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Tarnished #1
Tarnished Gold
In 1915, starstruck Jack Abadie strikes out for the gilded streets of the most sinful town in the country—Hollywood. With him, he takes a secret that his country hometown would never understand.
After years of hard work and a chance invitation to a gay gentlemen's club, Jack is discovered. Soon, his talent, matinee idol good looks, and affable personality propel him to the height of stardom. But fame breeds distrust.
Meeting Wyatt Maitland turns Jack’s life upside down. He wants to be worthy of his good fortune, but old demons haunt him. Only through Wyatt's strength can Jack face that which keeps him from being the man he wants to be. Love without trust is empty.
As the 1920s roar, scandals rock the movie industry. Public tolerance of Hollywood's decadence has reached its limit. Under pressure to clean up its act, Jack’s studio issues an ultimatum. Either forsake the man he loves and remain a box office darling, or follow his heart and let his shining star fade to tarnished gold.
Tarnished Gold won a 2013 Rainbow Awards for Best Historical.
After years of hard work and a chance invitation to a gay gentlemen's club, Jack is discovered. Soon, his talent, matinee idol good looks, and affable personality propel him to the height of stardom. But fame breeds distrust.
Meeting Wyatt Maitland turns Jack’s life upside down. He wants to be worthy of his good fortune, but old demons haunt him. Only through Wyatt's strength can Jack face that which keeps him from being the man he wants to be. Love without trust is empty.
As the 1920s roar, scandals rock the movie industry. Public tolerance of Hollywood's decadence has reached its limit. Under pressure to clean up its act, Jack’s studio issues an ultimatum. Either forsake the man he loves and remain a box office darling, or follow his heart and let his shining star fade to tarnished gold.
Tarnished Gold won a 2013 Rainbow Awards for Best Historical.
350 pages, Paperback
First published March 25, 2013
7 people are currently reading
327 people want to read
About the author
Brita Addams
32 books147 followersPrompted by her love of history, writer of historical fiction and historical romance, Brita Addams has tromped around old cemeteries and dusty town hall basements for over twenty years as a non-professional genealogist. She’s uncovered some juicy stories about her ancestors that may or may not have already found their way into her writing. For several years, she lectured on genealogy aboard cruise ships, as part of their Enrichment Programs.
Having grown up in blustery Upstate New York, Brita has lived in the sultry South for many years. She has a loving, supportive family, including her native New Orleanian husband, who makes killer gumbo and potato salad. After years in the Big Easy, she and her husband moved to the Frog Capital of the World (yes, that’s a thing,) to be closer to two of their three grown children.
For more information about Brita Addams, please visit her website: www.britaaddams.net or follow her on Facebook, Pinterest, or Goodreads.
A bit of trivia—Brita pronounces her name, Bree-ta, and not Brit-a, like the famous water filter.
Having grown up in blustery Upstate New York, Brita has lived in the sultry South for many years. She has a loving, supportive family, including her native New Orleanian husband, who makes killer gumbo and potato salad. After years in the Big Easy, she and her husband moved to the Frog Capital of the World (yes, that’s a thing,) to be closer to two of their three grown children.
For more information about Brita Addams, please visit her website: www.britaaddams.net or follow her on Facebook, Pinterest, or Goodreads.
A bit of trivia—Brita pronounces her name, Bree-ta, and not Brit-a, like the famous water filter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
December 15, 2013
2.5 Stars.
I LOVE the premise of this novel. A saga set in Hollywood’s golden age, following the rise of a poor country boy to Hollywood stardom.
Jack Abadie’s story is an all American dream – a rags to riches tale that reads like a biography. The author has done her homework in terms of setting, dialog and Hollywood movie history and those interested in the era would approve.
Addams takes us through the events of Jack’s life in point by point form, which too often reads like a newspaper article. Regrettably, I soon discovered that this book was not what I was expecting. I never felt the thrill or dazzle of the era and any plot devices that history provides was never utilised or fully incorporated. I always felt like I was on the outside looking in, continuously dragged along what was ultimately a tedious journey. The pace was too slow, draggy and the time hopping gave it a jerky feel. We get only a glimpse of the life of the very rich in the roaring twenties, prohibition, the crash of 29, movie stardom and the marketing machine that was Hollywood. But it is all skimmed over and this was a disappointment for me.
Jack’s long time love affair with Wyatt was deeply romantic and his loyalty was admirable, if not a little over the top for my taste. Yes, there is sex, lots of it, and it is kinky but never seemed to evolve into anything more than light spanking and bondage play. I found Jack to be a contrary man and never truly grasped who he was. I remained detached from him and his battles (if that’s even what they were) his luck, prosperity and victories where always a given. The author includes a whole host of characters who play important roles in influencing Jack’s future and the choices he makes, but they never became substantial enough to contribute wholly. Not even Eric who (to me) felt too conveniently contrived.
Overall, it was fine, a sweet love story. I just expected more excitement, more thrills, more dazzle. Instead I felt bogged down and curiously unaffected by Jack Abadie and his life story.
Recommended for those who want an easy, angst free love story set in the 1920’s.
I LOVE the premise of this novel. A saga set in Hollywood’s golden age, following the rise of a poor country boy to Hollywood stardom.
Jack Abadie’s story is an all American dream – a rags to riches tale that reads like a biography. The author has done her homework in terms of setting, dialog and Hollywood movie history and those interested in the era would approve.
Addams takes us through the events of Jack’s life in point by point form, which too often reads like a newspaper article. Regrettably, I soon discovered that this book was not what I was expecting. I never felt the thrill or dazzle of the era and any plot devices that history provides was never utilised or fully incorporated. I always felt like I was on the outside looking in, continuously dragged along what was ultimately a tedious journey. The pace was too slow, draggy and the time hopping gave it a jerky feel. We get only a glimpse of the life of the very rich in the roaring twenties, prohibition, the crash of 29, movie stardom and the marketing machine that was Hollywood. But it is all skimmed over and this was a disappointment for me.
Jack’s long time love affair with Wyatt was deeply romantic and his loyalty was admirable, if not a little over the top for my taste. Yes, there is sex, lots of it, and it is kinky but never seemed to evolve into anything more than light spanking and bondage play. I found Jack to be a contrary man and never truly grasped who he was. I remained detached from him and his battles (if that’s even what they were) his luck, prosperity and victories where always a given. The author includes a whole host of characters who play important roles in influencing Jack’s future and the choices he makes, but they never became substantial enough to contribute wholly. Not even Eric who (to me) felt too conveniently contrived.
Overall, it was fine, a sweet love story. I just expected more excitement, more thrills, more dazzle. Instead I felt bogged down and curiously unaffected by Jack Abadie and his life story.
Recommended for those who want an easy, angst free love story set in the 1920’s.
December 20, 2014
I loved this book. Loved it!. Just beautiful. And the research, phenomenal. I like stories of old Hollywood. I look at people who have been in the business for five minutes nowadays and have a auto/biography out and I just think pfft.
Tarnished Gold, which was perfectly named by the way, is ostensibly about enduring love and romance between two men in a time when gay couples hid who they were for fear of loss. Two men who were proud of who they were and what they had. It is set during the lead up to and then during the golden age of Hollywood - big flaws, cover ups, shit-storms, shenanigans, morality clauses and all. Brita Addams has written a fine book that captures the historical essence of the era and the characters well. She has interwoven real characters with fictional ones and done it with great aplomb. If you are looking for a different premise in your M/M reading, then here it is. Full review at On Top Down Under Book Reviews - http://bookreviewsandtherapy.blogspot...
June 9, 2013
Set in the midst of scandals and controversies that heavily impacted the Hollywood film industry during the 1920s, Brita Addams has woven a beautiful story proving that loyalty and love truly can conquer all.
Honestly, I don't think I would have ever chosen to read this book if I hadn't been asked to review it. Historical romances usually aren't my thing, especially American ones, so thanks tremendously for Sid's blog, or I probably never would have discovered this wonderful story. For some weird reason, I was in the mood for something different and long, and this was presented to me at exactly the right moment.
The story begins in 1917 and follows the life and film career of Jack Abadie; a gay plantation boy from "N'awlins" that leaves his family's home on his 20th birthday hoping to make it big as a Hollywood actor. After 5 years of absolutely no success, Jack friends Eric Ballance, a director who quickly becomes his friend and mentor. Jack quickly moves up from the lowly roles as extras to the leading male role of a serial, all the while harboring "unrequited sentiment" for Eric. Jack eventually embraces himself as the hardened, lonely person Hollywood has created, seeking impersonal sexual trysts at a private gentlemen's club....until the day he meets Wyatt Maitland on a tour launch for his popular show. It's instant mutual attraction, but Jack is kind of jaded and more than a little vulnerable to give himself to another man. Somehow Jack must find it in himself to let all those fears go and own his life, to stop letting those around him dictate how he should act.
From there, it's Jack and Wyatt's fight against the film studios, overcoming the Crash of '29, and mourning the loss of loved ones. This isn't a very angsty story when it comes to their relationship, but there are still a few tear-inducing moments; one scene in particular. Damn, that killed me!!
There are so many things I loved about this book. For one thing, it doesn't fit that formulamatic mold that you often get with most romances. It was unique and different and there really hasn't been anything else that I've read that I could compare it to. Oh, I'm sure there might be books out there that would compare, but I certainly haven't read any. Early in the story I kept asking myself "What is the point of all this? Where is this going?" But then I had that ah-ha moment and everything just clicked into place. This is such a beautiful romance. And that is what matters! Plus, all the secondary characters were wonderful; everyone felt so real to me.
Don't let me forget to tell you how sexy Jack and Wyatt were! Whew, there was a lot of sex in this book; on the floor, against the wall, over the couch, in the pool. They did it everywhere. Plus, there was some light BDSM; spankings, a little bondage and a few toys. No cheating, sharing or sex with other people. No, these guys only had hands for each other. Their relationship was strong and very beautiful...now I'm just repeating myself.
I think the biggest complaint some readers might make against this book could be the seemingly slow start; having to wait until 22% for Wyatt to be introduced. But honestly, this story isn't really about Wyatt. It's about Jack and the changes Wyatt brings to Jack’s life. As a reader, I feel like I really needed that foundation of getting to know Jack in order to easily see the changes Wyatt creates.
Then, finally, the freakin' Author's Note at the end had me crying my eyes out! Who does that? When it hit me, and I realized how close to reality this story really was, the tears started flowing. I cried for the real life William Haines and his lover Jimmie Shields.
I know this book is probably not for everyone, but I can certainly appreciate all the research and time Ms. Addams put into sharing this story. Even I can recognize her hard work, and I know very little about the time period to verify any accuracy.
5 stars all the way for sucking me and letting me live, just for a little while, in history.
