Understudy

Rating:
Summary: exhilarating romantic suspense
Review: Actress Robin Mulcahey is rising to the top of her profession at a rapid pace. However, there is one problem with the ascension. Robin died in a car crash in 1998. Her best friend Amy Shiley was near death in the same crash that severely disfigured both bodies beyond recognition. When Robin wore her pendant, everyone concluded that Amy died. By the time she gained enough of her health to realize the error, Amy did nothing to correct the mistake, as she had no one who would care and she did not want to hurt Robin's parents.

Amy in disguise is married to an actor, but still loves Paul, Robin's brother. Unable to ignore her feelings, Amy decides to risk everything to gain Paul's love though he never showed her any feelings beyond that of a big brother. Amy wonders if her gamut will lead to happiness or a deep hurt, but she knows she must try.

Though this reviewer has some doubts about the identity switch as blood type, etc. must match; UNDERSTUDY remains an exhilarating romantic suspense. Amy owns the story line as struggles between her love for Paul and revealing her secret that will hurt people she cares about. The rest of the cast spotlights the dilemma that the lead female protagonist must choose between. Contemporary romance readers will be pleased with this fine work.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: UNDERSTUDY IS ANOTHER BELLACERA GREAT!
Review: After reading EAST OF THE SUN, WEST OF THE MOON by Bellacera, I found every other book she'd written and read them all. And now she's actually topped herself with UNDERSTUDY! This is a great writer who pens can't-put-down books! You'll be hooked from the Prologue to the last page. There's one word for this book - WOW!

Rating:
Summary: amazing summer read
Review: as a college student myself, this book was able to create a strong sense of reality. i don't want to sound cliche, but i couldn't put this book down! if you are a diehard fan of the "lifetime movie network" this is the book for you!!! the vivid words and details create such an imaginative dreamery that i feel confident in saying i'd attempt to direct a movie out of it!!!

this is a brilliant mix of suspense and romance while the pages turn you through roads of philosophical wonder and psychological prowess!

Rating:
Summary: Impossible to put down! Very highly recommended
Review: At a crossroads, Amy Shiley makes a life altering decision that resounds with profound ethical dilemmas. Unable to speak while lying in her hospital bed, Amy overhears news of the death of her best friend Robin Mulcahey. Amy had been driving the car when slick roads and too much alcohol resulted in a tragic accident. Because both women were severely facially damaged but shared a similar body build, and had exchanged personal items before getting in the car, a case of misidentification results in an extraordinary opportunity. Realizing that no one will mourn her, Amy assumes her best friend's life.

It seems the perfect solution for a woman with no family. She continues the role of beloved daughter, filling the gap for Robin's family and sparing them tremendous grief. Although Amy is in love with Robin's brother Paul, it is not until a year and a half later that she learns she gave up his love with the identity switch. Further, the ideal impression she had of Robin's family does not bear up under reality. Amy's identity switch brings professional success, when she becomes a well-known soap opera star and marries a fellow actor. But as things come unraveled, she soon feels as though she is trapped in her own personal soap opera.

Author Carole Bellacera pens an exhilarating romantic suspense with UNDERSTUDY. Switched identities may be a long favored plot device, but Bellacera finds a way to add her own exciting flair, resulting in tale that readers will find impossible to put down. Although Robin and Amy are complete opposites, Amy's transformation is incredibly believable. Further, the secrets of Robin's life become driving motivation for Amy to confront the truth of the past as well as her own personal truths. Secondary characterizations are likewise memorable, especially Bellacera's thoughtful and insightful handling of Amy's husband's complicated feelings toward her and his past. A novel rich with psychological insight, UNDERSTUDY comes very highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: To live another person's life: every human's dream
Review: I feel this time around Carol Bellacera has dug deep to find something that every person who has felt they have lived an unhappy life can relate to. All the entire book, you feel that the character, Amy lives in a living hell. But we see in truth that it's her best friend, Robin who is living a dark secret. You cheer for both characters and are almost to the brink of tear once you read the epiloge.

