Advika and the Hollywood Wives
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3.2 • 24 Ratings
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- $2.99
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
A page-turning tale of marriage, scandal, and fame, perfect for readers of Taylor Jenkins Reid: “The glitz and underlying darkness of Hollywood make for a setting as complex and compelling as Ramisetti's characters . . . rings with insight—and with heart” (Meena Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author).
At age 26, Advika Srinivasan considers herself a failed screenwriter. To pay the bills and keep her mind off of the recent death of her twin sister, she’s taken to bartending A-list events, including the 2015 Governors Ball, the official afterparty of the Oscars. There, in a cinematic dream come true, she meets the legendary Julian Zelding—a film producer as handsome as Paul Newman and ten times as powerful—fresh off his fifth best picture win. Despite their 41-year age difference, Advika falls helplessly under his spell, and their evening flirtation ignites into a whirlwind courtship and elopement. Advika is enthralled by Julian’s charm and luxurious lifestyle, but while Julian loves to talk about his famous friends and achievements, he smoothly changes the subject whenever his previous relationships come up. Then, a month into their marriage, Julian’s first wife—the famous actress Evie Lockhart—dies, and a tabloid reports a shocking stipulation in her will. A single film reel and $1,000,000 will be bequeathed to “Julian’s latest child bride” on one condition: Advika must divorce him first.
Shaken out of her love fog and still-simmering grief over the loss of her sister—and uneasy about Julian’s sudden, inexplicable urge to start a family—Advika decides to investigate him through the eyes and experiences of his exes. From reading his first wife’s biography, to listening to his second wife’s confessional albums, to watching his third wife’s Real Housewives-esque reality show, Advika starts to realize how little she knows about her husband. Realizing she rushed into the marriage for all the wrong reasons, Advika uses the info gleaned from the lives of her husband’s exes to concoct a plan to extricate herself from Julian once and for all.
Includes a Reading Group Guide.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
What starts as a charming May-December love story soon becomes a twisty thriller. Aspiring screenwriter Advika is working as a bartender when she’s swept off her feet by charismatic, powerful movie producer Julian Zelding—who’s more than 40 years her senior. Before long, Advika has become Mrs. Zelding number four. But when Julian’s first wife dies and leaves a note in her will for “Julian’s latest child bride,” Advika is forced to interrogate the choices she’s made. Between Julian’s increasingly manipulative behavior and the secrets Advika digs up, the story kept us hooked. Kirthana Ramisetti layers the novel with nuanced characters and complex motives, making the scandals and intrigue all the more delicious. If you’re a fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid, you’ll devour Advika and the Hollywood Wives.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ramisetti (Dava Shastri's Last Day) chronicles in this astute outing the whirlwind marriage of an aspiring screenwriter to an older, thrice-divorced Hollywood legend. Advika tends bar at an afterparty for the Oscars, where she hits it off with producer Julian Zelding. Three months later they're married, and things get weird. First, one of Julian's ex-wives, actor Evie Lockhart, promises to give Advika $1 million if she divorces Julian. Advika, meanwhile, is still grieving her twin, Anu, who died in an accident two years earlier, and whose cynical views on marriage echo in Advika's head as she learns more about Julian's previous wives, including a songwriter named Nova, whose name Julian once cried out during sex, and whose career he tried to control after they were married. As Advika grows increasingly suspicious of an ever-more manipulative Julian, she shoulders disapproval from her meddling if well-meaning parents, who moved back to India after Anu's death. The author nails the Hollywood milieu and offers an incisive portrait of Julian, a powerful man who feels compelled to control the women in his life. This is a winner.
