Soap Opera [Hardcover]

Eileen Fulton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1999

Only Eileen Fulton could give us such a delicious, behind-the-scenes look at the world of soaps, told in the form of a commercial novel. The story begins with the heroine, an all-American midwestern girl, being jilted by her fiance right before their wedding. Against her family's wishes, she leaves town and heads for New York where she tries to get a job on a soap. She starves for a while but finally lands a job on "Another Life". What follows is sex, scandal, murder, betrayal, and back-stabbing. And what Eileen realizes is that the story line of a soap is nothing compared to what goes on offstage.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Art imitates television in this aptly named sudsfest by one of the reigning doyennes of soapdom, familiar to daytime viewers as Lisa Miller in As the World Turns. Stranded at the altar by her gambling-addicted, promiscuous fianc?, unsophisticated Amanda Baker departs D.C. for New York, vowing never to let a man stand in the way of a career on Broadway. In the Big Apple, after a month of waitressing and despairing, she lands a job on Another Life, a popular daytime soap, playing the long-lost daughter of a beloved veteran. Not everyone is happy to have Amanda on board, however. Soon, not only is she coping with the less glamorous aspects of soap lifeAthe grueling hours, the fans who confuse actor with characterAbut also with bitchiness and blackmail. And, of course, romance. Encapsulating the multiple tragedies, flagrant coincidences and tear-streaked triumphs that define soap opera, Fulton includes such stock characters as the dashing hero, the ingenue, the idiosyncratic diva and the lecherous producer, as well as swarthy and quixotic lady-killers, beautiful na?fs ripe for love and scandal, and lost children later found. There are enough car accidents among a small circle of people to completely defeat statistical law. True to its title, the plot moves briskly through assorted melodramas. But this is what millions tune in for on a daily basisAthe campiness as well as the escapismAand Fulton confidently delivers the goods. (June) FYI: Fulton is author of seven mysteries (Take One for Murder; Fatal Flashback) and co-author of two autobiographies (How My World Turns; How My World Still Turns).
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

After 30 years of playing mischievous Lisa on As the World Turns, writing six mysteries, and cowriting two autobiographies, actress Fulton provides a frothy first romance novel. Midwesterner Amanda Baker, who has a leading role on the soap opera Another Life, bubbles and bursts with agony and sorrowwhen not dancing with delight and twinkling like stars on a summer night (``She gazed into Costa's eyesthose deep blue pools of light that made her want to laugh and cry all at once''). The story begins with Amanda left waiting at the altar by her beloved football herone'er-do-well fianc Will, whos a no-show. Brimming with heartbreak and humiliation, Amanda heads for New York, bankrolled in part by her father. She moves into a Village sublet but has a stiff time finding work until she starts going to cattle calls for the theater. It turns out she is such a ringer for Monique O'Day, star of CBS's Another Life, that shes hired to play Monique's adopted-out, 18-year-old daughter, Hope Adams, with whom she will be reunited. Amanda feels life's magnificence opening before her until one day, during a rehearsal of a heavy dancing scene, she faints. When she recovers, she has to admit that losing Will at the altar was only the second-worst thing ever to happen to her. Losing her virginity to Will the night before their nonwedding has now left her pregnant. And when Will shows up in Manhattan, crippled and begging for $48,000, what is she to say to her future baby's father? Whom she despises! And what will happen to her character, Hope, as Amanda begins to show? And who is doing all that heavy breathing on Amanda's phone? Whoo, tune in tomorrow! The heart is a beanbag, Eileen. Just punch it any way you want. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312203659
• ISBN-13: 978-0312203658
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,976,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sensational Summer Fun: A Great Page Tuner!, July 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Soap Opera (Mass Market Paperback)

Fulton creates some very fun and credible characters and weaves them into a plot which is very suspenseful. I found it to be a quick read, and after the first few chapters I couldn't put it down. The plot twists and turns in ways which were clever and very original. I especially loved the wonderfully wicked Jade Savage--a true soap opera vixen if there ever was one!. Anyone who loves soap operas, romance novels or mystery and suspense novels will love this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars NO MORE "BODY"S, August 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Soap Opera (Hardcover)

I tried really hard to read this book since I'm a fan of ATWT and People magazine had a good review, but couldn't get through one more page with the word "body" on it: "chiseled body", "tired body", "wrapped around her body", "perspiring body", etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum. Monotony is monotony is monotony no matter how you do it. The story line is comfortable but reading it can be difficult. Sorry, I had to quit. Apparently, Eileen's editor did too.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars BORING!, December 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Soap Opera (Hardcover)

I really had high expectations for this book, I figured that with the author's soap opera background she would easily be able to write the quintessential "behind the scenes" style book. I was sooooooo mistaken, this book was more like the Sweet Valley High twins act on a soap! How utterly disappointing, the book was poorly written (our young herione is a whimpering idiot who is both overwhelmed and gushing over every single detail at the same time). She doesn't know what to do about anything, EVER, but is thoroughly enamored of every aspect of the goings on around her. If I read a sentence along the lines of; "oh, I just don't know what I'll do" again I swear my head would've spun. The book is contrived, the characters even more so, for example; the stunt man never does a stunt, the reader has no idea how old the heroine even is until halfway thru, and a very promising female antagonist is wasted on one story driven plot. Really, the book was just a waste of time. It seemed like a great idea but it never came to fruition. The characters were never fleshed out. I was hoping from more than a cheesy drugstore paperback book, especially by someone in the industry, but all this book was missing was Fabio and a heaving bosomed woman on the cover. And just for the record, I am an avid soap opera watcher. Sorry Lisa.