First off, I gotta say I adore the period details in this. The glitzy, ritzy life of old Hollywood just comes to life in this 4th Velva Hart novel. Glamorous red carpet affairs, hoity-toity parties, and fan-tabulous mansions make the reader dive headfirst into the old studio era, where the lives of stars were controlled down to the relationship level and the studio moguls were God. The amount of research of the author put into this work is extremely evident, and I give all kudos to her for taking the time to really make this period shine.

The main character took a bit of time for me to like her. Except for one incident where she fought for her music in her contract, it seemed like Velva Jean was just going to be the "yes" girl: go where she was told, date whom she was told to, and learn whatever she was told to. I was having a very hard time picturing the girl that got a divorce, learned to fly, was a spy in Nazi-Occupied France, and rescued her brother and others from transport to the camps. Maybe it was because this was my introduction to Velva Jean, and I wasn't able to see her in those earlier years.

But boy does she prove me wrong once her friend gets murdered!! Out come the claws, in my mind. She's breaking into people's homes to investigate their connection to Mudge's murder, talking to witnesses once the case has been closed by a corrupt DA, and telling the studio to "Stick it!" (which I loved by the way!!!!) when they tried to tell her whom to marry. The girl who survived harsh Nazi prisons and had a mind of her own emerged and boy was I hooked! Here was my courageous, gritty, gutsy girl that I wanted to read about. It just took awhile to get her among all the period details in the first part of the book.

I think I especially enjoyed reading how Velva grew through her music. She went to MGM to mainly, to her mind anyway, be educated more in music. But it actually seemed to box her in more than it taught her more. Through her relationship with Butch and being exposed/re-exposed (not sure which since I haven't read the first 3 Velva Jean books yet) to the emotional side of music, Velva seems to grow as an individual and mature even more. If this is a pattern that comes from the first three books, I'm very impressed. Her characterization seems to go through three distinct phases in this book alone. If the author does that in the other books too, I'm dang impressed with her characterization skills.

With a fantastic story, characterization, and period details, this book won me over. It took a bit; the beginning of the novel seemed to almost drown in the period details with setting the scene and all. Characterization seemed to hide a bit during this. But once the story really got rolling, it was a fast-paced tale that never let up. I've already added the rest of the Velva Jean books to my "to-read" shelf, and I'm looking forward to the experience. Highly recommended author and novel!

Note: Book received for free via GoodReads FirstReads Program in exchange for honest review. ( )

I have to start this review with the cover and how much I love it! The vintage look drew me right in, and the blonde on the front made me feel the Hollywood glamor of the 1940s! When I learned the main character, named Velva Jean, is ‘discovered’ by MGM and embarks on a career as a glamorous actress, I immediately made a connection to Norma Jean, aka Marilyn Monroe. A wrong connection, as it turns out. This led me to believe the book was something that it was not; a fictionalized account of Marilyn Monroe’s story.

Now for the book itself. The book got off to a very slow start for me. Part of this was my fault, of course, because I kept waiting for the Marilyn Monroe connection that never came. But the other part was that this is the fourth book in a series about Velva Jean. I did not know this when I requested the book. The book brought in many names events from Velva Jean’s past, but never in much detail so that I was at times confused and lost. I think if I’d read the previous books, I would have appreciated this one much more.

Even though the book started slowly, and was not what I expected, it did develop into a good storyline. When Velva Jean’s best friend dies unexpectedly, this book evolves into a murder mystery with Velva Jean doing the investigating. There are many twists and turns, and the murderer is not obvious. In addition, we get a peek into the machinations of the studio politics of the 1940s and how the studios controlled and manipulated their stars. Very interesting!

One thing that I felt that I really missed out on by not reading the previous books was Velva Jean’s experience with the WASP; Women’s Air Service Pilots. I’ve read a few other books about the WASP, including Flygirl and The All-Girls Filling Station’s Last Reunion, and enjoyed them, so I was looking forward to Velva Jean’s experience. I will probably go back at some point and read at least that part of Velva Jean’s story, told in the second book of the series, Velva Jean Learns To Fly.

If you have read and enjoyed previous books in the Velva Jean series, you will love this one! For everyone else, if you enjoy historical fiction and/or murder mysteries, you will enjoy this one, but probably not so much as if you have read the other Velva Jean books first. And if you are interested in the Hollywood of the 1940s, Jennifer Niven has some great links on her American Blonde page! And for a look at some past Hollywood scandals, visit this page.

I received a review copy of this book through the Library Thing Early Reviewers. ( )

American Blonde is the fourth book in the Velma Jean series.If you like old Hollywood and Post World War II era this is the book for you.Just like the other Velma Jean books it's researched and written well,it is a tale you wont want to end. You will be counting the day til the next Velma Jean.

You need to be in love with this character to truly enjoy the book. ( )

Velva Jean is a WWII heroine who is enticed to Hollywood, where she becomes a star in her first film, after having been renamed as Kit Rogers. Her friend from the war, an established actress, is murdered at a house party. The Hollywood studio covers up the murder, claiming it was an accident, but Velva Jean is determined to find the murderer. This is an interesting look into the Hollywood studio system of the 1940’s and how it controlled the lives of its actors. As a novel, however, I found it just average. Velva Jean puts herself into situations that any intelligent person would know to avoid, characters don’t seem well-developed, and her inclusion of song lyrics (Velva Jean really longs to be a singer) seems extraneous to the murder story. Just OK. ( )