Hollywood Wives : The New Generation [Hardcover]

Jackie Collins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 19, 2001

Power! Sex! Money! Fame!

The new Hollywood wives are back with a vengeance. Whatever they don't have, they want -- and whatever these women want, they get.

Unlike their counterparts in the '80s, who were happy to give charity dinners and exclusive parties to further their husbands' careers, today's Hollywood wives are hungry to create their own identities. These ladies are into achieving everything their famous husbands have and more, and will stop at nothing for a chance in the spotlight.

Ambitious, young, smart, and lethal, the new Hollywood wives are into yoga, fasting, spinning, Pilates, their own production companies, and making things happen.

In "Hollywood Wives -- The New Generation," you will meet...

Lissa Roman, mega movie and singing star -- a forty-year-old platinum blonde with attitude. Lissa is at the top of her game, until she begins to suspect that Gregg, her decade-younger fourth husband, is cheating.

Nicci Stone, Lissa's wild, nineteen-year-old daughter. Nicci is engaged to hot filmmaker Evan Richter, but Nicci has a dilemma: Does she love Evan, or is Evan's bad boy brother and partner, Brian, really the man she wants?

Taylor Singer, a sometime actress and would-be producer. She's married to Lawrence J. Singer, a fifty-year-old Oscar-winning genius.

Taylor, a sexy, thirty-six-year-old beauty, craves the power and respect given her famous husband, but how can she get it? Certainly not by sleeping with Oliver Rock -- a twenty-two-year-old perpetually stoned screenwriter. So against her husband's wishes, Taylor accepts a role in a lesbian-themed cable movie.

Stella Rossiter, a smart-mouthed blonde and producing partner with hersuccessful husband, Seth -- who just happens to be thirty years older than she. Together they make hit movies, while a surrogate mother -- recipient of "her" eggs and "his" sperm -- waits to give birth to their twins.

Michael Scorsinni, handsome with a dangerous edge. He's a former New York City cop (last seen in "Hollywood Kids)" who now runs a private detective agency in Los Angeles. A man who has his own demons from which to escape.

Intruding on the privileged lives of this select group is...

Eric Vernon, a psychopath from out of town -- a man with kidnapping on his mind.

And his intended victim is not just anybody.

"Hollywood Wives -- The New Generation" explores the secrets of the women in today's Hollywood: their loves, their passions, their affairs, and most of all, their ruthless ambitions.

As always, Jackie Collins views Hollywood and its inhabitants with an insider's eye. And like the original "Hollywood Wives" -- a number-one "New York Times" bestseller and highly rated ABC miniseries, starring Anthony Hopkins and Candice Bergen -- the new breed will shock and surprise, amuse and startle, and take the reader on a trip not soon forgotten.

"Hollywood Wives -- The New Generation" promises marital mayhem for the new millennium.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the star-studded publishing cosmos of gossipy fiction, Collins orbits securely between the likes of Dominick Dunne and Danielle Steel. Overlooking the pulpy prose, cardboard characters and soap opera melodrama, her legions of eager faithful will not be disappointed with this newest trendy fable detailing the sleazy sex habits of Hollywood's nouveau riche and infamous. Riding the crest of fame, ageless Hollywood superstar Lissa Roman is fed up with her fourth husband's cheating and has decided to throw him out. Still up for at least one more romance, Lissa gets the hots for the studly PI she hires to evict her slimy spouse. Meanwhile, her gorgeous 19-year-old daughter, Nicci Stone (whose Spanish gigolo father was Lissa's second hubby) is engaged to Evan Richter, the serious-minded half of a team of upstart film writer-producer twin brothers. But like mother, like daughter: why settle for the first guy? Nicci develops a libidinous yen for her fianc's twin. Lost in the mists of lust and expensive living, Nicci fails to notice a suspicious car tracking her every move. Her stalker is murderous ex-con Eric Vernon, who sets in motion his plan to kidnap and ransom Nicci the same night Lissa is scheduled to appear at the opening of a glitzy new Vegas hotel and casino for a record $3 million. All this is set against assorted minor subplots featuring Lissa and Nicci's glamorous inner circles their friends' catty chatter serves as chorus to the central dramedy. With fashions provided by Rodeo Drive and catering by Mister Chow's, this is Collins at her ultra-celeb, super-accessorized, bestselling best. Agent, Morton Janklow. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Those who have read a Jackie Collins novel know the guilty pleasure of wasting time on plots that are as thin as some Hollywood actresses. The characters lack any recognizable dimension, too. Still, like a good comic book, this "next generation" sequel to Hollywood Wives makes readers turn the pages. For those who don't remember, or never knew, the last generation was strictly wives--women whose money and power came solely through their rich Hollywood husbands. Now at least some of these women are making it on their own. Lissa Roman is a megastar who is about to become an ex-wife once she finds her layabout husband cheating. B-actress Taylor Singer has married a much-beloved, Oscar-winning producer-director, which is what she wants to be. Nicci Stone is Lissa's 19-year-old daughter. She's engaged but to the wrong movie-making brother. As in most of Collins' books, episodic happenings and lots of backstory are tied together by an overriding plot propelled by a bad guy. In this case, it's a lowlife who's out to kidnap Nicci. It's a good thing Collins' books are so forgettable; otherwise, readers might have the sneaking suspicion they've read all this before. On the other hand, nothing screams "summer reading" like a novel with these three words somewhere on the spine: Hollywood, Wives, and Collins. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (June 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743216342
• ISBN-13: 978-0743216340
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #476,149 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

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Replay?, July 4, 2001

By 

rcarey22 (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hollywood Wives : The New Generation (Hardcover)

If you enjoy reading about sex, cheating spouses, drug abusers, a cast of characters with no depth and a plot that just doesn't add up, then this is the novel for you. If you're like me, you will not enjoy this novel as much as the first Hollywood Wives, there is not much of anything here to enjoy. I just couldn't get a feel for any of the characters. It's amazing how Ms. Collins ties up the story in a neat little package when in fact the story just doesn't make any sense. I've been reading Ms. Collins' work for a long time and this has been the most lacking one to date --- but decide for yourselves!!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this book got my juices flowing, March 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Hollywood Wives : The New Generation (Hardcover)

Oh my gosh! Hollywood Wives the New Generation was my first Jackie Collins book, and what a way to hook me in! I usually don't read romance novels but I just couldn't put this one down. The characters were more outlandish and scandalous than I ever could imagine but it was fun to get caught up in the lives of Lissa, Nicci, Gregg, and the rest of the crew. The book was yummy and definitely not my last Jackie Collins book. I am going to read all of them, I only hope they can live up to Hollywood Wives!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Let down in the end, October 2, 2002

By 

lynn arritt (bridgeport, ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hollywood Wives : The New Generation (Hardcover)

This was my first Jackie Collins book. I thought it moved quickly and I really enjoyed the characters. Take it from an avid reader; this story was really escalating until all of a sudden it's as if Ms. Collins just got tired of her own story. As you were expecting the climax of the plot it ended in a page; with a ridiculous epilogue of the demise of each character. ELEMENTARY!! It was an insult. I doubt I'll be reading another anytime soon!!