Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper by Hilary Liftin

Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper Reviews

• 
  Meg

  Alternate title: Something Weird Is Going On: What Did Tom Say? The Katie Holmes Story. By Katie Holmes. With Dwight Schrute.
• 
  Cynthia Corral

  I'm too old to waste time on crap like this, and there are too many good books out there that I'll never live long enough to read. I'm not wasting another moment on this one.
  
  Of course it's based on Tom & Kate, they make it so obvious that if you have even heard of Tom & Kate then there's no point in reading this book. Except that at least Tom Cruise actually has charisma and some sort of personality, unlike whatshisname in this book who is just a cardboard cutout with the description of "Really big Movie Star!!" without any real evidence of that. And if you want to know about Scientology, read an actual book about it, there are plenty of interesting ones out there. I'm getting totally off point here - the main point is this book is about as DULL as you can possibly get, especially considering that the subject matter is quite an intriguing reality, but this book makes the pair about as interesting as a Dick & Jane story.
  
  I'm boggled by the good reviews of this book, I really am. I'm not opposed to some fluffy light chicklit, but this is not that. It's just dull and boring.
• 
  Marcee Feddersen

  
  http://www.anurseandabook.com/2015/07...
  This was a great poolside book! I was so hooked that I read it straight through over a day.
  
  The story is obviously based on the Katie Holmes/Tom Cruise whirlwind courtship, which ended in a shocking Mission Impossible style divorce. I remember when that was all the tabloid rage, and I read them all. I do love my celebrity gossip. It's my thing.
  
  We all had the same questions. Was Katie forced into Scientology? Was she brainwashed? Was she a zombie? Did she fake her pregnancy? Was it all for publicity? It seemed like everyone had a theory. And just when you were thinking it was real, you had Tom jumping on couches, leaping on cars, or Katie's scientology handler telling her how to answer interview questions, "You adore him.".
  
  I'm not 100% sure if this book was all the writer's imagination, or whether she has a source, but it was definitely a compelling read. This book answered a lot of those questions, and honestly, it seemed to address a lot of the things that we saw.
  
  Except, now I wonder if Katie Holmes's dad really did broker her initial introduction to Tom Cruise....that was one piece of the story I don't remember ever hearing.
  
  Well, either way, all that matters is that Katie got out. Although she really doesn't look any happier now. This book was a great reminder that although we think celebrities have such great lives, they actually give up a lot. In Tom Cruise's, I mean Rob Mars, case, it seems like he also gave up his ability to feel or experience a real life.
  
  A fun read for a summer day!
• 
  Heather

  I should have saved this book for the beach, although it did keep me entertained on a long plane trip. It's probably only a three star book, but it was a red eye and I'm grateful to have had something new to read. The quality of Movie Star depends on how sneaky you think HL was being. And I'm guessing very. If an author fictionalized what were basically facts about a certain celebrity marriage and divorce, that's interesting and there's a kind of satisfaction in knowing what really happened. But how much more clever is an author who can make the reader *think* she knows what really happened? When in fact, it's all made up! I'm torn between wanting HL to have been that clever and wanting to think that now I know what really did happen.
  
  If this was an exercise in thinly-disguised truth-telling, then HL's not much of a writer. The parallels are painfully obvious. Character names, for example, mirror the names of real people in their type (nickname, classic man's name, etc.) and number of syllables. Or she does a simple switch. Pushy sister is replaced by pushy brother, girl baby is replaced by boy twins, and so on.
  
  But if this was an exercise in creating a real fake Real Celebrity Tell-All, then it's brilliant. Because Lizzie Pepper probably isn't much of a writer. The thinly-veiled references and clunky obfuscations are a hallmark of the genre HL's so subtly sending up.
  
  What probably surprised me the most, though, about Movie Star is how sad it is. It's about a relationship falling apart. Most divorces don't involve private jets and creepy cults, but many of the issues are probably same: two people who can't connect, who can't listen to each, who are holding things back, who are swamped by the demands of their professions, and who have fundamentally different visions of what life (especially post-children) should be like.
  
