Shuttergirl

Magic Michael meets Calamity Laine on the corner of O and W
Maturity of senses is the hardest thing to achieve.
I have this annoying habit (I don’t think so ,but others day I do*eyeroll* ) of starting book and updating my friends of my progress in my book group. After every chapter they either hear me ranting or Bawling. The best books I’ve read get some moments where I read something so profound that I have to shut the book and either stare at the wall or rush to the author’s page and tell her – your words moved me !! The number of these moments determine the number of stars I give the book. I know It’s childish, but I’m childlike whenever I open new book.
my first book by Christine . She graciously picked me a winner for this paperback. After 5 chapters, I was ready to abandon ship.
What language does she write in !
What’s her lingo!
She speaks and writes rapid – Fire. And her metaphors …ugh !!

“A 16 year old with long mousey hair and eyes as grey as old coins at the bottom of the purse”

Seriously ! Not thunderous or stormy or clouded . .nope. I’ve never heard that unbecoming metaphor in my life. Makes me visualise an old , withered , battered lady rather than a 16 year old girl. So I did what I did best- I ranted. But then I reread the line and when you abandon your ego at the start of a book and go BEHIND the words , do you get to experience the beauty of the emotion or feeling that the writer is trying to convey. The 16 year old girl is Laine Cartwright who’s a foster home jumper. To experience belonging and love , she makes a hazardous choice of bunking with a drug dealer – Jake the Pillow Snake, a foster stepsibling and his cronies , Foo Foo the Snoo. Just so , she could feel wanted. They abuse her everyday, multiple times, multiple people . Enough to screw her mind shut to the beauty and love in this world. She meets Michael Greydon at Breakfront school. He’s a tennis enthusiast and practices in court while she sits on the Bleachers every day , trying to catch up with her studies. Some kind of connection develops but since they’re too young, their life takes them in opposite directions, killing thier budding love right there. Michael moves to Stardom and Laine moves to Jake & Co. Tom thrusts the reality in her face and bitchslaps her senses and rescues her . She moves ahead with the help of Irving and becomes a photographer to the celebrities , aka Paparazza !

