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Advika and the Hollywood Wives
A page-turning tale of marriage, scandal, and fame, perfect for readers of Taylor Jenkins Reid: “The glitz and underlying darkness of Hollywood make for a setting as complex and compelling as Ramisetti's characters . . . rings with insight—and with heart” (Meena Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author).
At age 26, Advika Srinivasan considers herself a failed screenwriter. To pay the bills and keep her mind off of the recent death of her twin sister, she’s taken to bartending A-list events, including the 2015 Governors Ball, the official afterparty of the Oscars. There, in a cinematic dream come true, she meets the legendary Julian Zelding—a film producer as handsome as Paul Newman and ten times as powerful—fresh off his fifth best picture win. Despite their 41-year age difference, Advika falls helplessly under his spell, and their evening flirtation ignites into a whirlwind courtship and elopement. Advika is enthralled by Julian’s charm and luxurious lifestyle, but while Julian loves to talk about his famous friends and achievements, he smoothly changes the subject whenever his previous relationships come up. Then, a month into their marriage, Julian’s first wife—the famous actress Evie Lockhart—dies, and a tabloid reports a shocking stipulation in her will. A single film reel and $1,000,000 will be bequeathed to “Julian’s latest child bride” on one condition: Advika must divorce him first.
Shaken out of her love fog and still-simmering grief over the loss of her sister—and uneasy about Julian’s sudden, inexplicable urge to start a family—Advika decides to investigate him through the eyes and experiences of his exes. From reading his first wife’s biography, to listening to his second wife’s confessional albums, to watching his third wife’s Real Housewives-esque reality show, Advika starts to realize how little she knows about her husband. Realizing she rushed into the marriage for all the wrong reasons, Advika uses the info gleaned from the lives of her husband’s exes to concoct a plan to extricate herself from Julian once and for all.
At age 26, Advika Srinivasan considers herself a failed screenwriter. To pay the bills and keep her mind off of the recent death of her twin sister, she’s taken to bartending A-list events, including the 2015 Governors Ball, the official afterparty of the Oscars. There, in a cinematic dream come true, she meets the legendary Julian Zelding—a film producer as handsome as Paul Newman and ten times as powerful—fresh off his fifth best picture win. Despite their 41-year age difference, Advika falls helplessly under his spell, and their evening flirtation ignites into a whirlwind courtship and elopement. Advika is enthralled by Julian’s charm and luxurious lifestyle, but while Julian loves to talk about his famous friends and achievements, he smoothly changes the subject whenever his previous relationships come up. Then, a month into their marriage, Julian’s first wife—the famous actress Evie Lockhart—dies, and a tabloid reports a shocking stipulation in her will. A single film reel and $1,000,000 will be bequeathed to “Julian’s latest child bride” on one condition: Advika must divorce him first.
Shaken out of her love fog and still-simmering grief over the loss of her sister—and uneasy about Julian’s sudden, inexplicable urge to start a family—Advika decides to investigate him through the eyes and experiences of his exes. From reading his first wife’s biography, to listening to his second wife’s confessional albums, to watching his third wife’s Real Housewives-esque reality show, Advika starts to realize how little she knows about her husband. Realizing she rushed into the marriage for all the wrong reasons, Advika uses the info gleaned from the lives of her husband’s exes to concoct a plan to extricate herself from Julian once and for all.
373 pages, Hardcover
First published April 11, 2023
268 people are currently reading
18976 people want to read
About the author
Kirthana Ramisetti
3 books342 followersKirthana Ramisetti worked in media for over ten years before trying her hand at fiction. She received her MFA in creative writing from Emerson College, and her work has appeared in Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and more. A pop culture addict whose brain is a repository for random information, she’d make an excellent addition to your trivia team. Her debut novel, Dava Shastri’s Last Day, will be published in December 2021.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,187 reviews
March 2, 2023
An interesting Hollywood Cinderella story turned happily never ever but with a plot holes and miserable MCs that couldn't keep the magic alive.
After a whirlwind romance, 20 something Advika finds herself married to hollywood exec Julian, but when Julian's first wife dies and offers Advika a million dollars and a secret in her will, Advika realizes something is very very wrong.
What I Struggled With:
- The Main Characters. I understand Advika is young, grieving, and down on her luck, but she's truly unlikable and I found her hard to sympathize with. NO ONE TOLD HER TO MARRY THAT MAN! She is mean, self centered, and clueless. Julian sucks. He's sucked from the moment we meet him, so there was no buying into this romance and then being surprised when he turned out exactly as we expected. Anyone could have called it a mile away, which made for a very matter of fact read and again, the inability to sympathize with Advika.
- The Plot. Too Long. Too Holey. Anti-Climatic. Everything could've been revealed and solved in half as many pages. Too many details and drawn out events. Just get to the point. And when the reveals did happen, they felt underwhelming.
-Useless Side Characters. Characters only showed up when their expertise was needed to do something or as a talking point. We meet and/or never further talk about character that seem very relevant to the broader story (threatening god daughter, weirdly loyal maid and assistant, her parents??). All of the character feel extremely one dimensional.
Also this read had very dark undertones that could've made for an exciting, relevant read about power, money, and control but it's light execution forced it to feel choppy, disingenuous, and just weird. And the final reveal at the end? Dumb. For an MC I didn't care for...Justice for Advika.
After a whirlwind romance, 20 something Advika finds herself married to hollywood exec Julian, but when Julian's first wife dies and offers Advika a million dollars and a secret in her will, Advika realizes something is very very wrong.
What I Struggled With:
- The Main Characters. I understand Advika is young, grieving, and down on her luck, but she's truly unlikable and I found her hard to sympathize with. NO ONE TOLD HER TO MARRY THAT MAN! She is mean, self centered, and clueless. Julian sucks. He's sucked from the moment we meet him, so there was no buying into this romance and then being surprised when he turned out exactly as we expected. Anyone could have called it a mile away, which made for a very matter of fact read and again, the inability to sympathize with Advika.
