Glimpses of Paradise by James Scott Bell

Nearly every author earns the five star award eventually. James Scott Bell has finally earned his.
Glimpses of Paradise tells the story of two teenage sweethearts who are separated after the free-spirited girl runs away from home to make it big in the world of acting. The boy takes a more careful path to becoming a lawyer.
Life in Hollywood is hard, as the girl finds out. she goes through several different jobs and movie directors and never really settles down on one.
There is too much in the body of this book to talk about in one review. It's just basically realistic life in the early 1900s. The romantic subplot is for once, unexpected and surprising.
The end is wholly based on the choices of the leads, which makes this plot so good. Not many books out there are based on the choices of the leads, including some of Mr. Bell's books. The leads are usually swept along in the undertow of suspense with no choice at all. It's good to see that James has departed from his normal genre and tried something different.
You could say it worked.
5 stars