Oscar Season by Mary McNamara
(Format used for this read: print–hardback)
Everyone goes a little crazy during Oscar Season — the campaigns, the parties, the seductions, the paybacks. Hollywood is never so cutthroat as it is at the turn of each year, when celebrities and their millions of fans across the globe begin their weeks-long, exclusive obsession with the Academy Awards. With so much money, so much power, so many egos, and so much to hide, how surprising is it when Industry players begin turning up dead?
At the heart of Los Angeles Times reporter Mary McNamara’s novel, Oscar Season, is the Pinnacle Hotel, the hub of the Oscar maelstrom. Everyone who’s anyone winds up under its luxe care and the watchful eye of its PR director, Juliette Greyson. When Juliette begins to suspect that conspiracy,nrather than coincidence, links what some are calling an Oscar Curse, more than just her job is threatened.
But this is Hollywood after all — and during Oscar season it’s almost impossible to know what is real and what is staged. Even when it comes to murder. Who is lying and who is merely acting? When does murder stop being murder and start becoming really good publicity?
Anyone who knows me is aware that I am a HUGE Oscar fan.
The Academy Awards every year is my SUPERBOWL, yall.
As soon as the nominee list comes out, I make it a goal to try and watch as many nominated pictures as possible before the big night.
Not only do I love movies, but I also love the glitz and glamour and DRAMA of the whole event.
The preshows, the red carpet interviews, the fashion, the gossip….ALL. OF. IT.
I literally can not help myself..it’s a guilty pleasure that draws me in year after year.
When my sister in law was visiting a couple months ago, we took her to one of my fave local used book stores: Hello Again Books in Cocoa Village, FL. (check them out here: https://www.helloagainbooks.com/
She is a big bookworm just like me and we had a blast purusing their shelves together.
When she saw the cover of this book, she handed it to me immediately and said “This has your name written all over it.”
OF COURSE I bought it!
What better setting for a book than the OSCARS?!
Alllll the potential factors for super interesting twists and turns and events.
I *thought* this would be a great entertaining summer read….but unfortunately, I was wrong.
Wrong AF, yall.
I don’t know exactly what it was about the book but the whole thing was just kinda “meh” for me.
If yall haven’t noticed by now, that is one of my favorite words to describe a book that just doesn’t cut it for me. 😆
Meh.
Sums it up quite nicely.
I mean….it wasn’t god awful horrible…but it didn’t keep me enthralled page to page either.
Characters did not feel super developed, plotlines didn’t exactly gel, and there DEFINITELY was not enough fun Hollywood sparkle for me either.
It’s technically classified as a “thriller” but I definitely wouldn’t use that adjective when describing this book.
No thrills to be had by THIS lady.
I meandered thru the pages at a snails pace because it just was not that engaging.
Just blah.
Also provides proof for the statement “never judge a book by it’s cover”.
Not a winner for me.