  So maybe HL was being extra super clever and has tricked everyone into reading a meditation on the modern marriage.
  
  Or maybe it's a just a trashy book about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Enchanted Prose

  Why you don’t want to have it all (Hollywood, present): I was going to start off by suggesting that if you’re in the mood for a clever, inside-Hollywood, beachy read, then Hilary Liftin’s fictional celebrity tell-all fits the bill. Until I read an auspicious, refreshing, apologetic
  interview with the founder of the online Gawker Media Group that includes Gawker, which describes itself as the “definitive gossip sheet for followers of entertainment.” It highlighted why the messaging behind Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper is more than that.
  
  Gawker’s Nick Denton essentially wrote my lead-in by promising to deliver stories that are “nicer and less tabloid in its sensibilities” – precisely what Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper is. Similarly, when he said he’s now “much more sensitive to the children and families of those who get caught up in stories,” he pinpointed the catalyst that led to Lizzie’s memoir. When he cited Gawker as “an intelligent tabloid that covers juicy stories that show how the world works,” he identified the contents of Lizzie's memoir – how Lizzie’s world changed almost overnight when she went from being a free, happily-successful, single TV star close to her parents and best friend to a tortuously controlled, married “IT” couple. And when he cautioned that “celebrities and the subjects of stories are people just like us,” he hit the emotional nerve of Lizzie’s plight and the novel.
  
  Denton, then, could just as easily be commenting about Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper than lamenting a troubling, embarrassing, very private (alleged) story about a public persona. It caused candid reflections and re-calibration. Will Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper have the same positive effect? We can only hope so.
  
  I’m not one of the million followers of Gawker, so I wasn’t even aware of the controversy that precipitated Denton’s thoughtful interview until I read the New York Times piece. My purpose in sharing his commentary is because it illuminates why this Hollywood novel is different than most others I’ve read.
  
  For one thing, it is “nicer.” Written by a real-life Hollywood ghostwriter of bestselling celebrity memoirs (Miley Cyrus, Tori Spelling, Mackenzie Phillips, others), Liftin’s fiction demonstrates a high regard for the awesome responsibility a celebrity memoirist has. The goal shouldn’t be to sensationalize or scandalize. A more exemplary approach would adopt Lizzie’s, whose goal was to simply tell a “story about the choices we make every day, and how those choices make us who we are.” By talking to us from her heart, she can be “so goddamned corny.” She’s fine with that, and so am I, because Lizzie voices genuine emotions and the only values that ought to matter. All the money in the world that her super-rich, super-famous, super-powerful movie star husband amassed couldn’t buy the freedom to choose and do the most commonplace things in life. Without these, your soul suffers.
  
  It’s also “nicer” because the author created a character who really was the proverbial “girl-next door” (from Chicago), who became “famous for my girl-next-door character, my girl-next-door upbringing, and my girl-next-door looks.” Almost magically, she was transformed from an “IP” to a “VIP” when she becomes the girlfriend, then wife and mother of the seemingly perfect, handsomest, biggest movie star in the world, Rob Mars. (“I was known; he was worshipped.) Sweet Lizzie is not the type to stoop low and dirty to explain what went wrong in their hugely publicized marriage. Which means the prose doesn’t shoot for the jugular or the vulgar. It would have been so acceptable to go that route. It’s Hollywood, after all. Yeah for Lizzie and Liftin for taking the high road!
  
  Lizzie’s star-struck romance with Rob Mars (“I was the clichéd princess, swept off my feet”) is an up-close look at what celebrities mean when they say they want to protect their children. Motherhood changes us all. Lizzie’s memoir drives home how high and enmeshed the stakes can get. Why should a movie star who luxuriates in the spotlight professionally have to be subjected to the same spotlight in their private lives?
  
  Why do we get so caught up in idolizing Hollywood movie stars? “I could say I never dreamed of it … but isn’t that what everyone dreams of?” confesses Lizzie. So, if you feel you’ve missed out on Hollywood fame, fortune, and lifestyle, thank your lucky stars Liftin shows us why we should think otherwise.
  
