Drop Dead Beautiful [Abridged, Audiobook, CD] [Audio CD]

Jackie Collins (Author, Reader), Sydney Tamiia Poitier (Reader), Danny Mastrogiorgio (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 26, 2007

Lucky Santangelo is back with a vengeance! Internationally bestselling author Jackie Collins marks her twenty-fifth novel with "another page-turning tale packed with intrigue, revenge and romance," (Publishers Weekly on Lovers and Players), one not to be missed. And it's all about her most popular heroine--the wildly beautiful Lucky Santangelo--still every bit as strong, sexy, and seductive as ever. But Lucky is older and wiser, and hot to reclaim her power position in Las Vegas. However, a deadly enemy from her past has resurfaced--a person determined to take everything from her, including the family she holds so dear: two sons and an out-of-control teenage daughter who is just as outrageous as Lucky herself. Like mother, like daughter. And if that old saying holds true, it's going to be one wild ride.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's not easy being rich, gorgeous, successful and a happily married mom, but Mafia princess turned Hollywood producer and real estate mogul Lucky Santangelo, last seen in 1999's Dangerous Kiss, again proves up to the challenge. In Collins's latest vendetta romance, Lucky plans her father Gino's 95th birthday bash while building a Las Vegas megaresort, unaware that family foe Anthony Bonar (né Bonnatti) is plotting revenge. In turn, Anthony is unaware of wife Irma's sexual awakening in the arms of their Mexican gardener, who in turn is unaware of Irma's affair with a federal drug enforcement agent. Meanwhile Lucky's 16-year-old daughter, Max, tells her parents she's with friends when she's really headed to a rendezvous with a man she meets on the Internet. That date provides the novel's fast-paced action, while Irma provides the novel's best sex and violence. Less gripping subplots include the on-again off-again relationship between Lucky's business partner, Alex, and his jealous girlfriend, as well as the off-again on-again romance between Lucky's best friend, the diva Venus, and her star-stud boyfriend, Billy. Collins delivers Lucky's usual mix of celebrity fantasy and godfather justice while Max promises to grow up in future sequels as troublesome and triumphant as her glitzy mom. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In this big, splashy Hollywood-based novel, Collins resurrects one of her favorite characters, the hard-edged, rich, talented, and beautiful Lucky Santangelo. Lucky, whose pampered Hollywood lifestyle belies her tough background (several members of her family were gunned down in a Mafia-related incident, and Lucky herself took revenge on the killer), is now a high-flying Hollywood player. Tired of the Hollywood scene, she decides to reinvent herself as a Vegas hotel mogul, which puts her and her family in danger when an old enemy of the Santangelos resurfaces and attempts to exact revenge. At the same time, Lucky's teenage daughter, Max, a younger version of her tough and lovely mother, sneaks off for a weekend away with a man she has met on the Internet. Unluckily for Max, the man turns out to be a crazed ex-actor who was once snubbed by Lucky on an audition. Of course, everything works out for Lucky and family in the end. There are many, many subplots, lots of tangential characters, and loads of steamy sex. Collins' fans, and fans of the genre, will be clamoring for this one. Hughes, Kathleen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio; Abridged edition (June 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1427200491
• ISBN-13: 978-1427200495
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,411,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jackie Collins has been called a "raunchy moralist" by the late director Louis Malle, "Hollywood's own Marcel Proust" by Vanity Fair magazine and "the Victor Hugo of our time" by Simon Doonan in the New York Observer. With over 400 million copies of her books sold in more than 40 countries, and with some twenty-two New York Times bestsellers to her credit, Jackie Collins is one of the world's top-selling novelists. She is known for giving her readers an unrivaled insiders knowledge of Hollywood and the glamorous lives and loves of the rich, famous, and sometimes bad! "I write about real people in disguise," she says. "If anything, my characters are toned down -- the truth is much more bizarre."
Jackie Collins started writing as a kid, making up steamy stories her schoolmates paid to devour. Her first book, The World Is Full of Married Men became a sensational bestseller because of its open sexuality and the way it dealt honestly with the double standard. After that came The Stud, Sinners, The Love Killers, The World is Full of Divorced Women, Lovers And Gamblers, Chances, and then the international sensation, Hollywood Wives -- a #1 New York Times bestseller, which was made into one of ABC's highest-rated miniseries starring Anthony Hopkins and Candice Bergen.

