About the Author

FINOLA HUGHES was born and educated in London. She originated the role of Victoria in the West End production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, and made her American film debut in Staying Alive. Perhaps best known for her role as Anna Devane on General Hospital-a role she played for seven years, winning an Emmy in 1991-Hughes resurrected the character on All My Children. Now the host of How Do I Look? for the Style Network, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband, artist Russell Young, and their sons, Dylan and Cash.

DIGBY DIEHL is the bestselling co-author of The Million Dollar Mermaid and Angel on My Shoulder. A noted book critic, he is working with Coretta Scott King on her memoirs. He lives with his wife, Kay, in Los Angeles.

From the Hardcover edition.

Reviews

Of course her heroine is an actress just starting in the soaps; Hughes is an Emmy Award winner you might have seen on General Hospital and All My Children. With an eight-city tour. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

When stage actress Kate McPhee quits London for L.A., leaving behind her cheating boyfriend and former best friend (yes, they were in bed together), she speedily lands a gig on the hit soap opera Live for Tomorrow, playing its beautiful, vampire-fighting lesbian cop, Det. Devon Merrick. Sounds like a cushy job-until she discovers the 20-hour shooting sessions, the bevy of perfect blondes making her life hell, the vapid but oh-so-gorgeous men, and her archenemy, the domineering matriarch of the show, Meredith Contini, who's a girlie-girl 60-something still trying to play 35. Determined to succeed, Kate sucks it up and makes the most of the sunshine and the sexy-but-dumb men passing her way, but as her popularity grows, Meredith grows more and more jealous, and Kate's life starts looking more and more like a soap opera itself. Readers will enjoy this spicy, sly behind-the-scenes look at the soap opera world-Hughes won an Emmy for her work on General Hospital and her bio somewhat resembles her heroine's-and Kate is a funny, warm character who could have popped out of a Jennifer Weiner novel. The book is overlong, and the plot wanders from place to place, but the humor and good-natured banter make it worth the ride. Agent, Richard Barber. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.