Teen Santa Monica gets real...
Starlet's Web: A Hollywood Teen Romance
Teen Santa Monica GETS REAL. The start of the love story and characters from talented teen actress, Liana Marie's, point-of-view, showing readers an inside view of the lives of children of celebrities and the contradictions inherent in pursuing the dream to be a star.
Love. Lies. Acting. Discover the 2014 Readers' Favorite Gold Medal winning young adult Starlet Series and uncover the life of a talented actress caught in Hollywood's web of lies. Fans of Nicholas Sparks' A Walk to Remember will find a new hero to root for in the dedicated friend, Manuel, and cheer for the struggling Hollywood starlet, Liana Marie. 5-STARS review and summary by Faridah Nassozi for Readers' Favorite:
Starlet's Web, book one of The Starlet Series by Carla Hanna is a memoir of fictitious Hollywood teenage starlet Liana Marie. Seventeen-year-old Liana is on top of her game and has an Oscar to prove it. However, her success, like several in Hollywood, has a big price tag. It is not easy balancing the life of being a teenager and being a big star. She is trying to live her life the best way she can, hooking up with some cute boys along the way, and fighting off unwanted advances. Then she realizes that she is and always has been in love with her best friend, Manuel, a boy she has known since childhood. Fortunately, Liana has her mum, who has been in the same business for a long time, to guide her; that is, until her mother's best intentions have catastrophic results.
Starlet's Web is a captivating story about the life of Hollywood teenage star and the price she has had to pay.
Carla Hanna created a sweet main character who can do no wrong, a girl suffering the consequences of the need to keep up with the Hollywood standards and expectations. She is a kid who has messed up before but now knows better. Carla Hanna's style of writing is very eloquent and evokes vivid images. I could not help but fall in love with Liana as she struggled to stay grounded and fight the temptations that come with the Hollywood life. The book gave me a whole new take on Hollywood stars; their lives are not just about the glitz and glamour.
NOTE: The Starlet Series is not steamy romance. It is realistic fiction based on how children of celebrities are actually raised by their caring celebrity parents in a morally ambiguous environment.
Publication Date: September 22, 2013
Genre: Young Adult, Coming of Age, Romance
Series: Starlet #1
Teen Santa Monica GETS REAL. The start of the love story and characters from talented teen actress, Liana Marie's, point-of-view, showing readers an inside view of the lives of children of celebrities and the contradictions inherent in pursuing the dream to be a star.
Love. Lies. Acting. Discover the 2014 Readers' Favorite Gold Medal winning young adult Starlet Series and uncover the life of a talented actress caught in Hollywood's web of lies. Fans of Nicholas Sparks' A Walk to Remember will find a new hero to root for in the dedicated friend, Manuel, and cheer for the struggling Hollywood starlet, Liana Marie. 5-STARS review and summary by Faridah Nassozi for Readers' Favorite:
Starlet's Web, book one of The Starlet Series by Carla Hanna is a memoir of fictitious Hollywood teenage starlet Liana Marie. Seventeen-year-old Liana is on top of her game and has an Oscar to prove it. However, her success, like several in Hollywood, has a big price tag. It is not easy balancing the life of being a teenager and being a big star. She is trying to live her life the best way she can, hooking up with some cute boys along the way, and fighting off unwanted advances. Then she realizes that she is and always has been in love with her best friend, Manuel, a boy she has known since childhood. Fortunately, Liana has her mum, who has been in the same business for a long time, to guide her; that is, until her mother's best intentions have catastrophic results.
Starlet's Web is a captivating story about the life of Hollywood teenage star and the price she has had to pay.
Carla Hanna created a sweet main character who can do no wrong, a girl suffering the consequences of the need to keep up with the Hollywood standards and expectations. She is a kid who has messed up before but now knows better. Carla Hanna's style of writing is very eloquent and evokes vivid images. I could not help but fall in love with Liana as she struggled to stay grounded and fight the temptations that come with the Hollywood life. The book gave me a whole new take on Hollywood stars; their lives are not just about the glitz and glamour.
NOTE: The Starlet Series is not steamy romance. It is realistic fiction based on how children of celebrities are actually raised by their caring celebrity parents in a morally ambiguous environment.
Starlet's Man: A Young Hollywood Love Story
Publication Date: September 8, 2014
Genre: Young Adult, Coming of Age, Romance
Series: Starlet #0.5
Teen Santa Monica GETS DRAMATIC. The start of the story and characters from Manny's point-of-view.
From the award-winning author of realistic teen fiction Starlet novels comes Starlet's Man. Lights. Cameras. Lies. High school student athlete, Manny Biro, is caught between the boy he should be and the man he wants to become. 5-STARS Foreword Reviews Rating: Starlet's Man Teen Book (Reviewed by Pallas Gates McCorquodale)
The protagonist's inner turmoil will resonate with today's youth who find spiritual conflict in celebrity culture and the party lifestyle.
Teenage Manuel Biro hates acting. He loathes the fake, plastic Hollywood scene and longs for something more meaningful than the glamor, glitter, fast cars and faster women that are so prevalent in his hometown, Santa Monica. There is only one problem. Manny is desperately in love with his best friend, superstar actress Marie Michael. Carla J. Hanna's Starlet's Man showcases all of the action and angst from Manny's point of view.
Still reeling from a horrible breakup with his girlfriend Kate, Manny tries to make sense of his tangled emotions while reconciling his moral and religious beliefs with the fast-paced, sex-crazed culture that surrounds him. To complicate matters, Manny experiences new feelings for his workout buddy Beth, dodges unwanted media attention from his "friend" Alan, and attempts to shield his fourteen-year-old sister, Janet, from the harsh realities of the party lifestyle, all while hiding his true passion for Marie.
