Author: MAXINE KENNETH
Pub. Date: 10/02/2012
Publisher: Grand Central Pub.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
ISBN#: 0446567426
Synopsis:
Inspired by an actual letter in the John F. Kennedy Library written by Jackie and revealing her job offer from the newly formed CIA
When young Jackie Bouvier receives her second assignment from the CIA, she knows it will go better than her first. She managed to survive the Paris job-while looking her best in Givenchy, no less-but now she's completed her official CIA training. So she's excited to show her boss exactly what she can do for her country.
Her new mission: Go undercover in sultry Havana and investigate a young revolutionary named Fidel Castro. But before Jackie can infiltrate the communist cabal, she's in past her hemline in danger. In another exciting adventure, she colludes with Grace Kelly, dances with Frank Sinatra, and flirts with an up-and-coming congressman from Massachusetts.
As the international intrigue escalates, Jackie must use all her finely honed skills to stay ahead of her enemies . . . and make sure spying never goes out of fashion.
My Review:
I completely loved this book. First, my daughter would tell you that I am not a history buff. But this book was so fun to read and to fantasize about how things might have turned out had Jackie did some of the things within these pages of this book. I can remember reading things about her while I was growing up, such a beautiful lady who was the model for every woman in America. So to read a book like this was so awesome!
There is mystery, suspense, fun, love, what if's and much much more in this awesome well written novel by author Maxine Kenneth. Her writing is with much respectful for Jackie Bouvier as expected from someone who has done her research.
I am not, as usual, going to get into the actual book because I still and as always believe you need to read for your self.
But author Maxine Kenneth's characters are awesome. Starting from Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, come on, who would not want to work under cover doing spy jobs with these two as well as others.
I feel this book is a Must Read!! I will keep this one on my book shelf to read again. And I will also pick up a copy of the book Paris to Die For which is the book before this one.
So due to the above, if I could it would be higher, I am giving this book a Breath of Life ratings of:
Five Clock Rating!!!
Disclosure: I received the above book in exchange for my honest opinion and review. Opinions are my own and yours may differ.
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About the Author:
Maxine Kenneth is the writing team of Maxine Schnall and Ken Salikof
Ken says:
I am an award-winning screenwriter (for Ernest Hemingway Slept Here) turned novelist. I am also a special contributor to the New York Daily News, write book reviews and articles for Publishers Weekly, am a judge for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition, and have worked as a studio reader, manuscript editor for bestselling authors and screenwriting consultant. Along with a collaborator, I have embarked on a series of novels about the young Jackie Bouvier, long before she was Mrs. JFK and the First Lady of the Country. Based on a 1951 letter in the JFK Library revealing her possible employment with the newly formed Central Intelligence Agency, I have imagined Jackie as a neophyte CIA agent in the early fifties, having glamorous, dangerous adventures in Paris, Havana and other exciting locations. The next book in the series, Spy in a Little Black Dress will be published by Grand Central Publishing on October 2nd (with a really spectacular cover), and the first one, Paris to Die For, can still be found on bookstore shelves. Both, of course, are available as ebooks. The novels have been an absolute joy to write and I hope the reader will have a similar experience reading about Jackie at a pivotal but little written about moment in her life.
Maxine says:
I started writing back in the 60s with my first book, MY HUSBAND THE DOCTOR, chronicling the funny side of being married to an ob-gyn. Next came THE BROADBELTERS, my racy novel about the soft porn book biz, optioned for films by Stanley Kubrick. After my marriage broke up and I founded a hotline called Wives Self Help, my book based on the hotline calls, YOUR MARRIAGE, was published. Excerpts printed in Woman's Day led to my becoming a contributing editor with the magazine and the host of my own CBS daily radio show. In 1982, Clarkson Potter published my book LIMITS: A SEARCH FOR NEW VALUES, a study of the cultural effects of the sexual revolution, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. After I remarried, my book, EVERY WOMAN CAN BE ADORED established my reputation as a relationship guru and led to six appearances on Oprah. In 1985, my younger daughter Rona, a beautiful, gifted, award-winning journalist was seriously brain-injured in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. Her courageous battle to reestablish her life after this tragedy and hundreds of stories of other people who came back from losses large and small inspired my book WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER (Perseus, 2002; United Kingdom, Spain, Taiwan, Korea, and Lebanon).
After answering Ken Salikof's ad in Craig's List seeking a collaborator, I teamed up with him to write PARIS TO DIE FOR, the first in a series of spy novels with Jackie Kennedy as an unofficial CIA agent. The idea was inspired by an authentic letter written by 21-year-old Jacqueline Bouvier in the JFK Library stating that the CIA had offered her a job and she was going to take it. From there, our imaginations were off and running--and so was a whole new Jackie to 1950s Paris for an adventure filled with death-defying exploits, foreign intrigue, romance, and hobnobbing with famous celebrities. Grand Central published the book on July 28, Jackie's birthday. HAVANA TO DIE FOR is slated for 2012.
Ken says:
I am an award-winning screenwriter (for Ernest Hemingway Slept Here) turned novelist. I am also a special contributor to the New York Daily News, write book reviews and articles for Publishers Weekly, am a judge for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition, and have worked as a studio reader, manuscript editor for bestselling authors and screenwriting consultant. Along with a collaborator, I have embarked on a series of novels about the young Jackie Bouvier, long before she was Mrs. JFK and the First Lady of the Country. Based on a 1951 letter in the JFK Library revealing her possible employment with the newly formed Central Intelligence Agency, I have imagined Jackie as a neophyte CIA agent in the early fifties, having glamorous, dangerous adventures in Paris, Havana and other exciting locations. The next book in the series, Spy in a Little Black Dress will be published by Grand Central Publishing on October 2nd (with a really spectacular cover), and the first one, Paris to Die For, can still be found on bookstore shelves. Both, of course, are available as ebooks. The novels have been an absolute joy to write and I hope the reader will have a similar experience reading about Jackie at a pivotal but little written about moment in her life.
Maxine says:
I started writing back in the 60s with my first book, MY HUSBAND THE DOCTOR, chronicling the funny side of being married to an ob-gyn. Next came THE BROADBELTERS, my racy novel about the soft porn book biz, optioned for films by Stanley Kubrick. After my marriage broke up and I founded a hotline called Wives Self Help, my book based on the hotline calls, YOUR MARRIAGE, was published. Excerpts printed in Woman's Day led to my becoming a contributing editor with the magazine and the host of my own CBS daily radio show. In 1982, Clarkson Potter published my book LIMITS: A SEARCH FOR NEW VALUES, a study of the cultural effects of the sexual revolution, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. After I remarried, my book, EVERY WOMAN CAN BE ADORED established my reputation as a relationship guru and led to six appearances on Oprah. In 1985, my younger daughter Rona, a beautiful, gifted, award-winning journalist was seriously brain-injured in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. Her courageous battle to reestablish her life after this tragedy and hundreds of stories of other people who came back from losses large and small inspired my book WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER (Perseus, 2002; United Kingdom, Spain, Taiwan, Korea, and Lebanon).
After answering Ken Salikof's ad in Craig's List seeking a collaborator, I teamed up with him to write PARIS TO DIE FOR, the first in a series of spy novels with Jackie Kennedy as an unofficial CIA agent. The idea was inspired by an authentic letter written by 21-year-old Jacqueline Bouvier in the JFK Library stating that the CIA had offered her a job and she was going to take it. From there, our imaginations were off and running--and so was a whole new Jackie to 1950s Paris for an adventure filled with death-defying exploits, foreign intrigue, romance, and hobnobbing with famous celebrities. Grand Central published the book on July 28, Jackie's birthday. HAVANA TO DIE FOR is slated for 2012.
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