Reviewed for The Blog of Sid Love
Honestly, I don't think I would have ever chosen to read this book if I hadn't been asked to review it. Historical romances usually aren't my thing, especially American ones, so thanks tremendously for Sid's blog, or I probably never would have discovered this wonderful story. For some weird reason, I was in the mood for something different and long, and this was presented to me at exactly the right moment.
The story begins in 1917 and follows the life and film career of Jack Abadie; a gay plantation boy from "N'awlins" that leaves his family's home on his 20th birthday hoping to make it big as a Hollywood actor. After 5 years of absolutely no success, Jack friends Eric Ballance, a director who quickly becomes his friend and mentor. Jack quickly moves up from the lowly roles as extras to the leading male role of a serial, all the while harboring "unrequited sentiment" for Eric. Jack eventually embraces himself as the hardened, lonely person Hollywood has created, seeking impersonal sexual trysts at a private gentlemen's club....until the day he meets Wyatt Maitland on a tour launch for his popular show. It's instant mutual attraction, but Jack is kind of jaded and more than a little vulnerable to give himself to another man. Somehow Jack must find it in himself to let all those fears go and own his life, to stop letting those around him dictate how he should act.
"I can't imagine my life without you. Every moment we're apart, I think of you. You're my blessed distraction, Wyatt Maitland. All that makes sense to me, of me."
From there, it's Jack and Wyatt's fight against the film studios, overcoming the Crash of '29, and mourning the loss of loved ones. This isn't a very angsty story when it comes to their relationship, but there are still a few tear-inducing moments; one scene in particular. Damn, that killed me!!
"I had no control over that. I do have control over what goes on in my life, and I won't have any part of denying you your rightful place in it. In my heart, you are my husband. I'd marry you if I could, now, today. I'm proud of loving you, and I want the world to know that."
There are so many things I loved about this book. For one thing, it doesn't fit that formulamatic mold that you often get with most romances. It was unique and different and there really hasn't been anything else that I've read that I could compare it to. Oh, I'm sure there might be books out there that would compare, but I certainly haven't read any. Early in the story I kept asking myself "What is the point of all this? Where is this going?" But then I had that ah-ha moment and everything just clicked into place. This is such a beautiful romance. And that is what matters! Plus, all the secondary characters were wonderful; everyone felt so real to me.
Don't let me forget to tell you how sexy Jack and Wyatt were! Whew, there was a lot of sex in this book; on the floor, against the wall, over the couch, in the pool. They did it everywhere. Plus, there was some light BDSM; spankings, a little bondage and a few toys. No cheating, sharing or sex with other people. No, these guys only had hands for each other. Their relationship was strong and very beautiful...now I'm just repeating myself.
"I love you, you know."
Wyatt smiled. "So you keep telling me."
Jack wrapped his arms around Wyatt. "Do you mind?"
"That you love me or that you keep telling me?"
"Either or."
"Not at all. I believe it's a requirement of my existence."
I think the biggest complaint some readers might make against this book could be the seemingly slow start; having to wait until 22% for Wyatt to be introduced. But honestly, this story isn't really about Wyatt. It's about Jack and the changes Wyatt brings to Jack’s life. As a reader, I feel like I really needed that foundation of getting to know Jack in order to easily see the changes Wyatt creates.
"Over all these years, you are the only person who has ever made me feel whole."
Then, finally, the freakin' Author's Note at the end had me crying my eyes out! Who does that? When it hit me, and I realized how close to reality this story really was, the tears started flowing. I cried for the real life William Haines and his lover Jimmie Shields.
I know this book is probably not for everyone, but I can certainly appreciate all the research and time Ms. Addams put into sharing this story. Even I can recognize her hard work, and I know very little about the time period to verify any accuracy.
5 stars all the way for sucking me and letting me live, just for a little while, in history.
Reviewed for The Blog of Sid Love
March 25, 2013
4.5 stars
I don’t know that I’ve read another book in this genre quite like “Tarnished Gold”. The book is inspired by the first openly out gay actor in Hollywood. Be sure to read the author notes after the epilogue as I found it added to the essence of the story.
The story spans from 1917 to 1955 following Jack Abadie, a Louisiana farm boy, who runs off to Hollywood to realize his dream of being a star. He’s lucking in finding both a place to live and a job promptly after his arrival in the city. It’s not the glamorous life he wants but he knows he has to have a job to pay his way while he waits for his chance to get into pictures. Five years later while working as a waiter he’s propositioned by a customer to patronize a private club called Marlowe’s. It’s a private club for men who prefer men to socialize and fulfill their desires in a safe setting. Eric, the gorgeous man who invited him comes onto Jack, which is not at all unwanted attention. Eric sees something special in Jack and gives him the chance in pictures as an extra. Jack catches the eyes of the studio heads and is soon acting in his own movies. Eric never once demanded sexual favors for the help he gives Eric but Jack desperately wishes he would. Jack wants to be with him but Eric shoots down his attempts at any type of a relationship besides friendship and mentor. Eric prefers a certain type of man and doesn’t do relationships. Jack is deeply hurt by the rejection. He spends some time pining away until he meets a striking young man named Wyatt at the release of his new movie. The attraction is mutual but the timing is terrible as he is embarking on an eight month long junket to promote the movie. The two stay in touch and wait for the day they can meet again. Seems, in this case, absence does make the heart grow fonder because the men jump into something intense right away. Jack is lonely in a crowd, and Wyatt is lonely because of his secret life. Both men want a loving relationship so you’d think they’d be on the same page but some not so good advice ingrained in Jack’s head by his mentor, Eric, has Jack screwing up what seems kismet fairly quickly. Jack starts to think for himself realizing Eric isn’t the best role model when it comes to affairs of the heart and begs Wyatt for forgiveness.
From here things were kind of a whirlwind romance, like in the movies. The two men know how they feel about each other and never look back. I thought the love story was really beautiful. I expected Jack to succumb to the demands of the times and his studio heads but he never did. He was brave and true to himself and who wanted to be. I had moments of doubting someone of that time could stand up to all the injustice but the more I thought about the more it seemed plausible. He had friends and foes but he also had Wyatt and that’s all he really needed. Jack was a very strong character.
Although I adored the MCs I think the most compelling character for me in this book was Eric. He was so confident and capable but also very flawed. I went from being weary of his intentions to hoping he was the love interest and then wanting to yell at him. His story and struggle affected me the most. I’m pretty sure he made me get teary eyed twice! Jack learned so much from Eric’s mistakes. It was rather heartbreaking.
Despite the slow pace of the last part of the book I found this to be an enchanting read. I must admit to being a fan of old movies and enjoyed delving into that era in history. This was a fresh and thoughtful book about the love story of two men who defied what society offered them and instead chose to have it all.
Review can also be found athttp://liveyourlifebuythebook.wordpre...
I don’t know that I’ve read another book in this genre quite like “Tarnished Gold”. The book is inspired by the first openly out gay actor in Hollywood. Be sure to read the author notes after the epilogue as I found it added to the essence of the story.
The story spans from 1917 to 1955 following Jack Abadie, a Louisiana farm boy, who runs off to Hollywood to realize his dream of being a star. He’s lucking in finding both a place to live and a job promptly after his arrival in the city. It’s not the glamorous life he wants but he knows he has to have a job to pay his way while he waits for his chance to get into pictures. Five years later while working as a waiter he’s propositioned by a customer to patronize a private club called Marlowe’s. It’s a private club for men who prefer men to socialize and fulfill their desires in a safe setting. Eric, the gorgeous man who invited him comes onto Jack, which is not at all unwanted attention. Eric sees something special in Jack and gives him the chance in pictures as an extra. Jack catches the eyes of the studio heads and is soon acting in his own movies. Eric never once demanded sexual favors for the help he gives Eric but Jack desperately wishes he would. Jack wants to be with him but Eric shoots down his attempts at any type of a relationship besides friendship and mentor. Eric prefers a certain type of man and doesn’t do relationships. Jack is deeply hurt by the rejection. He spends some time pining away until he meets a striking young man named Wyatt at the release of his new movie. The attraction is mutual but the timing is terrible as he is embarking on an eight month long junket to promote the movie. The two stay in touch and wait for the day they can meet again. Seems, in this case, absence does make the heart grow fonder because the men jump into something intense right away. Jack is lonely in a crowd, and Wyatt is lonely because of his secret life. Both men want a loving relationship so you’d think they’d be on the same page but some not so good advice ingrained in Jack’s head by his mentor, Eric, has Jack screwing up what seems kismet fairly quickly. Jack starts to think for himself realizing Eric isn’t the best role model when it comes to affairs of the heart and begs Wyatt for forgiveness.
From here things were kind of a whirlwind romance, like in the movies. The two men know how they feel about each other and never look back. I thought the love story was really beautiful. I expected Jack to succumb to the demands of the times and his studio heads but he never did. He was brave and true to himself and who wanted to be. I had moments of doubting someone of that time could stand up to all the injustice but the more I thought about the more it seemed plausible. He had friends and foes but he also had Wyatt and that’s all he really needed. Jack was a very strong character.
Although I adored the MCs I think the most compelling character for me in this book was Eric. He was so confident and capable but also very flawed. I went from being weary of his intentions to hoping he was the love interest and then wanting to yell at him. His story and struggle affected me the most. I’m pretty sure he made me get teary eyed twice! Jack learned so much from Eric’s mistakes. It was rather heartbreaking.
Despite the slow pace of the last part of the book I found this to be an enchanting read. I must admit to being a fan of old movies and enjoyed delving into that era in history. This was a fresh and thoughtful book about the love story of two men who defied what society offered them and instead chose to have it all.
Review can also be found athttp://liveyourlifebuythebook.wordpre...
February 14, 2015
What's that line from Whiplash? Not my tempo? This wasn't my tempo. The pace was a little too slow, the novel was a little too long, and the story was a little too repetitive. I enjoyed this novel initially and the story of a gay man trying to have an open relationship in Hollywood during the 1920s was interesting, but Jack and Wyatt just didn't hold my interest and I struggled to finish this one. Wyatt came off as too much of a doormat and Jack acted like his money (once he had some) could get him anything he wanted (and, I guess, it did). The BDSM angle also didn't work for me. It wasn't erotic and just seemed oddly placed in this book and with these characters. I did enjoy Brita's writing and I'd read something else by her.
September 18, 2014
I love this period of time!
I’m very fond of historical m/m stories. Since I read Bonds of Earth I look for them in recommendations, lists and the like. It could be because the forbidden is very attractive, isn’t it? Or maybe I like two knights in shining armour. Or it’s just, I love reading about not-tedious history!
Anyway, when I discovered this one with the cover in black and white my inner self screamed YES! I spent a lot of time reading this book because I was in exams period. I was reading so slow it ended frustrating me instead of relaxing, and that’s not a good combination with stress. But finally I finished it!
I expected a different sort of thing.
The result is ok, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that I had formed a different idea in my head.
