Women's Fiction

Beautiful People

Name: Beautiful People
Author: Wendy Holden
ISBN: 9781402237157

by Wendy Holden

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Overview

"When she's good, she's very, very good, and Beautiful People finds Holden on steroids. Unmissable."
-Daily Mirror

A witty, utterly addictive novel from bestselling author Wendy Holden, Beautiful People is a tale wicked in its observations yet buoyant at its heart: an irresistible confection you'll want to devour immediately.

Darcy-a struggling English rose actress when The Call comes from L.A. An Oscar-tastic director. A movie to make her famous. The hunkiest costar in Hollywood. So why doesn't she want to go?

Belle-a size-zero film star but she's in big, fat trouble. Hotter than the earth's core a year ago, she's now Tinseltown toast after her last film bombed. Can she get back to the big time?

Emma-a down-to-earth, down-on-her-luck nanny trying to weather London's cutthroat childcare scene and celebrity mom whirlwinds. What will it take for her to get back in control of her own life?

Jet to London, Hollywood, and Italy; toss in a passionate star chef, a kindhearted paparazzo, and a reluctant male supermodel; and find Wendy Holden at her best-a smash international hit.

Synopsis

Beautiful People is a tale wicked in its observations yet buoyant at its heart: an irresistible confection you'll want to devour immediately.

Publishers Weekly

Holden's pretty-on-the-outside people either see the light or get what's coming in this skewering of the bratty class. The best-selling Brit author (Bad Heir Day) holds up a mirror to preening and pampered actors, and to the predatory PR nabobs and agents who mold and market them. Under Holden's steely gaze are Belle, a plastic surgery poster girl whose star is on the wane and who will do whatever it takes to crawl back on top (including adopting an African orphan), and Darcy, a serious London actress who lets herself be lured into the lead of a Hollywood blockbuster, finding that she neither likes the moviemaking grind nor fits into the vacuous industry mold. These two polar opposites briefly share a destiny, discarded lovers, and the need to fit into a size zero while battling glitzy evil. It's a wearying and overlong fight, but there are ringside moments that nail the wispy nature of celebrity and the futility of chasing it.
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About the Author, Wendy Holden

Wendy Holden was a journalist for The Sunday Times,Tatler and The Mail on Sunday before becoming a full-time author. She has now published nine novels, all being top-10 bestsellers in the UK, and is married with two young children. Her novels include Farm Fatale, Bad Heir Day, Simply Divine, Gossip Hound, The Wives of Bath,The School for Husbands, Azur Like it, and Filthy Rich.

Reviews

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Editorials

Alison's Bookmarks

It is satisfying to finally read a book where the good people are rewarded and the ugly people are given their just deserts.
— Alsion

Apprentice Writer

Holden's novels are great fun, and this one is no exception.
— Maya Missani

Bellas Novella

Light, frothy, and frenetic, this book was a fun read.
— Ashley

Best Romance Stories

Fascinating... this novel has a story to tell for every reader.
— Chanya Harris

Book Hounds

Pure frothy fun! If you enjoy Sophie Kinsella or Helen Fielding, you will love this author.
— Mary

Booklist

With clever dialogue and a great spectrum of personalities, Holden's big book of celebrity obsession and the price of beauty is fast-paced, realistic, and hugely entertaining.
— Hilary Hatton

BookLoons.com

A funny, entertaining novel that will keep you turning the pages... you are in for a great escape.
— Joan Burton

Bookshipper

You can tell that this is a Wendy Holden book - the characters are well drawn out and are fun to read - and the book is still loaded with great "chick lit" moments.
— Tina

Coffee Time Romance

An entertaining look at how life can chew us up and spit us out and yet, at the same time, we learn so much more of ourselves in the process.
— Matilda

I Heart Book Gossip

Simply Divine... Beautiful People is the next Lipstick Jungle!
— Cindy

In the Hammock

The perfect scandalous guilty pleasure.
— Carrie

Library Journal

“Holden's satirical humor and adept writing shine through. Glitzy fun with appeal for readers of Emma McLaughlin, Plum Sykes, or Lauren Weisberger.”
— Lisa Davis-Craig

Mrs. Q Book Addict

A fun, witty, story about the trials and tribulations of the acting industry.