  Lizzie Pepper wasn’t so lucky. She got all caught up in the lavish, romantic attention of Rob Mars, twenty years her senior. An “unbelievably distant star,” his name tells all: how Hollywood power brokers and his family revolved around him. Like living on “another planet.”
  
  Lizzie ignored the early warnings. Since we’re given a heads-up in the book’s jacket and Introduction, we have the benefit of looking for clues she was too blindsided to see.
  
  When things are too good to be true, well, they’re too good to be true. Often Lizzie concedes Rob’s “polish was so impenetrable,” but she kept falling into an emotional trap as he always pulled off the right words to make her feel understood. Red flags surfaced, though, like the time she stumbles on Rob’s secret office, which she dubs “Bluebeard’s Castle.” He won’t let her in, which nags at her. What is he hiding?
  
  There’s plenty of other signs to warrant our suspicions: a mysteriously banished ex-wife; an elusive relationship with Rob’s sidekick, Geoff; and questions about the trustworthiness of those supposedly closest to Lizzie. Money and acute ambition can drive people to do terrible things.
  
  Our greatest suspicions center on Rob’s fanatical attachment to One Cell Studio: an exclusive, tightly held, mind-body cult that preaches controlling emotions. Rumors abound. Lizzie’s no fool, but it does take her a long while to put the pieces together.
  

  “I had the world at my fingertips. I had a beautiful family. I could buy a house and live anywhere on Earth. Dream come true? But it was all on the surface. I had no idea how to find or fix what lay beneath.”

  Except what’s underneath is still that “girl-next-door.” Eventually, Lizzie follows her heart, not the rules she’s so dutifully played by her whole life.
  
  The lines between fiction and reality can be fuzzy and risky. Lizzie’s fictional story has real-life consequences. While her life will never be the same, her voice echoes something else Denton wisely put: “People are happier when they live in truth.”
  
  Lorraine
• 
  Lisa

  This is a fictionalized retelling of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' relationship, in the guise of Lizzie Pepper and Rob Mars. Naturally, some details are changed -- perhaps so Liftin doesn't get sued. Fame is definitely not all it's cracked up to be, and cult-like organizations like Scientology, err, One Cell, are devious in their practices as well as in attracting members. This is fun, vicarious reading.
• 
  Jenna 🧵

  There's not much to say about this book that hasn't been covered in other reviews. It very competently and imaginatively achieves exactly what it proposes to do. Basically, Liftin has harnessed her obviously excellent celebrity ghostwriting skill set, along with her insider's knowledge of the Hollywood scene, to create a fictional celebrity memoir that just so happens to read a little like Katie Holmes' doppelgänger's tell-all might read if she commissioned a skilled ghost like Liftin to help her write one. I'm typically not a big fan of celebrity gossip and star-fixated pop culture, but even I can't resist speculating a bit on what went on behind the scenes with the whole Katie Holmes/Tom Cruise courtship, marriage, and divorce, especially given the presence of Scientology as the ubiquitous third wheel in that relationship. Liftin uses a remarkable amount of restraint and respect for her characters to construct a believable story about what might have occurred. This isn't a deep and meaningful and memorable book or anything, but it wasn't stupid or poorly written. It was suspenseful and enjoyable; I rarely put it down and read it in basically one sitting with a few short breaks. Totally solid, quick, non-demanding entertainment read.
• 
  Amanda

  This book has been described by a few magazine reviewers as " the essential summer read". It does not live up to that hype. It is a dull and predictable re telling of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes relationship from start to finish, except in this story a few details are changed and there is some pretence that it is simply a fictional tale. However, It reads more like a dispassionate journalistic chronicle of a celebrity relationship. Something that you might see in Vanity Fair a year post breakup to show how the ex wife is doing just fine thank you. No character development at all, and no explanation why Lizzie would fall for Rob Mars beyond the fact he was a rich movie star and she was flattered at the attention. Comparisons between this book and The Royal We from earlier this summer will be inevitable. These books shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence. One of them is a charmingly well told, fun book whose original inspiration is obvious but nevertheless you go along with it because it is a stand alone good read. The other is Movie Star, which is none of those things. It could definetly not stand without the Tom/Katie connection. There would be no reason to read it at all without that. Awful book!, Read The Royal We instead.
• 
  Erin

  Audiobook - This started out as something I would listen to in the car, but that didn't happen, so I listened to a bit at the pool in Asheville last summer and then it became my treadmill book - I could only listen when I was on the treadmill, so it took a LONG time to get through, but it was a perfect choice for that.
  
