Glitter Baby

By: Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Narrated by: Julia Gibson

Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Fleur Savagar is the most beautiful woman in the world . . . to everyone but herself. With her oversized hands and paddle-boat feet, her streaky blond hair and funny green eyes, she lives a life filled with secrets that began before she was born. That was when her bewitching mother left home to find James Dean and met Errol Flynn instead. Now Fleur has to grow up quickly, and life won't make that easy.

Jake Koranda is both New York's most brilliant playwright and Hollywood's hottest actor. Difficult, talented, and tormented, he has no patience for international glamour girls, not even ones with beautiful bodies and smart-aleck mouths. But there's more to the Glitter Baby than shine, and Fleur's tougher than Jake expects. Even with the odds stacked against her, she's fiercely determined to discover the woman she's destined to be. An ugly duckling who can't believe she's turned into a swan . . . A tough-guy movie star with a haunted past . . . In a land of broken dreams, can two unlikely lovers trust their hearts?

©2009 Susan Elizabeth Phillips (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers

great book!!!

Book was super. Narration was super. I wanted it to go on and on. I will look for books read by Julia Gibson, and am already a fan of Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

Love the story, hate the new narrator

I have to say, this story is classic SEP, but the new narrator just can't do Anna Fields justice. Although this book was better than the other one she recently narrated for SEP, it still lacks vitality and distinguishing between the characters. If this narrator does the next SEP book, I won't be purchasing it.

I didn't like the reader

The story was great!! The reader was less great. I was a little disappointed but I got used to her. I prefer the reader from the Chicago Stars series better than this gal.

Terrible recording

The story here is good but I wanted to continue the Wynette Texas series, which it isn't. I feel like I was misled.
Also, there is loud music in random places and it's quite distracting

The music!?!

Why did they put music in the story. It was very distracting and did but add to the story at all. The narrator grew on me by the end of the book. Great story but the music was bad.

Read it in book format

Sometimes you love a book, and an audio version can make it even better. This isn't one of those times. The story is alright, vintage SEP, but with the death of her usual fabulous reader, Glitter Baby, tries out a new one. The new reader is too young and her valley girl accent is grating. Read it on paper, rather than audio, it is not worth the price difference.

Worst SEP book ever

Would you try another book from Susan Elizabeth Phillips and/or Julia Gibson?

I've bought several SEP books and love them for their wit and romance. Five hours of listening and I haven't encountered either. It's not necessarily bad, but it's not good either. It is NOTHING like the previous books in the so-called series (I have no idea why it's even listed as part of the series) and it's nothin like her Stars Series either.

What was most disappointing about Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s story?

There is NO humor like most of her books. Plus, the book randomly stops to play some 70's porn like music.

Did Julia Gibson do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The narrator wasn't bad.

What would have made this romance irresistible?

Cut out the first two hours of back story and add the humor we're use to seeing in SEP books.

Any additional comments?

Don't waste the credit. I saw some bad reviews and thought it couldn't be that bad, but yes, it IS THAT bad. And I'm only half way through it. Hopefully it will improve.

Could read over and over!

This story is extremely well developed. Each character is intriguing.Keeps you wanting to listen more. Wonderful reading.

The music that kept popping in got really annoying

I think this could have been a 4 or even 4 1/2 star book if there was a different narrator, Anna Fields, for example. And annoying music kept repeating throughout the entire book that didn’t add anything to the story. If I compare this book to Fancy Pants there is no comparison in my opinion.

Good Book, Peculiar Production

Susan Elizabeth Phillips' books are always a treat and "Glitter Baby" is no exception, with one minor complaint. This recording is marred, for me, by the addition of a muzak-like audio loop that intrudes up at odd moments. It's as if the studio needed to splice two bits of tape together and decided to distract the listener with 'on hold' music.