When stage actress Kate McPhee quits London for L.A., leaving behind her cheating boyfriend and former best friend (yes, they were in bed together), she speedily lands a gig on the hit soap opera Live for Tomorrow
, playing its beautiful, vampire-fighting lesbian cop, Det. Devon Merrick. Sounds like a cushy job—until she discovers the 20-hour shooting sessions, the bevy of perfect blondes making her life hell, the vapid but oh-so-gorgeous men, and her archenemy, the domineering matriarch of the show, Meredith Contini, who's a girlie-girl 60-something still trying to play 35. Determined to succeed, Kate sucks it up and makes the most of the sunshine and the sexy-but-dumb men passing her way, but as her popularity grows, Meredith grows more and more jealous, and Kate's life starts looking more and more like a soap opera itself. Readers will enjoy this spicy, sly behind-the-scenes look at the soap opera world—Hughes won an Emmy for her work on General Hospital
and her bio somewhat resembles her heroine's—and Kate is a funny, warm character who could have popped out of a Jennifer Weiner novel. The book is overlong, and the plot wanders from place to place, but the humor and good-natured banter make it worth the ride. Agent, Richard Barber. (June)
