'The Unidentified Redhead' by Alice CLAYTON

From the BLURB:

When Grace Sheridan moves to Los Angeles to become a working actor, it's a second shot at a life-long dream. But at thirty-three, has she missed her chance? And will an unexpected romance with the entertainment industry's newest "it" boy shine an uncomfortable spotlight on her life?

I absolutely, thoroughly and unabashedly loved Alice Clayton’s ‘The Unidentified Redhead’.

Grace Sheridan is back and la la Land better get ready! At age thirty-three Grace has decided to re-try the Hollywood circuit and throw herself into being happy. She has moved in with her talent agent bestie, Holly, and is tackling the fame game. At a hip Hollywood party, Holly introduces Grace to Jack Hamilton. . . aka ‘Super Sexy Scientist Guy’. Jack is a twenty-four year old British actor who has just landed the most sought-after role in the movie ‘Time’. Jack was a little-known indie actor, but since landing the role in a film adaptation of a series of romance short-stories, he has been labelled Hollywood’s new ‘it’ boy. But to Grace he becomes ‘Sweet Nuts’ and ‘George’ – and she quickly finds herself falling head over heels in love with him. But what happens when Grace’s fledgling career takes off and Jack’s star burns brightly. Can these two crazy kids keep the romance steamy and their love alive when the flashbulbs start firing?

This book was sooooooooo good. I mean, it was Super Sexy Contemporary Romance good. The second I finished reading I added it to my favourite’s list and then did a little happy-dance when I discovered there was a sequel!

Grace is amazing, and along with Jane Jameson she makes my list of ‘fictional women I wish were real so they could be my best friend’. Seriously, she freakin rocks! She falls asleep to ‘The Golden Girls’, likes the Psychedelic Furs and says things like ‘breasticles’. She is breath-takingly cool and I kinda, really, maybe want to *be* her. I love the fact that while Grace is calm and brilliant on the outside, we also get all her inner neuroses that go with her new relationship and the nine-year age-gap between her and Jack. Grace is an independent and brilliant woman, but she is so relatable for internally freaking out about Jack’s devotion, his young fangirls and her stalling career.

“You can say tits, although I prefer boobies. I also like Ta-Ta’s,” I said with a straight face.
“How about love pillows?” he countered.
“Breasticles?” I offered.
“Uhhh, how about Flap Jacks?” he asked, struggling not to laugh.
“Nice, but it doesn’t hold a candle to sweater meat,” I managed to get out before laughing so loud I sprayed Saltines all over the counter.

Jack Hamilton is H-O-T! He was such a wonderful character and every woman’s dream-boat (while also being surprisingly realistic). He’s an up-and-coming, reluctant ‘it’ boy. And at the tender age of twenty-four, he’s also Grace’s delicious toy-boy. Throw in a British accent and he’s perfection Britified! I pictured him as an amalgamation of a few current ‘it’ boys – Liam Hemsworth, Charlie Hunnam and the obvious Robert Pattinson. But really, Jack Hamilton is in a fictional league all of his own. . . Oh, how to describe him? He says things like “that’s what he said” and refers to Grace’s cleavage as ‘boobies’, but he’s also incredibly tender and attentive. Let’s just say that he enjoys the South, he enjoys it a lot. I loved Jack, and I really wish he was a real movie star so I could be one of his obsessive fan-girls (minus the hating on Grace for snagging him).

A shout-out must also go to one particular minor character in the book – Holly. It only makes sense that someone as awesome as Grace would have an equally brilliant bestie, but Holly takes the cake. Holly is the Ethel to Grace’s Lucy, the Cox to her Aniston (heh, that’s what he said. . .)

“Quiet, Brit Boy,” Holly warned, “or I will make sure you get cast in High School Musical 4: Electric Boogaloo.”

Together, Jack and Grace are one of my new all-time favourite couples. These two have such a similar sense of humour (i.e.: “that’s what he said”) that there was the dangerous possibility that they could have come across more like siblings than heated trysters. But Clayton writes such heated, smouldering and deliciously lengthy sex scenes so as to wipe-out any sibling/platonic-friendship possibility. I’m talking, JR Ward level of sexiness. I’m talking blush-while-you-read, can’t get enough of the good stuff kind of smutty. Seriously.

“Grace, we’ll leave in a few hours,” he placated. “Pipe down, woman, and bring me those tits. You know I can’t sleep without a handful.” He chuckled, succeeding in pulling me close enough to get a hold of me. I giggled, and let him slip his hands beneath my shirt, tucking in next to him again.

I’m not surprised that I loved this book so much. Alice Clayton reveals herself as a like-minded soul when she has Grace and Jack swap pop-culture obsessions. Every single movie, actor, TV show and song they exclaim over is one of my shared fixations: Tina Fey, The Corey’s, New Kids on the Block, Van Morrison and The Golden Girls. Oh. My. God! Reading this was the equivalent of going out for martinis with Ms Clayton and swapping lengthy pop diatribes and chortling our way through witty repartee.

Thanks to Patti from Book Addict for sharing the good stuff with me.

5/5