Pudgy Penguin Perusals

Holden's wit is rapier sharp and her keen sense of observation of the comedic is spot on.
— Kaye

Red Headed Book Child

A fun sparkling jet set read!
— Michelle

Steph the Bookworm

It was fun to root for the good guys and wish terrible things on the bad and to see how the author tied all their stories together.
— Steph

The Cajun Book Lady

You'll be sitting there rooting for the underdogs and racing to the end.
— Kris

Thoughts From and Evil Overlord

My goodness, does that Wendy Holden make me laugh or what! I gobbled up Beautiful People.
— Elizabeth Bogardus

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

British author Holden (Filthy Rich) deftly weaves several plotlines to an ending in rustic Italy, where Galaxia, a blockbuster Star Wars knockoff, is shooting. Darcy Prince, a serious London theater actor, is tapped as the next Hollywood It Girl but questions the system as she is forced on a crash diet. From L.A., with a stop in London to polish her tarnished image, comes almost-washed-up star Belle Murphy. Belle's slimy but gorgeous ex, Christian Harlow, is cast in the film and also casts a spell on Darcy. Emma, Belle's nanny for her adopted African baby, has her own story, bringing several more British families onto the scene. Business and love affairs quickly rise and fall. A touch of scandal is complemented by a drop of sweetness as the good triumph and the evil, or simply shallow, lose. VERDICT The mass of characters would be annoying in less competent hands, but Holden's satirical humor and adept writing shine through. Glitzy fun with appeal for readers of Emma McLaughlin, Plum Sykes, or Lauren Weisberger.—Lisa Davis-Craig, Canton P.L., MI

Kirkus Reviews

This British cupcake of a novel throws a wholesome nanny into the terrifying world of Hollywood agents, actors and hastily adopted African babies. Holden, author of a number of light farces (The School for Husbands, 2007, etc.), assembles a large cast of, if not quite characters, at least punch lines, that gather in a slapstick climax under the Tuscan sun. Hollywood agent Mitch Masterson has convinced client Darcy Prince, scion of a venerable British acting family, to audition for Jack Saint's latest sci-fi epic Galaxia. While Darcy's star is on the rise, his other A-lister Belle Murphy, likened to a stick figure with balloons, is spiraling out of control. Teetering on stilettos with a growling Chihuahua tucked under her arm, Belle has been sent to London to revive her career by doing Shakespeare (and for good measure she's adopted an African baby she's named Morning). Enter Emma, a lovely, responsible young nanny-who has just been sacked from her last post when the scheming aristo-nanny Totty de Belvedere sneaks cocaine into Emma's bag-whom Belle hires to do . . . absolutely everything. As plots would have it, everyone ends up in the Tuscan countryside-Darcy, Belle and gold-chained heartthrob Christian Harlow, to film Galaxia; Emma to care for Morning; Totty in care of the children she usurped from Emma; a paparazzi fed up with celebrities; and the Fitzmaurice family: father, an MP with a strangely randy constituency, mother, a batty social climber, and young son Orlando, who has had significant flirtations with Emma. Sex is on many a mind, but Darcy, the world's only carb-consuming actress, would prefer a leisurely meal at hunky Marco's hilltop restaurant, where the cheese is fresh, thebread crunchy and olive oil is drizzled over everything. She's beginning to think the simple life of food and love is just what she's after. In a smash-up finale of epic complications, all is happily resolved. If Holden's novel lacks a bit of depth, it is redeemed by the contagious pleasure had in skewering Hollywood hotties and coke-snorting aristocrats.