The nominees for Best Cover:
Fairytale of New York by Miranda Dickinson
Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
Misery Loves Cabernet by Kim Gruenenfelder
Pretty in Plaid by Jen Lancaster
Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club by Maggie Marr
Please vote for your favorite by commenting below. Everyone who votes is entered to win!
Q: You grew up in Illinois. Why did you make the decision to move to L.A.?
We moved to LA so my husband could pursue his acting career. And I decided to work at an agency to hopefully learn a ton about entertainment, possibly help my husband’s career, and because I didn’t want to take a third bar exam. (I’d taken Illinois and Colorado and passed all within two years.)
Q: Was it hard adjusting to the California ways?
California wasn’t as challenging to adjust to as the world of entertainment. I love the warm weather and the casual lifestyle. My most difficult adjustment in entertainment was calling everyone by their first name. And I mean everyone. From the president of production to the CEO. If you work in entertainment you call them by their first name. So foreign for a girl from Illinois.
Q: You split your time between writing and producing. Is that difficult?
Lately I’ve been doing more writing than producing. Writing at this point in my career comes first. Later, I may find that I spend more time as a producer.
Q: How much fun did you have writing your Hollywood novels?
They were a blast. The characters wouldn’t stop telling me there story! In the morning, on the drive to work, late at night.; I couldn’t get their voices out of my head.
Q: I’m sure you get asked this a lot, but are the characters based off people you know or have come across while living in LA?
Each character is a unique individual created by my psyche. Although, I’ve had a number of friends and colleagues ask me if they are based on specific people… They may share some traits with people I’ve worked with….but I’ll never tell.
Q: From reading your books, (and watching TV!) it sounds like there aren’t too many people you can trust in Hollywood. Would you say that is a correct statement?
Entertainment is a business. An incredibly competitive, high stakes business. Just like any business you have some great people to work with and some not so great people to work with. Luckily I’ve been blessed with a huge number of great people in my life.
Q: How do you handle the difficulties of working in the entertainment industry?
Resilience and persistence. My family keeps me grounded. Plus, when you get to do what you absolutely love for a living…how bad can it really be?
Q: I read on your site that you are writing a contemporary romance. Can you give any details about that?
I LOVE this book. I use both my background as an attorney as well as the world of entertainment in this book.
Q: What do you find to be your favorite part about writing?
When I come back to a page to edit and rewrite and I read something that I love and don’t remember writing.
Q: When did you decide you wanted to write?
Probably around 8 years old. But I grew up in Illinois and Kansas and writing wasn’t really a career choice…or something that I realized could be a career choice. As an adult, I began to write my first manuscript in 1996 and the first book sold late 2005.
Q: How you enjoy your free time?
Playing with my children. Spending time with my husband. Watching movies. Reading. Going to the beach.
Q: What is or would be your favorite place to travel?
Paris. I want to live in Paris for a while.
Maggie Marr, author of the celebrity ridden, Hollywood gossip novels Hollywood Girls Club and Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club didn’t start out in the depths of the plush L.A. lifestyle. She grew up in Illinois, practiced law for four years- first as a guardian-ad-litem for abused children in Chicago and then as a prosecutor in domestic violence in Denver. After that, Marr moved to Los Angeles with her husband, an actor, and began her first job in the entertainment industry- pushing a mail cart at ICM. The pushing paid off, as she later became a motion picture literacy agent.
Marr now splits her time between producing and writing. Her two published titles are Hollywood Girls Club and Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club. She also finished her most recent television pilot My Mr. Universe. Maggie Marr is currently working on a contemporary romance and a new motion picture script.
Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club is an extreme eye opener of what the Hollywood scene is all about. Narrator and leading publicist Kiki Dee leads us through the lives of four friends trying to stay on top of their Hollywood game. Actress Celeste Solange is trying desperately to maintain her youthful face, even when it means going under the knife. But the real fact she is trying to hide is her kinky sex tape made with ex husband before it is leaked to the internet and her devoted fans find out she isn’t as sweet and innocent as her persona seems- and before her husband and Worldwide Pictures exec Ted Robinoff realizes it exists. Mary Anne Meyers, the naive screenwriter from Minnesota, is attempting to begin a relationship with the delicious actor Holden Humphrey, but him being forced to act opposite is mentally unstable ex-girlfriend is causing cracks in the blossoming relationship. Lydia Albright, producer and new president to Worldwide Pictures knows about Celeste’s sex tape and how important it is to keep the secret, ensuring the longevity of Celeste’s career and the multimillion dollars her company has invested in the actress. And agent Jessica Caulfield-Fox is trying to help all her friends avoid a scandal, all while trying to juggle her new role as producer/manager/wife/mother.
The four friends stick together, but end up putting all their careers on the line to try to keep the sex tape under wraps. But publicist Kiki Dee has just stumbled upon a very large secret, something so huge, so extreme, that it would throw all of Hollywood into a tailspin. But can she prove it? And can the friends manage to keep their secrets, careers, and personal lives in check throughout the whole ordeal?
Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club by Maggie Marr will keep anyone on their toes, constantly flipping pages in hopes of uncovering all the dirty secrets the power players of Hollywood keep. If you love the celebrity world, this book is a must for your list!
