My Own Personal Soap Opera Review

TITLE: My Own Personal Soap Opera
AUTHOR: Libby Malin
PUB DATE: April 2010
PUBLISHER: Source Books
PAGES: 326

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Is life stranger than fiction, or vice versa?

Frankie McNally has found the perfect solution for life’s perplexing problems: as head writer for the daytime soap Lust for Life, she works them out on the air!

Meanwhile, Frankie’s being courted simultaneously by the dashing older man sent in to save the show’s sagging ratings and by the soap’s totally hot leading man. And just when Frankie thinks the plot couldn’t get more complicated, a jewel thief starts copying the show’s storyline-a development that could send the show’s ratings soaring, if it doesn’t get Frankie arrested first.

Please note that photo and about the book was taken from Source Books website.

MY THOUGHTS:

I have to say that I really enjoyed My Own Personal Soap Opera.

When I was looking up the author to find out more about her I discovered that she has written several books. She also writes under the name Libby Sternberg. I will definitely check out more of her work as I enjoyed reading this book.

Who doesn’t love a soap opera? I use to be a big time fan of Another World and Days Of Our Lives.

My very first brush with a soap opera actor was my all time favorites even to this very day:

(Sorry for the poor quality as my scanner isn’t working all that great.) This was taken in the early 1990’s. I was visiting my sister in Montreal and she found out that Mathew Ashford (Jack from Days)was going to be here attending the auto show. She got me tickets to go. I was in such awe of him.

So back to the my thoughts on the book. Frankie is the head writer for the soap opera Lust For Life and the ratings are dropping. She is trying to get the show back on track. With a risk that the show will be cancelled a handsome older man, Victor is brought in to try and bring the ratings back up.

But before they know it what appears to be a soap opera story line is actually happening in the real world. Someone has stolen an idea from Lust and carrying it into the reality. What can it be? Who is behind it? Will they discover who the person is?

My two favorite parts of the book were when Frankie was talking to her friend Gail and she was remembering how they met: (page 78)

Gail and Frankie had met at an author reading at Columbia.

It just goes to show that you will be surprised what can come out of an author reading. This is how I met Donna from Books Bound. We only discovered this after we had met.

My other favorite part is: (page 173)

Victor could speed-read through bland reports and digest complex material with diligent attention to detail. But he felt like he had to use toothpicks to keep his eyes open when reading through Brian Aiglans’s “masterpiece.” More then once as he sat at his desk, feet propped up and coffee at the ready, he felt like throwing the thing across the room, or at least taking it back to the bookstore and asking for a refund.

Brian is Frankie’s ex husband and he has written a book. How many times have you read a book and felt this way?

I have to send a big thank you to Danielle at Source Books for sending me an advance readers copy of this book to read and review.

Since we are on the topic of soap opera’s, I have one more meeting to share with you. My little northern NB town was lucky enough to bring in a few stars from Another World. I unfortunately didn’t get to meet them all because trying to convince my father to bring me into town was hard and he thought it wasn’t necessary to see them. The ones who came were: Amanda (Sandra Ferguson),Cass (Stephen Schnetzer)and a few others.

Then in 1995, I actually got to meet Grayson McCouch. He played Morgan, Cass’s brother and now plays Dusty on As The World Turns. This meeting to was one of my all time favorites. I was in my early 20s when I met him and very nervous and he was so super sweet. It was funny meeting with him. The mall had brought him in and you could get your picture taken with him and the sale of the picture was going to the hospital.

I had paid my money and when it was my turn I went over he had put his arm around me and I froze. My friend was laughing because she thought it was funny. He was talking to me saying to put my arm around him and I couldn’t so he told the guy he wasn’t to take the picture unless I did it. (Which I have to say was really sweet of him as I am sure others wouldn’t have cared and just snapped the picture) Well needless to say I did end up doing it. He was super sweet and for a few years afterwards we actually kept in touch. (My friend and I gave him a card and our addresses were in it.)Then when Another World ended we lost touch and I think my moving to Montreal too had a part in it.

Do you have any meetings like this? Have you meet anyone famous?