
Author: Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas
Published by: St. Martin's Press on Apr. 29, 2025
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 384
Format: ARC, Paperback
Source: St. Martin's Press
Book Rating: 8/10
Climbing in Heels, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas’s debut novel, is a fictional tale of the rise of three secretaries at the hottest agency in 1980’s Hollywood, giving you a glimpse into the boys-will-be-boys club and the women who wanted a seat at a table where they were expected to serve. It’s the story of friendship, betrayal, survival, standing up when they pass you by, and saying I won’t go when they want you gone. And it’s also a story about how some of those women became very much like the monsters who trained them.
Meet Beanie Rosen, the fast-talking and even faster-thinking Valley girl who knows where she wants to go, and doesn’t care if she doesn’t look the part.
Mercedes Baxter, who learned early on how to leverage the monied friends of her monied friends’ parents until she found a foothold in Hollywood.
And Ella Gaddy, a sexy free-spirit anti-debutante from a white-glove Kentucky home who shakes up any room she walks into.
Read Climbing in Heels and watch these women meet, meld, fight, strategize and climb their way into your heart.
A rollicking tale of sex, drugs, and power – in heels.
Review:
Addictive, salacious, and entertaining!
Climbing in Heels is an immersive, provocative tale that takes you into the lives of the rich, glamorous, and famous, as well as the not-so-important people of 1980s Hollywood and reminds us that not everything is always as it seems and amongst all the designer clothes and extravagant mansions there’s also an abundance of sex, power, ambition, temptation, rivalry, jealousy, and deception.
The writing is effortless and fun. The characters are self-obsessed, relentless, and driven. And the plot is a captivating mix of life, love, fame, fortune, secrets, despicable behaviours, friendship, drama, and the intricacies of movie-making.
Overall, Climbing in Heels is an exciting, seductive, amusing tale by Goldsmith-Thomas that highlights her impressive behind-the-scenes knowledge of the motion picture industry.
This novel is available now.
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Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.