  If you've heard anything about this, you know it's a fictionalized version of the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes story and though I thought the reader made the Rob Mars/Cruise character sound a little....slow, I got used to it and, for what it was, it was a decent book, though perhaps giving a little too much credit to the real-life Lizzie Pepper/Holmes character (I'm guessing her own motives were a little more calculated than Lizzie's are, but I suppose the Liftin needed to make her likable). "One Cell" stands in for Scientology, but it's on a bit of a smaller scale. Anyway, perfect book for the treadmill - enough to keep me walking away, anyway.
• 
  Meg - A Bookish Affair

  "Movie star by Lizzie Pepper" by Hilary Liftin is a faux celebrity memoir that has flavors of so many of those celebrity couples whose faces and combined names (TomKat, Brangelina, etc.) grace the likes of People and US Weekly. I've definitely been fascinated by that world and so I was looking forward to reading this book. It's fascinating to me that the author decided to write a faux celebrity memoir but what makes it even more interesting is that the author partially started her writing career as a ghostwriter for celebrity memoirs so she knows where she's going. As she put it, Lizzie Pepper would be her dream client!
  
  Lizzie Pepper is a middle-of-the-road actress until she meets Rob Mars, one of the most eligible bachelors in Hollywood. Lizzie falls for Rob quickly and thinks that what they have is real but she slowly starts to realize that their fairytale is anything but a fairytale and all the things she loved about their relationship have a really cheap veneer. The book is written from Lizzy's perspective which I really liked because it allowed me to get into her head and to understand what she was going through.
  
  This book is for those who are intrigued by the world of celebrity like I am. I love reading serious books but you can also find me scanning the tabloids in the grocery store checkout line. I loved the Hollywood insider flavor of this novel. The cool thing about this book is that because it is a faux celebrity memoir, we get closer to the elusive Hollywood world more than any other real celebrity memoir would allow us to get. Overall, this is a fun read that engaged me from the very beginning.
• 
  Amanda

  Look, is this book going to win the Pulitzer this year? No. But did I enjoy this book so much I stayed up two hours past my bedtime to finish it? Hells yes.
  
  Like many teenagers of the late 90s, I loved me some Dawson's Creek. And, of course, I was Team Joey (along with Team Pacey and Team OMG-Dawson-Shut-the-Hell-Up). Therefore, I followed the TomKat ridiculousness and was definitely Team Free Katie.
  
  This book was a fun hypothetical look into the TomKat phenomenon and ended in a much more satisfying way than the ordeal did in real life. I thoroughly enjoyed it and really liked the concept of "ghost-writing" the story. So do you need a fun mindless pop culture filled read? Then give this one a try.
• 
  Bunny

  I read a review of this book in People magazine, and all I have to say is, People, fire your book reviewer. They led me to believe this was going to be far more scintillating than it could even aspire to be.
  
  Which is disappointing, seeing as how this is the fictionalized story of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. As someone who vaguely followed that story, via long lines at the grocery store and The Soup on E!, I know that this had the potential to be absolutely fascinating.
  
  I kept waiting for that part. Actually, I was waiting for anything real to happen. As it was, I got to the end still waiting.
  
  Plot as thin as rice paper. Characters with none of the charm or appeal of the Based on Real Spectacle people. Boring as watching any of Katie Holmes' films past Disturbing Behavior.
  
