Release Date: January 5th 2016
Pages: 400
Stars Over Sunset Boulevard is a story set mostly in the past, with a few moments in the present time. What bonds the two periods is that they both are set in Los Angeles, bonded by family and the movie world.
Los Angeles, present time: In the vintage boutique of Christine McAllister, a hat from that was used in the movie Gone With The Wind ends up there by coincidence. When Christine finds out the origins of the hat, she starts a search to return the hat to the rightfull owner, but finds out more in her search..
Los Angeles, 1938: In this period of the book the reader meets Violet Mayfield and Audrey Duvall. Violet has moved to L.A. after her dream of becoming a wife and mother falls apart. There she meets Audrey Duvall. Audrey works as a secretary for the film studio where Violet lands a job on the film set of Gone With the Wind.Violet wants a husband. Audrey wants to be a film star. Also working on the set of Gone With The Wind is Bert. Bert falls for Audrey (who doesn't reciprocate his feelings), and Violet has her eyes on Bert. This love triangle is the red line during the story, where drama, lies and secrets, and a daughter eventually lead to the hat that ends up in Christine's boutique.
I would like to point out that not everything in the storyline was worked out well to make them clear for the reader. For example:I was quite confused for quite a while what Violet and Audrey's role on the movie set was. At some point I thought they where both secretaries, and at another point it seemed the author wanted to make the reader believe they where both aspiring actresses. The characters where okay, I expected more of them before I started the book, as I loved Susan Meissner's book Fall of Marigolds. The plot was full of Hollywood glamour, but as I don't know that much about Gone With The Wind that part was a little lost on me. I also was a bit dissapointed by the ending, which wasn't a very strong conclusion to the story.
Overall I expected more of this book, as I was quite attracted to it by the author's name and the cover/synopsis, but it didn't met my expectations.
