'The Redhead Revealed' by Alice CLAYTON

From the BLURB:

As their careers catch fire, Grace and Jack -- everyone’s favorite foul-mouthed, funny, and feisty couple -- find themselves on opposite coasts. Grace has landed in New York City, where she loves being onstage again, particularly because she’s playing a fabulous character in a musical written by her old college flame, Michael. Their rekindled friendship makes exploring the city that much more fun.

Wait, it’s just friendship, right?

Meanwhile, in L.A., Jack can scarcely keep up with the swirling throngs of women who track him everywhere he goes, the endless press appearances, and the ridiculous rules his manager, Holly, keeps concocting for him -- all part of the buildup to the release of Time, his steamy new film.

Thank goodness for phone sex.

But even when their schedules allow them to connect, Grace and Jack must keep their relationship off the radar and away from paparazzi cameras. Sure, the sex is sensational, but can this duo survive swirling rumors, the demands of their chosen professions, Grace’s raging internal battles, and a whopping nine-year age difference?

‘The Redhead Revealed’ picks up where ‘The Unidentified Redhead’ left off. Grace Sheridan and her hot-potato boyfriend, Jack Hamilton, are venturing into a long-distance relationship as Grace is called to New York to star in an off-Broadway musical. Meanwhile, Jack’s star is looking to shoot far as he starts the press tour for his blockbuster film, ‘Time’. But the love that came so naturally in the past is struggling under the strain of distance, Hollywood pandemonium and Grace’s insecurities.

Between vicious fangirls, a blast from Grace’s past and a nine-year age-gap. . . can the Gracie and George show survive in the limelight?

Maybe I didn’t say it enough in my review of ‘The Unidentified Redhead’. . . so let me just reiterate and make myself crystal clear. I freakin love this series! I want to lick Jack Hamilton (damn his fictionalization!) be besties with Grace and meet Alice Clayton for martinis and wisecracking. Seriously. These books are going on my 2010 favourite’s list as well as my favourite’s-ever list!

‘The Unidentified Redhead’ was a lot of smutty/funny goodness. Jack and Grace were crazy cute, and it was wonderful to read their blossoming relationship. But reading ‘Revealed’, it becomes clear that the smooth-sailing of the first-book was the calm before the storm.
‘The Redhead Revealed’ is still funny and brilliant, but also somewhat darker and meatier (heh, that’s what she said).

This book really puts Grace’s various hang-ups and neuroses under the microscope. We got a taste of her worries in ‘Unidentified’, but not to the extent of this book. . . And really, Grace’s concerns are quite justified. Her reactions aren’t always appropriate (two-martini maximum goes out the door) but Clayton actually takes a lot of time to ponder celebrity relationships and romance under the spotlight. When Jack’s career starts to take off, Grace has to be relegated to the sidelines so as not to anger his new female fans. And when Jack and a young actress are snapped together and plastered all over TMZ and E! Grace’s fall-out is heartbreaking and understandable.

“I've never in my life seen someone deliberately run in the opposite direction of happiness more than you do,” he said, staring daggers into my eyes.

But for all of the outlandish celebrity relationship problems, Clayton keeps things relatable as well. Clayton explores the up’s and down’s of a long distance relationship (with as much fervour and wit as Barrymore in ‘Going the Distance’), she also explores Grace’s body hang-ups and her ticking biological clock in relation to Jack’s young age. It might seem like Grace and Jack tackle a lot of relationship issues in one book. . . but really it’s all heightened by their long-distance hurdles. What would normally be a minor blow-up is left to congeal and fester when they’re separated by distance and only communicating by phone and txt.

But don’t worry – for all the serious that Clayton explores, she still offers up equal-parts smut and Jack sexiness. I really think that the Redhead series is contemporary romance/erotica for the prevalent and smouldering sex scenes. And for the fact that Jack Hamilton is sex on a stick and too adorable for words:

“How the hell did you get so mature at twenty-four? Seriously, man. I’m like a basket case next to you,” I said, breaking the tension a little.
“I’m British. We’re born more mature,” he said with the sexy half smile that always turned me to mush.

I was thrilled – THRILLED, I say! To read at the end of ‘Revealed’ that Ms Clayton has a third ‘Redhead’ book in the works. *Ahem*. . . SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!
‘Revealed’ leaves off on a tantalizingly awesome note, and I am *dying* to know what’s next in store for Grace and Jack. There’s still plenty more to explore for these two, especially when the Hollywood setting and lifestyle offers such interesting twists and turns to their romance. I can’t wait for more Redhead. This series is my new book crack.

5/5

P.S. – I got it into my head that physically, Jack Hamilton looks like Charlie Hunnam. Yowza.

'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