This couldn’t have been more bizarre or serendipitous , depends on which way you look at it, two aching souls separated by a velvet rope. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to cover the distance of two steps, or over the velvet rope. Laine and Michael meet at a party and try and pick up where they left off. It’s not easy. These are two completely different strata of celebrity world and shouldn’t meet…ever . Let alone be bedfellows !
but love happens and how !
If she looks at Michael alone, he’s just a boy Laine wants to love, but it’s the excess baggage of stardom and drunk father , who needs this picture to make a comeback, a cold and distant mother…. that surrounds them that makes their path littered with obstacles. Add to it Laine ‘s dark secret that threatens to explode every bit of success Michael has worked for, every shred of respect she has earned in Pap world, Gareth dying career and health . But they try and work it out.
As Fate would have it- secret is reveled, world explodes, careers are ruined. For all !
Gareth ‘s liver collapses and Laine visits the hospital. I mention this scene because , Firstly christine writes a brilliant line – ” Fathers are important , I knew that Verbally ” ( I bawled , cause I know )
Secondly , Laine meets Brooke , Michaels mother , now it’s a very subtle scene. Laine has always fangirled over Brooke, she’s a Goddess and her admiration for Brooke is coming to fruition here. She hugging her !!! It’s an OMG moment for her. A person she’s admired, looked up to all her life is hugging HER , a nondescript foster child, throwaway kid who stands nowhere in this world except the city backstreets and clubs driveways , is stroking her back warmly. It brings tears to her eyes. But it’s Brooke’s response , ” Everyone has the Best intentions….My son makes everything an uphill battle ”
It’s brutal in its honesty and stark and raw in its flavour .
I detect no malice from Brooke’s end but the way it effects Laine, could well be a slap in her face , hard enough to rouse her from her rose tinted dream of a fairytale. They might as well be a step apart… a city apart ….or a world part , separated only by a velvet rope ! ( ok..a major cry-fest happening here )
The fog lifts and Laine sees clearly that despite love that they obviously have, Laine is dragging Michel down the hill with her to her underbelly of the city ! He’s supposed to uplift her, swoop her away in his arms and be her Knight in Shining Armour….right? …..WRONG!
He’s hanging off of a precipice here too.he wants to save her, but doesn’t know how . Brooke stands in front of Laine as a symbol of everything she wants and can’t have – Acceptance from the society that she and throwaway kids like her matter and are accepted. Their existence is acknowledged .
This scene has another vantage point too – Lucy. She’s been a mean insecure, confused teen from High School who stuffed fivers in Laine’s bra, just so she could feel superior , now has grown up to be a good friend of Michael and helps Laine to get to the hospital. Her crossing over to the other side shows that all is not what it seems and prejudices are just grey glasses you wear when you don’t want to face the truth. Laine has always been jealous of Lucy because she was closer to Michael in her standing, wealth and upbringing. But she has matured enough to realise that her friendship for Michael is beyond petty feminine wiles. Here’s where christine excelled, she created mature characters. Not your shy, docile, virginal sex pot, who orgasms on command by a growling “come”!!
Or a closed up alpha Faux- Dom, yet mouths Shakespearean monologues of true love OR growls you are mine ,On the very first meet. Nowhere is billionaire /Dom/Rocker/wrestler who right the wrongs with a click of their fingers . There’s no evil twatwaffle lurking around who wanna mess up a perfectly smooth sailing love story – Just Because !
No ! . The characters are flawed, trapped in their obligations, tied up to thier commitments and pulled in opposite directions.
The city Laine thinks she owns, turns out to be her nemesis. She’s trapped here while Michael is brave enough to escape , is a defining moment that ends up with Laine tearing up the map of her city- Los Angeles From the wall in tatters. Michael was back in her city and hadn’t contacted her , her city was hollow and fake and useless without him. Very beautiful , cathartic scene.
The epiphany she has while walking down a fire escape – that it didn’t matter what anyone thought of her. She was not a two dimensional , black-and-white photo , but a woman , in full colour, who moved in time and space, who had relationships, a sense of humour, a past and future. !!
A defining moment and you see a mind maturing right there !
that brings me last to the 5th moment if shut-the-book-and-stare-at-the-wall moment. The scene at the Oscars .
No lengthy speech of undying love or confessed guilt . Just simple-” If there’s no one else, if you still want me, meet me at the corner of O and W ” ( lump-in-throat)
I think I ran faster than Laine and climbed up ahead of her. And they kiss and sit with his arm around her, staring at their city- Los Angeles. Swooooooooooooonthump !!

The city is one major character in the story. It holds secrets, it divides people into groups and layers them into strata, their hierchy defined by their success. Either you’re in bright lights of the strobes or on the sidelines, hiding behind bushes, your faces covered by cameras, making you anonymous lurkers . The underbelly and celebraties on two sides of the world – separated by a velvet rope *sniff*

5 shiny stars

I loved this beautiful and poignant story of redemption, forgiveness, and second chances. This is a unique, and different Hollywood romance that was so seductive and took my breath away. Laine Cartwright is a talented photographer, but is making her living on the streets of LA, capturing candid shots of the Hollywood elite. Movie star, Michael Greydon, is Hollywood royalty and America’s Boyfriend. Laine and Michael first met in high school. They were from completely opposite worlds but connected so intrinsically. When Michael left school abruptly to follow his dream, Laine felt lost and alone. She made some bad choices, but found the strength to pick herself up and follow her passion, becoming an honest and respected photographer. She and Michael have followed each others careers from afar, always wondering ‘what if things were different’. One evening when they finally meet again face to face, their undeniable and fiery attraction makes them explore those ‘what if’s. Laine may be a paparazzo, but she is unprepared when her colleagues turn their lenses on her. Michael is so sweet, patient and protective as he shelters Laine, wanting her to be safe in his world. But Laine has a horrific past that resurfaces with all this new attention, and it could ruin not only their careers, but tear them apart for good this time. I was so heartbroken over what Laine endured, but I admired her strength and resilience and how she always took ownership of her decisions. Michael was so kind, loving, and down-to-earth despite his privileged life. They are so perfect together, supporting and trusting each other, and their chemistry leaped right off the page. I love the way Reiss makes her stories and characters come alive. She expertly and exquisitely portrayed Laine and Michael with all their complications, joy, heartbreak, and pleasure. With that, making me feel all the authentic emotions including empathy. Oh and the epilogue was so perfect, I didn’t want it to end. I absolutely loved, and highly recommend this beautiful, poignant and sexy romance!

At times like this, I wish I had the ninja skills of the lovely Irene Oust. If I had those skills I would make a video trailer of this book.

It would have Adele’s song, When We Were Young playing. The start would be the flash bulbs of a photo hungry pack of paparrazos on the hunt for the perfect shot to bring them mega bucks.

The camera would roll to a shot of a teenage girl sat in the bleachers watching a lone boy practice tennis. There would be a couple kissing on the roof. Grainy black and white photos. Oscar night. A beautiful girl in a pink dress. The Hollywood sign.

Unfortunately, I don’t have Irene’s skills so I can only put pics on a pinboard just for me and listen to that song while I think of Michael and Laine.

I absolutely loved this book. Sure I love the Drazen family books (Fiona makes the occasional fleeting appearance in Shuttergirl as does Claire Contreras) but this is a totally different kettle of fish.

Laine is the archetypal girl from the wrong side of the tracks she pulls herself up by the boot straps to make something of her life. She has the help of monochrome Tom and the master photographer Irv, who makes Laine his protege. Isn’t she just brilliant? She is feisty, unafraid and twit twoo sexy, she kind of reminds me of Jennifer Lawrence.

Michael is one of those Hollywood super stars who will give genuine smiles and waves. He ain’t a faker, not a Billy bullshitter. He’s the real deal. Friends are actual friends not cling ons. He doesn’t need therapy for a childhood spoiled by fame and fortune or for having fucked up parents. He is just Mike.

The writing is full on brilliant. Pictures conjured from words. Now I just need to find the right pink dress and the right pic of the Hollywood sign. If anyone can twist the arm of Irene to make the trailer, please do so with my blessing.

My favourite bits of a truly favourite book:

“He looked like a black and white picture pasted into a Kodachrome world. At night, he was barely even visible.” ****This is on the first page and just shows the quality of what is to come!

“He touched my bare shoulder, fingertips laced with intention.”

“He tasted like sunshine and smelled like cinnamon. Like a different world. The other side of the city. Deep brown and layered in cardamom. Drenched in sepia. His tongue filled my mouth like a flood, and my belly twisted with a rolling current.”

“I turned my face until my lips touched his, and he stopped being a movie star. He was the boy in the bleachers….and I became the girl who could be anything she wanted, the one who was accepted and whose life was about to turn around.”

“He was a dead end at full speed with broken brakes. He was a labyrinth with no exit, only starvation and the hope that there was a centre.”

“His tongue was more than a surface but the promise of a mounting wave that rose higher and higher, curling into foam at the top.”

“A paper plane once folded, is always creased. The perfection of its beginning, its pure potential, can never be regained.”

“My life had been written at birth, a list of opportunities read out loud to the world.”

In Oscar acceptance speech style, I would like to thank CD Reiss for such a great book and my lovely Chrisstine for gifting it to me – because she loves me and I freaking love her although we have never met and live half a world away from each other.

4.5 Stars

If I didn’t have to sleep, I would’ve finished this all in one day. One of the many things I love about this author is, she can write extremely well! Man is her writing the shit! I’ve never been to LA, but the way she writes about it, I felt like I was right there on the streets with the paparazzi.

I thought Laine and Michael were great characters, they didn’t annoy me at all. I would’ve like to see a little more “sexy times” but that’s just me. The book absolutely held my interest and I only put it down to sleep. Damn sleep!