- The Plot. Too Long. Too Holey. Anti-Climatic. Everything could've been revealed and solved in half as many pages. Too many details and drawn out events. Just get to the point. And when the reveals did happen, they felt underwhelming.
-Useless Side Characters. Characters only showed up when their expertise was needed to do something or as a talking point. We meet and/or never further talk about character that seem very relevant to the broader story (threatening god daughter, weirdly loyal maid and assistant, her parents??). All of the character feel extremely one dimensional.
Also this read had very dark undertones that could've made for an exciting, relevant read about power, money, and control but it's light execution forced it to feel choppy, disingenuous, and just weird. And the final reveal at the end? Dumb. For an MC I didn't care for...Justice for Advika.
March 11, 2024
Hmmm… this is a little slow burn for me! It’s a story embracing different genres including women’s fiction, mystery and romance. Diversity representation and feminism vibes blended in appropriately.
My hesitation to get into the story is about heroine Advika : she met with five time Oscar winning producer at governor’s ball: when she was working as bartender. She’s struggling screenwriter. She’s still suffering from losing her twin sister and being abandoned by her parents who moved back to India, slowly drifting away from Sherman Oaks childhood Indian friends circle! So I can relate with that I can clearly understand her frustration and how she is wooed by Julian! Because there are so many things missing in her life!
But for god sake! The man is 67! Not 47! There’s 41 years age difference! He’s even 6 years older than George freaking Clooney! And that man didn’t put a gun to her head to move on with him after dating a few days later!
I understand Advika is broke, soon to be homeless and jobless so she sees him as her savior. But she doesn’t even try to find a job after moving into his house, not saying no to use his Amex card and not rejecting the expensive gifts she’s taken!
Why the hell she didn’t interrogate him about his past or his previous wives!
When the first wife of Julian offers 1 million dollars to his baby bride to divorce him before she dies, things get a little interesting but still the revelations were not so heart shattering or jaw dropping for me!
Advika should have thought twice to make decisions! Again I’m repeating she was not at gun point at the time she said “ I do”
So I’m giving my solid three stars! It was still enjoyable to read a book telling more about movies and dark side of industry!
I am still intrigued to read other works of the author!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.
My hesitation to get into the story is about heroine Advika : she met with five time Oscar winning producer at governor’s ball: when she was working as bartender. She’s struggling screenwriter. She’s still suffering from losing her twin sister and being abandoned by her parents who moved back to India, slowly drifting away from Sherman Oaks childhood Indian friends circle! So I can relate with that I can clearly understand her frustration and how she is wooed by Julian! Because there are so many things missing in her life!
But for god sake! The man is 67! Not 47! There’s 41 years age difference! He’s even 6 years older than George freaking Clooney! And that man didn’t put a gun to her head to move on with him after dating a few days later!
I understand Advika is broke, soon to be homeless and jobless so she sees him as her savior. But she doesn’t even try to find a job after moving into his house, not saying no to use his Amex card and not rejecting the expensive gifts she’s taken!
Why the hell she didn’t interrogate him about his past or his previous wives!
When the first wife of Julian offers 1 million dollars to his baby bride to divorce him before she dies, things get a little interesting but still the revelations were not so heart shattering or jaw dropping for me!
Advika should have thought twice to make decisions! Again I’m repeating she was not at gun point at the time she said “ I do”
So I’m giving my solid three stars! It was still enjoyable to read a book telling more about movies and dark side of industry!
I am still intrigued to read other works of the author!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.
Read
May 15, 2023When Advika meets infamous film producer Julian, she's instantly swept off her feet and under his spell, despite their 40+ year age gap. But when an ex-wife of Julian's dies, leaving Advika a film reel and a million dollars – if she divorces Julian first – she decides to find out more about her husband's ex-wives for herself. A page-turner.
May 11, 2023
so much fucking potential
April 18, 2023
Well, I didn’t love it. In fact, at times, I hated it. And, it’s really such a shame because it had so much potential. I mean, come on, Advika marries a much, much older man a la Anna Nicole Smith (cheers to everyone old enough to get that reference) and then almost immediately his dead ex-wife leaves her a million dollars and a mysterious film reel if she divorces him. There are many ways that this could have been amazing. But, sadly, it was just boring.
Since Advika and Julian were supposed to have this over-the-top, whirlwind romance before they get married after just a few months, I expected the beginning to be pretty fast-paced. They fall in love, get married, dead ex drops the bomb…bam, bam, bam. But, nope. The news about his ex-wife’s will doesn’t hit until 131 pages in. That’s right, people. 131 pages filled with seemingly never ending details that do nothing to move the story along. I found myself skimming entire paragraphs of nothingness just trying to get to the good stuff. Except, once I finally got to the “good stuff”, it all just turned out to be kind of meh.
Also, once we really got into the heart of the story, I quickly became very confused as to what this book was trying to be. It went from general fiction romance vibes to thriller so fast that I no joke found myself double checking it’s official genre on BOTM, which is contemporary fiction by the way. That being said, this could have been an awesome thriller had the author truly leaned into it. All of the components were there…mysterious will, three (but really four) ex-wives Julian doesn’t want her to know about, overbearing house manager, Julian being a controlling creep in general. This is the makings of thriller gold! If only!
Instead, we got a book that was way too long, filled with plot holes and loose ends, and, overall, super predictable. While it most definitely wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever read, my advice would be to skip it.
