The One: A Chloe Gamble novel

The One is the first in Ed Decter's Chloe Gambel series. The One follows Chloe along with her brother, Travis, and mother as they escape her father and their tiny town in Texas. Although Chloe is new to the California scene, she has fame on her mind and uses her naivety to her advantage, even using a disaster moment to get her name out. While learning the ways of Hollywood and fame, Chloe faces challenges with her mother regarding paying the rent, as well as the difficulty of finding an educational facility for her brother. The One offers insight into Chloe's determination, and how this impacts those lives around hers through her eventual agent Nika's manuscript notes and Travis's e-mails.

These insets from Travis and Nika that offer an escape from Chloe's point of view are the best part of the novel, as they introduce an outside perspective while keeping up the intensity Chloe establishes. In writing from Chloe's perspective, Ed Decter does a wonderful job thinking like star. His background in the industry definitely comes through, and I certainly appreciated this insider's edge to the story as it helped The One stand out from other books taking place around Hollywood. Also, as a reader, being aware of his involvement in "the business" definitely blurs the line between reality (or whatever reality is for the Hollywood crowd) and fiction. Though The One isn't really my type of book, what with all of the drama, I'll admit that I'll be keeping an eye out for the next installment of Chloe Gambel. From the very beginning through Nika's final manuscript notes, the reader is left hanging regarding Chloe's serious crime. Here's to hoping our questions will be answered soon, in VIP Lounge . Overall, 6 out of 10.

P.S. Coming up this weekend there might just be an opportunity to win a copy of The One!