Elvis [Hardcover]

June Juanico (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 7, 1997

June Juanico was just 17 when she met Elvis Presley in 1955. As his first serious girlfriend, she was uniquely placed at a time when he was on the cusp of superstardom. This is her memoir of the summer of 1956, which they spent together, and an insight into the genesis of a star.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In what reads a like a high-school diary, clichés abound, intimate descriptions of sexual fumblings tell us more than we really want to know, and dialogue between the lovers sounds like a movie script in dire need of rewrite.... However, her description of a "special afternoon with just the two of us at the piano" with Presley singing "Unchained Melody" "just for you, baby" is touching. -- The New York Times Book Review, Leslie Chess Feller --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown (August 7, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316639672
• ISBN-13: 978-0316639675
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,062,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book! Highly Recommend!, July 10, 2002

By 

R. Victoria - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elvis in the Twilight of Memory (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed this book a lot! Out of all of Elvis' girlfriends June seems the most "real" of all of them! I have seen her on TV and she seems like a great woman! The times she shared with Elvis are so innocent and he treated her with such respect. It was the Elvis before he was touched by Col. Parker, Hollywood and Vegas. He was a semi-regular guy, Elvis, his mammas son. I was actually suprised how liberal Gladys was with June going into his bedroom in her home. She must have trusted her son a lot and June was a nice girl too. Gladys also seem to have loved June like a daughter. It is too bad his friends and fame had to come between them. I know Elvis had great works ahead of him, despite that it would have been nice if he could have had a real life like a normal person. He had such a good heart and tried so hard to treat others well. June has a wonderful book and I highly recommend this! You will not be unhappy, but more of an Elvis fan than ever!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Summer Elvis-Loving At It's Best!, July 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Elvis in the Twilight of Memory (Paperback)

June Juanico's book is the stuff that summer reading dreams are made of! This book looks back to the happy, simple life of a young Elvis Presley in love--before his hectic life of drugs and fame would send him spinning out of control. This page-turner will make you melt as June describes her passionate tales of love with Elvis, and readers will find themselves falling in love with the often funny, always tender young man. One wonders if June would have stuck around if Elvis would still be alive today. She seems to have had just enough spunk and life to have been able to keep him grounded, and it is clear that she still loves him very much today.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a refreshingly new insight looking back at a golden time., March 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Elvis in the Twilight of Memory (Hardcover)

A refreshing, affectionate, funny and ultimately sad look back at what in Elvis' own words were 'the best years of my life'. June takes us on a golden trip down memory lane to a place that we all sometimes like to visit which is what gives the book such a hold...we can all relate to it on some level. Coupled with that June gives a new humanity to a man who has been picked at and slandered from almost every angle over the years. We see them on a day to day level facing the almost impossible rollercoaster ride that was everyday life for Elvis. June conveys so well the enormous pressures that Elvis must have been under for so long without being at all judgemental. The story ends too suddenly with no insight into the feelings that were and must still be left behind. June mentions briefly her sorrow at hearing 'Unchained Melody' being played on the radio the night he died, a song he had sung specially for her 20 years previously and one that she had been waiting for to appear on a record for all those years between. You are left with the feeling that maybe June Juanico, had she stuck around, might have been one person who cared enough and had enough clout to have made a differnce to a man who was so talented and yet lived such a lonely life with no one to really guide him through the turmoil that was his every day existence until the day he died.

An excellent book. A very valuable addition to what must be by now an enormous library of books on the King.

Glasgow, March '99