Realistic women find romance in Hollywood

“After the Glitter Fades” caught my eye as soon as it was released. An author I’ve liked teamed once again with a narrator I really like, with a story that sounded interesting.

I was very surprised to find myself initially disappointed as I began the book. The characters were mostly likable, but they were all making annoyingly bad decisions. As 40yo women, I expected them to making better decisions than women in their teens or early 20s. I’ve got LOTS of books on my to-listen-to list, and perhaps, if this were a Kindle book, I would have given up early and moved on. But Daniella Acitelli is so enjoyable to listen to…I stuck with the book. Wow am I glad I did!

In “After the Glitter Fades”, author Diane Marina writes of people as they (we!) are IRL: flawed, mostly likable people who have made, and are making mistakes. Yet, they grow, they learn, and they are fiercely loyal to friends even in the face of outside and internal pressures and self-doubt and fears.

This is a slow burn romance with mostly fade-to-black episodes of lovemaking. This is not a book of instalove with a perfect trajectory for soulmates destined to have met and to be together, with detailed descriptions of bedroom or shower scenes that make us blush and, errr… re-listen once or thrice just to capture any important nuances that may have been overlooked during the first listen.

Once I realized that I should be enjoying a terrifically written and wonderfully narrated book that featured realistic people and realistic situations, I…well, really enjoyed the book! Why I began the book anticipating a fantasy romance, I just don’t know. Perhaps because of the Hollywood setting, I was expecting a typically unrealistic Hollywood story. Ultimately, I’m very glad it wasn’t!

Also, to be fair, I’ve recently been listening to, but have taken a break from, “Captain of Industry” by Karin Kallmaker, which also addresses the issue of being afraid of coming out for fear of destroying one’s career lead into damaging personal relationships, which, ultimately, are far more important than any career. I’m pretty certain I let some annoyance at that book leak into initial annoyance for this book. Especially since both books do feature flashbacks….not my favorite book narrative structure. The flashbacks in “After the Glitter Fades” are far fewer than with “Captain of Industry”, btw, and also fit into the plot much better. We aren’t expected to live in the past during a flashback, we learn from it.

Okay…let me try to comment on “After the Glitter Fades” without having to use a spoiler tag.

MC Siena is 40yo, and only realized she was lesbian when her then-husband Derek suggested it ten years ago. Derek, btw, is an amazing ex-husband. He loved Siena and was hurt once he realized she loved him, but wasn’t “in love” with him. As superstars of Hollywood, Siena and Derek are never out of the spotlight, even ten years after divorcing. Siena’s agent has her convinced that any hint of her being gay would destroy her career…and her career is all-important. At times, Siena is introspective. She recognizes that her public pretense is “a farce” and “ridiculous”. But she continues the charade. Constant migraines, and frequently not liking the person she’s become doesn’t change how Siena behaves, and it’s difficult to feel empathy for someone in a prison of their own making.

MC Julia is a very successful entertainment news journalist, and is also 40ish. The story alternates POV between Siena and Julia, which works very well as we follow their individual hopes, uncertainties and fears. I found Julia more likable than Siena because she has taken more control over her life. She’s “out loud and proud” as a lesbian in a male dominated industry, and she refuses to take advantage of friends for her television show or her career. I was, though, frequently annoyed that Julia vacillated between being willing to do anything to help Siena stay closeted, and being petulant and angry at she and their relationship being “hidden” by Siena. As the story progressed, I became less annoyed at Julia and more appreciative of the very realistic portrayal of conflicting emotions conveyed by the author and narrator.

Their mutual close friend Elise is also a complicated character. Sometimes I considered her insensitive of her friends and of Siena’s need for being closeted. She certainly has a past that she owns but isn’t proud of, and in the current day her decision to love a married woman adds one of many very realistic infidelity twists to the story. Her character and her past is woven very well into the story of Siena and Julia.

Other side characters are terrific! Siena’s sister Anna and Anna and Julia’s episode with the VW bus was as hilarious as it was emotionally tragic. Siena’s mother and her mangling of english idioms was often very funny too (“up the river without a kazoo”)! I especially liked Toni and Beth and “Laurel’s Cafe”, though I found it pretty unbelievable that a Hollywood star of Siena’s stature could regularly appear in public in Palm Springs for 4 months without anyone but Toni and Beth recognizing her!

As I said earlier, there are many frustrating character flaws, actions that lead to unintended consequences, and angst…but the characters and the story is stronger and more real because of this. “After the Glitter Fades” isn’t a Hollywood romance, this is a romance about people in Hollywood. Yes, there is an HEA (hooray!), but it results from learning to be brave and from giving second chances. 4.25* - definitely recommended!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

My rating and my review was not in anyway affected by my having been provided a review copy.

2 people found this helpful

Good story bad narrator

I really enjoyed the story, however I did not really like the narrator. Her attempts at doing an Italian and Southern accent were horrendous. For the life of me I don't know why narrators can't forgo accents when reading if they are horrible at it. The author already states if the character has an accent more then likely, let the reader use their imagination, don't drag down the story by trying to do it if you can't. It took a lot for me to continue listening to the story, I just felt she didn't really bring out the characters very well, but overall the story was good.

2 people found this helpful

Kind of Hate to give this one 2 stars...

Honestly, I liked the story but the narration left a LOT to be desired. That said, the reason the story itself didn't receive a higher rating from me is because of how many times the way the main character was acting made me want to just walk away from the audiobook and be done with it. If you like or don't mind gossip, then you very well might like this story but if you don't then you'll want to pass this one up. While realistic for the drama in Hollywood, I just wasn't a fan of this one.

1 person found this helpful

Hooked from the get go!

I don’t listen to many audio books, but this one was a pleasant surprise. I had read this book originally and liked it very much (5 star) and when this one was offered to me to actually listen to I thought... why not! Wow am I glad I did. It was Narrated by Daniela Acitelli. She did a wonderful job with the story and I had no problem fallowing along with each individual character. Well done!

1 person found this helpful

excellent balance

Love the story. Just the right amount of glitter, love, and ordinary life issues. A lot to cover in one story and yet it was masterly done. Awesome

1 person found this helpful

Must Have!~

I absolutely loved this book and it's characters. The narrator was excellent and provided life to these pages. I highly recommend both this audio book and the ebook as well!

1 person found this helpful

.

I really enjoyed this book, it came together quite nicely.. ... .. . . ..

1 person found this helpful

Glitter in her eyes

When being different is but a word love remains. A wity and some laughs and maybe a bit of the dramatics. All around pleasent story line it took a minure to pull me in, but when it did I was all in.

could not finish

Unfortuntely the narrator ruined this for me. I was not able to finish the book..

1 person found this helpful

Was great till Audible struck!

I absolutely hate the narrator. I got book in Kindle and was happily listening to it with a lovely English accent then bam Audible pushes this voice out that could cut glass. I just want book without your narrator. Sorry seems good but I prefer to listen and use my device with it's own voice. So many Audible books are like that. Narrator kills it.