It's a Wrap

by Stella Chaplin

Brighton - summer. The setting for the budget British gangster movie that director Ben Lincoln is praying will launch his career. He's pinning his hopes on former pop icon Danny Parker and Emma Buckley, a struggling young actress who's had to stretch the truth just a little to snatch her first big break. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, costume designer Liz Thorne bides her time, waiting for the moment to make her move on the man who broke her heart six years ago. And this time nothing is going to stand in her way, not the cast, not the crew and certainly not the clause in every contract that states: sex on location doesn't count. Capturing the organised mayhem of a film crew playing away from home, IT'S A WRAP is a hilarious, unputdownable tale of love, lies and celluloid from the superb Stella Chaplin.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Dark-Draco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't the sort of thing I would normally choose for myself, but rescued it from a bunch of stuff my sister was throwing out.

Emma is a struggling actress, but somehow manages to land the leading role in a new film after telling a few white lies. Sad to leave her boyfriend behind, she's excited to be working alonside a handsome leading man. But everything is not as glamourous as it seems. Ben, the director, has his own problems in the form of Liz, an ex who is determined to win him back, as well as the normal nerves associated with translating his script to the screen. Somehow, all the cast and crew must get through the process together, while remembering that what happens on location, stays on location!

Funny in places, a bit slow in others, but an entertaining read nonetheless. I really did like the ending - I don't want to give it away, but it isn't the normal run-of-the-mill stuff you get with other 'chic-lit' books.

[Alexandra McKie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok so this is NOT at all my usual cup of tea, however there is some context as to why I have now read this book:

I work late nights on self-scan in a local (and rather rural) supermarket, and for the last hour or two of my shift every week it is pretty dead. So I began taking some books from the donation book stand (you know the sort I mean?) and reading a chapter or two. Then one day I began to read this book, just to pass the time as I had no customers. And this book proved more entertaining than the rest. So I began picking it back up every week to carry on where I'd left off, which eventually lead to me hiding it away to make sure no one else took it so that I could finish it. And tonight I just managed to finish it before my shift ended.

Now, as I said at the start, this is not my normal cup of tea. I think the reason I enjoyed it is because it made my shifts go so much faster. It was very easy to read, and relatively entertaining, if a bit silly.

The writing was ok, sometimes I was pleasantly surprised by a nice sentence, but overall it was solid and not overly cringey. The plot was decent (decent enough to keep me reading it once a week), even if it did take a little while to get into it. I was terrified that at the end Emma would take Jason back, thank goodness she didn't!

I didn't quite get who lots of the side characters were, they were just names to me. And the plot of Brighton Rocks felt a bit all over the place (I'm not sure if I was supposed to know it detailedly - it probably also didn't help that I read it once a week over months). It also felt a bit unnatural when at the end Emma decided that she had suddenly never been in love with Ben but actually she had loved Jason (or something like that, that made her just seem a bit stupid because she was drooling over both of them) .

But yeah, overall, entertaining if you're stuck on self-scan for an hour or so with no customers and a shelf of donation books and nothing else to do but read them.

[Lobo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sokkal nagyobb tablónak indul a könyv, de a végére nagyon ellaposodik, kiszámítható fordulatok, elfelejtett szereplők, vonalvezetések. Pedig még jó is lehetett volna, a fordító meg a szerkesztője pedig jobban odafigyelhetett volna. Idegesíteni tudnak az olyan elferdítések, amikor nálunk is ismert filmeket, számokat, sorozatokat egy az egyben lefordítanak angolról magyarra, holott ha utána néznének, kiderülne, hogy más címmel sokkal jobban bent lenne az itthoni köztudatban is.

[Flying Snow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very mediocre.

[SwayThunders · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really like any of the characters. I found the whole plot overly constructed and couldn't relate to it.
The first third of the book was quite enjoyable though

[Stella]

Fun, simple read... I liked it!