Heartthrob

The great thing about Brockmann— she can really transcend a laughable, cliched plot like no one’s business. I mean, “may just be more of a baby-sitting job than Kate can handle” is just cheesecake.

What I found in Hearthrob is a powerful redemption story about a man (Jed) who claws his way out of the gutter, and willing to sacrifice every ounce of pride he has on the way. What I didn’t find was an equally powerful story about a heroine who deserved him.

Overall, I found Kate judgmental, small-minded, and terribly ignorant. The contract she forces Jericho to sign is ridiculous (I kept thinking, could this piece of shizz even hold up in court?)— and the hoops she makes him jump through, even when she is wrong, are harsh. Jed show more had more risk of falling off the wagon dealing with that contract then he did from being an alcoholic in recovery.

Which really gets to my main complaint about Kate. It seemed like she knew very very little about recovering alcoholics, the nature of addiction, mental illness, etc. Her ignorance, the way she pushed and pushed Jed, wasn’t romantic to me, it was frightening.

When I got to the end and Jed’s big realization that he may need to spend the rest of his life earning back the trust that his addictions rightfully stripped from him- I thought, yes!- but not from Kate. And for someone spent a lifetime abusing alcohol to subsume anger and frustration, not being angry at Kate for the way she treated him rang false.

I realize she is meant to be a control freak, so devoted to her film that she risks love for control. But being that unaware of how her own actions were in fact jeopardizing the film, by jeopardizing Jed’s sobriety, that was too much for me. Jed finds redemption, but to me, Kate needed it more. I started wishing the book was a tragedy, and not a romance novel, so that Kate could, in fact, loose it all. And maybe learn something.

Without an equally solid heroine to meet Jed’s hero, the Happily Ever After wasn’t so happy for me. I enjoyed the book, wanted to love it more, but couldn’t let go of my own anger at Kate.

3 of 5 stars, and those three stars are all Jed.

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There are also some real strange WTF moments in Hearthrob. Like when the older, white, Oscar-nominated actor takes on a mentoring role with the young, black actor and guides him through the difficult experience of playing a slave in the pre-Civil War South. Yeah. That was uncomfortable. In fact, every movie scene was lame. The dialogue made me cringe, over and over. show less

This is a departure--a Brockmann book that's not about Navy SEALs. (insert mini-rant about fiction believing that the only people in the military--or at least the only interesting ones--are SEALs)

Jericho Beaumont is an actor who's trying to make a comeback after drug and alcohol addiction. Mary Kate O'Laughlin is trying to produce her first feature film, and what makes it even more important for her--she's also the screenwriter.

She doesn't want to hire him because she can't afford the problems he's had in the past--not showing up for work, or showing up drunk. But in the audition, he is by far the best choice, and, what's worse from Mary Kate's perspective, the actors she wants for the other roles agree to take them because they want to show more work with the famous Jericho Beaumont.

So she agrees, with stipulations: that he submit to daily drug testing and that he have a "babysitter" 24/7. Jericho agrees to the stipulations because it's the role of a lifetime.

Heartthrob is an intensely emotional story. It doesn't whitewash the problems Jericho faces in staying away from alcohol, but neither does it wallow in them. He's humiliated several times in the course of the story, and much of the plot is about how he deals with that. One of his plans is to pay Mary Kate back for the humiliation in kind--by seducing and then rejecting her--but anyone who's ever read a book can figure out how well that tactic will work.

There's a lot about trust, and for once it's not a matter of characters demanding instant, unreasonable trust. It's about the development of trust.

There's also a sweet coming-of-age secondary romance between the young co-stars of the movie that I enjoyed very much. Character development and growth isn't limited to the two protagonists--the secondary characters grow and change as well.

I doubt Brockmann will get back on my must-buy list any time soon, since I burned out pretty thoroughly on the whole Navy-SEAL-romance subgenre, but I'm not going to avoid her books, either. show less

Cute. It's a thick Brockmann, so there are two-and-a-half romances going on. The secondary one is quite simple - age and family issues, so nothing resolved, but straightforward. The primary one has major issues - trust, emotions, history, a childhood of abuse (of very different types and from different sources) on both sides... It was pretty obvious what would happen from the time she came up with the contract, though the details of how the babysitter left were nicely done. As always, excellent characterization, excellently portrayed setting - actually, the characterization was particularly interesting here since each person was depicting at least two characters (Frau Steinbreaker for Kate). For all that, though, and a lovely ending - show more it wasn't all that satisfying. Not bad, but rather shallow - predictable, for one thing. A standard romance. Well-written, but all surface. I'm glad I read it, I may or may not bother to ever reread. show less

My Thoughts: I've had this book in my TBR forever and despite my past (excellent) experiences with Brockmann I was very hesitant to read this. I'd love to say that I was totally wrong to keep this book waiting for so long but I just can't. I just couldn't get into Kate's and Jericho's romance. It was hard to believe the sincerity of Jericho when bombarded on every other page what a good actor he was, that his speechy stories were part of a coping mechanism for him. His heartfelt lines felt, well, like lines, just part of a movie he was doing. Kate was just as impossible to like. Flip-flopping from a vulnerable lost little girl to a high powered Frau Ballbreakistein over and over again I ended up doubting her sincerity in addition to her show more mental health. Heck at least Jericho fully admitted he would probably need therapy for the rest of his life. Kate? She didn't echo those words, unfortunately.

Despite my issues with the characters I did very much enjoy seeing the making of a Hollywood movie. It made me want to see the movie and I'm pretty disappointed that it doesn't exist. Although I didn't believe in the characters' abilities to fall in love I did find that Jericho, Jamaal and Suzie made excellent actors and that movie would have been epic. In addition, Brockmann's writing is consistently pleasant to read and the dialogue flows well.

In a Nutshell: A great backdrop minus a disappointing romance equals a very average read. Not nearly as good as her books with SEALs and one I won't read a second time show less

I listened to this on CD but I SO didn't like the heroine Kate that I stopped at the third disc. Perhaps I didn't give it a good go, but she was so ANNOYING I knew I would have trouble EVER forgiving her for her obtuse handling of this situation. Ignorant and painful.

No more of this authors stories - I just don't like her heroines!!

My version was an audio book narrated by Ralph Lowenstein. Great narration (loved his voice for Jericho and slight variation for his film character, Laramie); another great story by Suzanne Brockmann.

This centers around an A-list actor, Jericho Beaumont, looking for his big comeback after a fall from grace. In order to get the role of a lifetime, he has to agree to a ridiculous contract with the movie's producer/screenwriter, Kate O'Laughlin, in which he basically forfeits his pride and privacy 24/7 for the two months needed to make the film. This is deemed necessary by the movie backers to ensure he stays on the straight and narrow. After a short period of being "babysat" by a hired security officer goes awry, Kate is forced to be show more Jericho's watchdog for the duration.

Great story about their developing trust in each other, overcoming their individual past demons, becoming friends and then lovers. There is also a great side story about a couple of the younger actors in the film which is actually a great set-up for a second book. show less

Typical contemporary from Brockmann. Her characters almost always are more compelling than the plot.