Book Review: Anne of Hollywood by Carol Wolper

Anne of Hollywood

By Carol Wolper

Release Date: January 24, 2012

Summary: Carol Wolper re-tells the story of Anne Boleyn set in contemporary Los Angeles. 

“I wasn’t prepared for the enemies. Had I been as gorgeous as a supermodel, or as rich as an heiress, or an actress with an Oscar to my credit, people would still not be happy that I had Henry’s attention, but they’d understand. What they resented was the king coupling with a ‘nobody.’” 

Skirts may be shorter now, and messages sent by iPhone, but passion, intrigue, and a lust for power don’t change. National bestselling author Carol Wolper spins a mesmerizing tale of a twenty-first-century Anne Boleyn. 

Wily, intelligent, and seductive, with a dark beauty that stands out among the curvy California beach blondes, Anne attracts the attention of Henry Tudor, the handsome corporate mogul who reigns in Hollywood. Every starlet, socialite, and shark wants a piece of Henry, but he only wants Anne. The question is: can she keep him? 

Welcome to a privileged world where hidden motives abound, everyone has something to sell, and safe havens don’t exist. With her older sister Mary, a pathetic example of a royal has-been, Anne schemes to win her beloved Henry in the only way that gives a promise of forever—marriage. Success will mean contending with backstabbing “friends,” Henry’s furious ex-wife, and the machinations of her own ambitious family, and staying married to a man who has more options than most and less guilt than is good for either of them will take all her skill. Anne will do anything to hold on to the man—and the lifestyle—she adores, however, even if sticking your neck out in Hollywood means risking far worse than a broken heart. With Henry’s closest confidante scheming against her, and another beautiful contender waiting in the wings, Anne is fighting for her life. Can she muster the charm and wit to pull off her very own Hollywood ending?

Review: Reading the summary, this book sounded SO good! That is probably why I was so unprepared for how boring it ended up being. The story of Anne Boleyn was so interesting and scandalous, but this book was nowhere near capturing that emotion. 

The main problem I had with this book was the writing style. Almost the entire story was made up of thoughts and descriptions with very little dialogue/action going on whatsoever. This made the story seem to drag on and I found myself skimming pages at a time because I felt like they were pointless. Because of this, there didn't seem to be a real storyline going on, so time was so jumpy and I wasn't even aware so much time had passed until something had happened that wasn't supposed to happen until months down the road. This made me confused while reading and I just didn't feel like the book was worth the effort to understand what all was going on. 

The characters were okay, but I wasn't a fan of anyone in the book. Anne got annoying, Henry was a jerk, and everyone else just hated each other, so it got annoying real fast. Anne kept on referring to Henry as "the King" even though this was supposed to be a Hollywood adaptation. I still don't really understand what Henry did and I wish it had more of a hollywood aspect to it. 

What I did love was the cover! That color is so pretty and I love how it's the royalty-like chair with a martini to mix the old story with Hollywood. But that's really the only good thing about this book. As much as I wanted to like Anne of Hollywood, it just hit the mark for me.