This is the first book i have read where i can honestly say one minute i liked it the next i didnt. I actually put it down at one stage and thought thats it i cant read it anymore. Then later during the day i picked it up again. I had a love hate relationship with some of the characters and even though it had a happy ending i never did like Jake. And thats a rarity for me as i usually do like the hero. But even when i read the last page i still couldnt take to him.

I dont know if i really like this Hollywood scene anymore maybe thats the problem i had with the book. I could imagine that happening with Belinda and Fleur given the situation. The part i loved the best was when Fleur and Michel got together. Especially when Michel stood up for Fleur and she saw what sort of person he was or herself. She should have listened to everyone.

I did like some of the smart comments thrown back and forth between Fleur and Jake and wish SEP had of used more of those. This was the older version i read so maybe in the newer one there was more of that.

Its weird but i did enjoy this book.

Kathy

I struggled with the first 60 pages and wondered if I could be bothered reading on. I looked back at the note I made when I read it the first time and I had liked it then so I kept going. I’m glad I did. Although it was a bit dated I quite liked it - especially seeing Fleur's journey from a young teenager to a strong capable woman.

This was a much darker book than the SEP we all know and love today and even though it had been revised still had the feel of an 80’s epic. I wouldn’t really class it as romance – more women’s fiction with a bit of romance. It was more about Fleur's whole life rather than the romance between her and Jake.

I think it was Belinda that was putting me off in the first section. I just couldn’t deal with her and she only got worse as the book went on. Alexi was a nasty piece of work and his evil doings maybe felt a bit over the top.

I thought Fleur was terrific. I like how SEP was able to make us feel her pain and bewilderment about her childhood – never knowing why her ‘father’ didn’t want her and desperate to have him love her when she finally did get to meet him. And I loved how she grew as the book went on and she became the successful capable woman she was by the end.

I didn’t have a problem with Jake. Yes he did some stupid things and behaved badly but I find that SEP’s heroes don't always behave well early in the book but they come good in the end. His memories of his time in Vietnam and the ongoing problems they were causing him rang true to me – they sounded just like the stories I heard recently from an Australian digger who served in Vietnam and almost 40 years after his service there he was still trying to deal with things that happened.

Kathy I’m the same as you with the Hollywood setting. I’ve had enough of it. I don’t want to read about all that celebrity lifestyle and the bad behaviour that these people think they can get away with just because they are celebrities. Get over yourselves people.

Glitter Baby isn’t a book I’ll read again but once I got past the first section about Belinda I didn’t have any problem reading the rest of the book and I thought it was ok for what it was - an 80s style book.

Joan