The Stud and The World is Full of Married Men were also filmed -- this time for the big screen. And Jackie wrote an original movie, Yesterday's Hero, starring Ian McShane and Suzanne Somers.

Reader's couldn't wait to race through Lucky, her next book -- a sequel to Chances -- and the story of incredibly beautiful, strong woman, another New York Times number one.

Then came the bad boys of Hollywood in the steamy Hollywood Husbands -- a novel which kept everyone guessing the identities of the true-to-life Hollywood characters.

Jackie then wrote Rock Star -- the story of three rock superstars and their rise to the top, followed by the long-waited sequel to Chances and Lucky -- Lady Boss -- tracking the further adventures of the wild and powerful Lucky Santangelo as she takes control of a Hollywood studio.

Both Lucky and Chances were written and adapted for NBC television by Jackie, who also executive produced the highly successful six-hour miniseries Lucky/Chances, starring Nicollette Sheridan and Sandra Bullock.

In 1992 she produced and wrote the four hour miniseries, Lady Boss, which became another huge ratings success for NBC. Lady Boss starred Kim Delaney. Next came American Star, a love story, which the Los Angeles Times described as "classic Collins."

And then the dangerously close to the truth Hollywood Kids -- a story of power, sex, danger and ambition among the grown offspring of major celebrities.

In 1996 Vendetta -- Lucky's Revenge was published -- and became an immediate New York Times bestseller.

And then in 1998, Thrill!, a psychological thriller for the nineties, in which Jackie created her signature mix of unputdownable characters.

In the summer of 1998, Jackie hosted her own daily television show, "Jackie Collins Hollywood." A combination of fun, style and interviews, Jackie talked to everyone from George Clooney to RuPaul!

After that she wrote L.A. Connections -- a four-part serial novel published one per month -- Power, Obsession, Murder and Revenge.

In 1999 came Dangerous Kiss -- the return of Lucky Santangelo in a bestselling novel about relationships, addiction, fear and lust.

In the year 2000, Lethal Seduction became the first bestseller for Jackie Collins in the new millennium. This tale of erotic suspense and glamorous intrigue featured Madison Castelli, a character first introduced in the L.A. Connections series.

Hollywood Wives -- The New Generation became a blockbuster bestseller in 2001, following in the footsteps of the original Hollywood Wives. Hollywood Wives -- The New Generation featured a brand new cast of characters and a totally fresh perspective on how women pursue power, love, sex and success in Tinseltown today.

In 2002, New York flash, L.A. trash and a Mafia don met head-on in Deadly Embrace, a sexy tale of dangerous passion and suspense featuring heroine Madison Castelli that was both a prequel and a sequel to her adventures in the bestselling Lethal Seduction.

2003 marks the return of Jackie Collins to prime-time television with a brand-new two-hour CBS TV movie Jackie Collins' Hollywood Wives: The New Generation, starring Farrah Fawcett, Melissa Gilbert, Robin Givens and Jack Scalia and produced by Collins. And in December 2003, comes her twenty-third novel, HOLLYWOOD DIVORCES, a sizzling, glam-drenched novel of lust, infidelity and revenge featuring all-new characters navigating Hollywood's treacherous trail of divorce.

Ms. Collins lives in Los Angeles, California. Her hobbies are photography, soul music, and exploring exotic locations so she can write about them later.

There have been many imitators, but only Jackie Collins can tell you what really goes on in the fastest lane of all. From Beverly Hills bedrooms to a raunchy prowl along the streets of Hollywood; from glittering rock parties and concerts to stretch limos and the mansions of the power brokers -- Jackie Collins chronicles the real truth from the inside looking out.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lucky's back :-0, June 26, 2007

By 

Little Miss Cutey (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Drop Dead Beautiful (Hardcover)

For all Jackie Collins fans who have read previous books that star Lucky, you'll be glad to see/read that she's back. It's the 6th book involving her and she is quite a character. She's the kind of woman that all women would like to be because she says what she wants and means and gets away with it all.