Although Starlet's Man is the fourth novel in the Starlet series, the events begin prior to book one, separate from the rest, which are told in memoir style from Marie's point of view. However, as much as experiencing things through Manny's eyes will likely thrill and delight those familiar with the Starlet stories, it is obvious, from the dramatic opening scene onward, that Manny's world has already been established, and newcomers will have a bit of catching up to do. Some questions, such as the mysteriously secret tragedy surrounding Manny and Kate's breakup are answered piecemeal through the dialogue, while others are not revealed at all in this volume.
Regardless of when Manny first enters the scene, in Starlet's Man or elsewhere in the series, he is sure to be a favorite. Manny struggles daily to be true to himself in a world that prizes image over substance. Hanna explores spirituality and Christianity in a relatable, non-preachy style that encourages self-reflection and honesty. Affectionately dubbed "Señor Self-Righteous" for what Janet calls his "unrealistic idealism," Manny is a conflicted seventeen-year-old, and his inner turmoil should resonate with today's youth. Other issues of particular relevance in American culture, such as the abuse of social media, the role of women in the film industry, and the casual drug culture are all explored in a refreshingly nonjudgmental, authentic voice.
Starlet's Man offers a realistic, behind-the-scenes alternative for teens and young adults interested in the celebrity lifestyle.
Starlet's Run: A Coming-of-Age in Hollywood Novel
Publication Date: November 14, 2013
Genre: Young Adult, Coming of Age, Romance
Series: Starlet #2
From the award-winning author of the Starlet Series, comes Starlet's Run, a novel perfect for young adult or new adult readers who enjoyed Nicholas Sparks' A Walk to Remember, Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love, Gayle Forman's If I Stay, or John Green's The Fault in Our Stars. Discover why the Starlet Series took Gold and Silver medals in the Readers' Favorite 2014 International Book Awards.
Love. Intentions. Acting. Life is more complicated than a Hollywood story. Fictional actress Liana Marie Michael clutches to the only person she trusts, high school boyfriend Manuel Biro. She suffers through the Five Stages of Grief with his support and clings to his stability. But they are both teens in Hollywood. When Lia's scripts speak for her and drama becomes her life, can she find the strength to run her own lines and shape her new role?
~ - ~
I'm actress Liana Marie Michael. Hollywood's obsession with beauty made my actress-mother stay competitive. Athletes use steroids. Actors use plastic surgery and anti-aging drugs. So now I'm a physical mess inside, dealing with it, and starring in another major motion picture.
Of course I can't quit. I have brain surgery, feel alive at my Native American Grandma's Montana ranch, go back to Hollywood and act. My boyfriend, Manuel, and I want to get married. Everyone has an opinion. I ignore the millions of naysayers until consequences turn dire.
I believe that dwelling on pain is a waste of time. Indecision is exhausting. I want to write my own future. But I'm only eighteen years old and caught in a web of lies.
In a world where an actress is a product and everyone is a critic, can our young love survive? Should it?
Starlet's Light: A Hollywood Contemporary Romance
Publication Date: November 18, 2013
Genre: Young Adult, Coming of Age, Romance
Series: Starlet #3
~ STARLET'S WEB GOLD Medal & STARLET'S LIGHT SILVER Medal: 2014 Readers' Favorite International Book Awards ~
Love. Trust. Acting. Actress Liana Marie struggles with trust and commitment as she shapes the role she plays in her own life. She gives up the fight until she sees the light in this third book of the young adult Starlet Series for new adult & college readers.
We are all flies and spiders in a web of stories. If I live a more authentic life, can love prevail despite my many faults? Can truth alter Hollywood's web?
5 STARS Readers' Favorite Book Review: Reviewed by Bil Howard
Facing who you truly are and what meaning your life has is never easy, but it is even more difficult when you’re an actress. Truth and lies get woven together in Starlet’s Light by Carla J. Hanna and sorting them out is a painful experience for cancer survivor and actress Liana Marie. Dishonesty and mistrust on the silver screen are multiplied in Liana’s life as she struggles to decide who and what to trust. While shooting in England, Liana decides to set Manuel free, realizing that he has a chance for a normal, happy life without her, though she can’t get him out of her mind. With an understanding of how her past has affected her future, thanks to her father, she begins to move forward in a whole new light, haunted by the decision to let Manuel go. Spending her weekends in the hospital, rather than out having fun with her friends and doing what normal people do on weekends, begins to take its toll and she begins to see through some of the drama in her life. Will love, trust, and commitment find her? Will she continue to be swept up in the lies that surround her?
Starlet’s Light takes a deeper look into the things that are manufactured not only for a Hollywood movie, but those that are manufactured in our lives. Carla J. Hanna does an excellent job of showing how a person navigates the paths of their falsehoods in an attempt to justify them, but always seems to come up short. The depth of thought and emotion becomes all too real for the reader and keeps them hooked as Carla unravels the story. Deep, emotional and thought provoking, Starlet’s Light will have you examining where the paths of your own life are leading you.
Carla J. Hanna lived in Santa Monica, CA where her children played with the children of celebrities. She mingled with plenty of nannies and a few good celebrity moms. Her award winning books, The Starlet Series, include Starlet's Man, Starlet's Web, Starlet's Run, & Starlet's Light. Starlet's End is scheduled to release September 2015, subject to change from publisher interest.
Thank you so much for spotlighting the YA/NA Starlet's Web Series of teen fiction. I appreciate you taking the time!
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome! Thanks for stopping byThe Book Bag. Best of luck with your series.
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