Since Advika and Julian were supposed to have this over-the-top, whirlwind romance before they get married after just a few months, I expected the beginning to be pretty fast-paced. They fall in love, get married, dead ex drops the bomb…bam, bam, bam. But, nope. The news about his ex-wife’s will doesn’t hit until 131 pages in. That’s right, people. 131 pages filled with seemingly never ending details that do nothing to move the story along. I found myself skimming entire paragraphs of nothingness just trying to get to the good stuff. Except, once I finally got to the “good stuff”, it all just turned out to be kind of meh.
Also, once we really got into the heart of the story, I quickly became very confused as to what this book was trying to be. It went from general fiction romance vibes to thriller so fast that I no joke found myself double checking it’s official genre on BOTM, which is contemporary fiction by the way. That being said, this could have been an awesome thriller had the author truly leaned into it. All of the components were there…mysterious will, three (but really four) ex-wives Julian doesn’t want her to know about, overbearing house manager, Julian being a controlling creep in general. This is the makings of thriller gold! If only!
Instead, we got a book that was way too long, filled with plot holes and loose ends, and, overall, super predictable. While it most definitely wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever read, my advice would be to skip it.
March 14, 2023
after loving DAVA SHASTRI'S LAST DAY, i was very excited to add ADVIKA AND THE HOLLYWOOD WIVES to my reading list. i fell in love with Kirthana's writing style and her unique premises in books (which are hard to find these days tbh!). i really liked her latest--if you're a fan of THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO or books surrounding Hollywood and the rich & elite, add ADVIKA AND THE HOLLYWOOD WIVES to your TBR!
i'm honestly surprised to see meh ratings for this book! i will say i enjoyed the first half a bit more than the second and the ending is one i definitely can't wait to talk to other readers/friends about. the first half was fascinating to me - i LOVE reading about "normies" that fall into the lifestyle of the rich and famous. i was surprised this couple ended up together and was looking forward to figuring out the reasons, which we get in the backhalf.
i will say the MC was a bit unlikeable - both of them really. i think the female MC (Advika) is unlikeable because she's dealing with a lot of grief and emotional trauma, whereas the male MC (Julian) is just another privileged white male in Hollywood, LOL.
i think this book would be a great book club selection. it's also great for new readers as it's very bingeworthy and easy to read - i found myself thinking about it when i wasn't and it gripped me right away. the backhalf will give you major SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO vibes which i think readers will identify with and enjoy!
i think i favor her debut novel a bit more (which is in the works as an HBO series adaptation as i type!!), but she has become an auto-buy author for me and i'm so excited to see what she writes in the future.
thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the early gifted copy!
i'm honestly surprised to see meh ratings for this book! i will say i enjoyed the first half a bit more than the second and the ending is one i definitely can't wait to talk to other readers/friends about. the first half was fascinating to me - i LOVE reading about "normies" that fall into the lifestyle of the rich and famous. i was surprised this couple ended up together and was looking forward to figuring out the reasons, which we get in the backhalf.
i will say the MC was a bit unlikeable - both of them really. i think the female MC (Advika) is unlikeable because she's dealing with a lot of grief and emotional trauma, whereas the male MC (Julian) is just another privileged white male in Hollywood, LOL.
i think this book would be a great book club selection. it's also great for new readers as it's very bingeworthy and easy to read - i found myself thinking about it when i wasn't and it gripped me right away. the backhalf will give you major SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO vibes which i think readers will identify with and enjoy!
i think i favor her debut novel a bit more (which is in the works as an HBO series adaptation as i type!!), but she has become an auto-buy author for me and i'm so excited to see what she writes in the future.
thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the early gifted copy!
September 27, 2023
Yikes. That didn't go as planned. Sometimes you read a book and you're not sure what went wrong or why you didn't vibe with it. Other times you know EXACTLY what went wrong and it's SO FRUSTRATING. Why why why didn't the author just *not* do what they did, everything would be so good? Why can't you use your time machine to go back and tell the author how to fix it?? whyyyy.
Anyway, this premise remains so tantalizing, which is why I picked up the book. Advika is a twenty-six year old aspiring screenwriter who is swept off her feet by the much older and much more powerful and famous Julian Zelding, Hollywood producer and Oscar winner (they meet at a post-Oscar's part that Advika is bartending). After they are married, Julian's first wife dies and leaves a clause in her will that Julian's "latest child bride" can have $1M and a mysterious reel of film if she divorces him. This prompts Advika to rethink things and investigate Julian's relationships with his three (really four) ex-wives.
But that's not actually what the book is about, the way it plays out. That is the book the writer of the blurb created out of the actual book, which does not start the day the ex-wife dies. Ex-wife and her intriguing Will don't come into play until 40%! First, you have to watch Advika "fall in love" with the douchebag that you know from the start won't last (or you should know! because you read the blurb! i have seen people complain about the bad romance in this book and i just can't, where is your brain?). Then you have to wait and wait and wait while he slowly controls her and manipulates and isolates her and it is AGONIZING and boring at the same time.
I wish I could say that my feelings for the book changed when the ex-wife's will came into play, but they really didn't. I was too frustrated with the book at that point, and its terribly linear and obvious and not even fun plotline. Come on, ex-wives whose talents are routinely suppressed by mediocre man who has failed and plagiarized upwards? That could have been so cathartic! Instead, this book is a drag, because Advika is a drag. And I'm not referring to her grief over the death of her twin sister, which was the only part of the book that really got me in my feels. Mostly, though, the way the book is structured makes it impossible for us to feel any sort of pleasurable feelings from the tension created by good stories.
So here's how this book could have been great: Keep the first chapter—their meeting at the Oscars afterparty—as a prologue. That worked really well. Then skip to them having been married for more than two months or whatever ridiculous amount of time actually plays out here. Give it like six months maybe, or more—a year or so. Enough that their relationship has weight, and Advika's emotional state is really in a rut. This makes the reader go in with certain assumptions about their relationship, and gives us stakes. It also avoids the problem of forcing us to watch them "fall in love."