The plot begins in 1915 and finishes in 1955. Yeah, it’s a long way. We are with Jack Abadie since the first moment, but Wyatt appears later. Jack is a young actor wannabe, so he leaves home to achieve his dreams in L.A. But things are not easy there, several years go on till he has his chance thanks to Eric, who has a position in one of the movie studios. Jack has talent, so shortly changes from being an extra to get one of the leading roles. His popularity grows running parallel to the number of movies he acts in.
Life is empty, though. And he is on and off during the whole process. When Jack is in one of his down moments, he meets Wyatt and falls in love. But I wasn’t convinced, it was too fast, and too hard, and I want evidences, not only words! Their love is huge, ok, but don’t tell me, demonstrate it to me with actions. I believed it more with the following years together but they say “I love you” a way too often. I like the MC to say that, but repeating it again and again twists it to something not that earth-shattering and emotive. And also, they’re too perfect, like the black-and-white-happy-and-perfect characters he plays.
They’re happy, rarely upset, and if there are conflicts, they are all solved easily and with no further consecuences. I missed reality and angst.
Furthermore, there are some parts that are a little stiff. For example, Eric. Eric helps Jack to succeed and they are friends for years. Although Jack wants more, Eric rejects him. We know Eric feels more than friendship for Jack, but he doesn’t want to lower his guard. Then Jack meets Wyatt and that could-be-but-not ends. Later in time, Eric crashes and Jack promises he will find someone for Eric to be with. In the next page he finds that person. In the next page Eric . I understand Eric's motives, but I don’t like the author’s way of describing it all. It’s too fast, too forced. It felt like it was a way TOO pre-arranged.
I learnt a lot of things of the movies world. For instance, I had not idea about the moral clauses! And it didn’t even occur to me that studios threatened actors and actresses to get married or else! I know Charles Chaplin, who survived the sound era, and Buster Keaton, and, later, the Marx brothers, but that’s my whole knowledge about it all. So it was different and I like that.
To sum up, it was a good reading, if sometimes I was looking forward to ending it. There are several points I would have wanted to be different, but all in all I enjoyed it.
I’m very fond of historical m/m stories. Since I read Bonds of Earth I look for them in recommendations, lists and the like. It could be because the forbidden is very attractive, isn’t it? Or maybe I like two knights in shining armour. Or it’s just, I love reading about not-tedious history!
Anyway, when I discovered this one with the cover in black and white my inner self screamed YES! I spent a lot of time reading this book because I was in exams period. I was reading so slow it ended frustrating me instead of relaxing, and that’s not a good combination with stress. But finally I finished it!
I expected a different sort of thing.
The result is ok, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that I had formed a different idea in my head.
The plot begins in 1915 and finishes in 1955. Yeah, it’s a long way. We are with Jack Abadie since the first moment, but Wyatt appears later. Jack is a young actor wannabe, so he leaves home to achieve his dreams in L.A. But things are not easy there, several years go on till he has his chance thanks to Eric, who has a position in one of the movie studios. Jack has talent, so shortly changes from being an extra to get one of the leading roles. His popularity grows running parallel to the number of movies he acts in.
Life is empty, though. And he is on and off during the whole process. When Jack is in one of his down moments, he meets Wyatt and falls in love. But I wasn’t convinced, it was too fast, and too hard, and I want evidences, not only words! Their love is huge, ok, but don’t tell me, demonstrate it to me with actions. I believed it more with the following years together but they say “I love you” a way too often. I like the MC to say that, but repeating it again and again twists it to something not that earth-shattering and emotive. And also, they’re too perfect, like the black-and-white-happy-and-perfect characters he plays.
They’re happy, rarely upset, and if there are conflicts, they are all solved easily and with no further consecuences. I missed reality and angst.
Furthermore, there are some parts that are a little stiff. For example, Eric. Eric helps Jack to succeed and they are friends for years. Although Jack wants more, Eric rejects him. We know Eric feels more than friendship for Jack, but he doesn’t want to lower his guard. Then Jack meets Wyatt and that could-be-but-not ends. Later in time, Eric crashes and Jack promises he will find someone for Eric to be with. In the next page he finds that person. In the next page Eric . I understand Eric's motives, but I don’t like the author’s way of describing it all. It’s too fast, too forced. It felt like it was a way TOO pre-arranged.
I learnt a lot of things of the movies world. For instance, I had not idea about the moral clauses! And it didn’t even occur to me that studios threatened actors and actresses to get married or else! I know Charles Chaplin, who survived the sound era, and Buster Keaton, and, later, the Marx brothers, but that’s my whole knowledge about it all. So it was different and I like that.
To sum up, it was a good reading, if sometimes I was looking forward to ending it. There are several points I would have wanted to be different, but all in all I enjoyed it.
August 3, 2013
This review is a difficult one for me. I am a fan of Brita Adams. I have read much of her work and have enjoyed it, without fail. So I leapt on this new book of hers, Tarnished Gold, and was intrigued about its subject matter—a silent movie star’s rise to fame and his introduction to the “gay” side of Hollywood.
Let me begin by recapping the story, which admittedly was a sprawling saga that spanned almost the entire life of Jack Abadie, a poor farm boy from Louisiana that had aspirations to one day become an actor. He and his lover, Emery, were set to run away on Jack’s birthday when Emery suddenly got cold feet and refused, leaving Jack to travel to Los Angeles by himself. He ended up in a boarding house and working as a waiter where he was discovered by a successful director, Eric Ballance, who worked for a up and coming production company.
As Eric opens up the world of acting and movie star fame for Jack, he also shuts down any emotional ties Jack may fancy he has for the director. Instead he instills in Jack the idea that men, like he and Jack, are to never “give themselves” to another—rather they are to take and keep an emotional distance. This lesson will come back to haunt Jack when he finally meets the man he is destined to fall in love with and, ultimately, share his life with in the end. The story sweeps through each facet of Jack’s life in episodic moment, not unlike an old silent movie, and never really flows as a normal novel would. Rather much like the films of old, it develops a herky-jerky feel to it, using Jack as the central theme that must tie each segment to the next and hope that it keeps the readers interest in this admittedly long winded novel.
I do believe for those avidly interested in the working aspects of the “old Hollywood studios” this novel will be of keen interest. Also, there is a decided light BDSM element to the novel overall that is touched upon again and again but never fully developed or even moved much beyond orgasm control and spankings. The love story that develops between Jack and Wyatt provides some deep and lovely moments to what otherwise could almost be described as a biography of one man’s life.
I found this novel often tried my tenacity to hold on to the plot. Because the author chose to introduce a myriad of characters and take us point by point through Jack’s life, we are forced to move at a fairly slow pace and, often, I did not always find the story interesting enough for me to want to continue. Jack was such a conflicted person in so many ways and then stubborn over things that you wanted to warn him off of—for instance his desire to be open about his relationship with Wyatt. It was so admirable that he wanted Wyatt at his side and time after time he wielded his considerable box office appeal to get what he wanted in the boardroom but, due to the brief vignettes that made up this novel, I never felt as though I got to fully savor his victories or cheer on his stand against injustice. Rather I was merely wept along to the next moment in his life and after several chapters of this I was left curiously empty and devoid of any real excitement over the novel as a whole.
So, I must admit that Tarnished Gold by Brita Adams was simply not a five star read for me. I must reiterate, however, that this author is one I will read again. She is an excellent storyteller and while this novel did not appeal to me overall, I admire her work.
March 25, 2013
Review posted on World of Diversity Fiction
This is the first book I have read by Brita Addams and it will not be my last.
Right from the beginning I was drawn in and I stayed there til the very end. I didn’t want to put this book down. The author has written a beautiful story of a Hollywood gone by, a time when on the outside everything looked glamorous and easy but on the inside things weren’t easy. A time when everyone and everything was suspect, where actors and studio employees were made to sign morals clauses or leave.
Tarnished Gold is an easy and very enjoyable read. There’s no angst but I did shed a few tears. It’s not often I come across a book that spans decades, where the MC’s meet, fall in love and were still together at the end. I loved Jack and Wyatt, they definitely had chemistry but the thing that stood out the most to me was the trust and love they shared. Those qualities never waved, even in such hard times. The secondary characters were great, having family that were accepting was a breath of fresh air.
There wasn’t anything that I would change or I thought the author missed. This is that perfect feel good story. This story is what I look for when I want a relaxing read without all that angst. If you love Historicals you’ll love this book or if you have never read one it’s a great book to be your first
I highly recommend Tarnished Gold.
September 18, 2014
This book was very well written, let me say that first. I was intrigued with Jack's story and was engaged with the story until about the 25% mark. Not sure what happened but I got bored. The story felt really detailed after a while with all the parties and celebrating Jack's birthday all the time.
I did feel like I was transported back in time and it was nice to get a feel of what old Hollywood was like. At some point I started not liking Jack and then I constantly kept putting the book down. Eric was a very interesting character. When it was hinted that Wyatt was keeping a secret from Jack I then had a sense of dredge while reading that Wyatt would screw Jack over. Didn't happen, but still.
I guess my issue with this story was that it wasn't fast pace enough for me. There were a lot of scenes that could have been deleted to make for a better read for me.
I did feel like I was transported back in time and it was nice to get a feel of what old Hollywood was like. At some point I started not liking Jack and then I constantly kept putting the book down. Eric was a very interesting character. When it was hinted that Wyatt was keeping a secret from Jack I then had a sense of dredge while reading that Wyatt would screw Jack over. Didn't happen, but still.
I guess my issue with this story was that it wasn't fast pace enough for me. There were a lot of scenes that could have been deleted to make for a better read for me.
Read
December 21, 2016*DNF*
(53%)
I really LOVE the premise (1900s Hollywood glamour!) and I can't believe I'm saying this but I found the novel too long! I just lost interest. The other thing that didn't work for me is the bdsm element (Jack's behavior in particular!), I found it to be annoying and unnecessary. What a shame!
July 26, 2014
Gay male star in 20s Hollywood.
Massively uneven. Some good parts, definitely, but overall no. The main relationship was unconvincing, too many anachronisms in how it was handling queer people, and a really weird handling of some kind of stone thing. Okay overall, but could have been better.
Massively uneven. Some good parts, definitely, but overall no. The main relationship was unconvincing, too many anachronisms in how it was handling queer people, and a really weird handling of some kind of stone thing. Okay overall, but could have been better.
Want to read
November 20, 2013Free right NOW at Dreamspinner for the next hour! 9:30 am EST, 11/20/13!
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August 17, 2018
A Cajun lad follows his dream to Hollywood, and stardom places him in the ranks alongside celebrities such as Navarro, Valentino and Barrymore … “Who?” you ask. You’ll need to be an aficionado of Hollywood’s Golden Age to know these names -- they were America’s idols long before movies learned to talk.
