Life in the Fast Lane: "The Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Robin Palmer

The fantastic "The Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Robin Palmer is so clued in to the behind the scenes life of a former top TV star, Janie Jackson and her teen age daughter, Annabelle, it reads like a memoir.  Janie walked away from a hit TV show to pursue her art and a movie career which tanked with 3rd rate comedies. She drinks, a LOT, and takes pills and lives by a whole library's worth of self-help and New Age feel good books which she can quote whenever the need arises.
Annabelle narrates her traumatic life story and her attempts at normalcy and her hope that some day maybe her mother will start being a breakfast serving, cookie baking type of Mom instead of having her mug shot for DUI plastered all over the gossip mags and show biz sites, which is where our story begins. In the Santa Monica Police Station with Annabelle and her mother's lawyer and family best friend, Ben, waiting to bail her out.  What happens to Annabelle as she tries to make sense of all the drama makes for one of the most insightful, funny and poignant books of the year.

 The author, Ms. Palmer, worked in Hollywood and the TV industry for 10 years and that knowledge pays off through Annabelle's insiders look at the world she lives in. The world of  Hollywood stars and has-beens, of the exclusive school where her vapid friends fill their days with gossip, eating disorders and shopping and where she tries to fit in, but once her cache of having a superstar mom seems to have vanished... she finds those friends avoiding her.

Will Annabelle survive the craziness of living life in her mother's spotlight? She does have one thing of her own that helps to keep her sane, (and not the hilarious Play Doh huffing and Barbie head sniffing she retreats to when things get overwhelming). She's a photographer. One with her own personal POV. Will that be enough to save her? Grab a copy and find out, because this is a book you'll want to own, and re-read and quote from, it's that good!!