  Very disappointed.
• 
  Catherine Andrews

  I legit read this in five hours - it's that kind of book. It isn't "good," but it was a quick, fun read (especially after I'd spent a week reading three literary books that were relatively dour and depressing, though excellent, but like, you can only take so much about abortions happening in the 1900s, let's be real). It's a fictional celebrity memoir written by actress Lizzie Pepper, clearly a stand-in for Katie Holmes, and how she gets involved with Hollywood's biggest movie star -- and his Scientology-like organization -- and then leaves them. Don't read it for the character development, read it because you'd like your brain to not have to think for a while.
• 
  Freesiab

  2.5 stars. This is written as if Katie Holmes, I mean Lizzie Pepper were writing her own memoirs. If you need a plot summary just consider the Cruise/Holmes marriage. It was mostly a fun and easy read until it turned into Lizzie Pepper's self help novel. Also both characters were pretty dumb (wait till you get to the part about Rob Mars script) it all kind of fell apart at the end. I give it a meh just like their respective acting careers.
• 
  Regina

  Similar in approach to The Royal We, although I found this fictional take on Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes to be preferable over its William/Kate cousin. Would make a good summer/beach read.
• 
  Beyondthebookends

  Perfect for the beach. The Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper: A Novel by Hilary Liftin, which is basically the fictionalized story of TomKat. Summer reading at it's finest my friends.
• 
  Amy

  This is the story of Lizzie Pepper, a young actress who, completely unlike Katie Holmes, became famous on a teen drama and then transitioned to indie films before becoming involved with one of the most famous movie stars in the world. Rob Mars, unlike Tom Cruise, is an action star famous for performing his own stunts, elaborate wooing in a relationship, and his involvement in a strange and secretive movement that everyone involved insists is not a cult. And the One Cell Movement is definitely not Scientology.
  
  Yet, despite not being analogous to anything in the real world, this story is awfully predictable and lacking in insight. Lizzie wants the world to know that her relationship was real, at least on her side, and that she genuinely loved Rob before finding out what a deeply disturbed and giant weirdo he actually is. But the emphasis on the seemingly idyllic beginning of the relationship stretches on way too long for a reader who just wants the disturbing dirt on a giant weirdo.
  
  The uncovering of Rob's secrets are also, sadly, not that interesting. Perhaps if I'd cared a bit more about Lizzie I might have been concerned about how Rob basically being a robot affected her. Instead, I actually had much more sympathy for Rob, who's always on, who doesn't seem to know how to behave like a human being, who can't stop looking for the Blue Fairy and yet never becomes a real boy. I am unlikely ever again to recommend anyone take a note from E.L. James, but in this case, if Hilary Liftin were to write a sequel from Rob's perspective, I would be much more interested in that.
  
  Lizzie, though, remains just as much a cipher throughout the book. The end of the story, also, is just too tidy. It's nice to imagine that Scientology, I mean the One Cell Movement, could be brought down entirely by just one person, particularly a woman devoted to saving not herself but her children, but it just doesn't scan with the rest of the story.
• 
  Mary

  
  http://oneblogtwobroads.com/2015/08/0...
  
  Lizzie Pepper is a young actress looking to make it big after the end of her long-running tv show. She is introduced to Rob Mars, the movie star with the mega-watt smile. He tells her all the right things (interesting how that comes into play later in the story) and sweeps her off her feet. His lavish lifestyle is a shock to her system but she falls right in. Everything seems so perfect, maybe too set up and perfect. Rob belongs to the One Cell Studio, an almost cult-like group that is very hush hush. Does any of this sound familiar? They are soon engaged and Lizzie (who Rob calls Elizabeth) becomes pregnant. Once their twins are born and start to grow, Lizzie begins to see things a bit more clearly and wants out. But can she get out?
  
  This is supposedly not about a certain ex-couple that we all know and it probably is in the writer’s vivid imagination but it can’t be too far off the mark. Hilary Liftin definitely knows her way around a Hollywood story. She had a way of putting you right inside the mindset of Lizzie, when she was letting herself drink the Koolaid and when she wasn’t. It did make me look at the “other: relationship in a different way. This is a fun summer book. If you enjoy the ins and outs of celebrity, you will definitely enjoy this one.
  