Way back in the 1970s, I became fascinated not only by movies but by the filmmaking process. Hollywood history became a fabulous new realm filled with names like Errol Flynn, James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Robert Taylor, Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Laughton. Today’s general audience views titles pre-1990 as ‘moldy oldies,’ and the usual viewer can’t get into anything that was made before s/he was born. It’s tragic. A world of film, adventure, fascination is closed to them. Vintage movies are pieces of history in and of themselves. Fictional characters like Indiana Jones lived in the era when movies like Captains Courageous, Angels With Dirty Faces, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, King Kong, Stagecoach, The Adventures of Robin Hood, were brand new and shiny…
So Tarnished Gold by Brita Addams, comes as a great pleasure for someone like myself. The book is impeccably researched, with just one or two places where artistic or creative license was used for effect. I enjoyed the Hollywood history a lot. Handsome young Cajun wannabe Jack Abadie and his lover, Wyatt Maitland, are dead lucky: they reached manhood, and celebrity, in a rare lull in America’s homophobia. The 1920s saw an acceptance of gay relationships and behavior that wouldn’t be seen again till the swingin’ sixties. (Around 1933, the pendulum swung back; America became conservative once more, probably with the awareness of an approaching storm, the general belief that a war was coming that would make the ‘Great’ one look tame).
Jack Abadie left Louisiana, landed in Hollywood and was ‘discovered’ at a time when he could be as ‘out’ as William ‘Billy’ Haines (1900 – 1973), openly acknowledge the man who was, by any other name, his spouse, and fly in the face of the studio’s order to get married, or get lost…
Much of the plot of Tarnished Gold concerns a hypothetical studio, Starlight Pictures. Starlight forms a frame on which real Hollywood history is hung, just as in Singin’ in the Rain we see the mayhem that overtook the industry when The Jazz Singer appeared as the first talkie, framed by the fictional studio Monumental Pictures.
The modern reader might need some context to bring this era -- the era in which Jack Abadie becomes a star -- into perspective. It's not as easy to get hold of as the Regency, Edwardian or Georgian eras of historical fiction; not as effortlessly iconic as Westerns and World War II stories. The 1920s is an elusive era. A recent wealth of adventure movies has popularized the 1930s, but the 20s ... well, they weren't called Roaring for nothing! So try...
Singin’ in the Rain is a fantastic film, made in 1952, color, sound and all -- Hollywood making a movie about itself. It plays the changeover from silents to talkies for pure hilarity; and it doesn’t hurt that Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor were captured, young and gorgeous! Boy, could they dance. More? Watch Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. in Chaplin, 1992, for a glimpse of the way the moral climate of Hollywood c. 1930 was changing, and how it affected real people who didn’t fit the squeaky-clean mold demanded by the Hayes Code (more on this below. Chaplin’s ‘problem’ was, he liked his women very young indeed -- just about legal, if you squint). For another peek at how movies were made in this era, on the cusp of changing to talkies, see the *original* 1933 King Kong -- another instance of Hollywood making movies about itself -- moreover, in Kong, the original, everything you see was contemporary, state of the art, rather than a modern company making a CGI historical romp … not to say a word against Peter Jackson’s film, which I also loved. The first talkie was, as mentioned above, The Jazz Singer. You can still access it, but since it was made in 1927, little about the production quality or story will allure modern viewers, so I’ve a potentially better one for you: the star of The Jazz Singer was the inimitable Al Jolson, and you can watch the dramatization of the making of the first talkie in The Jolson Story, made in '46, in color, with lovely Larry Parks in the title role. If you’re still aboard, see James Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931 -- the recent Johnny Depp movie of the same title is unrelated), which rounds off this era: the transition to talkies was complete.
Okay, now you have context.
In this amazing world, Jack Abadie leaves Louisiana, headed for Hollywood with the ambition of being a star, only to end up waiting tables, until he’s ‘discovered’ by an out gay director who feeds him into the Hollywood system. Nobody in those days went to acting school. You signed on as an extra, learned the ropes by watching, imitating; were promoted to a bit-player and, if you had the talent, made it all the way up to star. If you had the looks, you went a step further -- matinee idol. Jack has the talent, and the looks; and is lucky enough to make his name, and the base of his fortune, in a brief period in America’s somewhat hidebound history, where you could be gay, and even out, and still get work.
But even Jack and his lifetime partner Wyatt would run afoul of the Hayes Code -- film censorship which pertained not merely to on-film events, but also to the private lives and loves of performers and directors. One wants to say, “Only in America,” but I’m sure other countries must have indulged in such heavy-handed and official invasions of privacy. Homosexuality was a prison offense in the UK until distressingly recently, for instance. Certainly, gay behavior in public was still illegal in the US, and the end of the ’20s saw the end of the sunny period of tolerance for the promiscuity and homosexuality with which Hollywood had been so busy. Bill Haines himself (right), on whom Jack Abadie is, in part, based, was arrested in ’33, for picking up a sailor. Public sentiment had swung far enough by ’36 that Haines and lifelong partner Jimmy Shields were physically assaulted as a couple, when a neighbor intimated that one or both had made improper advances to a minor. During the ’20s, inspired by the Berlin film industry, Hollywood issued some increasingly risqué, controversial and experimental movies; the decade’s general decadence led to a string of ‘scandals,’ from rape and drug use and trafficking to murder. Studio spin-doctoring turned into a media circus … final result: the Hayes Code, which finished the careers of performers like Bill Haines, who was contractually ‘owned’ by studios who were, in turn, ‘owned’ by the banks who financed pictures…
This was Jack Abadie’s world, and it’s brought to life with aplomb by Brita Addams, in an immense storyline. The plot of Tarnished Gold is huge -- in fact, it’s so big that to accommodate it, much of the story must be synopsized, told in shorthand (which can, on occasion, seem a little odd, when a long run of plot synopsis is punctuated by a huge sex scene detailed almost to the skin-follicle level. This seems to be a device of m/m though, so where I’m noticing a lumpiness in the narrative, a reader who’s immersed in m/m probably wouldn’t notice anything amiss. Horses for courses).
The suicide of a friend and old flame, the loss of his parents, the financial ruin of his bother, all put Jack through the wringer. The events of Tarnished Gold are often traumatic, and it would be so easy to overwrite this kind of material, turning drama into meoldrama. The book is commendably underwritten -- the author makes a conscious, and effective, effort to understate the trauma and keep a stranglehold on the narrative line. In one or two places, the grip is even a tiny bit too tight. Late in the book, when Jack and Wyatt are involved in a bad car accident, the underwriting makes a horrific on-road smash positively bland.
The strength of the book is the history -- a time and a place that are brought to life wonderfully. I have only minor quibbles, such as the inclusion of a serious spanking fetish for Wyatt, which seems like an added-on afterthought, something to spice up a book that, throughout the first three-quarters, is devoted to plot, not sex. (The sex absolutely piles on, in the book’s home stretch; too much for me, but other readers might have been hanging on, praying for it. Sex-wise, I do have a wee problem with Wyatt’s pain-free athleticism in bed right after being busted to splinters in the aforementioned car crash.)
The sm aspect to the romance between Jack and Wyatt has a “What, now?” aspect … to me, it seems artificial for the characters, and was superfluous to the plot. I’ve confessed elsewhere, all the sub-dom stuff makes zero sense to me, so I guess -- “Why would you include this in a book like Tarnished Gold?” Answer: “Why not?” If you enjoy industrial grade spanking, read on; if not, like me, hit ‘turn page’ till they’re done making each other sore, and get back to the story! A more substantial misgiving about the plot is that everything, everything, Jack turns his hand to after being discovered, turns to gold. Every picture he makes is a hit; he’s a megastar; every business deal would make Midas jealous; when he and Wyatt buy Regency Pictures after the Crash of ’29, it’s a foregone conclusion they’ll succeed, and when Jack’s last picture is nominated, big time, for the fourth Academy Awards … aha.
Overall, Tarnished Gold is great read. For me, it’s at its best when fact and fiction merge -- when the life of Jack Abadie, as loosely based on the events surrounding Bill Haines, brings America, circa 1930, into sharp focus through the lens of the gay community, and particularly Hollywood's gay community. There are times when the book tickles mainstream, close to the ‘crossover’ novel that’s been called the ‘holy grail of gay fiction.’ Take out the dedicated material that was most likely added to make it qualify as m/m, and Tarnished Gold could be shelved with gay literature or even mainstream historical literature. And that’s high praise.
Recommended for readers who like an impeccably researched historical … for anyone who has a fascination for the tinsel-town of yesteryear, or even a sneaky crush on the likes of Errol Flynn! … and for readers who like a sexy romp with a few liberal doses of buttock-blistering, or else, like me, are willing to the hit the fast forward, back to the delights of a historical where fact and fiction blend into a delicious melange.
Way back in the 1970s, I became fascinated not only by movies but by the filmmaking process. Hollywood history became a fabulous new realm filled with names like Errol Flynn, James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Robert Taylor, Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Laughton. Today’s general audience views titles pre-1990 as ‘moldy oldies,’ and the usual viewer can’t get into anything that was made before s/he was born. It’s tragic. A world of film, adventure, fascination is closed to them. Vintage movies are pieces of history in and of themselves. Fictional characters like Indiana Jones lived in the era when movies like Captains Courageous, Angels With Dirty Faces, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, King Kong, Stagecoach, The Adventures of Robin Hood, were brand new and shiny…
So Tarnished Gold by Brita Addams, comes as a great pleasure for someone like myself. The book is impeccably researched, with just one or two places where artistic or creative license was used for effect. I enjoyed the Hollywood history a lot. Handsome young Cajun wannabe Jack Abadie and his lover, Wyatt Maitland, are dead lucky: they reached manhood, and celebrity, in a rare lull in America’s homophobia. The 1920s saw an acceptance of gay relationships and behavior that wouldn’t be seen again till the swingin’ sixties. (Around 1933, the pendulum swung back; America became conservative once more, probably with the awareness of an approaching storm, the general belief that a war was coming that would make the ‘Great’ one look tame).
Jack Abadie left Louisiana, landed in Hollywood and was ‘discovered’ at a time when he could be as ‘out’ as William ‘Billy’ Haines (1900 – 1973), openly acknowledge the man who was, by any other name, his spouse, and fly in the face of the studio’s order to get married, or get lost…
Much of the plot of Tarnished Gold concerns a hypothetical studio, Starlight Pictures. Starlight forms a frame on which real Hollywood history is hung, just as in Singin’ in the Rain we see the mayhem that overtook the industry when The Jazz Singer appeared as the first talkie, framed by the fictional studio Monumental Pictures.
The modern reader might need some context to bring this era -- the era in which Jack Abadie becomes a star -- into perspective. It's not as easy to get hold of as the Regency, Edwardian or Georgian eras of historical fiction; not as effortlessly iconic as Westerns and World War II stories. The 1920s is an elusive era. A recent wealth of adventure movies has popularized the 1930s, but the 20s ... well, they weren't called Roaring for nothing! So try...
