Bestselling author Michael M. Thomas turns his gimlet eye--not to mention his gift for wicked plot twists--to the bizarre world of today's pop-culture, celebrity economy in his latest, Love and Money
.It's a world that turns on "Stars"--here, a Martha Stewart-like television star who is the keystone of a multi-million dollar television empire, who also promotes a wide range of products, that in turn props up a huge manufacturing industry and a world-wide chain of Wal-Mart stores.
So what would happen if she had one little fling--one wild but solitary sexual adventure--that, if known about, would destroy her wholesome image, not to mention put a lot of people out of work? And what if the person who found out about it was her husband, whose disastrous last film seems to have left him diminished in her eyes? And what if he happens to know the world's best divorce attorney?
The result is a riveting ride through the stuff of our culture-branding and celebrity, fast money and quick burn-outs--and a thoroughly modern take on the eternal battle between morality and expediency. In the deft hands of Michael Thomas, it's a smart, accurate page-turner about the way of the world and how big money really works.
- pre-order from Amazon now! It will be released at the end of September! 400 pages!
- Hollywood outcast, best-selling author and chronicler of the rich and famous, Dominick Dunne is one of the world's leading journalists and society commentators. This is his story. Vanity Fair Special Correspondent Dominick Dunne has become known the world over for his vociferous championing of the rights of the victim in high-profile murder cases. His powerful commentaries have made compelling reading in Vanity Fair for a quarter of a century. Now, aged 82, Dunne is covering his last murder trial for Vanity Fair - the trial of music producer Phil Spector - and reflects upon his past as a decorated World War II veteran, his rise and spectacular collapse as a Hollywood producer, and his rebirth as the writer we know today. Dunne's mind offers a fascinating insight into the American psyche and its obsession with fame. Featuring Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, Tina Brown, Joan Didion, Griffin Dunne, and New York Post gossip columnist Liz Smith as well as legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans (The Godfather, Chinatown), the film uncovers what lies beneath a life. 
-- When it comes to Britain, most Americans don’t know (Union) Jack. Fortunately, now an Anglo-American husband-and-wife team are here to help with a smart, funny, and handy guide that minds the gap between fact and fiction. From Whigs and Windsors to wankers and Wales, this spit-spot-on reference covers all manner of British history, society, culture, language, and everyday life, including
-- Thirty-four-year-old Manhattan accountant Cat Connelly has always lived life on the safe side. But after her little sister gets married, Cat wonders if she has condemned herself to a life of boredom by playing by the rules. She decides to take a chance for once, accepting an invitation to spend a month with an old flame in Italy. But her reunion with the slick and gorgeous Francesco is short-lived, and she finds herself suddenly alone in Rome. Now, she must see if she has the courage to live outside the lines for the first time - and to face a past she never understood. It will take an unexpected friendship with a fiery Italian waitress, a whirlwind Vespa tour of the Eternal City with a handsome stranger, and a surprise encounter with an old acquaintance to show Cat that life doesn't always work out the way you expect, but sometimes you have to have fall in order to fly.
-- Laurie Viera Rigler’s debut novel, 
, was a hit with fans and critics, and a BookSense and Los Angeles Times bestseller. Its open-to-interpretation ending left readers begging for more—and Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict delivers. While Confessions took twenty-first-century free spirit Courtney Stone into the social confines of Jane Austen’s era, Rude Awakenings tells the parallel story of Jane Mansfield, a gentleman’s daughter from Regency England who inexplicably awakens in Courtney’s overly wired and morally confused L.A. life.
-- Rachel Ashwell created Shabby Chic: a peaceful, practical way of living that embraces a respect for the things in our lives we hold dear and keeps them at the heart of our homes. Romantic florals reclining against pure white linen, ruffles of muslin skirting a bed base against bleached floorboards, the deep comfort of a simple nest of fluffy towels...This is Rachel Ashwell's signature style that for the past 20 years has been a major influence in our modern lives.
-- Isaac Mizrahis Mushroom Truffle Spaghetti, Carolina Herreras Pommes Toupinel, Mark Eckos Adults Only Chocolate Chip Cookies, Derek Lams Yellowtail Crudo, John Varvatoss Calaloo Soup food can be fashionable too!
