, pure and simple. It was spoiled rotten – I get what I want because I deserve it, you are beneath me – a$$hole.

and she’s irritated that he’s such a spoiled brat.

…this is the old South. Fame isn’t a good thing. Neither are bragging rights. The more you brag, the more flash you show – that’s a sign of weakness, of insecurity.

You can tell the truly wealthy from their confidence, their grace. People here don’t show their wealth, they hide it. They covet it.

Good times, my friend, and it’s good…. NO…. AWESOME TIMES, right to the very end.

Okay sure, there was a little *hump* for me in the middle that was still plenty good (about hmmm… 20% of the book?), that didn’t have me giggling and delighting as much, but it didn’t take long for it to pick right back up to it’s awesomeness that I was introduced to in the from the whole first half, and carry us on it’s wings of glee right to the finish line. I MEAN GLEE!!!!!! 

Hrmmmm…. I wonder what I should rate this 414 pages of well… romance book perfection? 😉 *snickers* 

5 STARS!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. Did I tell you I’m already a HUGE fan of this author? Gah!!! She’s absolutely one of my favorites ever.

P.P.S. Thank you to the author for sending me a review copy. Dear Alessandra… as a book addict, I am SO thrilled that you write. I can’t believe my luck, therefore, I would like to also send a message of gratitude out there to the Universe: Thank you for Alessandra Torre! 😀