RED CARPET ROMANCE
Stacey Kade delivers Starlight Nights, a riveting novel set in the world of Hollywood. Twenty-two-year-old Calista Beckett is desperately trying to move on from her early fame, her manager mother’s obsessive control and her career-destroying personal mistakes. When Eric Stone, the man she’s loved since she was 16, shows up on campus, she just wants him to go away. But Eric knows her too well. He knows that she belongs in the movie industry, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get her to sign on for a web series he’s filming. Under pressure from her mother, Calista agrees. The acting gig is only for two weeks over the Thanksgiving holiday. What could go wrong? Apparently, everything.

Thrust back into the world she once fled, Calista struggles to deal with her controlling mother’s demands for money, her unresolved feelings for Eric and her desperate need to gain independence. Given how much baggage both she and Eric are carrying after suffering through horrible parents and the pressures of fame, is there any hope this second chance will end well? Or are they doomed to drift apart, separated from the one person who truly understands and loves them?

This emotionally compelling story is simply wonderful Watching Calista and Eric fight to gain independence from manipulative parents and to find the courage to fully commit to loving each other makes for a marvelous read. Readers should prepare to be fully absorbed in the novel’s world—and to stay up all night reading.

A great second novel by Stacey Kade. Her book alternates perspectives of Calista and Eric, former child stars who share a tumultuous past but who need each other to get beyond that.

This book had me all sorts of messed up. I was constantly torn between being angry and resentful for at everyone in Calista's life, like her mentally abusive and controlling mother, and even to an extent Eric, and being so unbelievably sad for what Calista has to go through and the situation she is stuck in. I have not read 738 Days, which tells the story of Amanda and Chase prior to this book but either one can be read as a standalone I was told. Stacey Kade does a great job of filling in the pieces you might need about each character's background and connection all while giving you amazingly realistic characters. Their issues were real. Not just some typical YA/NA high school/college drama with boys and drinking. These were issues child stars face today. The glamour of it all hides a nasty underbelly of drugs, drinking, manipulation, and parties that stripe people of their humanity when subjected to it over and over and over again.

Is Calista and Eric's love a perfect faerie tale? No. Not even close. Actually, from the very beginning I had issues with Eric's character and thought he was extremely scummy. BUT, there is a lot of redemption and character growth in this story, growth that I think is vital to see in a realistic way. Things do not neatly fix itself and get contained in neat little boxes in this story. It is a constant uphill battle for Calista to get the change she deserves and for that I applaud Kade. Because after all, you can't save anyone if you can't save yourself.


Would I buy this book? Yes

Would I recommend it? YES!

Would I re-read it? Yes

DNF 25% + skimming. I loved the first in this series but this book is decidedly NOT FOR ME. I would stab this book and this guy in the eye if I could! Callie deserves something much better. If you hate love triangles, save yourself and stay far away from this book.

If you're curious why I DNFed this: SPOILERS BEWARE
1) This guy is a manipulative asshole from the start. I didn't like him right away. Even without points 2 and 3 it was going to take some work for him to redeem himself.
2) We don't find out until 25% into the book that he's already engaged to someone else.
3) He and his fiancee don't break up until more than 50% in the book. LOL

I don't see any way where this can be a romance or where this guy could redeem himself at this point in any real way. Especially believably in the confines of this short book. I also feel sad and angry for Callista who can't get herself over this complete loser. You can do much better girl! And despite what this book seems to indicate, there are better guys out there who won't treat you like scum.

This book was so much fun! It hooked me from the very beginning and had me reading late into the night. I haven't read the first book in the series, but I have already purchased it to read next!

I had very high hopes for this book. The description sounded amazing and different. I thought it would be able a girl who gave up the starlight to become a normal adult. And when the book starts off that is where you think it is going, but it doesn’t take long to figure out that this book is not what you think it is going to be. The two main characters in this book severely got on my nerves, the guy couldn’t get along with his judgemental father and the girl couldn’t get away from her overbearing mother. If you didn’t know the girl was in college you would think she was still a young juvenile by the way that she let people manipulate her. The entire book is centered around a tragic night, his father and her mother, with no big revelations. This book could be great for someone younger (I’m 30) but it was to hard for me to relate to either character. I understand that no one wants to be mean and disrespectful to their parents but this girl really needed to grow a backbone!

Thank you for approving me to review this book. This has been an amazing read for me albeit an emotional one. Not many can handle a story that is full of angst but Ms. Kade delivers, and she did it very well. I will definitely going to check out more books from this author.

This is my first book by this author and to be honest I could not finish it. I hated the plot and it just seemed to be be one very painful story. Some might feel angyst but I felt pain and its not what I want when I read a romance. While I positively abhorred the plot, I thought it was very well written and very engrossing.

Calisa is a 23 year old college student. She is also a former teen star where she starred on this show with two other boys. One was Eric, the boy who played her brother on the show who was also 3 years older than her. Calista was in love with him and they got into drugs very badly until one night they have a car accident and it totally changes all three of their lives.

I hated the drug use and I hated reading how Calista treated herself in the earlier years. The book starts when Eric track Cal down at college and blackmails her into doing a movie with his new production company. There is a plot twist after she agrees and I HATED it, it was really the final straw for me. I did not want to read more about how Eric keeps hurting her.

Now this is well written and if you want to read about hollywood's dark side and you love angyst then you will love this story. But it was not what I want in a romance.

