Series: Wynette, Texas Book .5
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 448
Rating: 4 Stars
How I Got It: Purchased
Genre: Contemporary Romance,
Publisher: Avon
Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads
Fleur Savagar is the most beautiful woman in the world . . . to everyone but herself. With her oversized hands and paddle-boat feet, her streaky blond hair and funny green eyes, she lives a life filled with secrets that began before she was born. That was when her bewitching mother left home to find James Dean and met Errol Flynn instead. Now Fleur has to grow up quickly, and life won't make that easy.
Jake Koranda is both New York's most brilliant playwright and Hollywood's hottest actor. Difficult, talented, and tormented, he has no patience for international glamour girls, not even ones with beautiful bodies and smart-aleck mouths. But there's more to the Glitter Baby than shine, and Fleur's tougher than Jake expects. Even with the odds stacked against her, she's fiercely determined to discover the woman she's destined to be.
An ugly duckling who can't believe she's turned into a swan . . . A tough-guy movie star with a haunted past . . . In a land of broken dreams, can two unlikely lovers trust their hearts?
Review
That was a book.
I have no idea how to start this.
I did try reading this a couple years ago and couldn't get past page 10. Honestly, the opening was still a struggle, but I pushed through. Generally, I'm glad I did.
Now, I'm not sure I would classify this as a romance novel-especially compared to Ms. Phillips' other books. Maybe more of a woman's fiction story. The story is just more about Fleur. And her mother has more of an impact/presence than Jake and the love story aspects.
Man, I still don't know how to write about this.
This is the kind of book you need to read this and then let it digest for a little while. There is just so much going on.
The story is about Fleur growing up and becoming herself. Part of this means we learn about how she became to exist so we get her mother's backstory. It covers a lot of time from the 50s to the 80s.
Her mom, Belinda, is quite an interesting character. She tries to be strong, but is incredibly reliant on other people-especially men. Ms. Phillips does a spectacular job writing her. She's "weak' but sympathetic and understandable. She isn't necessarily the nicest person, but I get her and you can tell she loves her daughter.
I'm not going to talk too much about her dad. He's such a creeper and probably one of the grossest men I've read about. He's just a special kind of messed up. But you can totally tell why and how he has such a large impact on Fleur.
The romance was pretty good. I wanted them together especially when they reconnect. The age difference and life-experience differences in them bothered me when they first met, But this book was from the 1980s and that was more common then-I see you Johanna Lindsey. I kind of just aged her up in my mind-which I do with YA all the time so I'm used to it.
All of the relationships were written so well. They weren't perfect, because it's like real life. I especially liked Fleur's friendship with Kissy. It was such a solid female friendship. You go SEP! Fleur's evolving relationship with Michel, her brother, was probably my second favorite.
Glitter Baby was quite the adventure and I'm glad I gave it another chance. I'm not sure I could read it again, but maybe I would. This book definitely feels like it would feel very different-in a good way-on a re-read.
Thanks for reading!
Holly
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