Hi there and welcome to my stop on the HARD GLAMOUR blog tour sponsored AToMR Book Tours. For other stops on the tour click here. Today’s book is a New Adult Romance by Maggie Marr.
A promise to keep….
Honoring her mother’s last wish, Lane Channing vows to follow her dreams. She takes the ‘big risk’ and leaves her small Kansas town behind and heads to LA, the city of dreams. She’s got a stellar job lined up, an old jeep, and 20 bucks to last her to her first paycheck. Her hopes shatter when she arrives to find her job’s been given to someone else. Now she’s broke and will soon be living on the streets if she doesn’t do something fast. Welcome to cutthroat – Lane is most certainly not in Kansas anymore.
On the cusp of success…
Dillon MacAvoy has one goal–to become a star–whatever it takes. Even if it means honing his bad-boy can’t-be-tamed-and-forever-single image. Besides the image isn’t far from the truth. Dillon cares only about his younger brother and his career. He’s on the brink of superstardom if he can just decide on the next right script. But for that, he needs a script reader he can trust.
In a strange twist of fate…
Lane Channing is Dillon’s last chance. If Lane lasts the summer without becoming MacAvoy’s latest conquest, she’s guaranteed a job in entertainment. No problem, as long as she can ignore the heat that pulses through her every time Dillon is in the room. After all, love and commitment with a sweet, hometown girl would only ruin the Dillon MacAvoy brand.
My Review:
Lane is in a real mess. She’s broke in LA, with no job, and her car has just been towed. The brief encounter with a gay mailboy at the talent agency didn’t seem like a portent–but it should have. That mailboy, Choo, is about to become her personal savior. See, the delightful Choo is the younger brother of a (potential) rising star–Dillon MacAvoy.
Dillon had been recently plucked from obscurity while on UCLA’s campus–tapped for his All-American good looks, he posed for some underwear ads, and a year later he’s making movies. Not quite a household name, he’s got three movies poised for release and his publicist and agent are planning to capitalize on the “Unattainable Bad Boy” image they have cultivated to maximize his marketability. As with everything Hollywood–sex sells. So Dillon’s been having a lot of it. Dillon’s a fresh talent, but he’s a terrible script reader–and all his female readers, well…they don’t last long. If you want to get into a movie, you have to know the script, so chasing away all his readers after one-night stands means Dillon’s in professional trouble.
Choo picks Lane to be Dillon’s new reader–and it’s an offer she can’t refuse. Even if she struggles with attraction to her new boss. Dillon’s finally found a girl he won’t sleep with–because Lane is too pure for his jaded tastes. He knows she’s deep down good, not one of the countless starlets looking for a little fame pop with their action. See, Dillon’s driven to succeed. He needs these movies to go big time so he can bank enough money to support himself and Choo. Their parents have disowned them–well Choo anyway–for his ‘lifestyle’. Choo’s parents had previously subjected him to radical deprogramming therapy to “cure” his homosexuality–and it nearly killed him–something Dillon will never let happen again. So he’s All In on the image-building. The bigger his paydays the better he can protect Choo, after all.
Yet, he’s desperately drawn to Lane, and she to him. For her the security of their home: Dillon, Choo and their housekeeper, is something she hasn’t had for a bit. She has no siblings and her mom just died…so Choo’s friendship is a balm, even if Dillon’s attitude flexes between frostbite and thermonuclear. And, yeah, it does get hot.
But admitting that they want each other isn’t the hardest part. No, the hardest part is Dillon keeping up his Charade of Sexiness when Lane holds his heart. And, the hard truths of the glamour business are enough to send Lane packing back to Kansas…to save herself, and any shred of a career she might want when she graduates next spring.
It’s a satisfying read. Good smexytimes. Excellent tension. A insider’s look at the PR machine that is Hollywood. Some (rather) implausible scenarios that ultimately bring the naive Lane and the aloof Dillon into each other’s embrace, but it’s a romance so we’re all just as desperate to have them reach the HEA as they are… If you like Celebrity Romance (Think: Jasinda Wilder’s STRIPPED, Sasha Summers’ HOLLYWOOD EVER AFTER, or Beck Anderson’s FIX YOU) you will not be disappointed.
Interested? You can find HARD GLAMOUR on Goodreads, Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
About the Author
Maggie Marr grew up in the Midwest and made the move to Los Angeles to work in the movie business. She was a motion picture literary agent for ICM before becoming a full time writer. She’s written for film and TV and ghostwritten for celebrities. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and children.
You can find Maggie on her blog, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads or Pinterest.
***GIVEAWAY***
Click on the Rafflecopter link below for your chance to win
one of 10 Print copies of Hard Glamour – US/Canada
or one of 10 eBook copies of Hard Glamour – International
Good luck, and as always, keep reading my friends!
V's Reads... 