In this collaborative effort, the authors explore the anxiety of personal interaction versus the safety of e-mailing and the dubious trustworthiness of cyber friendships. With her characteristic sharp-witted angst, former David Letterman writer, humorist and novelist Markoe (It's My F—-ing Birthday) alternates chapters with music veteran Prieboy, who is perhaps less witty, but twice as angsty. Hip 40-somethings Lisa Roberty and Grant Repka are, respectively, a television writer and rock 'n' roller in L.A. After a brief and slightly awkward introduction backstage at his Tommy! (Lee!): The Musical, they begin an e-mail correspondence. At first it's just friendly and benign, but after a while they begin comparing scars acquired on the battlefield of love. Grant shares horrifying stories of his doomed relationship with a heroin addict, while Lisa, unaware that she's writing to Grant and his Pamela Anderson–esque girlfriend Winnie, reveals years of emotional abuse inflicted by her very famous ex, Hollywood A-lister Nick Blake. Markoe's misery is less comical than in her previous novel ("Love relationships seemed to be the place where perfectly nice men went to become nightmarish monsters"), and Lisa seems a derivative of Birthday's unnamed protagonist, with whom she shares a crazy mother and love of sake. Prieboy's prose is darker and more poetic ("Like my mouth was a tiny, festive pink-and-white theater where my monologues died and clown act bombed"), and their styles complement each other nicely. Unfortunately, the concept is more compelling than the finished product, a shame since these two are talented storytellers.
-- “We are all so curious. Hungry for the truth. If only we could ask the questions we really want to ask of each other and get the real answers. Like how many times a month do you have sex? What prescription drugs are you on? Are you happy? Really happy? Happy enough?”
-- At 38, Tiana Tomlinson has made it. America adores her as one of the anchors of America Tonight, a top-rated nightly entertainment and news program. But even with the trappings that come with her elite lifestyle, she feels empty. Tina desperately misses her late husband Keith, who died several years before. And in a business that thrives on youth, Tina is getting the message that her age is starting to show and certain measures must be taken if she wants to remain in the spotlight. It doesn't help that at every turn she has to deal with her adversary—the devilishly handsome, plastic surgeon to the stars, Michael Sullivan. But a trip away from the Hollywood madness has consequences that could affect the rest of her life. 
-- Taylor Green is a corn-fed young man from the Midwest who stumbles into New York without a clue, a contact, or a proper wardrobe. Through true serendipity (or possibly misfortune), he is hired by the outrageous, Jennifer Weinstein, the sleepless city’s most notorious public relations diva. Quickly morphed into her most trusted assistant and confidante, Taylor is sucked into a whirlwind of restaurant openings, gossip columnists, and fashion shows. Suddenly Taylor is in the core of a world he never knew existed, a world of sex, greed, power, and fame, that's ruled by Jennie Weinstein herself. Under Jennie’s guidance, Taylor quickly discovers that there isn’t a catastrophe, betrayal, or person that can’t be spun to suit the client’s needs. The perks are sweet: rubbing elbows (and other appendages) with big-name celebrities, the sudden opening of velvet ropes, and thousands of dollars worth of free designer duds. But like all swag, it comes at a price, and Taylor struggles to balance his own definition of sanity with that of Jennie’s drug-fuelled, high-intensity world.
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-- Griffin has been tooling around for nearly a year with his father’s ashes in the trunk, but his mother is very much alive and not shy about calling on his cell phone. She does so as he drives down to Cape Cod, where he and his wife, Joy, will celebrate the marriage of their daughter Laura’s best friend. For Griffin this is akin to driving into the past, since he took his childhood summer vacations here, his parents’ respite from the hated Midwest. And the Cape is where he and Joy honeymooned, in the course of which they drafted the Great Truro Accord, a plan for their lives together that’s now thirty years old and has largely come true. He’d left screenwriting and Los Angeles behind for the sort of New England college his snobby academic parents had always aspired to in vain; they’d moved into an old house full of character; and they’d started a family. Check, check and check.