Jackie Collins, Sinners & Jacqueline Susann, Valley of the Dolls

As promised - I've managed to finish one of my draft posts, sorry for being such a flaky blogger.

I read Valley of the Dolls last month but I thought it made sense to review it alongside Sinners as they are both similar.

The Plot (Valley of the Dolls) Anne, Neely and Jennifer are young and beautiful and trying to make it in the entertainment industry, Anne as a model, Neely as a singer and Jennifer as an actress. They become friends, when they are naive and idealistic, but the depravity of Hollywood begins to effect their relationships, appearance and self-worth. The higher they climb, the more they sacrifice. 

The Plot (Sinners) Sunday Simmons is on her way to stardom, but she is struggling the maintain her integrity, as directors push her into performing nude scenes. Charlie is a leading man, featuring in popular comedies, but his private life is a mess; his ex-wife is remarrying, so distract himself he is sleeping with multiple wannabe actresses. Herbert is a chauffeur to the stars, he also likes to send them anonymous explicit post and has started to target Sunday. 

Rating: Valley of the Dolls, 4/5. Sinners 2.5/5 

Lee Child, Never Go Back

I'm starting the year of with a complete trashy read, Never go Back. 

The Plot: Jack Reacher is a loner. Ex-military he is a rootless vagabond who hitch-hikes around the USA, who manages to run into trouble wherever he goes. He arrives in Virginia hoping to rendezvous with Major Susan Turner, commanding officer of his former unit, who he has spoken to a couple of times of the phone. She is not there, her arrest is soon linked with Reacher, has he charged with a crime from 15 years ago.      

Rating: 1/5

Martina Cole, Two Women

I'm so ashamed to admit I've read this, it's absolute trash and not even good trash like The Other Boleyn Girl or funny trash like Twilight. There is nothing redeemable about Martina Cole's Two Women. 

The Plot:  A victim from childhood, Susan Dalston becomes notorious when she murders her violent husband with a claw hammer.

Rating: ¶¶¶¶¶ (0/5)

trigger warning- violence, rape, domestic abuse, incest 

I was after a easy read and fancied a detective story or a thriller, so God knows why I picked this up at the library. I was mislead as it was in the crime section and claimed to be 'the no.1 bestseller'. There's no mystery to be solved, and its basically a fictional misery memoir. If books like A Child Called It etc. are your type of thing you'd love this, but it's really not for me.

It is poorly written and predictable. The plot is just a series of cliches and stereotypes and I quickly became desensitised to the many, many, many tragedies of Susan's life. I've spent quite enough of my time on this crap book, so am finishing my review here. Save yourselves some time, and don't bother with this book at all.