Here’s a reposted book review from Epinions.com. I wrote this on February 6, 2013, and it appears it was penned for a “lean n’ mean” challenge (reviews under 500 words). As you can see, I wasn’t impressed. The review appears as/is.
What was I thinking when I downloaded Peggy Trentini’s book, Once Upon a Star: Celebrity Kiss and Tell Stories (2012)? I must have decided to buy this book after reading something especially depressing or boring. It’s been on my Kindle for awhile, though, and after my last book, I decided it might be fun and refreshing. Well, now having read this book, I can honestly say there’s nothing refreshing about it.
Who the HELL is Peggy Trentini and why did many stars fuck her in the 80s and 90s?
Pardon the crass language, but honestly, that’s really what Once Upon a Star is all about. It starts out innocently enough. Trentini writes about growing up on Newport, California, the daughter of strict Catholic parents who didn’t want her wearing makeup or dressing stylishly. She was supposedly a straight A student, though you’d never guess it from her writing, which is chock full of typos and grammatical errors. One day, Trentini’s friend talked her parents into allowing a makeover. From then on, Peggy was “pretty”… and being pretty apparently leads to being a wh*re. At least in Los Angeles…
Trentini expends few words on her upbringing. She jumps right into how she came to Hollywood at age 18, her dreams of being an intellectual (groan) apparently given up in favor of becoming a celebrity. She writes of being cast on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and then getting a part in her first film, Young Doctors In Love. Before too long, she and Sylvester Stallone are screwing each other and Trentini spares no detail… or maybe the details were just lifted from a fantasy novel. From there, it gets much tackier.
Each chapter is yet another tawdry tale of how some star thought Peggy was “irresistible” and had to have her, usually just for the night. They’d have wild sex, get drunk, and then break up, lather, rinse, repeat. As I read about each celebrity and recalled other celebrity memoirs I’d read about some of them, I wondered if Peggy ever caught diseases from her escapades.
Aside from being a starf*cker and B grade actress, Trentini was also on the “Swedish Bikini Team”, which was an ad campaign for one of the worst beers ever, Old Milwaukee. It’s only fitting that she would be selling a product that has led to so much cheap, meaningless sex among college students.
I’m certainly no snob when it comes to reading material. I knew this book was going to be trashy when I bought it. However, even for trash, Once Upon A Star just plain sucks harder than Trentini ever could. Trentini writes of all the celebrities she’s screwed, then tries to seem like a nice, normal, girl next door. It’s not believable or authentic, and she’s not someone I’d want to know. She comes off as a shallow narcissist who still has a lot of maturing to do, despite now being in her 40s.
Seriously? Skip this book
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