"A neat ending to this delicious mini-series"

Though a very talented actress and in spite of thinking the film industry is a waste of energy, suffragette Christina Mayhew performs in the movies to finance her life's dream of going to medical school and becoming a doctor. To earn her tuition as she already has acceptance from a school, Christina performs in the latest movie produced by Martin Tafft for Peerless Studios on location.

Martin is an idealist, but is frustrated with all the negative publicity the young Hollywood industry seems to produce. Thus he finds the intelligent Christina with her accompanying escort, her grandmother, quite refreshing to say the least. Christina soon finds Martin not only her intellectual equal but surprisingly he encourages her to use her intelligence rather than pretend to be a vacuous pretty babe. They begin to fall in love, but Martin's codes of ethics involving people working for him seem like a roadblock to any permanent relationship between them.

Alice Duncan's entire "Dream Maker" series has been a delightful look at the first decade of the movie industry, but this novel is by far the best of a wonderful collection because this is Martin's story. Martin has been a key secondary player in the previous novels and readers (except perhaps this reviewer) have patiently awaited his venture into love. The story line is insightful, but also loaded with fun as Christina realizes that she must persuade HER LEADING MAN to reach for the stars with her.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted October 9, 2001