Adored

Author: Tilly Bagshawe
Published: July 1, 2005 (Warner)
Category: General Fiction

I love celebrity gossip, and if you do too, you'll like this book as much as I did. It's an unrestricted peek into the fabulous world of the McMahon family. The head of the family, Duke McMahon is a famous actor and producer, and he has one dysfunctional family. However, the story really isn't about him - it's about his granddaughter, Siena McMahon.

Despite being a book about a vain, selfish, arrogant girl, the book doesn't stay with her all the time. Half of the chapters focus on other characters' storylines, and the first third of the book is a flashback, showing the background to the family problems. In short, Duke had two children with his wife Minnie, but then brought his mistress, Caroline, into their home and the family had to live with this awful woman for 15 years. To make matters worse, she got pregnant to secure a place in Duke's will. Siena, the daughter of Duke's first son, was born a few years after Caroline's son, Hunter.

Despite all the backstabbing between the adults, Siena and Hunter were very close. Hunter was a caring uncle to his spoiled niece, and they were each other's safe haven in an acidic household. They were forced and tricked into never speaking to each other when Caroline was finally kicked out of the McMahon household, and when they grew up, Hunter became an actor and Siena was forced to study medicine at Oxford (she was actually smart, although she didn't show it for most of the book). When she decided to pursue a modeling career as a doorway to acting, Siena's parents disowned her.

From then on, we have people trying to find their places in the world, the past repeating itself, men cheating on their beautiful girlfriends/wives (it certainly happens in the real Hollywood enough), people growing backbones, and learning just how much of yourself you inherit from your family.

Adored is a good story, and in the end, I realized that the book isn't about the fabulous lives of celebrities. The fame and fortune become accessories to the true focal point of the book - family.