Exceptional. With a different plot, unusual and very well planned, this book has been able to present a unique idea, in an intelligent way and to make the reader get involved in the subject, either by curiosity to know what happened in the past, or by yearning as the rest of the plot is headed or simply made to stop, analyze and think, as we put ourselves in the place of the characters and try to understand that despite everything that is happening, and sometimes we get frustrated with the choices, in the background are a portrait of we, ordinary people.
We are introduced to Callista and Eric, the main characters. Both young people, actors, with family problems and who at heart try to deal with themselves, not being able to see how special they are as individuals. Callista met Eric at an audition for a role. And from that day on she fell in love with him. She, who acts under pressure from her mother, has always been suffocated by her, who makes all the decisions and controls all aspects of her daughter's life. Her mother dreams of fame and fortune, and for this she projects her expectations to her daughter. Needless to say, the mother-daughter relationship is terrible. Eric is the son of a famous producer, and in this way, he is always being charged that he only has opportunities because of the connections with his father. Another non-existent relation, since father and son deteste it other. When they are cast to star in a series, which ends up being a success, they become friends. Over the years we have followed how they have become each other's family, the safe harbor in this sea of ​​inconstancy. The force and the only people who lean unconditionally. Until one fateful night, irrevocably changes that friendship.
Years go by until Eric appears to offer a job to Callista. She who is in college, having left her career behind, is forced to accept, because she needs money. At this point, we accompany the two trying to deal with this new reality, and trying to live in a friendly way, when there is so much unsaid between them and so many heartaches. Callista is learning to live again, after several mistakes in the past. After that night, she was never the same. The accident, the drugs, the addiction, the rehabilitation clinic, her career turning to dust, her mother who dominates her, and most of all, Eric's lack, impacted her more than she imagines. Eric, are trying to change too. He left playboy life behind, parties and drinks, and is working on a serious project, is engaged, and trying to break free of the past. But he is always haunted by what he did to Callista.
I confess that the more I read, the more curious I became. I wanted to know what had happened on that night, which changed the lives of the characters. Eric was a complete idiot. I put myself in Calista's situation and it hurt, as I imagined. I do not know if I could forgive. He redeems himself throughout the book, shows that he grew up, matured, and knows that what he did was wrong. I did not like the insertion of his fiancée. I understood that it served to show his adulthood, but I did not like her as a person. She did not see him as he really was, but by the way she expected him to be. Their relationship was flawed in so many ways, that I was happy when they were done.
What to talk about Lori and Rawley. With such parents, who needs enemies? Although I wanted to shake Calista most of the time to see if she woke up to life and stand by herself, I understand. Her mother, despite her regrets, was her mother. That simple.
Although the main focus was the romance between Calista and Eric, the most interesting for me, was to see this maturation of the two, to be able to follow this evolution, to see how a past moment has impacted both of them, and how they spent years trying to deal with it. The journey of these two characters, is the differential of the work.

Starlight Nights, Stacey Kade

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:  Romance

My first Stacey Kade read - and wow - a story that was perfect fp
or me. I'd love to read the first book 738 days, but its not on kindle :-(
You don't need to read that though to enjoy this one, the books are connected by characters but each stand alone. 

I love the rock/film star trope, and poor Callie and Eric (and Chase, who has minor appearnaces) have a past in the Film world.
Callie has been pushed by her mother from a very young age into performing, she's essentially the family cash cow, until everything went wrong and her world collapsed. Now she's at college pursuing a career in accountancy.
Eric was very close to Callie, they starred in the same series and along with Chase from 738 days they were a little unit, almost a family. Until they weren't. 
Now Eric is trying to make his own way, to escape from his acting past, to stand on his own and not be overshadowed by his awful-but-famous producer father. 

Callie and Eric both have the most awful parents, Callie's mother tries to micromanage her career for financial gain, Eric's father tries everything he can to derail Eric's career. No wonder they're such confused people. 

Callie's finding it hard to escape her past, making friends isn't easy, she can't seem to escape the jealousy others have, even though they have no idea how her life was, that she's not some rich ex-star playing at college. 
I really like Callie, she made some awful mistakes but her heart is good, she loved Eric, was close to Chase, adores and is so protective of her younger sisters, even worries about her mum and stepdad. 
Its the way her mum is now pushing them, controlling every facet of their lives that has her taking part in Eric's latest film, a web based series set around what was her favourite novel. She doesn't want to go back to acting, but wants to save her sister from the pressure their mother will use to push her if Callie doesn't go back to restart the money flow. 
Eric, well, he's one confused guy. I liked him, could see that he had strong feelings for Callie even though he just wouldn't admit them to himself.
And then a good way into the book we learn more about the events of the night that separated the three and it was heartbreaking, gutting, really made me feel the emotions.....

Its the perfect read for me though was a little slow to get going. that's my only real criticism, that its a magical tale but took a while for me to get to know and feel for the characters.
It's got great characters, a terrific story with some people I can really get behind to dislike. I need those unpleasant characters as a foil for the ones I love, else for me the story becomes just too sweet, too sickly. I want angst too and got it, in spades, perfectly balanced with highs, to stop the story being a misery-fest ;-) I demand a lot from stories...
The final tick box for me is the HEA - or at least a solid happy for now,and here's its perfect, a great epilogue that shows us a glimpse of the future for the trio. 

Stars: five, a story I loved and will definitely re-read. 

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers