The Starlet Series Tour by Carla Hanna

Titles: Starlet's Man / Starlet's Web / Starlet's Run / Starlet's Light

Series: The Starlet Series #0.5–#3

Author: Carla J. Hanna

Publication Dates: 2012-2014 

Genre: Young Adult Romance

Series Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis–Starlet's Man

Lights, Cameras, and Lies. High school student athlete, Manny Biro, is caught between the boy he should be and the man he wants to become.

Everyone around him accepts the Hollywood life. He doesn't. Manny wants no part of acting. On the surface, his childhood best friends seem to have it all: money, power, success. Between the lines, they are all confused. Alan is a messed up want-to-be director focused on pushing scenes to their sexy potential. Beth is an athlete driven to escape from a dark past. Janet is Manny's kid sister caught up in fashion and trends. And Marie is a lonely actress exhausted by the culture that makes everyone's favorite stories.

What is the price of fame for all the characters? Conflicts and truths will unfold in this thought-provoking installment of Carla Hanna's young adult Starlet Series, Starlet's Man.

Synopsis–Starlet's Web

Love. Lies. Acting. A novel about celebrity influence & teens in Hollywood. What makes a star shine? Humility empowers the spirit. Sometimes.

Discover the Starlet Series for new adult & college readers and uncover the life of a talented actress caught in Hollywood's web of lies.

I'm actress Liana Marie Michael. I won an Oscar at 17 but whatever. Celebrity is what it is: marketing a product. I'm part of a tight-knit group. I keep to myself and don't complain about my life. I've been happy until lately.

Evan dumping me leveled me. Matthew shocked me. I knew he couldn't hurt me with my bodyguard so near, but his eyes...so I have trust issues. Dating super-hot Byron didn't help clear the confusion either. I'm torn between going to church on Sunday and making a living from pop culture.

But experience builds perspective. My days of shutting up needed to end. First, I told Manuel. Then I told my mom. It turned out awesome until I learned the truth.

Now I'm screwed. Totally. Let's face it: Hollywood's web entangles everyone.

Synopsis–Starlet's Run

Love. Intentions. Acting. Life is more complicated than a Hollywood story.

Fictional actress Liana Marie Michael writes her second memoir, Starlet's Run, as she suffers through the Five Stages of Grief. But when Lia's scripts speak for her and drama becomes her life, can she find the strength to run her own lines and shape her new role?
~ - ~
I'm actress Liana Marie Michael. Hollywood's obsession with beauty made my actress-mother stay competitive. Athletes use steroids. Actors use plastic surgery and anti-aging drugs. So now I'm a physical mess inside, dealing with it, and starring in a major motion picture.

Of course I can't quit. I have brain surgery, feel alive at Grandma's Montana ranch, go back to Hollywood and act. My boyfriend, Manuel, and I want to get married. Everyone has an opinion. I ignore the millions of naysayers until consequences turn dire.

I believe that dwelling on pain is a waste of time. Indecision is exhausting. I want to write my own future. But I'm only eighteen years old.

In a world where an actress is a product and everyone is a critic, can our young love survive? Should it?

Synopsis: Starlet's Light

Love. Trust. Acting. Cancer survivor-actress gives up the fight until she sees the light. Liana Marie writes her third memoir as she struggles with trust and commitment and shapes the role she plays.

I'm actress Liana Marie Michael and am dying. In my last two memoirs, I show how I'm the ideal Hollywood product. In writing Starlet's Web and Starlet's Run, I realized that the drama in our stories affects the lies in our real lives. The thin, young ideal of beauty is as much of a lie as the plot twists and dialogue we create to hide our insecurities.

In this memoir, I make a mess of my love life while shooting a film in Great Britain. I dump Manuel for his own good. I love him with all my heart. So how could I not when he has a bright future? My dad visits and puts my past in perspective. I spend weekends in the hospital. I learn to rely on Franz, Evan and Amelie. Yes, I hook up with my Swiss billionaire-heir friend Pierre even though I miss Manuel every minute. But it all makes sense, especially since I am so done with acting.

We are all flies and spiders in a web of stories. If I live a more authentic life, can love prevail despite my many faults? Can truth alter Hollywood's web?

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

*****

1. Tell us one reason we should read your story?

The Starlet’s Web series is a realistic look at showbiz and the price a
teen actress has to pay to compete. Starlet’s Man shows a reader what high
school life is like in Santa Monica where teens have rich friends and
poor, bitter ones, too.

2. What made you go into this line of work?

I thought teens would find interesting the life of celebrity children. The
kids are protected from strangers and isolated socially. What they think
as “normal” is unimaginable to suburban teens.

3. If you had to do it over again. Would you take the same path?
My readers have been amazingly supportive and enthusiastic about the
series. Every day I feel grateful when a reader emails a thank you. I’m so
humbled that readers take the time to reach out. For example, yesterday
KW_live_love_rdsw sent, “I wanted to let you know that I honestly admire
your work as a writer. It's amazing.”
I’m not sure society is ready to make a change yet. I think readers and
viewers are happy believing a lie for right now. Knowing the truth about
how Hollywood influences and manipulates social identity makes readers
uncomfortable. I know that we will soon have a reaction against plastic
surgery and anti-aging trends.

I saw what projects were going to be made when I lived in Santa Monica.
Projects take years to reach viewers. Currently, filmmakers put the
responsibility of content on the consumers who buy the story. From that,
readers are telling publishers and filmmakers that we want to read and see
abusive erotica. This year, we should see more teen erotica hit ebook
shelves, more rape scenes on teen shows, and more sex in teen film.

I believe there will be a saturation point and backlash. At that time,
readers will enjoy the Starlet’s Web memoirs and Starlet’s Man high school
spectacle.

4. What was the hardest role you had?

I started a successful marketing and advertising agency but had difficulty
managing staff while being hands-on with the projects. Managing designers
was very hard for me.

5. Did you ever dream of doing anything else?

I’ve been blessed with financial security in which I have the time to
write and exercise and play. I’d like to go on more adventures with my
family before the kids’ sports schedule dominates our summers.

6. What has been the toughest criticism given to you?

When I was a teen, a modelling agent “discovered” me after church. I
interviewed and received a “scholarship” for modelling school. I
immediately went from humble to arrogant. During a make-up class, a
student even more full of herself than me bragged that she had been
discovered and awarded a “scholarship”. Within a minute I learned that
every student in the class had been duped: we were all played.

The tough criticism came about two months later when I had finished
classes and met with the head modeling agent. At that time, he tore my
look apart: my eyes were too small, head was too small, lips could be
fuller, no print, body was okay for runway – swimsuit or lingerie. I left
the meeting learning that I could only be pretty at fifteen if I was on
stage in panties.

7. What is your next project?

I’m releasing Starlet’s End, the final book from the actress’s point of
view, in September 2015. I’m very excited to share this wonderful book
with my amazing readers!

Author Bio

Carla J. Hanna lived in Santa Monica, CA where her children played with the children of celebrities. She mingled with plenty of nannies and a few good celebrity moms. Her award winning books, The Starlet Series, include Starlet's Man, Starlet's Web, Starlet's Run, & Starlet's Light. Starlet's End is scheduled to release September 2015, subject to change from publisher interest.