Beyond the Stars

Stacy Wise

Feb 2016 · Sold by Entangled: Embrace

About this ebook

Most girls would kill for the opportunity to work for Jack McAlister, Hollywood's hottest actor, but twenty-one-year-old Jessica Beckett is ready to kick him out of her red Ford Fiesta and never look back. She should be spending her junior year in France, eating pastries and sharpening her foreign language skills. Instead she's reluctantly working as Jack's personal assistant, thanks to her powerhouse talent agent aunt.

Jack is private, prickly, and downright condescending. Jessica pushes his buttons—she's not the type of girl to swoon over celebrity heartthrobs, precisely why her aunt thought she'd be perfect for the job—and Jack pushes right back.

But as she begins to peel away his layers, Jessica is shocked to find she craves her boss's easy smile and sexy blue eyes. The problem is, so does the entire female population. And what started out as the job from hell soon has Jess wondering if a guy like Jack could ever find love with a regular girl like her.

Ratings and reviews

Jessica Beckett is the exception to the rule that most girls dream of meeting Hollywood heartthrobs, she would rather stay far away so she reluctantly becomes the personal assistant to the hot Jack McAllister in this riveting romance. Jack is private, prickly and downright condescending and the reader can’t help but get caught up in the fireworks as Jessica begins to peel away Jack’s layers to the man beneath. The chemistry is hot but the sparks flying between these two aren’t all passion as they push each other’s buttons which leads to some heated encounters throughout the story and has lots of emotional turmoil saturating the pages as they fight the attraction. The characters are strong and feisty grabbing the reader’s attention and easily drawing them into this steady to fast paced and smooth flowing plot full of excitement and romance. Expectation builds as the readers wonder what Jack and Jessica’s next encounter will entail and spine tingling tension builds throughout the story because working for an actor is no picnic, especially for a young woman when there’s paparazzi leaping out of bushes and you to worry about who your friends really are. The scenes are well written with great details that capture the imagination and bring the story to life while the intriguing events draw readers in. This romance is kind of a Hollywood Cinderella story in that Jessica wonders if Hollywood’s hottest actor could ever love a girl like her but with the emotional turmoil flowing from the pages, both Jessica and Jack discover that what’s beneath the surface is what really counts.

My rating: 3.5 Jack and Jessica are like oil and vinegar. They don't mix. Perhaps due to circumstance or just personality conflict. There were times that both came across as spoiled and self absorbed pain in the buts. It was amazing how much they had in common but allowed ego and bias to hold sway in their opinions. When I began reading Beyond the Stars it did not impress me but as the characters opened up more I slowly began to see there was more to love about these people. In the end Beyond the Stars was an in depth look at the life away from the cameras and was a story that surprised me. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this one but I must say I was very pleasantly surprised. This was a fun, sexy read that I enjoyed very much. The only thing I would have changed is I would have enjoyed it even more if it had been written in a dual POV. I often wondered what Jack was thinking but overall it is very well done. Working for an A-list celeb is the last thing Jessica Beckett wants to be doing for her summer. She's had one experience with them and never wants to repeat it. Unfortunately when her talent agent aunt asks her to be a personal assistant to Jack McAlister she can't come up with a good excuse not to. Jack doesn't want a PA but his agent won't let up one him until he accepts. He's very private and tired of the Hollywood games, the last the he wants is some fangirl working for him. Jessica is quite the surprise though. She seems completely unfazed by his fame. Maybe this won't be such a bad time after all.... This was really a great read and I highly recommend it to everyone.

About the author

Stacy Wise *wrote* her first book when she was six. It was completely plagiarized, but she spent hours copying it word-for-word in her best printing, so that should count for something.

She devoured books as a kid, but never considered she'd be lucky enough to call herself a real author. Nonetheless, she kept writing. Years later, she graduated from UCLA with a degree in communication studies. Thanks to an internship at NBC, she dropped her plans for graduate school and pursued a career in television casting. She worked on shows including The X Files, Married...With Children, and Party of Five. She continued to write (really bad) stories. After nearly a decade, Stacy left casting and returned to school for her teaching credential and masters. She taught kindergarten and third grade. One marriage and four kids later, Stacy finally decided that maybe one of her stories was worth sharing. "Beyond the Stars" is her debut novel.

She lives in California with her husband and children. When she's not writing, you can find her walking her dogs, Bailey and Rex, kickboxing, or lost in a good book.