Beach Reads: Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper
What’s The Buzz?: A middling actress who starred on a popular teen soap gets swept up in a whirlwind romance with a mega movie star, including an affiliation with his high profile religious group. Sound familiar? That’s the concept behind this pseudo-Roman a clef, which mirrors the infamous Tom Cruise / Katie Holmes relationship, choosing to fill in the gaps the rest of us have speculated on, like whether ‘Rob Mars’ is really gay (he’s not), what the big deal is with One Cell (aka Scientology), and how dating the world’s most famous actor impacts the life of Lizzie Pepper. What makes it extra juicy is the fact it’s written by celebrity memoirist / ghostwriter Hilary Liftin, who has collaborated with big names like Miley Cyrus to craft their biographies. Talk about a gal who knows her stuff in the celeb realm.
What’s The Plot?: As I alluded to above, Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper is the story of Lizzie (or Elizabeth, as Rob prefers to call her) and her romantic relationship with the world’s biggest movie star, Rob Mars. What makes it interesting is the book is told as a memoir, as though it were written by Lizzie herself and not Hilary Liftin. Lizzie takes us through the early and somewhat eerie initial encounter with Rob, followed by the good times and the increasingly bad ones, with a cast of business types bubbling under the surface as they twist and turn Rob and Lizzie’s relationship into fodder for the public eye. We all know how the story ends – divorce – but the book takes a colourful stab at decoding just what went down between the stars it is seemingly inspired by.
Is It Real?: A small part of me likes to believe that Hilary Liftin approached Katie Holmes, asked if she’d like to work with her, got turned down, and decided to write Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper for kicks. But all of the press materials are very careful to identify this book is not about the famous couple, at least not officially. So in that sense, assume it’s completely fictional, even if some key events do echo what we know took place (Rob Mars jumps on a car in traffic, instead of a couch on Oprah, for example).
How Beachy Is It?: I *wish* this type of book actually existed, but most celeb tomes are toned down, publicity-driven affairs. But really, I’d equate Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper to reading a copy of US Weekly on the beach, only in a fictional novel format. In other words? Quite possibly the beachiest beach read I’ve written about this summer.
Who Should Read This Book?: I know it’s fictional, but a part of me wants to believe this is what really happened with the TomKat coupling. If you love celebrity gossip in any way, shape or form, then you’ll probably have a blast reading this dishy novel the way that I did.
Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper is available now from fine booksellers across Canada and online, for $32.95. As always, I’m happy to be offering up a copy of this book to one lucky reader! Here’s how to enter:
1) First & foremost: you must be a subscriber to the Canadian Gift Guide to enter this giveaway. It’s as simple as finding ‘The Gift of Gab’ box in the righthand column and dropping in your email or clicking follow. Then, tell me in the comments below by September 8, 2015 – why are you interested in reading Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper?
2) Entries are limited to one per person / per email address / per household (or more if you score bonus entries). A random draw will be conducted on or around September 10, 2015 to select the winner, who will have 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen in their place.
3) Entries are limited to Canadians that have reached the age of majority in their province. Quebec is not eligible for this promotion.
4) Bonus Entry: Follow Random House of Canada on Twitter, tag them and me (@cdngiftguide) in a Tweet about why you want to read this intriguing book! Post a link to your Tweet below in a separate comment to earn yourself an extra entry into the draw.
5) Bonus Entry #2: Add this book to your to-read list on GoodReads, and leave a link back to the page it’s on below in a separate comment to earn yourself another bonus entry.
Canadian Gift Guide 
I love all the gossip magazines I am sure I would enjoy this
Interesting to have a picture of the characters in your mind before reading the book (tom/katie). I would love to read the “behind the scenes” story…even if it is fiction.
I’m also interested in articles or books about the rich and famous – real or not.
I love celebrity gossip and followed TomKat from the beginning, so I’m sure I’d devour this story!
I just added Movie Star to my list of books I want to read 🙂 https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/27749170-julie-dyer
What could be better that hearing all the dirt. Sounds like an addictively juicy novel of celebrity love gone wrong.
https://twitter.com/janicour/status/634358182375124993
Oooh this sounds great! Trashy but in a good way!
I love “celebrity type” reading. It keeps me intrigued.
I haven’t read a trashy novel for quite a while. I think I’m due, don’t you?
I can see myself on the beach right now reading this
I’d love to read Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper because it sounds like a great beach read and a chance to escape into someone else’s life for a little while!
Yes, i would love to read this book at the lake! Thanks for the contest!
Looks like an amusing romp through the tabloids and beyond. That would be fun.
I’d love to read this book because I love a good beachy read, especially if its the beachiest beachy read!!
I’d love to read it. A great way to live someone else’s life vicarously.
I love beachy, gossipy novels!
Sounds intriguing!!
I would really love to read this on the beach – thanks.
I heard an interview on the radio with Hilary Liftin discussing her new book, and that peaked my interest. It seems like an interesting story that is probably loosely based on many of the stories that Liftin has heard as she researched for other celeb biographies.
I am a huge celebrity gossip hound but I try to keep it on the down-low. Lol! What could be dishier than the whole TomKat relationship too? I’m squeeeing already! This is definitely my kind of book!
My tweet: https://twitter.com/suekitty13/status/636343731419901952
My Goodreads shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/21502628?shelf=to-read
Enticing!
id love to win
This sounds like such a fun book! I really enjoying reading things like this..
I subscrib—I love books about hollywood
I’m a subscriber and would love to win because this author is new to me.
I would love to read Movie Star as it sounds like it would be a fun read and something that I could take to the beach!