Singin’ in the Rain is a fantastic film, made in 1952, color, sound and all -- Hollywood making a movie about itself. It plays the changeover from silents to talkies for pure hilarity; and it doesn’t hurt that Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor were captured, young and gorgeous! Boy, could they dance. More? Watch Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. in Chaplin, 1992, for a glimpse of the way the moral climate of Hollywood c. 1930 was changing, and how it affected real people who didn’t fit the squeaky-clean mold demanded by the Hayes Code (more on this below. Chaplin’s ‘problem’ was, he liked his women very young indeed -- just about legal, if you squint). For another peek at how movies were made in this era, on the cusp of changing to talkies, see the *original* 1933 King Kong -- another instance of Hollywood making movies about itself -- moreover, in Kong, the original, everything you see was contemporary, state of the art, rather than a modern company making a CGI historical romp … not to say a word against Peter Jackson’s film, which I also loved. The first talkie was, as mentioned above, The Jazz Singer. You can still access it, but since it was made in 1927, little about the production quality or story will allure modern viewers, so I’ve a potentially better one for you: the star of The Jazz Singer was the inimitable Al Jolson, and you can watch the dramatization of the making of the first talkie in The Jolson Story, made in '46, in color, with lovely Larry Parks in the title role. If you’re still aboard, see James Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931 -- the recent Johnny Depp movie of the same title is unrelated), which rounds off this era: the transition to talkies was complete.
Okay, now you have context.
In this amazing world, Jack Abadie leaves Louisiana, headed for Hollywood with the ambition of being a star, only to end up waiting tables, until he’s ‘discovered’ by an out gay director who feeds him into the Hollywood system. Nobody in those days went to acting school. You signed on as an extra, learned the ropes by watching, imitating; were promoted to a bit-player and, if you had the talent, made it all the way up to star. If you had the looks, you went a step further -- matinee idol. Jack has the talent, and the looks; and is lucky enough to make his name, and the base of his fortune, in a brief period in America’s somewhat hidebound history, where you could be gay, and even out, and still get work.
But even Jack and his lifetime partner Wyatt would run afoul of the Hayes Code -- film censorship which pertained not merely to on-film events, but also to the private lives and loves of performers and directors. One wants to say, “Only in America,” but I’m sure other countries must have indulged in such heavy-handed and official invasions of privacy. Homosexuality was a prison offense in the UK until distressingly recently, for instance. Certainly, gay behavior in public was still illegal in the US, and the end of the ’20s saw the end of the sunny period of tolerance for the promiscuity and homosexuality with which Hollywood had been so busy. Bill Haines himself (right), on whom Jack Abadie is, in part, based, was arrested in ’33, for picking up a sailor. Public sentiment had swung far enough by ’36 that Haines and lifelong partner Jimmy Shields were physically assaulted as a couple, when a neighbor intimated that one or both had made improper advances to a minor. During the ’20s, inspired by the Berlin film industry, Hollywood issued some increasingly risqué, controversial and experimental movies; the decade’s general decadence led to a string of ‘scandals,’ from rape and drug use and trafficking to murder. Studio spin-doctoring turned into a media circus … final result: the Hayes Code, which finished the careers of performers like Bill Haines, who was contractually ‘owned’ by studios who were, in turn, ‘owned’ by the banks who financed pictures…
This was Jack Abadie’s world, and it’s brought to life with aplomb by Brita Addams, in an immense storyline. The plot of Tarnished Gold is huge -- in fact, it’s so big that to accommodate it, much of the story must be synopsized, told in shorthand (which can, on occasion, seem a little odd, when a long run of plot synopsis is punctuated by a huge sex scene detailed almost to the skin-follicle level. This seems to be a device of m/m though, so where I’m noticing a lumpiness in the narrative, a reader who’s immersed in m/m probably wouldn’t notice anything amiss. Horses for courses).
The suicide of a friend and old flame, the loss of his parents, the financial ruin of his bother, all put Jack through the wringer. The events of Tarnished Gold are often traumatic, and it would be so easy to overwrite this kind of material, turning drama into meoldrama. The book is commendably underwritten -- the author makes a conscious, and effective, effort to understate the trauma and keep a stranglehold on the narrative line. In one or two places, the grip is even a tiny bit too tight. Late in the book, when Jack and Wyatt are involved in a bad car accident, the underwriting makes a horrific on-road smash positively bland.
The strength of the book is the history -- a time and a place that are brought to life wonderfully. I have only minor quibbles, such as the inclusion of a serious spanking fetish for Wyatt, which seems like an added-on afterthought, something to spice up a book that, throughout the first three-quarters, is devoted to plot, not sex. (The sex absolutely piles on, in the book’s home stretch; too much for me, but other readers might have been hanging on, praying for it. Sex-wise, I do have a wee problem with Wyatt’s pain-free athleticism in bed right after being busted to splinters in the aforementioned car crash.)
The sm aspect to the romance between Jack and Wyatt has a “What, now?” aspect … to me, it seems artificial for the characters, and was superfluous to the plot. I’ve confessed elsewhere, all the sub-dom stuff makes zero sense to me, so I guess -- “Why would you include this in a book like Tarnished Gold?” Answer: “Why not?” If you enjoy industrial grade spanking, read on; if not, like me, hit ‘turn page’ till they’re done making each other sore, and get back to the story! A more substantial misgiving about the plot is that everything, everything, Jack turns his hand to after being discovered, turns to gold. Every picture he makes is a hit; he’s a megastar; every business deal would make Midas jealous; when he and Wyatt buy Regency Pictures after the Crash of ’29, it’s a foregone conclusion they’ll succeed, and when Jack’s last picture is nominated, big time, for the fourth Academy Awards … aha.
Overall, Tarnished Gold is great read. For me, it’s at its best when fact and fiction merge -- when the life of Jack Abadie, as loosely based on the events surrounding Bill Haines, brings America, circa 1930, into sharp focus through the lens of the gay community, and particularly Hollywood's gay community. There are times when the book tickles mainstream, close to the ‘crossover’ novel that’s been called the ‘holy grail of gay fiction.’ Take out the dedicated material that was most likely added to make it qualify as m/m, and Tarnished Gold could be shelved with gay literature or even mainstream historical literature. And that’s high praise.
Recommended for readers who like an impeccably researched historical … for anyone who has a fascination for the tinsel-town of yesteryear, or even a sneaky crush on the likes of Errol Flynn! … and for readers who like a sexy romp with a few liberal doses of buttock-blistering, or else, like me, are willing to the hit the fast forward, back to the delights of a historical where fact and fiction blend into a delicious melange.
April 2, 2013
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the authro in exchange for a fair and honest review. I rated it 5 out of 5 stars.
Reviewed for TwoLips Reviews LLC
5 kisses, 1 pepper M/M, oral and anal sex, toys
On his twentieth birthday, Jack Abadie decided he wants a different life for himself instead of working on his father's sugar plantation. Jack wants to go to California to become an actor. After being in Hollywood for five years, Jack is still waiting tables with little time off to pursue his dream. One night a frequent diner hands Jack a card and invites him to a club. It turns out the man is Eric Ballance, a film director. Eric has been watching Jack and thinks Jack has what it takes to be an actor.
Jack starts out as an extra, getting more and more parts until finally; he's offered the position of leading man on Eric's next film. But acting isn't all that Jack thought it would be, it's actually hard work, and he works hard and excels at his part. Jack has kept a secret about himself from his family, only his brother Andrew knows the truth, and that is that Jack prefers men. As Jack is immersed deeper and deeper into the film industry, he's surprised to learn there are a lot of actors who are gay.During a movie tour, Jack meets Wyatt Maitland who works at a theater. Jack is cautious in observing Wyatt and concludes that he wants to know more Wyatt. At the end of the tour, Jack meets with Wyatt and both men find out quickly that they like each other very much. After some persuasion, Jack convinces Wyatt to move in with him as his lover and book keeper.
The scandals in Hollywood have the public clamoring for the studios to clean up their movies and employees. The Hayes Office issues moral clauses and ultimatums to the actors. Angered by their attempt to encroach on his private life, Jack vows he well never succumb to their dictates. Will Jack retire and live quietly with Wyatt, or will he fight for what he believes is right?
My head is still reeling after finishing Tarnished Gold by Brita Addams. I'm so taken with this book; it's hard for me to put everything into words. Tarnished Gold is an emotional ride and is so very well written that I felt like I knew Jack, Wyatt, and Eric personally. The world building is excellent, grabbing my attention on the first page and continuing throughout the book. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough so I could learn what was going to happen next.
Ms. Addams has put disappointment, determination, frustration, happiness, joy, grief, love, in this book. Jack is such a likable character, he's strong, confident, handsome, and easy going, and determined to go after what he wants. I could almost feel all of Jack's emotions pour out of the pages. I wanted to cry when Jack experienced his disappointments with Eric and his grief when his father passed. I also felt happiness when Jack and Wyatt were happy with their life. I loved how Jack handled his professional life and his determination not to hide who he was.
I also like Wyatt, who was sometimes quiet and shy but came alive when he was with Jack. Wyatt also seemed to have an ornery streak that helped with the dynamic of him and Jack. Eric was a little harder to figure out. I so wanted for Eric to be happy, but he had his own demons to conquer. I liked how he took Jack under his wing and helped him become a star. All the secondary characters added depth and dimension to Tarnished Gold that makes this book such an exceptional read. I could tell that Ms. Addams had invested a lot of time into her research, and that made this story fantastic. I strongly recommend Tarnished Gold not only to those who love M/M romance books, but also to everyone who appreciates a gut wrenching, love story!
Reviewed for TwoLips Reviews LLC
5 kisses, 1 pepper M/M, oral and anal sex, toys
On his twentieth birthday, Jack Abadie decided he wants a different life for himself instead of working on his father's sugar plantation. Jack wants to go to California to become an actor. After being in Hollywood for five years, Jack is still waiting tables with little time off to pursue his dream. One night a frequent diner hands Jack a card and invites him to a club. It turns out the man is Eric Ballance, a film director. Eric has been watching Jack and thinks Jack has what it takes to be an actor.
Jack starts out as an extra, getting more and more parts until finally; he's offered the position of leading man on Eric's next film. But acting isn't all that Jack thought it would be, it's actually hard work, and he works hard and excels at his part. Jack has kept a secret about himself from his family, only his brother Andrew knows the truth, and that is that Jack prefers men. As Jack is immersed deeper and deeper into the film industry, he's surprised to learn there are a lot of actors who are gay.During a movie tour, Jack meets Wyatt Maitland who works at a theater. Jack is cautious in observing Wyatt and concludes that he wants to know more Wyatt. At the end of the tour, Jack meets with Wyatt and both men find out quickly that they like each other very much. After some persuasion, Jack convinces Wyatt to move in with him as his lover and book keeper.
