Review: The Starlets

The Starlets by Lee Kelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 Stars

This was a light, fast read, but it was written large - if you know what I mean. Prominent characters, a large and interesting plot line—everything just screams old-time Hollywood Epic of the inexpensive kind!

I loved the enemies to best friends/sisters trope, and added in the fact that I was busy trying to figure out which Hollywood star of that generation the authors were describing; well, that just added the cherry to the top of my ice cream sundae!

At times, this book just screamed slap-stick comedy, and at other times, it shouted that it was an old-time Mafia movie. Murder mystery one minute, then slap-stick the next.

I really loved this book.

*ARC was supplied by the publisher Harper Muse/Harper Collins, the authors Lee Kelly, Jennifer Thorne, and NetGalley.

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SYNOPSIS: "One perfect island. Two rivals. A star-studded cast.

But underneath the glitter, disaster is brewing.

Summer, 1958. Vivienne Rhodes thinks she’s finally landed her break playing Helen of Troy in Apex Pictures’ big-budget epic, A Thousand Ships, an anticipated blockbuster meant to resurrect the failing studio. Naturally, she’s devastated when she arrives on the remote Italian island of Tavalli and finds herself cast as the secondary character, Cassandra—while her nemesis, the fiancé-stealing Lottie Lawrence, America’s supposed “sweetheart,” is playing the lead role instead.

The tension on set, though, turns deadly when the ladies discover that members of the crew are using the production as a front for something decidedly illegal—and that they are willing to kill to keep their dealings under wraps. When the two women find themselves on the run and holding key evidence, Vivienne and Lottie frantically agree to work together to deliver the proof to Interpol, hoping to protect both their lives and their careers.

Staying one step ahead of corrupt cops and looming mobsters, the archrivals flee across the seas. Their journey leads them into Monaco’s casinos, Grace Kelly’s palace, on a road trip through the Alps—even onto another film set, before a final showdown back on Tavalli, where the lives of the entire cast and crew hang in the balance. Vivienne and Lottie finally have the chance to be real heroines—to save the day, the film, maybe even each other—but only if they can first figure out how to share the spotlight."