Stay Another Night

I won this book in a First Reads Giveaway.
After reading a few passages to a friend his response was, “I didn't realize 9th grade me wrote this.”
Honestly, for some reason I thought this might be erotica. Or that it would contain adult content. It would be even more cliche than it already is if it did have graphic sex, but maybe that would have broken up the monotony a little. Coco, the stripper turned model and actress, finally does have sex with her rich mob boss boyfriend Sam on page 224, but to me it was pretty short and sweet. In fact, this didn't feel much like a love story either. The entire point of the book was Coco either rising to fame or making secret business moves against Sam. The romance just happens to further the plot along until it can be used as a twist. Anyway, it took me two months to slog through this book. I kept putting it down and not really being very interested in picking it back up. I've seen most of my complaints voiced in other reviews so far too.
Every other chapter or so the focus shifts back and forth from the present to the past. It was almost like reading two stories in one and at times terribly confusing. I'd start a new chapter and catch myself wondering what the heck was going on. Then light bulb moment and I'd have to remind myself where things had left off.
I love simple and well thought out explanations, but you won't find that here very much. I was either left confused on things explained (real estate), annoyed that things weren't explained (who is Meyer Lansky?!), and downright bored with the constant sermonizing. The same points are made twice back to back all too frequently. There were so many sentences that could have been removed with another stiff edit. You just said that already, we get it. Not to mention I seriously don't care what the author thinks or feels about Robert Downey Jr. or Hugh Hefner, because it certainly didn't feel like those opinions came from characters. And even if they had they don't need to be in the book. Name dropping just alienated me even more.
Speaking of the characters, they were rather hard to relate to. The only person I was actually interested in was Coco's friend, Danny. Unfortunately he's basically just there to move the plot forward.
Coco was downright unbelievable. This was obviously a perfect woman fantasy. There's a line early on where Coco mentions at age 17 that she rarely thinks about her weight due to her high metabolism. Ok, Mr. Male Author. I don't know any girl or woman who doesn't think about her weight. Another reviewer mentions Coco's love of classic cars stemming from her love of Hot Wheels toys as a child. I would have believed her love of cars more if she had reasoned it with a nostalgic connection with her father possibly loving and working on cars before he died.
There were a few other random things I had issues with. The photographer who shot the photo that made Coco famous recommended his life partner as her agent. That agent also recommends lawyers and accountants to handle her money. Conflict of interest much? Nawwww people never screw over pretty perfect blonde women for money. Duh. Before Coco starts acting she has a conversation with someone who blatantly tells her she could act. Someone who knows nothing about acting. This just felt like heavy handed foreshadowing. Most of the dialogue is pretty corny with a rather unnatural flow at times. At one point a sniper hitman tries to kill Sam, Coco happens to be there. About two shots are fired and one of them grazes Coco. Sam and Coco have a conversation later about this professional missing. If they were a pro they wouldn't have missed. Someone's watched too many bad Hollywood movies.