Adored

This saga of a dysfunctional Hollywood dynasty includes Duke, the superstar patriarch; his long-suffering wife; his greedy mistress; and his beautiful granddaughter, Siena, who seems to have all the cards stacked against her as she tries to gain the adoration that goes with becoming her grandfather's true heir. Sonya Walger's transitions between episodes could be smoother, but her on-the-mark portrayals of each member of the large cast are distinctly colorful, varied, and convincing in gender, age, and personality. Of special note are her characterizations of the dynamic and selfishly powerful Duke and the ever-changing Siena. A predictable Hollywood fairy tale is made into compelling entertainment by Walger's firm grasp of character. M.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Starred review from May 2, 2005
Glamour, fashion, gossip, scheming—they're all here in a page-turning debut starring Siena McMahon, feisty granddaughter of Hollywood movie legend Duke McMahon. In the tradition of Jackie Collins and Danielle Steel, Bagshawe strews Sienna's path to stardom with bumps aplenty. Family trouble began before Siena was born, when Duke decided his mistress should move in with his wife and kids, but Siena, born in 1981, had a pretty cushy childhood as a granddaughter of the wife—at least until she finds her beloved grandfather dead in the family's Hollywood manse. Siena's father, jealous of the attention Duke lavished on Siena, cows his wife into packing their outspoken 10-year-old to an English boarding school, and when Siena later defies her father's plans for her (Oxford med school) to become a supermodel (and thus kick-start an acting career) he disinherits her. Bagshawe nimbly captures Siena's fierce ambition, and like her glam novel predecessors, she keeps the pages flying with steamy sex and keen behind-the-scenes takes on the fashion, movie and television businesses. Secondary characters, such as British director wannabe Max De Seville, Sienna's on again/off again love interest, shine almost as brightly as Siena, and Bagshawe nips in an entertaining side plot about Max's half-brother's struggle to keep his 16th-century Cotswold farm from the hands of a dodgy Cockney developer. This is one of those big, juicy summer beach reads—not too deep, just wildly entertaining. Agent, Luke Janklow. Major ad/promo.

August 1, 2005
With only one previous audiobook under her belt (Bergdorf Blondes
, Hyperion Audio), Walger's sensational narration of Bagshawe's deliciously sinful novel proves she's a budding audio star. Walger (who appears on TV's CSI: NY
) throws herself into this adaptation with giddy abandon and palpable enthusiasm. Narrating most of the book with her crisp, confident British accent, she effortless slips into American characters, giving each an individual cadence and personality. Bagshawe's decades-spanning Hollywood tale of glamour, greed, lust and revenge will remind listeners of the sweeping, high-caloric sagas by Jacqueline Susann or Lynda LaPlante. Like those two authors, Bagshawe excels at creating characters who are borderline unsympathetic but always compelling. While the big, juicy beach novel has been trimmed a bit, Jessica Kaye's excellent abridgment keeps the various story lines coherent while never slowing the pace below a gallop. Walger's remarkably adroit characterizations never let the multitude of characters become confusing. The only flaw in this production is that the musical cues sometimes play too loudly, threatening to drown out the narration rather than enhancing it. Simultaneous release with the Warner hardcover (Reviews, May 2).