Soapsuds

A Novel

By: Finola Hughes, Digby Diehl

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik

Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Having escaped to Hollywood after catching her boyfriend in bed with her best friend, London stage actress Kate McPhee is offered a gig on the popular daytime television series "Live for Tomorrow". As Devon Merrick - police detective, car crash victim, and love interest for at least two men - she knows all the secrets and sins pulsating in fictional Hope Canyon. But the real drama is off the set, where the soap is indeed slippery.

Enter Meredith Contini, the show's power-wielding diva. Meredith has two rules: Know your place and stay in it. Kate broke both on day one, which is why she suddenly found her character switching sexual orientation. That brilliant solution came from Daphne del Valle, the show's barking-mad obsessive/compulsive producer, who drives herself and her actors to enthrall the audience. ("Sell the hurt. Sell the rage. Sell the hunger. Sell the loooooove.")

As gay detective Devon Merrick, Kate is a smash. The show is a hit. But Kate's private life seems to be becoming something of a drama itself. Especially since everybody thinks she really is gay, which is a problem since she thinks the best cure for her real-life broken heart is to get a man into her bed. But who? Kirk, her sexy, tan, and talented leading man, is involved with Meredith. There's Matt, the magician who makes her tea, but will her 14-hour days keep them from the promise of tangled sheets? And there's Wyatt, her handsome new co-star, who Kate believes is the great love of her life. Except that he's married, and his wife, Christine, is Kate's new makeup artist and the one sane friend she has made in Los Angeles.

As the line between television and reality blurs with increasing speed, tension tightens and passions surge. Does Wyatt want Kate as much as she wants him? Will Christine find out? Will Kate lose her new friend? Will Meredith finally have Kate fired? Will Kate ever get to "come out" as heterosexual on the set? Are her steamy kiss scenes fated to...

©2006 Finola Hughes (P)2005 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

nice but nothing special

Was fun for me as I don't watch daytime TV or soap operas. Some interesting "insights." The story is simple and has a bit of everything: Gossip, unpopular co-workers, friendship and betrayal, love and sorrow. Only the middle part takes a bit, otherwise a good read but over all: nothing special.
The narration is well done.

Something to listen to while driving

This book started out very slow!!! It took about 2 hours before it even began the actual "story." The ending was also lacking!! I was expecting a happily ever after, but no our heroine never gets it. I feel as if the author got tired of writing and just decided to end the book!!!! Maybe I have been spoiled by the "happy" love stories that I normally read, but I was very disappointed when this one was over!

Poor reading of an otherwise good story

What a strange choice of narrator! Anne Flosnik might be a lovely person, but she should NOT be an audiobook narrator! Her poor accents and emphasis took almost the first half of the book to get used to and made the characters confusing. The story itself is great until the last five minutes when it ends suddenly and in a quite unsatisfactory manner.

I NEED MORE. . . . .!!

What happened to the boyfriend who left for Toronto?? Does Kate keep all of the dogs? Do the dogs ever win over the kitty cat?
Excellently written - made me laugh out loud (I listen as I run, so laughing is not so easy to accomplish - but she gave me some good belly laughs!!) It draws a picture of soap life just as one (a soap watcher) might imagine. The main character (Kate) is strong and self assured, yet vulnerable and self-conscious. She is a well blended mixture of strength and softness which describes many of us who are now around the thirty-eleven age bracket. All of the characters are nicely balanced creating a definite believability. (I think I've met that girl before. . . !?) And I really did enjoy each of the characters for themselves.
Would love to see and follow-up presentation - this one ended as suddenly as a Friday episode of Young and the Restless. . . . .

Down the drain is where these Soapsuds belong

two words...don't bother!

Don't Bother

Not worth using a credit for or time listening to. I could not finish listening because it was so boring and trite.