Not as naughty as I remember (Hollywood Wives: The New Generation - Jackie Collins)

Member Name: whitby

Product:	Hollywood Wives: The New Generation - Jackie Collins
Date:	24/03/02 (258 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to read, Plot not too complicated

Disadvantages: Suddenly ends

POWER SEX MONEY FAME

I remember being at school and sniggering with friends over Jackie Collins books. The characters were always romping and bonking. I have a memory of her books always being sexually thrilling when I was a teenager.

I had loved reading her series of books about Lucky Santangelo, but after that I tended to shy away from the romance and glitz of Collins (sister of Joan) as I discovered the medical mysteries of Robin Cook.

Jackie Collins who lives in Beverly Hills has written twenty international best sellers. These include:

LUCKY, CHANCES, ROCK STAR, SINNERS, THE STUD, THE BITCH

My Mum belongs to the Escape Fiction book club, which is part of the BCA group of various clubs. They have had a special offer available since this book was released late last year. The offer was to get the hardback version of this book together with Penny Vincenzi's book called Something Dangerous for £16.98. The Recommended Retail Price (RRP) of each book alone is £16.99 for the hardback versions so this seemed a good deal.

The book has a white cover with gold writing stating the title and authors name. This is not a particularly eye catching cover but Jackie's books tend to sell themselves.

The inside sleeve introduces us to six of the characters after an introduction of:

POWER! SEX! MONEY! FAME! The new Hollywood wives are back with a vengeance. Whatever they don't have, they want and whatever these women want, they get.


*~~ STORYLINE ~~*

The book is written around three main characters. Four times married Hollywood movie and singing star Lissa Roman and her daughter Nicci Stone who is about to marry the brother of the man she secretly lusts after. However will the marriage take place as a crazed Eric Vernon is looking to abduct Nicci and hold her to ransom.

Whilst this main thread is developing through the book we also have the spin off sub plots rela
ting to Lissa's friends and her private detective friend Michael, who is helping her prove that her fourth husband is being unfaithful.


*~~ LAYOUT AND STYLE ~~*

The book has a prologue that nicely introduces us to the villain of the story. This is quite a good idea as we are always aware that this sinister person is lurking around about to cause havoc.

Then follows forty-eight chapters of Hollywood gossip for want of a better description. We learn whose sleeping with whom, which men fancy which women and/or men and who has ulterior motives behind their facades.

These tales are all written in to short, sharp punchy chapters and I did feel an urge to read onto the next chapter all through the book, often catching myself saying just one more chapter or just another etc.

What I found quite disappointing was that the storylines started to build around our characters and then - all of a sudden 484 pages in - the book ended and the reader is hit with an epilogue which gives you a quick run through of what happened next for all of the characters. This in itself could be another book!

As for my teenage memories of Jackie Collins' books being full of rampant lovemaking tales I'm afraid that I've either got a better imagination of my own now, or Jackie is too old to remember how to tell it.

A typical quote from page 365 of the book was:

"He caressed her breasts though her denim shirt, then feverishly began unbuttoning it as she thrust her body towards him. Her hand snaked down to the hardness between his........."

That might do it for you but after reading this sort of description three or four times I wasn't too interested anymore!


*~~ CONCLUSION ~~*

I read the whole book in one evening.

I did want to read more and also felt compelled to turn over the pages to find out how the story would unfold. I do not feel that the book was
particularly taxing on the brain and I definitely don't think this was the raunchy Jackie Collins that I remember reading when I was younger. I read Sins by Judith Gould just before this and that may have clouded my view as I think I may have been making sub conscious comparisons between the two ways in which sex is depicted in the books.

Needless to say I did finish the book, unlike Robbie Williams touring tale that is still sitting unread after about page 46. I also think that it was quite good value buying the book with the offer I described it was literally half price.

I think this would be a good book to take away to read on the beach whilst sunbathing as you can dip in and out (pardon the expression) without loosing the plot.



I'd love to have some comments from any Jackie Collins readers out there to let me know if she has tamed over the years or if it is just that the books seemed more explicit when I was young and naive.

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