Damage Control by Jae

Damage Control by Jae

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the second time that I have read this book. And unlike the first time I read this series, I read book one and book two back to back. Heck, last time I read book 1, then waited a year (give or take 3 or 4 months) to read book 2. Though that was because I had to wait for book 2 to be published.

So, what can I say? Grace is an actress, has been since her mother thrust baby Grace into auditions, and one of the leads of the book. Oh, and several other things of importance: 1) she has that vaguely girl next door, 'pure', type of image; 2) her mother is her manager (and quite manipulative); 3) she's married, though separated from a man named Nick who is an action star; 4) best friends with Jill.

Being best friends with Jill is the start off point for this book. Specifically Grace's attempts to help Jill which leads to certain . . . pictures being taken of them, which leads to certain research being conducted by those gay people who like to out closeted gay celebrities. For you see, Grace and Jill were photographed in an intimate like pose leading back to one or the others trailers, and, later, strong evidence surfaced that they had spent time together at a hotel. Obviously . . . ..

So, manager and agent of Grace contact a new public relations firm, after firing the old one (without first checking with Grace), which leads to the other main character in the book - Lauren - who is super good at public relations.

Of note about Lauren: 1) as noted, very good at public relations; 2) loves her job more than anything else - as in, she's very poor at keeping up relationships; 3) is an out lesbian; 4) has had a) bad experience with the entertainment industry based upon growing up in it (mother high level producer (I believe she ran a film studio at some point), father directer (and acted at some point) and seeing parents being absolute self-centered assholes and b) having bad relationships with people in the industry; 5) writes scripts on the side - as a way to ease stress, though never shows the scripts to anyone; 6) apparently has no friends.

Side characters of note: Grace's mother - opinionated, botoxed, plastic-y, failed actress, controlling; Jill - actress, closeted lesbian, dated one of the leads in first book in series (Amanda), though didn't appear in that book, has multiple sclerosis; Nick - current husband and future ex-husband of Grace's; Tina and Marlene - people at Lauren's work, one boss (Marlene), other . . . um . . . receptionist type, though I thing she's actually a junior PR person (she just seems to do a receptionist job) - rarely in the book); George - gay agent of Grace's; Amanda - star of that crime show that Grace occasionally co-stars on and star of the first book - actually has some scenes in this book; Michele - Amanda's man-looking (what, they made a specific point) girlfriend who is only scene dropping off and kissing Amanda and has no lines in this book; Lorena - another co-star on that crime show, had a bigger 'role' this time around (since she plays the on-show girlfriend of Amanda's character), though more scenes in the first book. Um. Peyton - stand in for every girlfriend of Lauren's before she meet Grace - as in, overlooked, unappreciated, and ultimately unsatisfied.

A good portion of the book involves 'everyone' fighting the PR war against those nasty press people regarding Grace and Jill's escapades. 'No! Grace isn't a lesbian! She was helping a friend!'

Another good portion of the book involved lesbian Lauren lusting after straight Grace. While lesbian and MS suffering Jill weakly sits by the side making comments; while Grace's mother grunts in annoyance.

Lots of traveling to promote a film.

Grace attempting to figure out why she has these weird lust like symptoms around Lauren, which is completely unexpected since she, Grace, isn't a lesbian. She even tested it by starring hard at a nearly naked Jodie Foster and finding no lust in her.

Quite good book. Enjoyable.

Rating: 5+ (possibly will end up on my 6 star shelf)

March 28 2017



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