It is a rarity to find a budding new male author whose talents lie in writing Chick Lit. Matt Cain is one such rare find. Although Matt is not new to writing as he has written for The Times and contributes a monthly column to Attitude magazine, he is new to writing fiction. However after reading this novel, all I have to say is Jackie Collins, Victoria Fox, Tilly Bagshawe and the like, watch out….. you have competition!
I have just finished reading his fabulous book ‘Shot Through the Heart’ and couldn’t wait to start typing out the review!
The book is about the curious love triangle between Mia Sinclair, one of Hollywood’s top leading ladies, a hunky British-born paparazzo Leo Hendersen and gorgeous and supremely talented actor Billy Sinclair who has come to terms with his own identity but is scared of letting the whole world know his secret.
Mia is fed up with her image as the ‘First Lady of Love’, having starred in multiple money-making chick flicks that have done wonders for her career but have done nothing to make her acceptable in Hollywood as a serious actress. She longs to break out of this ‘mould’ and wants to make her mark as a serious ‘oscar-worthy’ actress. Concurrent with this is her desire to find a soulmate, who would be happy to share her crazy Hollywood lifestyle, without being overwhelmed or intimidated by the paparazzi that seem to follow her everywhere. Funnily enough, despite a disastrous first meeting, Mia thinks she has finally found ‘the one’ in form of Leo Sinclair, a Briton living in LA, working as a paparazzo. Although natural enemies due to the nature of their professions, the attraction between Mia and Leo is undeniable and the two start dating.
Further complication is thrown in when Mia starts getting too close for comfort to her co-star, the drop dead gorgeous actor Billy Sinclair, all as part of publicity for her and Billy’s new film ‘War of the Words’.
Billy has his own deep, dark, secret and is hiding behind a facade, too scared to own up to who he really is as he is too scared of losing his popularity as one of Hollywood’s top actors.
This novel reads like a perfect soap opera, with glitz, glamour and gossip aplenty. Mia and Leo’s love story is fresh, unique and charming. Billy Sinclair’s character is also well-described and the reader cannot help but feel for him when he describes his inner turmoil about hiding his secret life or when he describes the violent treatment meted out to him in his dark past There are some very interesting side characters in form of Hector, Mia’s gay lovelorn PA and Violet, the bitchy, manipulative, ‘Cruella De Vile’ lookalike publicist from hell. Matt’s writing is crisp and fast-paced and there is never a boring moment in the novel. Best of all, everyone gets a happy ending and all’s well that ends well.
Although the book pays homage to the ‘bonkbuster’ genre, it is fairly clean compared to the other books of the genre. Having said that, there is a decidedly tangible sexual chemistry between our hero and heroine and various references to the odd quirks, lifestyles, sexual habits and behaviours of the Hollywood jetset which make for juicy reading!
All in all, this is a great first novel which gets a full five stars from me. I highly recommend that you pre-order your copy today, available from 24th April 2013, link below.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shot-Through-Heart-Matt-Cain/dp/144723829X
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