Customer Reviews

Jill Ann: Upstairs

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Jill Ann has written a shocking, behind the scenes expose of what goes on upstairs at Hugh Hefner's "Mansion". Ms Spaulding had a dream of gracing the pages of Playboy as a playmate. So she did everything she could to prepare herself physically including breast implants, makeup lessons, liposuction etc. But she never made it on the pages because she was unwilling to have a sexual relationship with Hef.

She did just about everything else though. She paid for pricey party tickets, sucked up to the staff, begged for access to Hef, jumped in bed with other playmates, got naked and feigned girl girl sex etc.

Prior to her visit to the mansion, Spaulding thought that the girls on Hef's arms were for the most part pretty publicity. Once inside she realized that Hef expects sex from everyone of them. And if they want to grace his pages they best to what he says.

The perks for the chosen girls who live in the mansion include free plush living quarters, 24 hour dining, a wardrobe allowance, a weekly allowance (yes Hef pays his gals for his pleasures), beauty services, cosmetic surgery etc. In exchange the gals must put up with one anothers cattiness as they jostle for favor with Hef. They must also engage in unprotected sex with Hef. Shocking that the man who is looked at as a forerunner in demonstrating that sexuality is beautiful is dumb enough to demand that no protection is used in his bedroom orgies. And no testing is done.

The book is a very interesting read. I always thought if one wanted to be a Playmate they would send in a picture and Hef would select the best using his magnifying glass that he is often shown with. Who knew that bedroom romps figure into the equation also. I thought Hef was a bigger man than that and limited himself to several close girlfriends.

Ms. Spaulding appears to be a very intelligent woman but she is not a writer. So though she conveys her thoughts the book can be choppy at times. In addition one does feel like shaking her when she continues to pine over not making it into the pages of the magazine. She even goes out and spends $750 on a diamond encrusted rabbit logo necklace like the official girlfriends wear long after she has been univited to return to any parties because she offered to pay $2,000 for a party invite which she says was for her boyfriends benefit..but we all know she just wants to put her face in front of Hef's again.

Comeon Jill Ann, be glad you didn't sell out and have unprotected sex with Hef. Sell the necklace and get over the Playboy dream. You are better off without it.

Meantime HEF..wakeup call...Use protection if you want to continue having fun with the Bunnies..though it sounds pretty darn shallow to me.

The book also includes a resource section that includes where to send your picture and where to write to Hef, if you still want to be a playmate after reading.

I also downloaded the book. Maybe my copy wasn't edited professionally because while the writing was in a short easy-to-read style, some of the grammar was terrible. She keeps using "then" for "than". Things like that. Annoying. Anyway, I liked her story. It had an honesty about it that seemed to ring true. If you watch "Girls Next Door" you can kind of see it even though Hef now has only three girls (that we know of!)

However, I fail to understand her motivations for still persuing the Playboy dream after her disasterous stay at the mansion. Tag the toe and close the drawer Honey, cause if you're not having Sex with The Man, it's over. It seemed a little pathetic but props to her for laying it all out there even when it wasn't so flattering to her. I can understand a naive 18-year old but a 30-year old? She has this VERY understanding boyfriend (more than I would be under the same circumstances, that's for sure) who's nuts about her but she still has this crazy dream to be in Playboy despite all the blessings she has in her life (supportive family, successful career, great boyfriend). Didn't quite get that part. How low does your self esteem and need for approval have to be to put yourself through something like that?

Seems to me that Hef got pretty good at winnowing out girls that were there only for the magazine, not him--Or good at picking talented "actresses", not sure. It's a good read though. Something for a short vacation, car ride or an airline flight.

As a Playboy fan (I've collected every issue and bought several other books about the magazine and Hefner), I enjoyed this book. Jill's story is plausible, and despite Hef's initial dismaissal of the book when it was published, I'm inclined to believe it. While she is the first to actually take us into his bedroom (located "upstairs" in the Playboy Mansion), she relates nothing that is inconsistent or doesn't otherwise ring true with the other Playboy/Hefner stories that are out there. In other words, you read it and think, "Yeah, that sounds about right".

My only quibble with the book is Jill's writing style. A la Hemingway, she writes in short sentences, but she hardly has Hemingway's talent for descriptive, forceful prose and it makes for a very choppy read. I found it to be so irritating that I literally had to put the book down and take a break from time to time. If you can get past that, the book has the potential to appeal on a number of levels -- from voyeuristic (in more ways than one) to the story of a woman who single-mindedly pursues a goal, her true motivation being for the reader to decide.

I was very excited to read this (got a free download) and intrigued by the prologue...but that's where the intrigue stops. Jill Ann is obsessed with becoming a Playmate that she virtually stalks anyone associated with the brand. She's constantly saying how beautiful she is and she comes off as very annoying....plus she includes a lot of photos and she's just not all that attractive. Her boobs are too big for her body and very far apart, her face looks plastic and she is very very pale.

The entire book is not worth your time. I kept reading thinking there would be something good (aside from the chapter about sex) but there wasn't. Even after she has an awful stay at the mansion she's still obsessed and begs to be let back in, sending multiple letters and gifts to everyone she's come in contact with. Each time she's invited to a party she harasses celebrities and then gets really pissed when they don't want to take a photo with the attention whore.

What I think is the worst is the writing. Often at times she seems to contradict herself or repeat things like she needs to fill in some space. There is also an entire chapter on why she likes to play poker. Really?

She has a boyfriend too (whom I think she marries) who is one big schmuck! He willingly allows her to do all this and even commends her on her efforts! She's very sad person. While I believe some of her story, This book would have been better coming from an actual playmate or girlfriend.

