Baldwin from Another Planet

Clueless #8

by H.B. Gilmour

Cher has her own cable show. Her first guest--a new four-star hottie with a totally troubled soul and righteous Italian accent. What is his problem? Cher's on a mission to find out, so stay tuned!

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

H. B. Gilmour was a bestselling author of children's books. She grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with her mother and the extended family and fondly remembered writing her very first poem for Arbor Day when she was just eight years old. As a teenager, she moved to Florida to live with her father. She attended college there and then moved back to New York City.

Gilmour’s first publishing job was at E.P. Dutton. In 1964 she joined Bantam Books where she worked as copywriter, editor, and copy chief and as an associate director of marketing. She was married to Bruce Gilmour in 1968. She had a child, Jessica, with him in 1970. They were divorced in 1972. Her first novel "The Trade", a trashy paperback about the publishing business, was published in 1969.

She wrote novelizations (including Saturday Night Fever) and children's books (including Muppets books) while working full-time at Bantam and raising a child on her own. She published her second original novel "So Long, Daddy" in 1985. The artwork for the dust jacket of the hardcover release includes a photo of her daughter, Jessica. Her third novel was "Ask Me If I Care", a book about a teenage girl who gets in with the wrong crowd.

In 1992 she joined the book division at Scholastic, leaving in 1995 to pursue writing full-time. She focused her energy on books for "tweens" and children which is what gave her the most joy.

She met John Johann, whom she would later marry, in 1992. They later moved to Cornwallville in upstate New York where she happily tended to the garden she never had in the city until her death. She died on June 21, 2009 of pneumonia due to complications from lung cancer. She is survived by her husband John, daughter Jessica, stepchildren Wendy and John, Jr. and step-grandchildren Reef, Riley, John Jr. and Jasmine.

Reviews

[Andrew ✝️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This time around, Cher finds herself being elected the head of her classes' journalism team. She originally accepts the nomination because she thought a recent addition to the school, Aldo Belloguardia - a heartthrob from Tuscany - was going to be signing on as well. Unfortunately for her, she finds herself trying to both distance herself emotionally (which is putting it mildly) from Aldo and to potentially become his girlfriend. The fact that Aldo has been chosen as her interviewee makes this decision even more difficult.

I actually found myself laughing out loud towards the end several times. Now on the 8th book in this series (technically, really the fourth; this is the fourth where the Cher on the cover is NOT Alicia Silverstone, but Rachel Blanchard), I'm starting to get used to the differences between the stand-alone movie and it's tv show. This is definitely my favorite one out of the ones based on the TV series so far. 5 out of 5 stars.

[Sandy Yang · Rating 3 out of 5]

What surprised me was that no one even read this book. At least it seems that way. I thought it was a pretty cute book, and it counted more like a pleasure read.
Its basically just about how Cher, the protagonist teenager who meets a very cute guy with an Italian accident, and decides to go out of her way to help him with his problems. He is the new kid in school that catches her eye. Even though it isn't a very serious read, the mystery of finding out what is really up with this new kid, Aldo Belloguardia, made me finish the book.
I recommend this to teenage girls who just needs some time off those harsh serious toned books.