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next door girls next playboy mansion hugh hefner well written holly madison rabbit hole behind the scenes great read easy read good read old man page turner guilty pleasure really enjoyed enjoyed this book eye opening closed doors criss angel life at the mansion
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Michelle Burke
3.0 out of 5 stars A juicy tell-all with little substance
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2018
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The Girls Next Door was a secret guilty pleasure of mine. It was on during a weird time in my life. I was the new mom to a toddler and a baby. My baby boy slept very little and I found myself being up with him at all hours. During those hours I would often tune into E! And watch hours of mind numbing TV while I cried and desperately tried to rock my baby to sleep (I had baby blues depression and he had colic.) My favorite show was GND , their lives were seemed so fun and carefree (so unlike my chaotic one) Then I watched an episode were the girls were throwing another playmate a baby shower. Holly seemed so depressed, like she would trade everything she had to be the one having the baby instead. In that instant rocking my baby I felt very lucky and started feeling better. Holly became my favorite on the show (the classy shy one)and I still followed her life after the show So I was interested to read her book.
The book while very dishy. Also seems a bit short sighted. A lot of the insults and complaints she lodges. Could easily apply to herself. She lambasts cookie cutter gold digging blondes. While admitting she modeled herself after Hugh Hefners ideal image of a woman, and moved into the mansion because she had nowhere else to go. She constantly refers to "mean girls" while saying mean nasty stuff about other women.
I did find her chronicling of her early years in the mansion interesting. The early 2000's were a very different time. I hardly think in todays "woke" climate. That a series about three blondes and the old man who sexually and emotionally abuses them would be so successful.
In the end I'm happy she found some happiness in her life and hope this book gave her closure.
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Badass Lioness
VINE VOICE
4.0 out of 5 stars Solid behind-the-scenes at the Playboy Mansion and TGND
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2018
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I had watched some episodes of The Girls Next Door (TGND) and thought it was pretty good, though not in any means "reality". I liked the personalities of the three ladies, though Kendra's personality could be a bit iffy. This is a tell-all from Holly's perspective. She is most harsh on Kendra and Hugh, while she seemed to like Bridget a lot.

What is interesting in this behind-the-scenes is that she starts from way before the cameras started rolling to when she arrived at the Playboy Mansion, and what she did in order to stay. She talks about the hierarchy amongst the 'girlfriends', what it took to become a Playmate, who was cheating on Hugh, and how TGND actually got started.

I found myself fascinated, annoyed, disgusted, and amused by the antics of all of the people involved, including Holly. Life at the mansion was not what it looked like while the cameras rolled and the editing was done. He rented his rooms; he did not own the mansion. The girlfriends, not surprisingly, were more for show than anything else, and they often were at odds with each other.

There were times where things that Holly did seemed specious as well. I do appreciate that she included what happened after the three left the show as I had wondered what transpired to have them all leave at the same time. Then there was Kendra's show and Holly's show.

Did everything happen as Holly wrote about it? Of course not. It is just her POV and her story; however, it is revealing, entertaining, and educating. I found it to be a solid read without being unbearable. You don't need to have watched TGND to enjoy this.
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Rachel
3.0 out of 5 stars just a nice, old
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2016
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The book was definitely a page turner. In some ways, it saddened me to hear that the plush, naked-yet-wholesome, wacky world that was painted for us on Girls Next Door was nothing more than another conjured reality show--expertly edited together to portray what they wanted the viewers to see. It was much nicer to think of Hugh Hefner as a kind old man who simply kept pampered women at his side for company. Not an overbearing, control freak, no sex, no creepiness, no bizarre weekly rituals.... just a nice, old, lonely man with specific taste in women, an image to live up to, and a hefty bank account to allow him such indulgences..... This book, however, tells us otherwise.

My only issue with the book how Madison always portrays herself to be this sweet, well-meaning, non-gold-digging girl who got caught up in this world by sheer inertia. Yes, I do believe that she wasn't as financially motivated as some of the other girlfriends. Yes, I do believe that, in some weird, twisted way, she was in love with Hef. But in the telling of her story (how she arrived at the Mansion, how she ended up staying and becoming a girlfriend), she always made it seem like the fame and notoriety were the absolute furthest thing from her mind, and were nothing more than an unfortunate side-effect of being a girlfriend. She made it seem like she was simply looking for a place to stay, a couch to crash on. I often wanted to talk back to the book and say, "Come on, Holly! Who do you think your fooling?" We're all human. We all dream of fame and fortune. There HAD to be some part of her selfish brain that was screaming at her, "DO IT FOR THE MONEY! DO IT FOR THE FAME! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS BANG AN OLD GUY AND YOU'RE SET!", but she would have us believe otherwise. By painting herself out to have nothing but the noblest of intentions, she lost a bit of credibility with me. I mean, c'mon. It's Playboy!
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Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Bias and conceited
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2019
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It's a good book but I don't believe everything she says, if life was that bad at the playing mansion why would you stay. She makes her self out to be some kind of victim, but she's not she stayed for money.
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LindaLvsMick
3.0 out of 5 stars It's ok
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 11, 2018
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It's ok read but only 1 point of view. If someone doesn't like the rules then why stay? Obv lifestyle choices. They could walk away at any point, however the life money and fame they all are happy to stay put, only years later complain once they are established and financially stable, and make money from complaining.
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Enaj
5.0 out of 5 stars Behind the scenes drama
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 11, 2018
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I don’t usually review. However, I watched the series and could never put my finger in what was wrong (apart from the usual - older man MUCH younger women) TBH Holly came across as cold at times, now I know why. It was a enlightening read. My heart went out to her. If you read with preconceptions of a master author writing it, then yes you’ll be disappointed. Read with an open mind and be surprised. It’s not a masterpiece of literary style, but I couldn’t put it down. Heff was a class A bitch.
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Kim
4.0 out of 5 stars Came damaged
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2019
Verified Purchase
This came delivered to me damaged as you can see from the pictures, every book I've ordered from amazon has been in perfect condition so I was really disappointed. Other than that I loved the book a real easy fun read. If you have any questions about the playboy life you must read this.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Came damaged
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2019
This came delivered to me damaged as you can see from the pictures, every book I've ordered from amazon has been in perfect condition so I was really disappointed. Other than that I loved the book a real easy fun read. If you have any questions about the playboy life you must read this.
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Cliona Worrell
5.0 out of 5 stars Much more to Holly Madison than you see on TV. Great read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2019
Verified Purchase
Having watched and loved both "Girls of the Playboy Mansion" and "Holly's World" I was very interested to read this book. It had been on my list for years and it did not disappoint. It was extremely interesting to get a different perspective on the events I had watched on TV. I thought the book was very balanced and well written. I couldn't put it down.
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