The scandals in Hollywood have the public clamoring for the studios to clean up their movies and employees. The Hayes Office issues moral clauses and ultimatums to the actors. Angered by their attempt to encroach on his private life, Jack vows he well never succumb to their dictates. Will Jack retire and live quietly with Wyatt, or will he fight for what he believes is right?
My head is still reeling after finishing Tarnished Gold by Brita Addams. I'm so taken with this book; it's hard for me to put everything into words. Tarnished Gold is an emotional ride and is so very well written that I felt like I knew Jack, Wyatt, and Eric personally. The world building is excellent, grabbing my attention on the first page and continuing throughout the book. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough so I could learn what was going to happen next.
Ms. Addams has put disappointment, determination, frustration, happiness, joy, grief, love, in this book. Jack is such a likable character, he's strong, confident, handsome, and easy going, and determined to go after what he wants. I could almost feel all of Jack's emotions pour out of the pages. I wanted to cry when Jack experienced his disappointments with Eric and his grief when his father passed. I also felt happiness when Jack and Wyatt were happy with their life. I loved how Jack handled his professional life and his determination not to hide who he was.
I also like Wyatt, who was sometimes quiet and shy but came alive when he was with Jack. Wyatt also seemed to have an ornery streak that helped with the dynamic of him and Jack. Eric was a little harder to figure out. I so wanted for Eric to be happy, but he had his own demons to conquer. I liked how he took Jack under his wing and helped him become a star. All the secondary characters added depth and dimension to Tarnished Gold that makes this book such an exceptional read. I could tell that Ms. Addams had invested a lot of time into her research, and that made this story fantastic. I strongly recommend Tarnished Gold not only to those who love M/M romance books, but also to everyone who appreciates a gut wrenching, love story!
April 17, 2013
REVIEW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT REVIEWS BY JESSEWAVE
NOTE: I purchased the book on my own.
I enjoyed the story of Jack and Wyatt, but at times it ran surprisingly low on conflict. The story takes place during almost twenty years of Jack's life and the epilogue jumps almost twenty five years more ahead. It is an epic story of a young man of amazing strength finding his place in Hollywood and staying strong to who he was no matter what life was throwing at him. I thought it was written and researched very well, and I felt like I was right there, reliving the Golden years of Hollywood. I was cheering for Jack's successes and my heart ached for his heart breaks.
At some point in the story (somewhere starting in the 25-30 percentage) the story becomes the story of Jack and Wyatt. Soon enough after they start to figure out what they may mean to each other they have their first conflict in the story based on their perceived views of what it means to be in the relationship. It was resolved pretty fast. I thought it was nicely done and I expected to see tension between them being built just as nicely during the course of the story. Sadly I was wrong.
After 40-45% of the story *any* tension between the guys disappeared completely. They love each other, support each other and it was nice to read, especially since according to the author's note the men are loosely based on real people. It was heartwarming to know that there were people who survived pressure and refused to pretend who they are even if they meant that they could not stay in business.
I really do not mind and often enjoy a lot "we against the world" kind of story. Having said that, I kept hoping for something to be the reason for the tension to return, but alas. It was actually kind of funny because bad things do happen around Jack and Wyatt , so there were multiple possibilities for at least external tension to reappear. At the same time what I felt instead was that none of those events had a lasting influence on their relationship and /or on their lives.
I mean, even the event which the blurb references - the studio issuing Jack an ultimatum - I thought it would hit him and Wyatt much harder and the repercussions would be much worse, but instead I thought that they rebounded pretty fast and became even more successful. I am not going to tell you how that happened. My point is that I did not see any real conflict - external or internal - happening in the second half of the book. Jack and Wyatt lose friends, loved ones, but they never waver in their support for each other. It did my heart good to read the book like this on one hand, on the other I am not sure if it made for a very exciting fictional story.
As you can see the story is also characterized as BDSM. I felt that Jack and Wyatt enjoyed it almost as a matter of fact; of course it made sense to me that they do not call what they do BDSM and I did not think that they played in anything hardcore. Having said that, I wish the author showed why they want and need it with a little bit more depth.
Recommended.
NOTE: I purchased the book on my own.
I enjoyed the story of Jack and Wyatt, but at times it ran surprisingly low on conflict. The story takes place during almost twenty years of Jack's life and the epilogue jumps almost twenty five years more ahead. It is an epic story of a young man of amazing strength finding his place in Hollywood and staying strong to who he was no matter what life was throwing at him. I thought it was written and researched very well, and I felt like I was right there, reliving the Golden years of Hollywood. I was cheering for Jack's successes and my heart ached for his heart breaks.
At some point in the story (somewhere starting in the 25-30 percentage) the story becomes the story of Jack and Wyatt. Soon enough after they start to figure out what they may mean to each other they have their first conflict in the story based on their perceived views of what it means to be in the relationship. It was resolved pretty fast. I thought it was nicely done and I expected to see tension between them being built just as nicely during the course of the story. Sadly I was wrong.
After 40-45% of the story *any* tension between the guys disappeared completely. They love each other, support each other and it was nice to read, especially since according to the author's note the men are loosely based on real people. It was heartwarming to know that there were people who survived pressure and refused to pretend who they are even if they meant that they could not stay in business.
I really do not mind and often enjoy a lot "we against the world" kind of story. Having said that, I kept hoping for something to be the reason for the tension to return, but alas. It was actually kind of funny because bad things do happen around Jack and Wyatt , so there were multiple possibilities for at least external tension to reappear. At the same time what I felt instead was that none of those events had a lasting influence on their relationship and /or on their lives.
I mean, even the event which the blurb references - the studio issuing Jack an ultimatum - I thought it would hit him and Wyatt much harder and the repercussions would be much worse, but instead I thought that they rebounded pretty fast and became even more successful. I am not going to tell you how that happened. My point is that I did not see any real conflict - external or internal - happening in the second half of the book. Jack and Wyatt lose friends, loved ones, but they never waver in their support for each other. It did my heart good to read the book like this on one hand, on the other I am not sure if it made for a very exciting fictional story.
As you can see the story is also characterized as BDSM. I felt that Jack and Wyatt enjoyed it almost as a matter of fact; of course it made sense to me that they do not call what they do BDSM and I did not think that they played in anything hardcore. Having said that, I wish the author showed why they want and need it with a little bit more depth.
Recommended.
March 30, 2013
Tarnished Gold is an intense read from the beginning and deals with one man's desire to become famous while never selling himself out. He stays true to himself, no matter what society thinks, to forge a trailblazing path with the man he loves by his side.
Before I give my in-depth perceptions of this story, let me start off by saying that this book is long. A lot happens, not only to the main characters but a slew of secondary characters who deal with similar life issues as the protagonist, so the overall feel of the story is one of being a miniseries. As the years go by, historical events rear their ugly head to add even more drama to the characters we slowly come to care about. Through the vivid depictions of the style and actions of the silent movie world to the transition to talkies amidst a world gone crazy because of the Depression and other's beliefs of how people should act, it was easy to become completely immersed into this beautifully flowing story.
The main character of Jack always wanted to make it big. He knew there was more to the world than what his small town could give him and he throws aside everything to head towards fame. There's a naïveté to him early on that fame slowly takes from him. But in its place he becomes a wiser even more self-assured man not willing to compromise. Jack is immensely likable and never forgets about his family as his riches are theres. He's dependable and you can't help but admire him and root for his HEA as he forges a completely unexpected path that has a very modern feel to it in its radicalness.
Surrounding Jack is a colorful cast of characters who have plenty of emotional highs and lows themselves. These characters are sometimes likable, while others leave you conflicted, but they're never forgettable. Their endings aren't always pretty but the stark realism adds to the story's overall emotional intensity. Adding to the story's intensity are numerous sexual encounters that steam up the pages with the occasional bits of BDSM thrown in. These scenes not only involve Jack, who after one or two brief encounters settles into bliss with one wonderful man who's definitely his equal, but his mentor Eric whose emotional baggage leads him from one self-destructive encounter to the next and can be seen as what could've happened to Jack had he not had such strong self-esteem and pride in himself.
Ms. Addams has crafted an emotionally draining, yet immensely satisfying, saga that carries readers to new highs in entertainment. Reading Tarnished Gold felt like watching a movie on the big screen with larger than life characters thrust into the craziness of the Roaring 20's and waiting to see who makes it through in one piece. It's an exhaustingly intense read but well worth the time invested.
Before I give my in-depth perceptions of this story, let me start off by saying that this book is long. A lot happens, not only to the main characters but a slew of secondary characters who deal with similar life issues as the protagonist, so the overall feel of the story is one of being a miniseries. As the years go by, historical events rear their ugly head to add even more drama to the characters we slowly come to care about. Through the vivid depictions of the style and actions of the silent movie world to the transition to talkies amidst a world gone crazy because of the Depression and other's beliefs of how people should act, it was easy to become completely immersed into this beautifully flowing story.
The main character of Jack always wanted to make it big. He knew there was more to the world than what his small town could give him and he throws aside everything to head towards fame. There's a naïveté to him early on that fame slowly takes from him. But in its place he becomes a wiser even more self-assured man not willing to compromise. Jack is immensely likable and never forgets about his family as his riches are theres. He's dependable and you can't help but admire him and root for his HEA as he forges a completely unexpected path that has a very modern feel to it in its radicalness.
Surrounding Jack is a colorful cast of characters who have plenty of emotional highs and lows themselves. These characters are sometimes likable, while others leave you conflicted, but they're never forgettable. Their endings aren't always pretty but the stark realism adds to the story's overall emotional intensity. Adding to the story's intensity are numerous sexual encounters that steam up the pages with the occasional bits of BDSM thrown in. These scenes not only involve Jack, who after one or two brief encounters settles into bliss with one wonderful man who's definitely his equal, but his mentor Eric whose emotional baggage leads him from one self-destructive encounter to the next and can be seen as what could've happened to Jack had he not had such strong self-esteem and pride in himself.
Ms. Addams has crafted an emotionally draining, yet immensely satisfying, saga that carries readers to new highs in entertainment. Reading Tarnished Gold felt like watching a movie on the big screen with larger than life characters thrust into the craziness of the Roaring 20's and waiting to see who makes it through in one piece. It's an exhaustingly intense read but well worth the time invested.
July 16, 2013
Brita Addams has written a sweeping saga about the Golden Age of Hollywood. In Tarnished Gold, by following the career of Jack Abadie, she gives us a glimpse at the history of movies from the early days of the silent films-or "flickers" as they were called-through the "Roaring Twenties", up to the start of the 1930s. The blurb covers the very basic facts of the book, but to really, really appreciate the glorious whole of this eloquently written saga, you must read it for yourself.
