Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories

Actor and talk show host Ripa offers a no-holds-barred glimpse of her personal and professional life in her self-deprecating debut. Ripa’s humor shines as she dives into topics such as marriage, family, chauvinism, therapy, cosmetic surgery, and her kids leaving for college. The former All My Children star’s flair for the dramatic takes center stage as she discusses her lifelong obsession with Cher, meeting her husband (and Riverdale fan favorite) Mark Consuelos, and the unconventional auditions that landed her the role of Live! with Regis cohost: for her first on-camera audition, Ripa interviewed a psychic who announced Ripa’s pregnancy to the studio audience, though Ripa herself hadn’t yet told anyone outside her immediate family. “I felt like I was underwater,” Ripa writes of her shock. In one particularly entertaining story, Ripa giddily describes a lavish dinner party where she sat directly across from Richard Gere. While speaking with him, she indulged in a harmless fantasy inspired by his 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman: “I do remember at one point wondering if Richard Gere could pick me up as easily as he did Debra Winger.” Ripa has a penchant for name-dropping and rambling (or, as she puts it, making a “long story, longer”), but her essays are unapologetic, uninhibited, and undeniably hilarious. This banter-filled collection will delight daytime television devotees. Agent: Cait Hoyt, Creative Artists Agency. (Sept.)