Here she has a 16 year old daughter in this story who is now online meeting perverts and an older guy who says he is 19 without her mom knowing. She is building a new hotel in Vegas and has that to deal with. Of course no Jackie Collins book would be complete without a villan (Anthony Bonar) who is someone from her past who's planning to take everything from her.

While I'm near the end, I'm reading it at a rapid pace because it's so trashily addictive. There is something about her books that suck you in and get you hooked. I'm loving this one and with only 40 pages to go until the end, I want the next Lucky Santangelo book to come out. This is trash at it's absolute best.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fast, entertaining read., July 3, 2007

By 

Nick G - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drop Dead Beautiful (Hardcover)

Lucky Santangelo is back! This time around Lucky has given up the movie business to pursue the business venture of opening a hotel in Vegas. As Lucky prepares to open The Keys, her sixteen year-old daughter Max prepares to lose her virginity to a friend she met on the Internet. However, this Internet friend is not really a friend...he's a twisted young man seeking revenge against Lucky. Also looking for revenge is Anthony "Bonatti" Bonar, a psycho mob killer hoping to make Lucky pay for murdering his father. While Anthony runs around cheating, murdering and plotting his revenge, his lonely wife Irma realizes she has had it with her husband and plans to stop him once and for all. Add to this mix movie star Venus Maria, her young boy-toy boyfriend, an infatuated movie director, his jealous girlfriend, Lucky's ninety five year-old father Gino, and a star-studded event to celebrate the opening of The Keys that ends in several murders and you have classic Jackie Collins!

`Drop Dead Beautiful' is pure entertainment. Fans of Jackie Collins know that she has always been a master at creating fast-paced tales of wealth, action and murder, all while juggling many character plot lines. Even though some of the character story lines are boring, the least interesting being that of Venus Maria and her boyfriend, the lead plots of Max and her near-death encounter, Bonar's revenge, Irma getting even, and Lucky's hotel opening are strong enough to have readers racing through the pages.

Jackie Collins has created another winner that will fly up the bestseller lists.

Nick Gonnella

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Less "Drop Dead Beautiful" and more "Drop the ball", June 29, 2007

By 

She Reads and Dreams - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drop Dead Beautiful (Hardcover)

It breaks my heart to give this book two stars. I absolutely LOVE Lucky Santangelo and have been following Collins' books starring this absolutely kick a** heroine for a long time now. I was excited to hear Drop Dead Beautiful was in the works and eagerly devoured it. However, it is sadly just not up to the standard Collins has raised her trashy fiction to in previous Lucky books.

*Small spoilers ahead - nothing huge!*

The good stuff: catching up with Lucky and Lennie (LOVE them together); seeing how Venus' life is developing as an aging movie actress (at 43 or something she's ancient by Hollywood standards) and of course, watching 95 year old Gino in his element as a family man.

The bad stuff: there is basically zero Lucky plot development. The whole book is about her being angry with her daughter Max (a renamed Maria) and opening a new Vegas hotel. That's it. Hardly any of Lucky's kick a** personality is present and she never gets to dish out revenge in the typical Santangelo style we've all come to know and love. Max is kinda cool - almost like Lucky was when she was 16 - but she isn't a strong enough character to carry the book and that's what Collins forces her to do. Of course the Bonnatti family make another appearance (don't these people ever die?!) and are pretty much to Lucky novels what the DiMera family are to Days of Our Lives. I'm pretty sick of that family, and the new Bonnatti follows the bad guy stereotype Collins is very fond of - a masochist, self centred, egotistical scumbag with absolutely no redeeming features.

I guess I just expected so much more from Lucky - I'd like to see Collins take a few risks with her if she is going to write another Lucky novel. Kill Lennie off (I know, I love him too!), move that Alex/Lucky angle that has been treading water since Lennie was kidnapped in Italy several books ago somewhere, do something more with Bobby, do something more with Bridgette. Both Bobby and Bridgette were sadly underused in this effort.

C'mon Jackie Collins - I know you've got another slap down, knock 'em out Lucky novel in you...give our girl something to fight against. No one messes with the Santangelo's, right?