This is a fantastic character driven story that has a plot that grabs you at the beginning, smoothly sweeps you along with a backstory that is so richly detailed that you feel like you're there in person, to the very end. Her characters are solid, very believable, and pull you in to where you cheer every triumph, cry at every tragedy, and live every moment almost as if it were your own. The sex in the story is hot, passionate, and intense.
The author's style of writing is solid, eloquent, very original, and displays an absolutely uncanny ability to bring to life the seldom seen world of what really happened behind-the-scenes of the movie industry at that time and a VERY well researched knowledge of what power the big name studios had. She has done an absolutely fantastic job of pulling back the curtain and offering a no-holds-barred and unapologetic look beyond the hype and glitz into what really happened during that time. I absolutely loved the HEA ending, enjoyed reading the unvarnished tale, and would DEFINITELY recommend this fascinating book to everyone!
Pattycake's 5 sweet pea and Recommended Book review appears at http://mrsconditreadsbooks.com/index....
This is a fantastic character driven story that has a plot that grabs you at the beginning, smoothly sweeps you along with a backstory that is so richly detailed that you feel like you're there in person, to the very end. Her characters are solid, very believable, and pull you in to where you cheer every triumph, cry at every tragedy, and live every moment almost as if it were your own. The sex in the story is hot, passionate, and intense.
The author's style of writing is solid, eloquent, very original, and displays an absolutely uncanny ability to bring to life the seldom seen world of what really happened behind-the-scenes of the movie industry at that time and a VERY well researched knowledge of what power the big name studios had. She has done an absolutely fantastic job of pulling back the curtain and offering a no-holds-barred and unapologetic look beyond the hype and glitz into what really happened during that time. I absolutely loved the HEA ending, enjoyed reading the unvarnished tale, and would DEFINITELY recommend this fascinating book to everyone!
Pattycake's 5 sweet pea and Recommended Book review appears at http://mrsconditreadsbooks.com/index....
June 22, 2015
I loved this excellent story of old Hollywood in the 1920 and early 30s. Jack Abadie is a young man who in 1917 makes his way from rural Louisiana to Hollywood looking to become a star. He is discovered by Eric Ballance, a well known director. Jack stars in his first eleven minute short called A Charmed Life with his coo star Lita Hudson. The public falls for the duo and A Charmed Life is made into a serial. Suddenly Jack is the studio's biggest star but his life feels empty without someone to share it with. Hollywood is teeming with gay and lesbian actors living discreet lives. Jack meets the love of his life Wyatt Maitland at the launch of an eight month tour and is smitten. Jack and Wyatt are soon living together when the morals clause begins to be enforced. Jack refuses to hide and soon quits acting rather than cave to the homophobes. Jack is hired by a more lenient studio and makes five movies with sound. Drained by the long hours, Jack leaves the studio just before the stock market crash of 1929. Having invested heavily in land and properties, Jack and a few gay friends survive the crash unscathed and buy the film studio.
The characters in this book feel so very real. Ms Addams did extensive research to show the real times that Jack and Wyatt along with their families and friends lived in. I felt that I was right there in the story many times. The sex is smoking. The story is captivating and an informative read. Highly recommended.
The characters in this book feel so very real. Ms Addams did extensive research to show the real times that Jack and Wyatt along with their families and friends lived in. I felt that I was right there in the story many times. The sex is smoking. The story is captivating and an informative read. Highly recommended.
April 3, 2013
Well written but about twice as long as it needed to be. While the hints of BD/SM were fine with the character of Eric, they did not make sense with the characters of Jack and Wyatt and in fact were completely out of place and forced with them. The author did a good job of showing a broad range of the history of 1920's and 1930's Hollywood.
Want to read
November 20, 2013
free until 10:30am EST 11/20/13"Tarnished Gold," by Brita Addams is part of our free November Tweetaways! Available for an hour.
http://t.co/Z7JsByRrHH
November 22, 2017
~~~~~~~~~~Mild Spoilers!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I love romances set in the early 20th century. Flappers, prohibition, blossoming film industry,
the newly dawned age of the telephone, electricity and indoor plumbing. The theme is intoxicating and one of my favorite era's. Add to that a wonderful m/m romance and I'm in heaven.
This book started out so wonderful. Jack was a boy from Lousiana who was dazzled "flickers" and
ran away to Los Angeles to become a star. It took him a few years but he did it.
The overall story is engaging, and the factual historical under themes of raunchy hollywood bad behaviour by the stars being silenced and subdued by the Motion picture production code/Hayes code was fascinating. I loved the early hollywood vignette's and the mention of real scandals of the early days.
I started out really liking Jack, and when he met Wyatt, I enjoyed their burgeoning romance. And then the spanking started. Ugh Ugh. Why does every m/m romance author think this is titillating?
I guess most readers enjoy it, based on the frequency it appears in m/m romance stories.
It kind of ruined the story for me. I finished the book, skimming over those sections, But my enjoyment was overshadowed by .....ick....spanking. Sorry this is just not for me.
It makes me "like" the MC'S less. I had read Brita Addam's other book Beloved Unmasked which I loved loved. No spanking in site thank you very much, just a brilliant book featuring turn of the century New Orleans. I highly recommend that one. This one also if you like historical romance.
Addams is a great writer sans my caveat.
I love romances set in the early 20th century. Flappers, prohibition, blossoming film industry,
the newly dawned age of the telephone, electricity and indoor plumbing. The theme is intoxicating and one of my favorite era's. Add to that a wonderful m/m romance and I'm in heaven.
This book started out so wonderful. Jack was a boy from Lousiana who was dazzled "flickers" and
ran away to Los Angeles to become a star. It took him a few years but he did it.
The overall story is engaging, and the factual historical under themes of raunchy hollywood bad behaviour by the stars being silenced and subdued by the Motion picture production code/Hayes code was fascinating. I loved the early hollywood vignette's and the mention of real scandals of the early days.
I started out really liking Jack, and when he met Wyatt, I enjoyed their burgeoning romance. And then the spanking started. Ugh Ugh. Why does every m/m romance author think this is titillating?
I guess most readers enjoy it, based on the frequency it appears in m/m romance stories.
It kind of ruined the story for me. I finished the book, skimming over those sections, But my enjoyment was overshadowed by .....ick....spanking. Sorry this is just not for me.
It makes me "like" the MC'S less. I had read Brita Addam's other book Beloved Unmasked which I loved loved. No spanking in site thank you very much, just a brilliant book featuring turn of the century New Orleans. I highly recommend that one. This one also if you like historical romance.
Addams is a great writer sans my caveat.
June 21, 2019
Jack Abadie was in search of a new life when he left his small town for the glamour of Hollywood. And he was surprised to not only find success but also find Wyatt Maitland, someone who couldn't be more made for him if Jack had built him from scratch himself. The two navigate a world that needs them but refuses to understand them at the same time, seeking to make a life when odds seem to be ever stacked against them. A charming story about secrets that may have been more common in the early days of Hollywood than we will ever truly know.
April 19, 2013
4.5 Stars
I don’t know that I’ve read another book in this genre quite like “Tarnished Gold”. The book is loosely based on the first openly out gay actor in Hollywood. Be sure to read the author notes after the epilogue as I found it added to the essence of the story.
The story spans from 1917 to 1955 following Jack Abadie, a Louisiana farm boy, who runs off to Hollywood to realize his dream of being a star. He’s lucking in finding both a place to live and a job promptly after his arrival in the city. It’s not the glamorous life he wants but he knows he has to have a job to pay his way while he waits for his chance to get into pictures. Five years later while working as a waiter he’s propositioned by a customer to patronize a private club called Marlowe’s. It’s a private club for men who prefer men to socialize and fulfill their desires in a safe setting. Eric, the gorgeous man who invited him comes onto Jack, which is not at all unwanted attention. Eric sees something special in Jack and gives him the chance in pictures as an extra. Jack catches the eyes of the studio heads and is soon acting in his own movies. Eric never once demanded sexual favors for the help he gives Eric but Jack desperately wishes he would. Jack wants to be with him but Eric shoots down his attempts at any type of a relationship besides friendship and mentor. Eric prefers a certain type of man and doesn’t do relationships. Jack is deeply hurt by the rejection. He spends some time pining away until he meets a striking young man named Wyatt at the release of his new movie. The attraction is mutual but the timing is terrible as he is embarking on an eight month long junket to promote the movie. The two stay in touch and wait for the day they can meet again. Seems, in this case, absence does make the heart grow fonder because the men jump into something intense right away. Jack is lonely in a crowd, and Wyatt is lonely because of his secret life. Both men want a loving relationship so you’d think they’d be on the same page but some not so good advice ingrained in Jack’s head by his mentor, Eric, has Jack screwing up what seems kismet fairly quickly. Jack starts to think for himself realizing Eric isn’t the best role model when it comes to affairs of the heart and begs Wyatt for forgiveness.
Whit's full review can be found at
Live Your Life, Buy The Book
I don’t know that I’ve read another book in this genre quite like “Tarnished Gold”. The book is loosely based on the first openly out gay actor in Hollywood. Be sure to read the author notes after the epilogue as I found it added to the essence of the story.
The story spans from 1917 to 1955 following Jack Abadie, a Louisiana farm boy, who runs off to Hollywood to realize his dream of being a star. He’s lucking in finding both a place to live and a job promptly after his arrival in the city. It’s not the glamorous life he wants but he knows he has to have a job to pay his way while he waits for his chance to get into pictures. Five years later while working as a waiter he’s propositioned by a customer to patronize a private club called Marlowe’s. It’s a private club for men who prefer men to socialize and fulfill their desires in a safe setting. Eric, the gorgeous man who invited him comes onto Jack, which is not at all unwanted attention. Eric sees something special in Jack and gives him the chance in pictures as an extra. Jack catches the eyes of the studio heads and is soon acting in his own movies. Eric never once demanded sexual favors for the help he gives Eric but Jack desperately wishes he would. Jack wants to be with him but Eric shoots down his attempts at any type of a relationship besides friendship and mentor. Eric prefers a certain type of man and doesn’t do relationships. Jack is deeply hurt by the rejection. He spends some time pining away until he meets a striking young man named Wyatt at the release of his new movie. The attraction is mutual but the timing is terrible as he is embarking on an eight month long junket to promote the movie. The two stay in touch and wait for the day they can meet again. Seems, in this case, absence does make the heart grow fonder because the men jump into something intense right away. Jack is lonely in a crowd, and Wyatt is lonely because of his secret life. Both men want a loving relationship so you’d think they’d be on the same page but some not so good advice ingrained in Jack’s head by his mentor, Eric, has Jack screwing up what seems kismet fairly quickly. Jack starts to think for himself realizing Eric isn’t the best role model when it comes to affairs of the heart and begs Wyatt for forgiveness.
