Leading Lady

by Kate Coscarelli

Chelsea Hunter--the daughter of Hollywood superstar Bunny Thomas--tries to hold onto her budding career, her lover, and her sense of identity despite the machinations of her manipulative grandmother, Laverne, whose stage-mother scheming years before had made Bunny a star

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Drama, Adult

424 pages, Hardcover

First published August 20, 1991

Reviews

[Alex ☣ Deranged KittyCat ☣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is one of the first books I have ever read. It took me a while to discover reading can be so good (actually, I had to get to the 8th grade, see the movie Interview with a Vampire, and find out it was made after a book, but that's a long story).

I first found this in my aunt's library, and she told me it has a Marilyn Monroe vibe to it, and that's why I read it. The second time, I read it at her place again, then, this year, I found it in my boyfriend's grandmother's library. It fascinated me as much as it did the first two times.

The story is about 3 women (the grandmother, the mother and the daughter). The mother is the former child movie star, the grandmother is the manager, and the daughter is invisible. The book mostly hurts. You are shown the ugliest of truths from the very beginning. Yet Leading Lady gets me every time.

[Justice Tinker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book truly was so good! I loved reading this book because it centered on three women dealing with the weight of Hollywood and the impact of intergenerational trauma. I found myself admiring all of them (hating some as well but...) and I completely got lost within the story. Coscarelli did an exceptional job with this story, it's more than just a story about Hollywood and Fame, it deals with the gravity and the villains. It doesn't make anything glossy and instead focuses on the bad and ugly. By focusing on the bad and ugly, Coscarelli created a story that drew me in. We see the cunning Laverne Thomas who fights hard to create a life for her daughter and genuinely allows horrible abuse to occur in it pursuit of it. She becomes her daughter, Bunny Thomas, literally owning and controlling her daughter hence why Bunny's eventual death makes perfect sense. Bunny was never allowed a chance for self, her whole life being her mother and dependency, a truely perfect psychological victim. Then we have Chelsea who was ignored her whole life and despite it all becomes a person who can hold her own weight in a way that added so much to the words on the pages. I can't even think of more to say then this book was genuinely good. It completely absorbed me in a way a book hasn't in a while, this book was no chore but rather a true book where I could literally see it all like a movie while I was reading.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool book about 1970s/1980s Hollywood - 3 generations of women - Bunny's mother, Bunny, the child star turned adult star - and Bunny's daughter Chelsea.

Lifelong secrets and terrible child exploitation by Hollywood - agents, serial marriages, etc....overbearing stage parents, drug abuse, the list goes on.
Lots of hard to believe events but then again, in Hollywood, it seems feasible.

Great distracting read. I'd check out this author's other books, given a chance.

[Bamboozlepig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, it was okay. Coscarelli has a writing style that is a bit more tell than show and she speeds the plot along. Chelsea came off as a huge MarySue and after awhile I got annoyed with her perfect goodness. Bunny was the typical airhead and Laverne was the obligatory villainish stage mother. Got to the halfway point and then started skimming to the end.

[Beatrice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grazie nonna per questa perla un po' trash ma intrigante

[AverageLanaFan . · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this last summer and it was pretty good, I remeber staying up all night to finish it! Too disgustingly horny for my tastes, though.

[Diana Szaiak · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

Cu toate preconcepțiile, cartea a fost o surpriză grozavă. Elementele specifice colecției își fac bine simțită prezența dar țin să cred că multe dintre scăpări se datorează traducerii.
Dacă lăsăm deoparte stilul pe-alocuri dulceag și expresiile perimate, avem o poveste care surprinde. Este despre ambiție dincolo de moralitate ori rațiune, despre abuz și exploatare, despre iubire și nepăsare, despre orgolii uriașe și interese.
Avem trei personaje centrale, trei generații, trei femei legate iremediabil și atât de diferite.
Laverne este personificarea ambiției, lipsită de orice scrupule și capabilă să calce pe cadavre pentru a-și atinge scopurile.
Bunny este copilul-vedetă care rămâne blocat în bula popularitătii, incapabilă să devină independentă si matură emoțional.
Chelsea este întruchiparea rațiunii, stăpână pe sine si cerebrală, țelul ei este independența și evadarea din familia ce o sufocă.
Este crunt cum o mamă își vinde copilul pentru a trăi prin acesta sub lumina reflectoarelor Hollywood iene. Nu-i pasă de moralitate, de fericirea ori liniștea copilei, o ține in permanență în lesă scurtă, distrugăndu-i atât viața cât si căsnicia. Singurul lucru care contează este cariera lui Bunny pentru că este singura cale prin care poate accede la strălucire si putere.
Își calcă nepoata în picioare, o neglijează și o tratează cu lehamite si răceală însă nu-i permite acesteia să se bucure de iubirea tatălui pentru că ar pierde astfel sursa de venit care-i mențin mașinațiunile in funcție. Totul este permis, nimic nu este prea mult.
Avem personaje frumos construite, inteligente și surprinzătoare, o acțiune care te cucerește și îți menține curiozitatea vie iar suspansul este bine dozat.
Singura parte forțată mi s-a părut a fi relația dintre Chelsea si Wills. Este precum un tren de mare viteză, in specificul anilor ‘90. S-au văzut si paf! Se iubesc si ii doare la bască de trecerea timpului si alte cele. Păcat, aiureala asta fantasmagorică fură din șarmul cărții.

[Eleni · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's good book specially if you like the Hollywood stuff, it gives you a sight to the lady's life. She is a famous actress with a "mamager", i won't spoil it any longer. Well check it for yourself I personally love it.

[Maria Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi-a plăcut extrem de mult cartea! Personajele au fost întruchiparea vanității, credulității dar și a stăpânirii de sine. Am iubit povestea, și chiar dacă cartea are 600 de pagini, a fost un ritm alert, care m-a făcut s-o termin în câteva zile.
Intriga a fost genială, nu am ce spune

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good beach read. Not my usual sort but picked it up at a used book sale. Pleasantly surprised. Entertaining.

[Jackie Simons]

Read 11/95