  I happily received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
  
• 
  Danielle

  *Book received through the Amazon Vine program*
  
  I've been seeing this book pop up on some websites and magazines as one of the 'hot reads for summer 2015', so I was intrigued by it. Plus I'm always a sucker for books set in Hollywood.
  
  Anyone who knows anything about pop culture will have no problem identifying who Lizzie Pepper and Rob Mars real life inspirations are. The book is obviously a fictional (although how fictional and how true is not certain) story of the romance of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Hilary Liftin changes some of their story, possibly so she doesn't get sued by either famous person but I'm sure that there is a lot of truth in this novel. I found Lizzie Pepper to be quite likable. While reading the book, I felt like saying, "Run away, Lizzie!!". One Cell is the cult church in this book and is just as scary as the real thing is. Some of the things that happened in the book are crazy and makes me wonder what happened in the real life relationship.I was quite satisfied with the ending of the book and wish that some aspects of the story had happened in real life.
  
  Overall, I really enjoyed this book. If you are looking for heavy literature, this isn't it. But if you love Hollywood culture and are looking for a lighter read for the Summer reading months, I think you'll enjoy this one
  
• 
  Terri

  The Hollywood life—exposed—is what you get with a novel like Movie Star. This book follows the ups and downs of Chicago girl Lizzie Pepper from the beginning of her magical romance with one of the industry's hottest starts Rob Mars, right the end of it all. Lizzie's life seems like a fairy tale until the One Cell Studio, Rob's secreted practice with it and Lizzie's eventual joining of the practice all make for an interesting ride through life.
  
  I enjoyed reading this book because much of it mirrors aspects of what some real celebrities deal with day in and day out: PR, always needing to have the right image, imprisoned in luxury, trying to find an escape. Lizzie was a very believable character and because the book was written in the style of a tell-all autobiography, it brings the reader that much closer to the action. I enjoyed reading it and would love to see what this author does in the future.
  
  *Review copy provided by Penguin First to Read
• 
  Stacy

  Who is this book written for? The TMZ watcher, the Kardashian-lover for sure. This is written by a ghostwriter for celebrity books. I didn't realize celebrities had ghostwriters - shows what I know. This is the fictional story of a couple who sounds EXACTLY like Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. "Lizzie" is a young new actress, "Rob" is a seasoned heart-throb involved in a cult-like community. I felt the writing was cheezy and over-the-top. It was like reading "50 Shades of Gray." (MY heart skipped a beat when he kissed me, it was if there was only us in the world) That kinda thing. I only got about 100 pages into this book. I would rather read a real expose about Tom and Katie OR even better, i would rather this author writes a book about ghostwriting celebrity books! That would be something I would like to read.
• 
  Melissa T

  A fictional account of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise's relationship. Lizzie Pepper is the girl next door TV actress who falls for mega star Rob Mars. Swept in a whirlwind of romance, Lizzie wants to be a part of Rob's life and get into the heart and head of Rob, and knows the way completely into knowing the inner Rob is through One Cell (ie. Scientology).
  
  A great interesting beach read. I don't care how good lucking Tom Cruise is, he scares the eff out of me. Recommended if you love celebrity gossip, Hollywood, and enjoy a read that requires no thought.
• 
  Kirstin

  I am not into celebrity gossip but for some reason I thought this book was going to be funny so I gave it a chance. It wasn’t. I don’t know why I finished. I’m not sure who the target audience is. Either you want the “real” story or you want a good story and this was too ambiguous as to which this was supposed to be to be satisfying.
• 
  Ariel

  Chalk this up to an enjoyable speculation of the Tom Cruise/ Katie Holmes relationship. I don't know how much inside information the author had but the story makes you wonder. It all sounds very plausible. A cautionary tale of how fame and money really can't buy happiness.
• 
  Mindy

  3.5 stars. This was definitely a guilty pleasure but I still devoured it.
• 
  Randi

  What a fun summer read!
• 
  Ari

  Didn't want this book to end, I really liked it. Yes, I kept comparing it to that famous couple that it sounds like it is based on... Still, really good light read.
• 
  Erin

  Just blah.
• 
  Stephanie

  Exactly the thing to pick up when you want a fun and fast read.