Whit's full review can be found at
Live Your Life, Buy The Book
December 15, 2015
Based loosely on the story of actor William Haines and his partner, Jimmy Shields, Joan Crawford once said of the two men, “They are the happiest couple in Hollywood”. Ms. Addams has resculpted the story to make it fictional, and a fine MM romance it is.
The story takes place at the time movies were just about to go to talkies, something that changed Hollywood forever. The main character, Jack Abadie, is a likable expat of New Orleans who manages to get discovered partly thanks to his being gay, meeting film folk at Marlowe’s, a blub for men seeking encounters with other men. His foil in this is Eric Ballance, a producer whose first experiences of sex with a man has told him he needs to be on top, literally, at all costs. When Jack meets Wyatt, a publicist, his adherence to Eric’s rules makes the new affair difficult to get started, but Jack soon realizes he and Wyatt are special—they are in love and utterly devoted to each other.
And that’s good, because the two men have a lot to face. First there is all the competition between studios and actors. While being gay is somewhat acknowledged in that world, it is kept under wraps from the public… after all, the romantic leads need to available for sexual fantasies of female fans. This is solidified by a self-appointed censor who intimidates studio heads to convince the actors to get into “lavender marriages” to cover their lifestyles. Jack manages to circumvent this pressure, but then the stock market crash destroys studios and Jack and Wyatt decide to run a new studio without the oppressive conditions of the past. Jack stops appearing in films soon thereafter, so he and Wyatt are able to stay the happiest couple in Hollywood, to use Crawford’s words.
The novel appears to be quite accurate historically with one glaring exception. Addams uses the term “gay” for these men, their clubs, and other uses. “Gay”, though I use it myself in this review written in 2015, was not a common term until decades later. Addams is a stickler for historical accuracy, so that really baffled me. But I have to say the book is so beautifully written and so heartfelt and riveting, I choose to overlook that.
I of course went right out and bought WISECRACKER, William Haines’s own story of his life as an out gay actor and his relationship with Jimmy Shields. I have a feeling I will love it, but fiction often appears to offer the story I will remember in my own heart.
The story takes place at the time movies were just about to go to talkies, something that changed Hollywood forever. The main character, Jack Abadie, is a likable expat of New Orleans who manages to get discovered partly thanks to his being gay, meeting film folk at Marlowe’s, a blub for men seeking encounters with other men. His foil in this is Eric Ballance, a producer whose first experiences of sex with a man has told him he needs to be on top, literally, at all costs. When Jack meets Wyatt, a publicist, his adherence to Eric’s rules makes the new affair difficult to get started, but Jack soon realizes he and Wyatt are special—they are in love and utterly devoted to each other.
And that’s good, because the two men have a lot to face. First there is all the competition between studios and actors. While being gay is somewhat acknowledged in that world, it is kept under wraps from the public… after all, the romantic leads need to available for sexual fantasies of female fans. This is solidified by a self-appointed censor who intimidates studio heads to convince the actors to get into “lavender marriages” to cover their lifestyles. Jack manages to circumvent this pressure, but then the stock market crash destroys studios and Jack and Wyatt decide to run a new studio without the oppressive conditions of the past. Jack stops appearing in films soon thereafter, so he and Wyatt are able to stay the happiest couple in Hollywood, to use Crawford’s words.
The novel appears to be quite accurate historically with one glaring exception. Addams uses the term “gay” for these men, their clubs, and other uses. “Gay”, though I use it myself in this review written in 2015, was not a common term until decades later. Addams is a stickler for historical accuracy, so that really baffled me. But I have to say the book is so beautifully written and so heartfelt and riveting, I choose to overlook that.
I of course went right out and bought WISECRACKER, William Haines’s own story of his life as an out gay actor and his relationship with Jimmy Shields. I have a feeling I will love it, but fiction often appears to offer the story I will remember in my own heart.
September 8, 2013
Beautifully written historical about old Hollywood. Set largely in the 20s and 30s, Jack Abadie leaves his Louisiana farm far behind and sets out for California leaving his family behind. He ends up meeting a director who takes him under his wing and ends up making him one of the biggest stars of the decade.
As he is leaving on an eight month tour to promote his films, he meets Wyatt Maitland at an event at Grauman's Theater. Even though they don't get to talk long, Jack knows that this is a man he wants to get to know.
After a few difficult circumstances that Jack finds he needs to deal with he calls on Wyatt and Wyatt immediately comes to Jack's side. Everything is not all roses and sunshine, but they definitely make a formidable couple.
Despite the scandals that wracked Hollywood and the subsequent pressure from many quarters to "clean up" the movie business, Jack steadfastly refuses to hide his relationship with Wyatt. In his mind they are married and that's that. Wyatt is a little more timid which we discover the reasons for a bit later.
Throughout this book, we get to see how deeply committed Wyatt and Jack are to each other. Wyatt's business acumen and experience in Hollywood are tapped to run Jack's vast real estate empire and eventually other interests as well.
While some liberties are taken with small things in the story, the author included a number of the actual history that rocked the movie industry in the 20s and 30s. I also like that she included some of the details around the transition from silent to talking movies and the actors' feeling about them.
What I liked best about this story was the relationship between Wyatt and Jack and Jack's ability to somehow manage his life so that he didn't have to deny his truth and his love. There are many highs and lows during the years this story takes place, but the all contribute to the strength of Wyatt and Jack's love for each other.
Just really very lovely. Highly recommended.
As he is leaving on an eight month tour to promote his films, he meets Wyatt Maitland at an event at Grauman's Theater. Even though they don't get to talk long, Jack knows that this is a man he wants to get to know.
After a few difficult circumstances that Jack finds he needs to deal with he calls on Wyatt and Wyatt immediately comes to Jack's side. Everything is not all roses and sunshine, but they definitely make a formidable couple.
Despite the scandals that wracked Hollywood and the subsequent pressure from many quarters to "clean up" the movie business, Jack steadfastly refuses to hide his relationship with Wyatt. In his mind they are married and that's that. Wyatt is a little more timid which we discover the reasons for a bit later.
Throughout this book, we get to see how deeply committed Wyatt and Jack are to each other. Wyatt's business acumen and experience in Hollywood are tapped to run Jack's vast real estate empire and eventually other interests as well.
While some liberties are taken with small things in the story, the author included a number of the actual history that rocked the movie industry in the 20s and 30s. I also like that she included some of the details around the transition from silent to talking movies and the actors' feeling about them.
What I liked best about this story was the relationship between Wyatt and Jack and Jack's ability to somehow manage his life so that he didn't have to deny his truth and his love. There are many highs and lows during the years this story takes place, but the all contribute to the strength of Wyatt and Jack's love for each other.
Just really very lovely. Highly recommended.
March 26, 2013
KcLu's review posted on Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews
4.5 Stars
In Tarnished Gold Brita Addams gives us a wonderfully epic story of a young gay Louisiana man’s journey from the country surrounding New Orleans to stardom in 1920’s Hollywood. While it is still hard today for some Hollywood stars to live an openly gay lifestyle, it is hard to imagine the difficulty in which the stars of the past had to live.
This book is separated in three parts Jack’s leaving Louisiana and establishing a life for himself, him finding someone to love him and being able to accept the physical love from that man, and his and Wyatt’s road to HEA. The road to HEA isn’t an easy one. Once Jack learns to accept his self and the love that is offered to him, he then has to deal with the bigotry of the world he makes his living in, and to top that off he had to deal with the crash of the stock market that brought about the Great Depression.
Brita does an excellent job of bringing to life Hollywood’s Golden age. You can tell that the research into that time was not skipped over, and that the history wasn’t glossed over. Let’s face it that wasn’t an easy time to be a gay person in this country, and this is a beautiful example of how far we have come. I really hope I have represented how truly great this story is without giving away too much of it. This is one of those where I struggled to write the review because of its greatness. I highly recommend this great read!
Review copy provided for an honest review.
4.5 Stars
In Tarnished Gold Brita Addams gives us a wonderfully epic story of a young gay Louisiana man’s journey from the country surrounding New Orleans to stardom in 1920’s Hollywood. While it is still hard today for some Hollywood stars to live an openly gay lifestyle, it is hard to imagine the difficulty in which the stars of the past had to live.
This book is separated in three parts Jack’s leaving Louisiana and establishing a life for himself, him finding someone to love him and being able to accept the physical love from that man, and his and Wyatt’s road to HEA. The road to HEA isn’t an easy one. Once Jack learns to accept his self and the love that is offered to him, he then has to deal with the bigotry of the world he makes his living in, and to top that off he had to deal with the crash of the stock market that brought about the Great Depression.
Brita does an excellent job of bringing to life Hollywood’s Golden age. You can tell that the research into that time was not skipped over, and that the history wasn’t glossed over. Let’s face it that wasn’t an easy time to be a gay person in this country, and this is a beautiful example of how far we have come. I really hope I have represented how truly great this story is without giving away too much of it. This is one of those where I struggled to write the review because of its greatness. I highly recommend this great read!
Review copy provided for an honest review.
April 19, 2013
This story was absolutely wonderful, the author truly did a fabulous job. This story takes you back and makes you feel as if you were actually living during this era. Tarnished Gold was very thorough and the characters were well developed. You do not feel like you are missing anything in this book. There was one part in the book that made me want to cry, my heart was very saddened regarding this one character and I think I mourned him for rest of the book, the same as the characters in the book. Tarnished God sucks you in from the beginning and you can't stop reading until the very end.
November 30, 2013
2.5
It starts well and then it gets repetitive (parties, movie premieres, shopping for presents), sappy and in general long winded. The mild BDSM could have been avoided IMO, because it doesn't seem to be congenial to both Jack and Wyatt.
Uprounded to 3 stars because of the evidently well done research. Although I wonder if the acceptance of gay people was really so widespread in the movie industry then.
It starts well and then it gets repetitive (parties, movie premieres, shopping for presents), sappy and in general long winded. The mild BDSM could have been avoided IMO, because it doesn't seem to be congenial to both Jack and Wyatt.
Uprounded to 3 stars because of the evidently well done research. Although I wonder if the acceptance of gay people was really so widespread in the movie industry then.
May 31, 2015
Notice: The book was provided by the publisher in exchange for a honest review
Title: Tarnished Gold
Author: Brita Addams
Cover Artist: Anne Cain
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Reviewer: Monika
Genre: Historical
Type: Romance
Pairing: Gay
Length: Long Novel
Heat Rating: ♨♨♨♨
Rating: ★★★★★
The rest of the review can be read at World of Diversity Fiction
Title: Tarnished Gold
Author: Brita Addams
Cover Artist: Anne Cain
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Reviewer: Monika
Genre: Historical
Type: Romance
Pairing: Gay
Length: Long Novel
Heat Rating: ♨♨♨♨
Rating: ★★★★★
The rest of the review can be read at World of Diversity Fiction
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews