Customer Reviews

A Hollywood Ending

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Fearing her career is diving into made for TV movies older women roles; Oscar winner Paige Carson needs a major success. She made a poor choice when she agreed to star in a horrific remake of Cleopatra. Paige is also losing juicy parts to younger actresses.

However, Paige is euphoric when she is selected to star with superstar Jackson Rolfe in what looks like may be the box office hit of the year. However, her inane co-star makes Paige reconsider her career as he is as unprofessional of an actor she has had the misfortune to meet. When London stage calls her to perform Shakespeare, Paige leaves behind Hollywood dirt and the latest tabloid lies and shenanigans especially her rock star superstar father. In London she finds herself attracted to her snooty landlord, Ed Hawkstead, a documentary filmmaker struggling to break out; he to his chagrin reciprocates as he does not want to want this Hollywood fluff dubbed by the press as Princess Paige.

This enjoyable contemporary romance stars two likable opposites whose initial stereotype of the other makes each detest their feelings, but this is more Paige's tale since the first part focuses on her woes and Ed does not enter the stage until act two (about halfway into the novel). Still as Paige and Ed become acquainted they realize their preconceptions were false and allow their hearts to lead them. Readers will enjoy the romance between this fine couple.

Harriet Klausner

We are only a few weeks into summer and I have already breezed through a small stack of fun, frivilous, no real educational value but total candy for the brain, beach reads: Jane Green's Second Chances, Something Borrowed and Something Blue by Emily Giffin, A Dangerous Dress by Julie Holden. They were all good books, but A Hollywood Ending by Robyn Sisman was definitely my favorite.

I know the novel is set in Hollywood and features a confused, slightly air-headed, but flawlessly beautiful movie star (which means 99% of the readers will find her difficult to connect with), but I found it a charming tale about a woman's desire to strip aside all that is phony and wasteful in her life and get down to what is substantial and satisfying.

Paige Carson is a Hollywood born and raised, Oscar winning diva suffering a serious crisis of conscience. She loves what she does (acting in movies) but hates all that seems to go with it (ie. the backstabbers, media hounds, vapid wannabees, and blood-sucking parasites that live off the truly talented). She decides to put her Hollywood life on hold, head across the pond to jolly old England, and star in a play...by Shakespeare, no less.

Her life in England is far different than her pampered, coddled, sun-kissed existence in La La Land. She worries about being a convincing stage actress, has to find for herself on the mean streets of London (read: walk several blocks by herself, no limo, GASP!), and she has a cranky, snotty landlord.

In no time at all, Paige learns the lessons she needs to learn to be a happier, more grounded (read: less Hollywood-like) person and enjoys a perfect, Kabbalah-water fueled Hollywood Ending.

Don't buy this book if you want to learn about the history of the French Revolution, the complexities of microrobotics, or the ideologies of Tibetan monks.

DO buy this book if you want to spend an enjoyable day lying in a hammock, devouring a light, breezy beach read.

Where shall I start? First of all, I want to say I am a huge fan of robyn Sisman. I like her style of writing and although her story isn't mind boggling, I have to say that she has a way of spicing ordinary storyline. It's true I expect more from her and I have to admit that A Hollywood Ending is one of my least favorite. Like the other reviewers here, I agree that the romance between Paige and Ed is quite rushed. Furthermore, Paige transformation from a ditzy superstar into a humbled actress isn't that convincing. And I have to add that there are a number of spelling errors throughout the book. When I read the acknowledgment part, I'd learned that she had lost the first draft of this book in a fire. Perhaps that explain some factors that contribute to the imperfection of this book. Nevertheless, she is a wonderful author with great insights into the things she writes about. And in this case, the differences between show businesses in Hollywood and England. To me, Robyn Sisman will always be one of the original chick lit writers and is still one of the best around.

I found this book in the discount bin at my local supermarket a couple of months ago. Since I was looking for some light Chick-lit to read on my upcoming holidays, I thought that this would fit the bill and bought it.

I tried, on several occasions, to read the book. However, I just couldn't get into it, and ended up putting it down (and walking away) after only a couple of chapters.

One little nit picky thing that really bothered me was the (lack of) research that went into the novel... my biggest nitpick with what I read of the book was the naming of the Japanese-American woman "Akira," the assistant of the main character (her name escapes me at the minute, that's how much I didn't enjoy the book)... if Ms Sisman had done her research properly, she'd have discovered that Akira, while being a lovely name, is a decidedly MALE name and would have chosen something else (my brother's name is Akira and I know of no females by that name).

