Hollywood Wives [Import] [Paperback]

JACKIE COLLINS (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: QPD; New Ed edition (2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743450019
• ISBN-13: 978-0743450010
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

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

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Novels of All Time (Trashy or Otherwise), July 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Hollywood Wives (Mass Market Paperback)

I have a degree in English literature, so I've read volumes and volumes of the best pieces of English litererature from the past 400 years. This juicy little novel by Jackie Collins ranks as one of my all-time favorites. While some may critics dismiss it as mere trash, you cannot deny the fascinating character portrayals and unexpected back stories that reminded me of Dickens at his best. The author masterfully weaves various storylines together, culminating in a nailbiting conclusion, and she does it all with a tongue in cheek tone. I hope time is kind to this book, because it deserves a place in literary history.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Jane Austen of the defiantly trashy novel, January 18, 2006

By 

Edward Aycock (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hollywood Wives (Mass Market Paperback)

Jackie Collins novels are the sugar cereal of the book set. Sure, the whole grain, all natural cereals are better for you and are in themselves pretty tasty but once in a while you need a box of sugary, artifically flavored cereal and should feel no guilt about it.

Hollywood Wives is an absorbing novel about the intersecting lives of a number of people. Is it realistic? Maybe not, but it certainly isn't boring. The book was originally released in 1983 (and even despite that, it has a very late 70's vibe of free loves and drugs without much thought of the consequences), and while the fashion choices seem funny by today's standards, most of the book could take place in the present.

If this book had been in less capable hands, it probably wouldn't have been as much fun; Collins has a way of throwing out a ridiculous situation in a very believable manner as well as delivering a series of minor detonations throughout the text before the main reveal, and I eagerly awaited to see when all hell would break loose. And while Collins' writing style is not up to that of say Stephen King or Richard Russo, she is heads above Dan Brown and James Patterson.

Great fun.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE Collins Classic, November 27, 2004

By 

Avid Reader (Willow Springs, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hollywood Wives (Mass Market Paperback)

Of all of Jackie Collins' novels, Hollywood Wives ranks as one of her most successful and shocking Hollywood novels. This was the first Jackie Collins novel I ever read; in fact, I came across it at my local library by accident. From the very first page I was hooked, and to be honest I loved all the sex, drugs, and Hollywood shenanigans. Collins really blew the lid off of what it was like to be a "Hollywood wife": affairs, drugs, plastic surgery, pregnancies, glitz, glamor, and a hell of a lotta fun. Normally, I don't give a Collins novel more than three stars, but this one was just too good to rate below four stars. If you're looking for great escapism and a peek into what Hollywood was, still is, like then Hollywood Wives is a must read. The mini-series based on the novel wasn't too bad, either.