ARC Review: Hollywood Dirt by Alessandra Torre

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“This, right here, is my crack.  HOLLYWOOD DIRT is a lustfully sweet enemies to lovers story full of southern charm and might just be my favorite book by Alessandra Torre so far.”
~ Under the Covers

This, right here, is my crack.  A couple that has enough hate in their relationship but that mostly doesn’t keep them from slipping and falling into each others’ arms.  That even through the fighting, the attraction and connection grow.  HOLLYWOOD DIRT is a lustfully sweet enemies to lovers story full of southern charm and might just be my favorite book by Alessandra Torre so far.

I loved the setup of this town (and the fact this town exists somewhere).  Small southern town, full of that southern community feeling.  It brought back memories of living in Florida myself, complete with the town’s talking and attitude towards who fits in and who doesn’t.

Our heroine, Summer, is not one of those that fits.  She has a past with this town that permanently put her on that list.  That is until the town of Quincy is overrun with the fact a movie will be filmed there, featuring the towns’ past history of Coca Cola millionaires.  When a location scout comes and no one is willing to talk to him, he enlists her help to get the movie on track.  And when the movie’s leading man comes to town early, leaving behind a lot of personal turmoil after he caught his wife cheating on him and got served divorce papers, he decides Summer is perfect to play the movie’s leading lady role.

Summer and Cole are so perfect together.  She’s the complete opposite to what he’s had in his life ever since he was a kid and throughout his massive movie star career.  She might also be exactly what he’s been secretly missing.  She’s just enough of a spit fire even when she lets her mouth run before thinking to elicit all of Cole’s attention.  And Cole has to go from asshole movie star attitude to becoming a better human being.

Did I mention how I loved their relationship?  You could consider this a slow burn type of story as well, but I found the pacing to be perfect for the story.  There’s enough set up at the beginning even before they first meet.  And I was enjoying every bit of that as well, as it gave us a good feeling for where they both were before entering into their “relationship”.  Of course, when they are together, whether it’s kissing or fighting, sparks are definitely flying.

After reading this author’s books in the past, I was expecting a story a bit darker than this.  This is unexpectedly sweet!  And I just couldn’t put it down.  The perfect blend of things I love reading about, and all really well written and developed.   Both characters carried this story well since I immediately connected with them both and the dual POV was perfect.

I hope that we get more stories like this from Ms. Torre in the future, that’s for sure!  And now I hope you all get to meet Cole Masten as well.

Favorite Quotes:

“Are you okay?”  His words were painful and tight, gritted out between his teeth, and I nodded, unable to form words, unable to do anything but worship at the altar of Cole Masten from that moment forth.
“Good,” he moaned.  “Because I’m about to unleash hell.”

Now I knew why they said you fell in love.  I plummeted with no parachute, and hoped like hell he would catch me when I hit the bottom.

He was hell.  But his body, his cock, what he did yo me?  It was heaven.

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Excerpt

When the door to the production trailer burst open, it brought with it a wave of heat and beauty. Cole looked up from the storyboards and locked eyes with Summer, who blew across the room at him like a tornado on tilt.

“There’s no love story between Ida and Royce.” Summer snapped, throwing down the script, pages fluttering down between them. In the small trailer, conversations stalled and he could feel the attention turn their way. “I’ve read the book. Three times!”

It was good to know that someone had read the damn book. Cole glanced down at her temper tantrum of a mess and back up, raising his eyebrows mildly. “It’s a movie,” he said, turning back to the storyboards. “The writers are adding some excitement. It’s normal. You’d know that if you were in this business.” The dig was unnecessary but he couldn’t help it. This woman turned him into the devil.

“I read the first script. The one you sent over with my contract. Ida and Royce hated each other. Why would Royce…” she snatched up a page from the ground and read out a line. “pushes Ida against the file cabinet and kisses her passionately.” She balled up the page and threw it down to the ground and he could see, in her eyes, the panic. Panic. An unexpected reaction.

“We’ll use that,” Don made the dangerous move of stepping in, putting a soft hand on her shoulder. “You don’t understand. The passion from their hatred will make it hotter.”

“No.” Summer said, her face hard, her eyes on Cole. “It doesn’t make it hotter. It makes it stupid.”

“Aww… come on, Summer.” Cole chided, stepping closer, his hand reaching out to pull at her wrist. She fought him, yanking it back and the moment of their bodies meeting didn’t happen. He leaned down and whispered, right against her ear, the smell of her apple-scented lotion enough to make him want to empty out the production trailer right that moment. “Sure it does.”

She jerked back and twisted away. “If he kisses me on camera I’m going to lose it.” She shot at Don, pointing an accusatory finger in Cole’s direction.

“I know you will,” Cole laughed, crossing his arms to fight from reaching out.  “You’ll fall apart under my mouth, baby.”

Summer screamed in response, her hands thrown up in frustration, and spun to leave, her script left behind, the slam of the exit door loud in the full production trailer.

“That went well,” Cole mused. He linked his hands and rested them on his head, rolling his shoulders back. Panic. She’d had panic in her eyes. Fuck.

“What do you expect?” Don said. “You threw this on her without warning. I told you we should have met with her this morning, gone over the changes to prepare her. But no – you just wanted to dump it on her via call sheets and sides.”

“Dump it on her? I was People’s Sexiest Man last year. She’s not mentally adjusting to a war camp for God’s sake. How hard is it to kiss me?”

“It’s actually three kisses,” a dark-haired PA to his left pointed out. “And a grope.”

He gave her a hard look and she withered a little.

“I’ll go talk to her,” Don said. “Eileen, you shoot #4 and I’ll talk to Summer. I want to try to get #14 shot at eleven so let’s get our asses in gear and get this done.”

“I’ll talk to her.” Cole stepped in. “You shoot #4 and I’ll talk to her.”

“No,” Don snapped. “With my luck you two would make up and any authenticity to the scene would disappear. Just stay away from her and be ready at eleven.”

Cole chewed on his cheek, then nodded. “Fine.” Don was right. He should stay away from her. Far. Far away.

 

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[about-author author=”Alessandra Torre”]

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