The fine folks at Touchstone (Simon and Schuster) kindly sent me a review copy of ABSOLUTELY TRUE LIES several weeks ago. I love, love, love stories about Hollywood and celebrities (I find them fun). This one centers on a young woman who is hired (rather haphazardly) to be the ghostwriter of a famous teen star’s autobiography.

Holly Gracin is out of luck and out of a job when she gets a phone call from a friend of her uncle about a writing project. The next thing she knows, she is the ghost writer for a famous teen pop star and part of the inner circle of the entertainer’s daily life. But nothing is easy for poor Holly, and she finds herself chasing after Daisy and her entourage and often in the spotlight herself (not in a flattering way either!). Holly has to figure out a few things about her own life’s direction, too.

I just loved this book, which was laugh-out-loud funny. Holly’s “voice” and her humor come through strongly, yet you can tell that she is a good person at heart – and not incredibly mature herself either. Poor Daisy is a bit of a puppet, held by those who make money off of her. Stuhler used her own experiences as a Hollywood ghost writer as inspiration for the novel. I found it to be a quick read – I enjoyed it so much I didn’t want to put it down. This is Stuhler’s first novel, and I’m sure there will be more.

It looks like this may be just the first of number of Holly Gracin stories. I look forward to the next!