Then, as Advika is living her normal, stilted little trophy wife life, the announcement of the ex-wife's will comes into play. Suddenly, Advika is defensive, and uncomfortable, and curious. And so are we as readers! Then we could have had the best bits of the all the stuff we skipped inserted in as full flashbacks as Advika is reevaluating things and getting over her grief, and a lot of the stuff could just have been inserted as her recollections in the normal flow of the narrative. This would then have opened up some space for her to have some actual deep and important to the narrative and her character growth conversations with the other characters in the book, instead of being miserable and in her head all the time. I think that structure could really have also given some extra oomph to the ending, as Advika , which should have been a much bigger part of the story, because plots and machinations are FUN. (As it is in the story, we just get her telling us what she did which was not very satisfying.) And finally, should have been introduced much earlier and been a part of Advika's actual conflict, instead of being thrown in in the epilogue with just a clue or two hinting about it in the rest of the book. That would have given her urgency to leave that much more importance.
So that is how this book should have gone, obviously, in my opinion. But I really think I'm right about this. And I'm sad that the author didn't have an editor who told her that the way she was doing it was not the best way.
I'm probably being more harsh on this book than it deserves. It's readable, the characters are fine, it kept my interest. But it could have been great, and fun, and it wasn't. Lost potential really gets to me, and usually the books that have it really clearly are the ones where I go off. As you can see above is the case. Anyway, you might like this despite my bloviating. But maybe also you would have liked my version better. I guess we'll never know!
[2.5 stars, rounded down for frustration]
Anyway, this premise remains so tantalizing, which is why I picked up the book. Advika is a twenty-six year old aspiring screenwriter who is swept off her feet by the much older and much more powerful and famous Julian Zelding, Hollywood producer and Oscar winner (they meet at a post-Oscar's part that Advika is bartending). After they are married, Julian's first wife dies and leaves a clause in her will that Julian's "latest child bride" can have $1M and a mysterious reel of film if she divorces him. This prompts Advika to rethink things and investigate Julian's relationships with his three (really four) ex-wives.
But that's not actually what the book is about, the way it plays out. That is the book the writer of the blurb created out of the actual book, which does not start the day the ex-wife dies. Ex-wife and her intriguing Will don't come into play until 40%! First, you have to watch Advika "fall in love" with the douchebag that you know from the start won't last (or you should know! because you read the blurb! i have seen people complain about the bad romance in this book and i just can't, where is your brain?). Then you have to wait and wait and wait while he slowly controls her and manipulates and isolates her and it is AGONIZING and boring at the same time.
I wish I could say that my feelings for the book changed when the ex-wife's will came into play, but they really didn't. I was too frustrated with the book at that point, and its terribly linear and obvious and not even fun plotline. Come on, ex-wives whose talents are routinely suppressed by mediocre man who has failed and plagiarized upwards? That could have been so cathartic! Instead, this book is a drag, because Advika is a drag. And I'm not referring to her grief over the death of her twin sister, which was the only part of the book that really got me in my feels. Mostly, though, the way the book is structured makes it impossible for us to feel any sort of pleasurable feelings from the tension created by good stories.
So here's how this book could have been great: Keep the first chapter—their meeting at the Oscars afterparty—as a prologue. That worked really well. Then skip to them having been married for more than two months or whatever ridiculous amount of time actually plays out here. Give it like six months maybe, or more—a year or so. Enough that their relationship has weight, and Advika's emotional state is really in a rut. This makes the reader go in with certain assumptions about their relationship, and gives us stakes. It also avoids the problem of forcing us to watch them "fall in love."
Then, as Advika is living her normal, stilted little trophy wife life, the announcement of the ex-wife's will comes into play. Suddenly, Advika is defensive, and uncomfortable, and curious. And so are we as readers! Then we could have had the best bits of the all the stuff we skipped inserted in as full flashbacks as Advika is reevaluating things and getting over her grief, and a lot of the stuff could just have been inserted as her recollections in the normal flow of the narrative. This would then have opened up some space for her to have some actual deep and important to the narrative and her character growth conversations with the other characters in the book, instead of being miserable and in her head all the time. I think that structure could really have also given some extra oomph to the ending, as Advika , which should have been a much bigger part of the story, because plots and machinations are FUN. (As it is in the story, we just get her telling us what she did which was not very satisfying.) And finally, should have been introduced much earlier and been a part of Advika's actual conflict, instead of being thrown in in the epilogue with just a clue or two hinting about it in the rest of the book. That would have given her urgency to leave that much more importance.
So that is how this book should have gone, obviously, in my opinion. But I really think I'm right about this. And I'm sad that the author didn't have an editor who told her that the way she was doing it was not the best way.
I'm probably being more harsh on this book than it deserves. It's readable, the characters are fine, it kept my interest. But it could have been great, and fun, and it wasn't. Lost potential really gets to me, and usually the books that have it really clearly are the ones where I go off. As you can see above is the case. Anyway, you might like this despite my bloviating. But maybe also you would have liked my version better. I guess we'll never know!
[2.5 stars, rounded down for frustration]
September 27, 2022
Advika is having a terrible time bartending at the 2015 Governors Ball when she meets the award-winning producer Julian Zelding. They wed - but when she grows suspicious, Advika must rely on her wits and her husband's ex-wives to get out of this mess.
A MC of Indian origin in a book set in Hollywood? Marital drama and strange secrets? Sign me right up!
For the most part I quite enjoyed this book. Advika is an unusual lead in that she is often very unlikable, but you still empathize with her youth and her guilt over her sister's death. I liked that the author was not afraid to engage with contemporary issues of racism and feminism, focusing on how women are often subsumed into their relationships with powerful men.
However, I did wish we got more of an understanding of Julian and what drove him; his side of the story remains rather ambiguous, which may have been the point, but it does leave the reader without much resolution. I also felt that the secret of the film reel came out of left field and was not at all given the due it required, ending up more a throwaway plot device.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
A MC of Indian origin in a book set in Hollywood? Marital drama and strange secrets? Sign me right up!
For the most part I quite enjoyed this book. Advika is an unusual lead in that she is often very unlikable, but you still empathize with her youth and her guilt over her sister's death. I liked that the author was not afraid to engage with contemporary issues of racism and feminism, focusing on how women are often subsumed into their relationships with powerful men.
However, I did wish we got more of an understanding of Julian and what drove him; his side of the story remains rather ambiguous, which may have been the point, but it does leave the reader without much resolution. I also felt that the secret of the film reel came out of left field and was not at all given the due it required, ending up more a throwaway plot device.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
May 21, 2023
Cringy and not in a fun way. Plot holes, flat characters, poor writing, lackluster story with tired, repetitive song and movie references. The main character was so self involved and ignorant, I couldn’t stop constantly rolling my eyes. I also found the authors repeated disrespectful jabs at white people contemptuous. I’m all for diversity and inclusion but I don’t feel like this author did well in portraying that. I feel when an author overtly rams their personal views down your throat it turns preachy and takes away from telling a good story.
May 12, 2023
We have a main character who makes terrible choices, of her own free will, and then acts as if she's trapped... except she isn't actually. There are plot inconsistencies, and the tone seems at some points to be building to a more thriller-esque story arc, except then it doesn't. Such a letdown. I loved this author's previous novel, but this one makes no sense. Clunky writing, dangling plot threads, an entirely predictable outcome, and big reveals that amount to nothing much at all.
April 19, 2023
3.5 ⭐️
This was my BOTM choice because of this bright cover and it sounded like a great mystery. Plus for some reason, it gave me Evelyn Hugo vibes.
Plot: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Basic Plot: girl marries famous old guy, discovers its not what she thought it would be, his ex-wife dies and offers her $$$ plus a strange reel of film if she leaves him, girl investigates
My Thoughts:
Ok this one hooked me in the beginning. But I found myself getting lost a little bit along the way and bored. Advika marries Julian only 3 months after meeting him when she was a bartender at a big event and she expected to know everything about this man. At this point, girl stop faking love and just admit you did it for money and to get a headstart in your career. But she keeps trying to convince herself, her friends and her family that she is in love with this guy. Advika is kind of unlikable - she bails on her friends when they are trying to help her and cannot get over what happened to her sister. Which I get... it's your sister and something horrible happened... but at some point you need to focus on yourself and get your life together. THAT DOESNT MEAN MARRY A MAN FOR FAME.
Nonetheless, good for you for getting a rich guy and getting a mansion and basically everything you want. But don't be shocked when this man wants you to be his little cute housewife who pops out babies for him. You knew him for 3 months prior. I loved the idea that Julian's ex was pretty much like "girl get out of this now" here's $1 million and a mystery tape if you divorce him. This is the plot point that got me to read the story and pick this one up. But Advika... why would you not GOOGLE this man. I would have immediately found out everything about him seconds after meeting him.
It picked up a little for me when she started investigating his ex-wives and learning more things about him. But overall, the ending was a little boring for me. I wanted something more dramatic and there was some weird screenplay part that revealed things about her sister that just threw me off... was that real or was that just how she made it up in her mind? Idk, I was just trying to find the truth about Julian at this point I didn't really care about the sister, sorry everyone.
Also, this one contains a LOT of old movie references. I am a fan of old movies and even I didn't get half of these ones.
3-stars at best. Yes it intrigued me. But there wasn't anything super shocking to me that happened. I wanted DRAMA in this tale that was about Hollywood Wives.
SPOILERS BELOW - read at your own risk
- WHY DID WE NOT LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT THE LAST WIFE?? Like I know that got annulled quickly but I wanted to know MORE. We got a hint and then NOTHING. That was honestly the one I was looking forward to hearing more and we got disappointed.
- When he was gifting her a phone and laptop - I was immediately like GIRL HES TRACKING YOU. And yet she LEFT it at her friends house. I know you can check the location of a MacBook... I am shocked that this wasn't a plot point. But yet she found a burner phone.
- That ending?? Why does an unexpected pregnancy have to come up? That just ruined it a little for me. Advika you literally ran away like the rest of wives. I would have thrown the dirt in his face and revealed what a scumbag Julian was to the rest of the world. There's no WAY I would have let him get away with that.
This was my BOTM choice because of this bright cover and it sounded like a great mystery. Plus for some reason, it gave me Evelyn Hugo vibes.
Plot: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Basic Plot: girl marries famous old guy, discovers its not what she thought it would be, his ex-wife dies and offers her $$$ plus a strange reel of film if she leaves him, girl investigates
My Thoughts:
Ok this one hooked me in the beginning. But I found myself getting lost a little bit along the way and bored. Advika marries Julian only 3 months after meeting him when she was a bartender at a big event and she expected to know everything about this man. At this point, girl stop faking love and just admit you did it for money and to get a headstart in your career. But she keeps trying to convince herself, her friends and her family that she is in love with this guy. Advika is kind of unlikable - she bails on her friends when they are trying to help her and cannot get over what happened to her sister. Which I get... it's your sister and something horrible happened... but at some point you need to focus on yourself and get your life together. THAT DOESNT MEAN MARRY A MAN FOR FAME.
Nonetheless, good for you for getting a rich guy and getting a mansion and basically everything you want. But don't be shocked when this man wants you to be his little cute housewife who pops out babies for him. You knew him for 3 months prior. I loved the idea that Julian's ex was pretty much like "girl get out of this now" here's $1 million and a mystery tape if you divorce him. This is the plot point that got me to read the story and pick this one up. But Advika... why would you not GOOGLE this man. I would have immediately found out everything about him seconds after meeting him.
