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Like all great romances, Tilly Bagshawe's trash spectacular Adored culminates in a wedding. But forget the tasteful country church.
This British writer sets her nuptial climax right in the heart of our own Sodom and Gomorrah, Hollywood. Where else would a bridesmaid strut down the aisle in a pale gold gown, "its slick folds clinging to her beautiful body as though she had been poured into it."
Goodbye, Pride and Prejudice. Hello, Falcon Crest.
Adored is an over-the-top fun summer read by an author who skillfully totters into the sacred high heels of such trash fiction goddesses as Jacqueline Susann and Judith Krantz.
After all those Bridget Jones-wannabes featuring everyday gals with real-life romance troubles, Adored comes on like chick-lit Ben- Hur, where all the dames are supermodel luscious, all the men wildly virile, where money flows and the sex ... well, let's just say Bagshawe has created the ultimate fantasyland in which words such as abstinence, STD, condoms or delayed gratification are never heard.
The twin stars of Adored are matinee idol Duke McMahon and his chip-off-the-old-tomcat granddaughter, the hyphenated model-actress Siena McMahon.
An up-from-the-streets Irish charmer, Duke also is a deeply flawed human being who delights in humiliating his refined, long-suffering WASPish wife and two adult children. No one can escape from Daddy's long shadow, even after Duke installs his English mistress, Caroline, in the extended family compound in Hancock Park.
The elegantly accented sex kitten bears him a gorgeous son, Hunter. He, in turn, grows up in the shadow of Duke's adored granddaughter, Siena, the offspring of Duke's grown son and his gentle wife.
Confused? Realism is not Bagshawe's forte.
Flash forward a few decades. Duke is dead. Hunter is now a TV superstar. And the British-educated Siena has skipped Oxford to emerge as a superstar on the Paris runway. Not only does she have grandpa's looks; she also inherited his DNA coding for casual shagging.
Memo to the morals committee: The author offers an improving message about what matters in life. But she's much more fun when describing, say, Siena's torrid trysting with a gorgeous international soccer star or kinky escapades with a wealthy, control-freak producer.
By the end, readers will be casting a TV miniseries version. (Surely, Joan Collins and Linda Evans are available for dowager cameos?)
Is Adored realistic? Well, no more than those frothy, old fantasies Dallas and Dynasty.
Enjoy.
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