Helpful Score: 2
At 17, Katie Byrne and her lifelong best friends, Denise and Carly, share a passion to act on Broadway and plan to move from their mid-Connecticut town to New York after high school graduation. One day, Katie's early departure from their daily after-school acting rehearsals in Denise's uncle's barn saves her from a brutal attack on the other girls. With Denise dead and Carly in a coma, Katie fears she'll be the next victim, and for a time, acting loses its appeal. Ten years later, the murderer is yet to be found, Carly remains in a coma and Katie has picked up the pieces of her life and moved to London, studying in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. When she's offered the part of Emily Bront in a play bound for Broadway, she realizes it's the chance of a lifetime. But she's apprehensive about returning to face the ghosts of her past and hesitates to fulfill her childhood dream without her best friends to share it. Bradford sets a quick pace by introducing tough police detective Mac MacDonald, aka Mac the Knife, and by showing how Katie and her family dealing with the tragedy. The second half falls off, however, reverting mainly to inner dialogues and Katie's doubts about her ability to perform on stage. A too convenient, totally unmotivated solution to the murder caps the curiously thin narrative, in which Bradford never fully renders her characters. This is a fast but shallow read, perhaps satisfying to Bradford's fans but not a significant milestone in her career.
Helpful Score: 1
This book is a story of facing the past and dealing with it. Good book.
Helpful Score: 1
As usual Barbara Taylor Bradford writes something
you will love.
you will love.
Helpful Score: 1
More than lived up to expectations for a book from Bradford.
Helpful Score: 1
Good story. I haven't read many of Bradford's books, but this one was pretty good.
I was completely disappointed in this story. It starts out as an intriguing suspense/murder mystery, at least in the first main section. Then, suddenly, it veers into a totally different direction, with the main character going off to study her acting career. You are left feeling like you got thrown off the mystery train and are lost in a field of who-cares dialog and boring romance. This section of the book was so boring and blah that I skipped over the pages until the story finally returned to the original murder mystery plotline. Even the big "reveal" where the slight twist occurs was disappointing. The writing made it seem almost like an afterthought. Definitely not the typical Barbara Taylor Bradford writing excellence.
Very sappy.
This was the first Barbara Taylor Bradford book I have read. The story was enjoyable and will read another by this author.
Katie Byrne dreams of being a Star on Broadway. Her confidence in her talent is shattered after a tragedy in her hometown involving her two best friends whom she dreamed of going to New York to act with. Will she take the opportunities she is given and be a star? This story takes you into the girl's heart and mind following the tragedy.
This book follows a young girl's dream from her early days in a small town, through a tragedy that claimed her best friend and on to see her dream a reality if she can get past the scars the tragedy left for her to bear.
This is a great read!!it is very detailed about her travels to other countries and you feel like you are there..And her survival of her friends murders..
Seventeen year old Katie Byrne stands shivering in the cold Connecticut woods, her flashlight illuminating a scene out of a nightmare. Carly, one of her two closet friends, lies beaten and unconcious, her face covered in blood. Moments later, the horror escalates when Katie's brother discovers the lifeless body of Denise, the third member of their inseparable trio. Nearby is the old barn where only hours before the three girls joyfully rehearsed Shakespearean speeches for an upcoming school performance. For Katie, who returned to the makeshift theater to retrieve schoolbooks she had forgotten in her haste to get home early, the tragedy marks the end of a long-shared dream. The girls began acting together as ten-year olds with stars in their eyes, fantasizing about the day they would all move to New York and take Broadway by storm. Now, only Katie can realize the dream.
Ten years later, Katie, a tall, lanky beauty with reddish-gold hair, is a struggling actress in New York. Haunted by the memory of Denise's death and by thoughts of Carly, who still lies in a coma, she longs for the fame and celebrity they imagined together so long before. After an acclaimed performance, Katie finally wins a starring role on Broadway and begins a promising love affair. But before she can step into the spotlight, Katies must escape the dark shadows of the past.
Ten years later, Katie, a tall, lanky beauty with reddish-gold hair, is a struggling actress in New York. Haunted by the memory of Denise's death and by thoughts of Carly, who still lies in a coma, she longs for the fame and celebrity they imagined together so long before. After an acclaimed performance, Katie finally wins a starring role on Broadway and begins a promising love affair. But before she can step into the spotlight, Katies must escape the dark shadows of the past.
The author definitely needs to avoid mysteries. She did a good job with the middle part of the book where she writes about the life of the Bronte sisters. But the entire murder "mystery portion of the book just did not do it for me. It starts out with the tension of the murder and someone perhaps stalking Katie. Then the whole murder part disappears from the story in the middle part of the book while she writes about the Bronte sisters. Then Katie comes back to the US and the murder plot picks up again. The murderer comes totally out of nowhere. No real suspense leading up to who he is. Total let-down by an author I have liked before.
Good book
Tragedy crossed Katie Byrne's path. Now she must return there--for answers, for a miracle, and for the kind of forgiveness that can set her free.
OVER 63 MILLION COPIES OF BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD'S NOVELS SOLD WORLDWIDE
Katie Byrne is an American actress in London, on the verge of triumph. But she is not sure that she'll accept the career making role she's been offered, even less sure that she'd do it justice. The answer lies in a past that she's shared with almost no one, in the small Connecticut town where she was born and raised in an adoring, close-knit family. Ten years ago, tragedy crossed Katie's path. Now she must return there - for answers, for the kind of forgiveness that can set her free.