Anyway, maybe it's just me, but I didn't much like the book. I tried to overlook the whole Akira name thing (after all, it's a mistake that anyone could have made and a simple Google search would have put to rights), but I still found this book to be mindnumbingly dull, the pace went so slow.

I can't bring myself to toss the book into a box, only to be forgotten in the crawl space of my Mom's basement, after all there was _some_ effort put in to write it, so I'm going to send it on it's way via BookCrossing http://www.bookcrossing.com/ next week when I go on holiday. Perhaps someone else will enjoy this more than I ever could.

Adorable Oscar winning actress Paige Carson lands a part as the lead female actress opposite the famous Jackson Rolfe in a Cleopatra remake called Code Red. She was ecstatic at first, but quickly her image of him changes as he ruins every scene they have together. When she meets with her agent about the difficult situation with her costar, she discovers that prime acting roles - meant for her - are going to aspiring young actresses. She is upset that her career just might tank. Her agent mentions to her that a London theater is offering her a role in a Shakespearean play. Fed up with the Hollywood scene, Paige decides to leave Hollywood, its spoiled trappings and her parents behind for a part in live theater. Both parents have been negligent in spending time with her, especially her dad, a rock star, since he left her mom when Paige was young.

It is off to London for Paige as she bravely struggles to fit in with the unfamiliar theater scene. As she grapples with learning Shakespeare, her acting coach advises her to get a boyfriend and fall in love - in order to capture the essence of adoration for her role. Sure, right! She, unexpectedly, harbors an attraction of sorts to her landlord Ed Hawkstead, a snobbish, handsome documentary filmmaker with lofty aspirations. Could Ed be her man?

Ed is not happy with his new Hollywood star tenant, believing she is trouble personified. His first glimpse of Paige has him thinking that she is so attractive she practically sparkles! This seals his opinion of her as a Hollywood diva. As Ed and Paige's paths cross, their original thoughts about one another surprisingly change. Does Paige realize that the right man for her could be right under her nose?

Robyn Sisman delivers a glorious tale of romance between two unlikely characters in A HOLLYWOOD ENDING. The story is charming, without feeling deliberate on the subject of love. I love how Ms. Sisman creates the story with a wonderful touch of realism by adding compelling settings and charismatic language. The story revolves around Hollywood life and the theater. Paige Carson, the star of the story, is disheartened with Hollywood and her parents. When the disillusioned actress leaves all that behind and moves to London, she moves in with a haughty, sexy documentary filmmaker - Ed Hawkstead. She is surprised at how snobbish he is! Ed's original impression of Paige is loathsome, but that all changes as they get to know each other. Adventures ensue and soon their feelings for each other change. Does Paige get her own Hollywood ending? Rush out and buy a copy of Robyn Sisman's delightful novel A HOLLYWOOD ENDING to find out!

Despite the promising blurb on the cover of the book, this novel was a disappointment. It took over half the novel to get started, and it just seemed slim on every level. The characters were sketchy at best. The situations jumped around with nothing to tie them together. The novel was a giant nothing. I never felt I knew the leads, couldn't root for them, and the "obstacles" were boring...
I wouldn't recommend this title to anyone...

I thoroughly enjoyed the latest from Robyn Sisman, half of which takes place in Hollywood, half in London. Sisman does a great job capturing the culture of each place and creates a lovable character in Paige, an unabashed yet innocent diva. She meets her match in Ed, a crusty intellectual who has a thing or two to learn about love; and the breathless plot, involving movies, malicious reporters and a Shakespeare play staged in a crumbling theater, keeps things moving along nicely. I thought this was one of Sisman's better offerings.

I really wanted to like this book, it had all of the elements of something that would normally be a fun book that I would want to keep to re-read when I forgot it in two years. This was not the case though. If you're super concerned about not knowing the ending of the book then stop reading here.

The two main characters' (Paige and Ed) relationship was given very little time to develop into something where I was really enthralled about reading it. There was way too much emphasis in the beginning of the book on Paige's career and her being a diva, then a complete shift of her being in England where she meets Ed and falls in love (all in a span of what seems like a few days). Most of the book is not about them interacting with each other, but them interacting with other people, and Paige's transformation seems really fake and totally out of character for her. Their love seems so easily put together at the end of the book, but there just wasn't enough time for them getting to know each other for me to believe it. If you want to read a good book by Robyn Sisman go for her "Just Friends" over this, its much better than the fluff in this book that will leave you feeling unsatisfied and crying out for more.