It picked up a little for me when she started investigating his ex-wives and learning more things about him. But overall, the ending was a little boring for me. I wanted something more dramatic and there was some weird screenplay part that revealed things about her sister that just threw me off... was that real or was that just how she made it up in her mind? Idk, I was just trying to find the truth about Julian at this point I didn't really care about the sister, sorry everyone.
Also, this one contains a LOT of old movie references. I am a fan of old movies and even I didn't get half of these ones.
3-stars at best. Yes it intrigued me. But there wasn't anything super shocking to me that happened. I wanted DRAMA in this tale that was about Hollywood Wives.
SPOILERS BELOW - read at your own risk
- WHY DID WE NOT LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT THE LAST WIFE?? Like I know that got annulled quickly but I wanted to know MORE. We got a hint and then NOTHING. That was honestly the one I was looking forward to hearing more and we got disappointed.
- When he was gifting her a phone and laptop - I was immediately like GIRL HES TRACKING YOU. And yet she LEFT it at her friends house. I know you can check the location of a MacBook... I am shocked that this wasn't a plot point. But yet she found a burner phone.
- That ending?? Why does an unexpected pregnancy have to come up? That just ruined it a little for me. Advika you literally ran away like the rest of wives. I would have thrown the dirt in his face and revealed what a scumbag Julian was to the rest of the world. There's no WAY I would have let him get away with that.
May 1, 2023
Just bleh and pointless like babes no one asked you to marry an old ass man
June 11, 2023
I rooted for the villain in this book that’s how annoying the main character was!!!
April 22, 2023
This book was SO bad. On one hand, I’m annoyed I started it and thus felt compelled to finish it. On the other hand, this gives me hope that anyone who can tell a story can get published.
First, the premise is ridiculous. Just because your sister dies doesn’t mean you fall in love and marry a 60 something year old rich Hollywood producer after 4 months of dating. And then inexplicably, start to hate him shortly thereafter because one of his ex-wives mentions you in her will for reasons that are vaguely “hoo rah feminism, ladies sticking together.” Grief is a wild, sad ride but to use that as the “well this is why this main character is acting crazy” justification, without more context/character building, is ridiculous. Also, the idea that the main character then becomes obsessed with her new husband’s ex-wives and becomes intensely bonded to and caring of them is so far-fetched and dumb, and this author is AWFUL at building enough detail to make this make sense.
Second, the writing here….my god. Cutesy references to pop culture that are jarring and pull you out of the story, lots of telling and no showing, and some of the worst comparative analogies I’ve ever read in my life. “She couldn’t shake her voluminous sadness, as heavy and isolating as wearing soggy clothing at the bottom of an empty pool.” <— Somebody take this author’s thesaurus away because jessussssss, all the writing is this bad. Also, the nickname the author uses for the childhood friends - the Oakies….who the F talks like this?
Lastly, the characters here are lame, poorly written, and developed with all the depth of puddles. Everyone is a caricature - the cynical Taiwanese barista friend, the lawyer friend, the tall protective friend, blah blah blah. No attempt to write actual characters and the main character is unknowable and unlikeable.
Save yourself 2 hours (which you will have to spread across days because it’s hard to get through this slop) - read something else.
First, the premise is ridiculous. Just because your sister dies doesn’t mean you fall in love and marry a 60 something year old rich Hollywood producer after 4 months of dating. And then inexplicably, start to hate him shortly thereafter because one of his ex-wives mentions you in her will for reasons that are vaguely “hoo rah feminism, ladies sticking together.” Grief is a wild, sad ride but to use that as the “well this is why this main character is acting crazy” justification, without more context/character building, is ridiculous. Also, the idea that the main character then becomes obsessed with her new husband’s ex-wives and becomes intensely bonded to and caring of them is so far-fetched and dumb, and this author is AWFUL at building enough detail to make this make sense.
Second, the writing here….my god. Cutesy references to pop culture that are jarring and pull you out of the story, lots of telling and no showing, and some of the worst comparative analogies I’ve ever read in my life. “She couldn’t shake her voluminous sadness, as heavy and isolating as wearing soggy clothing at the bottom of an empty pool.” <— Somebody take this author’s thesaurus away because jessussssss, all the writing is this bad. Also, the nickname the author uses for the childhood friends - the Oakies….who the F talks like this?
Lastly, the characters here are lame, poorly written, and developed with all the depth of puddles. Everyone is a caricature - the cynical Taiwanese barista friend, the lawyer friend, the tall protective friend, blah blah blah. No attempt to write actual characters and the main character is unknowable and unlikeable.
Save yourself 2 hours (which you will have to spread across days because it’s hard to get through this slop) - read something else.
May 5, 2023
A lot of mixed feelings about this one. A 3.5 star read that was closer to 3 than 4. A great premise and an overall enjoyable read that was dampened by some of the baffling decisions made by the main character to put her in the position in which she found herself. I tried to be patient with Advika because she was young, grieving and guilt ridden, and isolated from her family and loved ones. But I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that if the much, much older man you’ve just met tells you on your second date “don’t Google me, I’m an open book” and the first and only time you ask him any questions he shuts you down in about 3 sentences, the first thing I’m doing is Googling him, not marrying him.
November 12, 2022
Advika Srinivasan is stuck in no-end job grieving the untimely death of her twin. In college she won a prestigious screen writing award, but since then, she has been stuck working on the service side of Hollywood as a bartender and caterer, rather than a writer. When a chance meeting after the Oscars puts her in the orbit of a famous film producer, her life literally takes off.
It's not long before she finds out that the producer has a bit of a history. Her friends and family are quite worried but it's not until one of producer's ex wives leaves Advika something in her will that she is forced into action.
A super fun story! I loved it! #GrandCentralPublishing
It's not long before she finds out that the producer has a bit of a history. Her friends and family are quite worried but it's not until one of producer's ex wives leaves Advika something in her will that she is forced into action.
A super fun story! I loved it! #GrandCentralPublishing
June 24, 2023
Advika and the Hollywood Wives
Kirthana Ramisetti
My first book by the author and I enjoyed it, flaws and all. I loved the character's name... ADVIKA.. and I was so interested in how it sounded, I went back and got the audio. WHICH was better so I returned the paperback and kept the audio.. glad I did.
Advika is the 'pretty woman' of bartenders who finds her Prince Charming at a Hollywood do. Unfortunately, many Princes have that other side to them and so did hers. The book is worth the read, it could have been darker, but it wasn't. It might have also been shorter or longer... but it wasn't. I did think the ending was a bit predictive...
3. 4 stars
Happy Reading!
Kirthana Ramisetti
My first book by the author and I enjoyed it, flaws and all. I loved the character's name... ADVIKA.. and I was so interested in how it sounded, I went back and got the audio. WHICH was better so I returned the paperback and kept the audio.. glad I did.
Advika is the 'pretty woman' of bartenders who finds her Prince Charming at a Hollywood do. Unfortunately, many Princes have that other side to them and so did hers. The book is worth the read, it could have been darker, but it wasn't. It might have also been shorter or longer... but it wasn't. I did think the ending was a bit predictive...
3. 4 stars
Happy Reading!
July 1, 2023
PopSugar 2023: categoría 11: un libro ambientado en Hollywood
Ay, ay, ay. No sé cómo expresar el problema que creo que tiene este libro (según mi opinión) y que explicaría también (creo) por qué tiene reseñas tan bajas.
Marco spoiler porque necesito explicarme bien.
Ay, ay, ay. No sé cómo expresar el problema que creo que tiene este libro (según mi opinión) y que explicaría también (creo) por qué tiene reseñas tan bajas.
Marco spoiler porque necesito explicarme bien.
April 23, 2023
2.5 stars
There a few things I think could have helped this book:
1. Structurally, starting at the moment news comes out of Evie's will and stipulations. We wouldn't know anything about the characters, including Julian, so we would be more inclined to think that Advika hadn't already been rethinking her marriage, which really weakens the overall plot device of the will itself.
2. Have Advika and Julian's relationship be longer than a total 3-4 months. It really lessened my attachment to the plot because of the half-baked relationship.
3. Provide more side character development. There was a moment in the book where Advika (briefly) reflects on her own selfishness, especially in regards to her friendships, but then it's never really addressed again. The side characters revolve around her and don't have lives of their own. This moment in the book was an opportunity to explore these issues, but the author kind of dug herself a hole as the plot itself is only about Advika's discoveries. Perhaps if she had strong friendships to start and the book discussed the dissolution of them due to her controlling marriage.... or discussed more the impacts of placing all of her friendship and needs on her twin sister (thus alienating her from her peers), there would be more balance.
4. Her parents?
5. She's a writer who never writes? Why couldn't we have talked about her screenplay more and the struggles of trying to write through grief?
6. Why did we just abandon that there was a whole-ass quickie marriage before Advika?
7. The ending.
I read the whole thing, and there were intriguing moments (most of which were about the other wives), but this book needed some reorganizing and story reworking.
There a few things I think could have helped this book:
1. Structurally, starting at the moment news comes out of Evie's will and stipulations. We wouldn't know anything about the characters, including Julian, so we would be more inclined to think that Advika hadn't already been rethinking her marriage, which really weakens the overall plot device of the will itself.
2. Have Advika and Julian's relationship be longer than a total 3-4 months. It really lessened my attachment to the plot because of the half-baked relationship.
3. Provide more side character development. There was a moment in the book where Advika (briefly) reflects on her own selfishness, especially in regards to her friendships, but then it's never really addressed again. The side characters revolve around her and don't have lives of their own. This moment in the book was an opportunity to explore these issues, but the author kind of dug herself a hole as the plot itself is only about Advika's discoveries. Perhaps if she had strong friendships to start and the book discussed the dissolution of them due to her controlling marriage.... or discussed more the impacts of placing all of her friendship and needs on her twin sister (thus alienating her from her peers), there would be more balance.
4. Her parents?
5. She's a writer who never writes? Why couldn't we have talked about her screenplay more and the struggles of trying to write through grief?
6. Why did we just abandon that there was a whole-ass quickie marriage before Advika?
7. The ending.
I read the whole thing, and there were intriguing moments (most of which were about the other wives), but this book needed some reorganizing and story reworking.
May 10, 2023
I picked up this book expecting a Taylor Jenkins Reid type of read, and it just was not that. I’m surprised that I finished it, I was constantly annoyed by the poor writing and underdeveloped plot lines. Would not recommend :/
May 9, 2024
I should have known the Goodreads average rating was a sign.
July 28, 2023
3.75⭐
Julian wasn't shit.
Someone told me this book should've been called Advika and the Red Flags. 🚩🚩🚩🤣
They were right.
Also, goodreads, please we need .5 ratings!
Julian wasn't shit.
Someone told me this book should've been called Advika and the Red Flags. 🚩🚩🚩🤣
They were right.
Also, goodreads, please we need .5 ratings!
May 23, 2023
Intriguing but incredibly frustrating.
I was so excited to get my BOTM book and this let me down so much. I wanted Hollywood affair with a mysterious touch.
My main problem comes from the characters. Advika is a writer who never writes. She is grieving the lost of her sister and is upset her family isn’t processing it the same. Does she work? No she is a writer and she will settle for anything less. Her roommate? Only matters when she needs her. A real 21st century Mark Cohen. Remember she’s a writer and wants to be a screen writer? Well, she hasn’t seen most of the movies that would help her advance in her career. “My parents live in Ohio. I live in the moment”. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN’T LOOK HIM UP BEFORE YOU MARRRRYYY HIM. It’s 2015 y’all!
Our leading man…an absolute menace from the beginning. I don’t understand how you truly fall for a man that won’t stop shoving his Oscar in your face.
What started off as a very interesting story of a young woman seeing the chance to get to know one of “the greats” just turned into straight sad story of a woman losing her independence, but I never got why she married Julian. None of her friends (the very few she keeps cause they do things for her) encouraged this HECK she didn’t even inform her parents.
To conclude, I just wanted more. I never understood the motivations of Advika and why writing was the dream when she couldn’t accept Criticism. Instead of a sweeping tale about the lust of Hollywood, this is simply just a sad take on an bland affair.
I was so excited to get my BOTM book and this let me down so much. I wanted Hollywood affair with a mysterious touch.
My main problem comes from the characters. Advika is a writer who never writes. She is grieving the lost of her sister and is upset her family isn’t processing it the same. Does she work? No she is a writer and she will settle for anything less. Her roommate? Only matters when she needs her. A real 21st century Mark Cohen. Remember she’s a writer and wants to be a screen writer? Well, she hasn’t seen most of the movies that would help her advance in her career. “My parents live in Ohio. I live in the moment”. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN’T LOOK HIM UP BEFORE YOU MARRRRYYY HIM. It’s 2015 y’all!
Our leading man…an absolute menace from the beginning. I don’t understand how you truly fall for a man that won’t stop shoving his Oscar in your face.
What started off as a very interesting story of a young woman seeing the chance to get to know one of “the greats” just turned into straight sad story of a woman losing her independence, but I never got why she married Julian. None of her friends (the very few she keeps cause they do things for her) encouraged this HECK she didn’t even inform her parents.
To conclude, I just wanted more. I never understood the motivations of Advika and why writing was the dream when she couldn’t accept Criticism. Instead of a sweeping tale about the lust of Hollywood, this is simply just a sad take on an bland affair.
July 23, 2023
giving this a generous 3 stars. this was very much a slow burn, and it was a bit *too* slow at the start for my liking. i honestly considered dnf-ing until about 45% through, and then the pace started to pick up and i was able to get through the second half fairly quickly.
it definitely was super interesting to learn the backstories behind the different wives as advika began her deep dive, and i think that was the most enjoyable part of the story for me. i appreciated the epilogue and everything advika had learned as well as her return to writing. i enjoyed the cast of side characters who comprised advika’s friend circle, but i did, at times, feel as though they were a bit plain—like they were just there to support advika and sometimes didn’t feel like real people, despite any attempts made at characterization.
overall i feel very meh about this one. i didn’t hate it, but i also didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as i had hoped to going in. oh well.
it definitely was super interesting to learn the backstories behind the different wives as advika began her deep dive, and i think that was the most enjoyable part of the story for me. i appreciated the epilogue and everything advika had learned as well as her return to writing. i enjoyed the cast of side characters who comprised advika’s friend circle, but i did, at times, feel as though they were a bit plain—like they were just there to support advika and sometimes didn’t feel like real people, despite any attempts made at characterization.
overall i feel very meh about this one. i didn’t hate it, but i also didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as i had hoped to going in. oh well.
April 25, 2023
Not a fan of this one. Advika, the main character, is deeply unlikeable that I wasn’t sure she deserved a redemption arc. All the characters are frankly flat and this wasn’t engaging enough to justify the time spent reading it. Also I’m appalled at the comparisons to Evelyn Hugo. Absolutely not.
Advika has fallen for a rich successful Hollywood producer and elopes (despite the many red flags). When his first wife dies and her estate offers Advika $1M dollars to leave her new husband she decides to investigate this more and figure out why his ex wives hate him so much.
I hate stupid protagonists. Who doesn’t research their future husband? A quick google would have killed her? And Julian is a walking red flag with no redeemable qualities. I was glad this one was done.
Advika has fallen for a rich successful Hollywood producer and elopes (despite the many red flags). When his first wife dies and her estate offers Advika $1M dollars to leave her new husband she decides to investigate this more and figure out why his ex wives hate him so much.
I hate stupid protagonists. Who doesn’t research their future husband? A quick google would have killed her? And Julian is a walking red flag with no redeemable qualities. I was glad this one was done.
May 1, 2023
There is a LOT going on in this book. While the cover and synopsis suggest a soapy Hollywood take, there are very heavy topics dealt with in the book. The story continues this tension. The frequent pop culture references often took me out of the story.
June 29, 2023
DNF 50%
This was just SO boring. The writing was not great, the characters were flat AND annoying. It just, wasn't for me, I guess.
This was just SO boring. The writing was not great, the characters were flat AND annoying. It just, wasn't for me, I guess.
March 28, 2024
what happened to Harley?
April 25, 2023
I really really really enjoyed this book. It was slow to start for me but then I ate it up
June 23, 2024
These women were a constellation in her sky, and even if some of the stars had burned out long ago, their light still traveled through the darkness to reach her.
I found this to be an incredibly and tensely accurate depiction of what it is like to be in an abusive relationship, and even more so the depiction of women shepherding each other through to the finish line. I was deeply moved by the ending (tbh currently crying as I write this!!!!) and already look forward to a reread.
I found this to be an incredibly and tensely accurate depiction of what it is like to be in an abusive relationship, and even more so the depiction of women shepherding each other through to the finish line. I was deeply moved by the ending (tbh currently crying as I write this!!!!) and already look forward to a reread.
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