Rating:
Summary: To live another person's life: every human's dream
Review: I feel this time around Carol Bellacera has dug deep to find something that every person who has felt they have lived an unhappy life can relate to. All the entire book, you feel that the character, Amy lives in a living hell. But we see in truth that it's her best friend, Robin who is living a dark secret. You cheer for both characters and are almost to the brink of tear once you read the epiloge.

Rating:
Summary: UNDERSTUDY IS ANOTHER BELLACERA GREAT!
Review: No one can deny that Robin is different after the car wreck that shattered her face and took her best friend, Amy's life. Before the wreck, the wealthy young beauty was well on her way to becoming a drunken tramp. After much surgery, she is able to return to life with her looks restored, and an apparent new depth to her character.

The reason for the change is one that only Robin knows. She is not Robin. The wreck was so damaging that the two girls could not be told apart, and it was assumed that Robin lived and Amy died. But that is not what occurred. Now, Amy is trapped in a lie, one she is only too glad to live. Being Robin gives her a family and wealth. It paves the way for her to become a successful soap actress and marry her handsome leading man. There is only one drawback. She is in love with the man who the world believes is her brother. As the years pass, the lie eats at her, and Paul, the only man she has ever been in love with, is haunted by the memory of the sweet girl with whom he shared a brief moment of true love.

Then, terrible secrets emerge that open the door to the whole truth. As Amy's heart hangs in the balance, will Paul be able to forgive her for all the years of untruth?

***** This novel takes on a topic that shows the dark side of one of the ultimate fantasies, living someone else's life. Ms. Bellacera fearless takes on taboos that will shock readers. Even though Amy's lies are wrong, one can not help but feel sorry for the mess she creates for herself. *****
Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

Rating:
Summary: Oh yeah!
Review: Robin Mulcahey had the perfect life. She had won awards for her roles in plays and as a soap-opera star. She was married to Declan Blair, an Irish film actor. She had it all.

But everything about Robin became a lie back in 1996. Robin and her best friend, Amy Shiley, were in a horrible car accident. Robin died and Amy was mistaken for her. From then on, Amy pretended to be Robin and stepped neatly into her new life. Amy suddenly had more than she'd ever dreamed possible.

Amy, of course, feels guilty for assuming Robin's life, but who could it ever hurt? Then there is Paul, Robin's older brother ... the man she still loves.

***** An awesome novel that will capture your attention quickly and easily! I could not help but wonder how many of us would have grabbed the chance for a better life when it was offered to us on a silver platter, as it was for Amy. But the lives of the famous are not all that grand. In fact, author Carole Bellacera did a pretty good job showing how fake it could all be. (Personally, I would find fame to be a prison and not something to strive for.) The author also did an incredible job at showing the conflicts of emotion Amy goes through. Very well done! Highly recommended! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Rating:
Summary: AWESOME - Solid Gold
Review: Wow! Take two beautiful young girls - total opposites - one born with a silver spoon in her mouth and the other `trailer park trash' and make them roommates at the posh William and Mary college with instant `bonding'. You will simply fall in love with the girls and with this very lush, vivid, and sometimes humorous and also heartbreaking story of Robin Mulcahey and Amy Shiley. You'll simply run the gamut of emotions here.

They were total opposites in most respects - but inseparable best friends until the auto accident that totally disfigured one and killed the other. Amy had come to think of Robin's mom as her own, having only a comatose mother as her only living relative, so when Robin's parents identified Amy as Robin, and with a tube down her throat and unable to move or stay conscious long enough to correct them, Amy decided then and there to take over Robin's life. Since she had lost her best friend, she just couldn't bear to lose her adopted family as well.

People who read this will make their own determination as to Amy's decision - if they had the chance to assume a new life - would they take it? The choice was a moral dilemma that Amy took, but Amy would discover that living another's life could cost her more heartbreak than she could have ever imagined. This was an absolutely sensational story and plot, a fast- paced, vivid and exciting read that I most heartily recommend! Put this is on your buy list and keeper shelf! Lush, vivid, emotional - solid gold!