If you can think of this book as more of a diary than as a book, it really isn't soo-ooo awful. I mean, it's bad. There are spelling mistakes, run-on sentences, repeated ideas, free flowing thoughts and the like. And sometimes it's downright depressing to look into this woman's naive and often straight up dumb thoughts (as in, she 'went upstairs' twice, despite the fact that it wasn't liable to be any different. As in, she sat abandoned and confused, in a living room while her slutty friend was slutting away in the next room. As in, she lied and encourage lying about a desired Hef relationship and was suprised when these lies backfired.)
But I do believe it's an honest book. There are more than a few points where I actually felt akindness towards Jill Ann. Not the least of which comes near the end when she explored the many, and not always flattering, reasons she had for writing the book.
And I think she had every right to write this book. She may have been able to sell it because of the name "Hugh Hefner", but what she felt and saw were all her own experiences, if she wanted her 15 minutes from these experiences than she should have it that way. They were hers to trade.
Maybe if more celebs, etc were tattled on by those 'riding someone else's fame' more stories, and less injustice, would be out there.
But, 'shrug'. Who knows.
What I do know is that this isn't a bad book, as it really is Jill Ann's diary. There is lots of utterly useless info and lots a skewed viewed. But there's also lots of rare, lacking-in-ego honesty and detailed insight.
All that said, noone should be paying hundreds of dollars for this. Any good googler can find most of the info, if not the entire story for free. (Although, I do think it's valuable to add that own both this book and several downloads and none of them are exactly the same. Stories seem to have been added over time and some of the less flattering tidbits were taken out)>

The book STARTS ok, but soon becomes a jumbled mess. With this hefty price tag I was expecting more. Spelling, grammarical errors and unorganized thoughts drove me nuts. It was actually VERY difficult and annoying to read at the end. It reads more like a diary of a bitter, slightly psychotic woman trying to justify and validate herself, or at least convince you that everyone else is nuts and she is not. What I found most interesting is that the "dirt" she spills including details of an "orgy" leads the reader to wonder if it was taken from another book "Bunny Tales" since she talks about the EXACT same night. Odd.

It is NOT worth the price. I got a copy from a friend so it was free to me, even then.. there's a week of my life I will never get back..lol

There is nothing new here. Miki Garcia, Miss January 1973, made similar observations concerning Hefner back in the mid 1980's. She claimed that she knew of many Playmates who had performed in orgies to please Hefner. I remember seeing an interview of her on television. What impressed me is that she was an intelligent, articulate women.

Don't pay this price for it when you can read it online for free!
The book is about this woman,Jill Ann Spaulding, who is OBSESSED with wanting to be in Playboy Magazine.She has her boobs done twice,liposuction twice,botox,her lips filled and her eyebrows tattooed (yet she has the audacity to make hypocritical comments about how much work Holly Madison has had!)a personal trainer and a specific diet she has to follow,all in hopes that she will get into the magazine.
Even though she has a boyfriend of 11 years,she thinks the best way to go bout getting in the magazine is to kiss up to Hef.
She sends some e-mail to Hef saying how much she wants him and needs to be with him (along with a nude photo of herself!).Yet, when Hef finally invites her to the Mansion and she is allowed "Upstairs" she refuses to have sex with him and is horrified to learn that Hef enjoys group sex with ALL of his seven girlfriends.She dishes out sordid,graphic details of Hefner's bedroom antics,which may be a little too much for the faint of heart or prudish. While I found it bizzare in alot of ways,it could have been worse if you go by Hef's reputation as the leader of the sexual revolution.
After she rejects him,he starts to reject her (not inviting her playboy parties and such) and
she gets mad at him for not returning her desire to be put in the magazine.
Like a stalker she follows him and his girlfriends to event after event.She bothers other celebs repeatedly through out as well by insisting she get a picture with them.Several are rude to her and try to blow her off but she insanely keeps persisting.

She goes on about how beautiful she is and insults many of the girlfriends and playmates looks.After looking up her pictures I found her to be just a tad bit delusional!
While I'am really no fan of Hef's,I do like The Girls Next Door, and the author seems to look for any angle to cast the lot of them in any negative way that she can,yet trying to maintain that she has a message aside from revenge.She claims she is all about safe sex, and that is her mission to inform everyone Hef does not use it.
She tries to come off as a class so much higher then Hefner and his gals,but since she is so desperately trying to be a part of their clan in every way she fails miserably.
While there may be some truth to her outlandish tales,I urge readers to take it with a grain of salt...Hef obviously scorned her by not giving her what she wanted and she quite obviously wanted to make him pay.Had she not still seemed obsessed at the end (which she does!) You may find you could have felt sorry for her or related to her story in some way,but you leave thinking maybe she could use some professional help...

The book was okay. I downloaded it free from Jill Ann as an ebook and am glad I did not pay for it. The book is mostly about her quest to become a bunny as opposed to what really goes on. It does have juicy bedroom things, but that is only a small percentage of the book. The book overall makes me feel sorry for Jill Ann. She was very obsessed and still seems to be with playboy. Most of the time she seemed like a desperate little girl wanting attention. She brags throughout the book about how good looking she is. We can see that for ourselves by looking at pictures.

This book is a good read. The author, even though a tall, blond, buxom and beautiful woman is also a decent writer. And her experiences in the shadow world of "glamour" are incredible. She certainly blows the top off the Playboy mystic.

When it comes to getting exposure in the media, sex is the coin of the realm. The exchange of body fluids becomes necessary to move ahead and get the exposure. The body and the face are just not enough. Ms. Spaulding makes a fine case for every young woman who aspires to this world of glamour to be warned of the rampant vicious charlatans that prey upon these vulnerable people.

I look forward to the next book.