Stars Over Sunset Boulevard

by Susan Meissner

In this novel from the acclaimed author of A Bridge Across the Ocean and The Last Year of the War, two women working in Hollywood during its Golden Age discover the joy and heartbreak of true friendship.

Los Angeles, Present Day. When an iconic hat worn by Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind ends up in Christine McAllister’s vintage clothing boutique by mistake, her efforts to return it to its owner take her on a journey more enchanting than any classic movie....

Los Angeles, 1938. Violet Mayfield sets out to reinvent herself in Hollywood after her dream of becoming a wife and mother falls apart, and lands a job on the film-set of Gone With the Wind. There, she meets enigmatic Audrey Duvall, a once-rising film star who is now a fellow secretary. Audrey’s zest for life and their adventures together among Hollywood’s glitterati enthrall Violet...until each woman’s deepest desires collide.  

What Audrey and Violet are willing to risk, for themselves and for each other, to ensure their own happy endings will shape their friendship, and their lives, far into the future. 

CONVERSATION GUIDE INCLUDED

• ISBN10: 1628999012
• ISBN13: 9781628999013
• Publish Date: 1 March 2016 (first published 5 January 2016)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 9 September 2021
• Imprint: Center Point
• Edition: Large type / large print edition
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 500
• Language: English

Reviews

[cherryblossommj]

Originally posted on Creative Madness Mama.I'm a few books behind on my book list for Susan Meissner, but I'm excited seeing the covers and descriptions of her latest releases from new-to-me publisher NAL (New American Library), part of the Penguin Random House family of publishers. I was expecting a copy of Stars Over Sunset Boulevard to review, but it never arrived so I only a few days ago acquired a digital copy. So soon, I hope to update a review for you, which I can almost guarantee with my past experiences with Susan's writing to be good!

In Stores Now!

Review to come...

Preview and Review posts you might be interested in:

 

The Girl in the Glass {Review}

A Sound Amond the Trees {Preview}

Lady in Waiting {Preview}

The Shape of Mercy {Review}

White Picket Fences {Review}

Secrets of a Charmed Life {Review}

 
This review was originally posted on Creative Madness Mama.

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

I love old Hollywood. The days of Clark Gable, Bogart and Bacall and Audrey Hepburn. In college, I spent hours watching Turner Classic Movies. I still lament the fact that there are few actors that pose a triple threat. I dream in Technicolor. When I came across Stars Over Sunset Boulevard on NetGalley, I was delighted by the the idea of following two women during Hollywood’s Golden Age during the filming of one of my favorite movies, Gone With the Wind.

Unfortunately, Stars Over Sunset Boulevard delivered a disappointing rehash of a standard love triangle that left me feeling underwhelmed.

One of my favorite devices in historical fiction novels is inter-chapters that connect the past to the present. In Stars Over Sunset Boulevard we are introduced to the famous green hat worn by Vivian Leigh in Gone with the Wind. The hat was introduced fairly early in the story. Then it was lost and everyone seemed to forget about it despite it being a key prop piece. The characters in the present time chapters that discovered the hat again had little personal or emotional connection to the characters in the past. As a result, I had cared little about them. When this plot device is used, I need to care as much about the characters in the past as the ones in the present.

Our main characters, Violet and Audrey, were cookie cutter paper dolls. I didn’t buy their friendship and I definitely didn’t buy their love an affection for Bert. If either of them cared so much about him, why was he always in the background? I never got to know enough about him besides the fact he “was a nice guy.” And nice guys, without some more description and explanation, fall flat with me. If this was suppose to be a love triangle, there needed to be more tension between Violet, Audrey and Bert. As it stands, they just feel into place exactly the way you expect based on their personalities.

The best thing about the book? Old Hollywood. Meissner painted it exactly the way I imagine old Hollywood to be. I was absolutely giddy when reading the descriptions of the filming of the burning of Atlanta and the massive casualty scene in the town square. I loved the details, many of which I knew, about the filming.

Of course, the Golden Age of Hollywood did not last forever and because the characters fell flat for me, in the end I did not enjoy Stars Over Sunset Boulevard. There needed to be more character development for the relationships to be believable and a better connection between the object and person(s) causing the strife. As it stands, the story is a predictable romance peppered with memories of time gone by.


This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews