Stepping Stone

This novel was a sheer pleasure and joy to read. The insights of Hollywood, the location shooting in Spain, the power moves, who the players are and how to become one - this novel was sheer delight. You can't help rooting for Gail Welles, she has been working a local diner for 3 years in Los Angeles looking for her big break since arriving on her twenty-ninth birthday after a slew of success in her local community theatre. At this point she is willing to take any commercial or bit part to get her foot in the door. That doesn't mean she will brook any disrespect nor that she has lost her fabulous sense of humor. Indie producer with a string of hits and facing the big Four-0,Selena Ryan has recently been burnt by the actress she opened her heart to only to find out she was used as a means to an end by the sultry starlet Jennifer Lamont (boo-hiss). Add to the cast of characters Selena's dedicated production staff, hunky thirty-eight year old actor (and all around great guy) Hyde Butler, studio big wigs, hustling actors and actresses and you can't lose! Loved the Daily Variety like chapter starters loaded with gossip on the goings on in the novel. So many perfect moments! When Selena gets the one-up on the studio big wigs. When Gail is shopping for clothes for her first big Hollywood function - they go on and on. And the humor is as always spot on. Winner!

I enjoyed Kallmaker's "Stepping Stone", but found myself many times loosing interest. The story of Selena and Gail's romance is one told very slowly. I really enjoyed the tabloid reports that began each chapter, they were entertaining. There were a few life lessons in the story involving the secondary characters, but all the pieces and parts just did not excite me.

Stepping Stone steps into the world of Hollywood to show the behind the scenes maneuvering that can make or break careers. Selena Ryan is a successful movie producer who has a reputation for being tough but fair. She's putting together the most important movie she's ever worked on and the casting has to be just right. Selena is being besieged by people who want to audition, including her ex-lover Jennifer Lamont, who happens to be the major reason she's suspicious of people and their motives. Gail Welles is a typical Hollywood story. She's waitressing in a restaurant until she can get her big break. She has no idea when she accidently dumps a tray of food on a woman that she will be the producer who holds the key to her future. Fortunately, Gail the actress doesn't look like Gail the waitress, so she gets the part before Selena can make the connection. Gail is everything that Selena has come to not believe in - talented, kind to those around her and a pleasure to work with. That's where the problems start. Since both women are serious about their work and reputations as professionals, a relationship would be highly improper, but their growing attraction is hard to deny. When Selena is forced to cast Jennifer as one of the leads and Gail begins to outshine her in a supporting role, the situation becomes more complicated. Selena has to handle everything very carefully to make sure Jennifer doesn't destroy Gail's chances to be successful, but she can't be seen as favoring Gail either. Gail isn't quite sure what to make of the situation, but would very much like to pursue something more with Selena if she can just get the producer to go against her experience and trust her. Kallmaker has written an exceptionally strong and convincing story. She obviously knows quite a bit about how things work behind the scenes in movie production and that information adds depth and believability to the plot. As usual for her the characters are multidimensional and draw the reader into the story. Jennifer Lamont is typical of so many "starlets" who would rather be famous than known for the quality of their work. In Gail Welles it's easy to see the roots of a young Meryl Streep, someone who is just the opposite of Jennifer. This is a thoroughly entertaining book. There is one serious drawback to the product. The editors at Bella must have all taken a nap or gone on vacation when this book came through the system. There are numerous mistakes, practically one on every page. Words are left out, run on sentences frequently appear and the misuse of commas is routine. At one point even the name of the character is changed from Selena to Serena. It's a shame that what is such a good story is damaged by such poor mechanics. This is a good book. If the reader can overlook the mistakes, then it should be entirely enjoyable. If that kind of thing bothers you, be prepared to put the book down occasionally to clear your head, but you'll come back fo

She's done it again! Like another reviewer, I found this book going against the typical plot line of Karin's books, but I found it refreshing and enjoyed the change of pace. The story was enjoyable, the main characters interesting and the romance was hot. I enjoyed the book enough to put it my favorite top five Kallmaker books. If your a Karin Kallmaker fan, you'll love this book.

I just finished Stepping Stone by Karin Kallmaker. It's very good as you would expect from her, but it is a little unusual. Most Karin Kallmaker books are straight romance with growth or conflict which plays out during the plot. I'm not sure what to say about this one. There are elements of angst and depression and pathos and fear. The protagonist meets the love interest at about the same time as a former lover re-enters her life. There is a subplot where the reader is kept in suspense about whether the protagoinst will be able to resist the charms of the former lover, and allow romance to develop with the love interest. Ms Kallmaker occasionally likes to express the character's confusion or uncertainty by making a scene sketchy or incomplete enough to make the reader feel equally uncertain as to exactly what is going on. It sometimes takes me two or three readings to be certain what has happened. The break-up with the former lover is described in dribbles and pieces and you come away without a complete picture of exactly what happened. Nevertheless the book is readable, delightful and romantic. As all her books are. It does not have the straight forward drama of Warming Trend, it is much less direct and more convoluted. But it's still gripping, I devoured it in about four hours this afternoon. Everything comes out OK, and everybody lives happily ever after, but how they get there is less direct than with some of her plots. I still loved it.