There's the cool L.A. crowd - Mysterious Evra Scott, wanna be Theodora Leigh, hot toy of the moment, Kai de la Faire and Vogue photographer Bea Dupont, yes those Duponts. They're living life large and have the time of their lives. But that's never enough. Who are your real friends? Who can you trust? Hollywood is all about acting isn't it?
Although set in the 1970's it gives off an old Hollywood vibe...old Hollywood versus the new blood. What looks to be one party after the next among the best group of friends hides the duplicity behind each of these flawed characters. Tanabe gives the whole setting a sense of mystique and glamour with name dropping and glitz. But you can't help but be left feeling sad for the emptiness in their lives. Mostly character driven I might have had a harder time sitting down and reading this straight through. But I combined it with the audio version, and it was the perfect listen while driving or walking.

If you're looking for a book to cure your Daisy Jones blues that's also filled with rock & roll in the 70s, this is it. It's historical fiction that's easy to read in a day by the pool because of it's cast of characters and fun setting. The only less than positive thing I have to say is it lacked some final WOW factor for me, but overall I think its a great summer read.

This novel is set in 1970s Hollywood among young adults who are rich and/or famous. Our narrator is Bea, who is from a wealthy NY family but is somewhat on the sidelines of fame as a fashion/celebrity photographer, but who is very much caught up in the scene through her friendship with the in crowd. It’s the 1970s seedy glamor scene of sex, drugs, and rock and roll plus fashion and the movie biz.

I’d say overall this book is a little more atmosphere than substance, but the atmosphere is truly done to perfection. I had a tough time getting into it at first because it starts kind of like you’re being thrown into a name dropping memoir from that era, but the more I read it, the more I enjoyed it. It’s the kind of book where if you read only a chapter or two at a time you probably will be bored, but if you have an hour or two to luxuriate in reading in it you can really sink in to the atmosphere. And it has a certain Gastby-esque quality I enjoyed. On the whole, I felt like I admired it rather than loved it, but I’d definitely read another book by Karin Tanabe.

3.75 stars

Vintage LA story about a group of people trying to make it in LA. They blend together from all parts of the world to form a little group. As they form this make shift family, they are also trying to make it big and maintain it in Hollywood.

With that all being said, there are a lot of details in the book, especially in the beginning and that makes it move rather slowly. Once the groundwork is laid the storyline does pickup and I did come to love a couple of the characters in their flawed lives.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the read.

4.5 stars —> rounded up to 5

I loved this story but really wish the ending was different. I mean, from a literary standpoint I can think of a million different themes and so forth, but I so wanted Bea to find Theodora and get closure.

Bea DuPont, an LA photographer in the 1970s, meets the Hollywood “it” girl Evra and falls in with the Sunset on Sunset crowd. When Bea discovers that Evra is dating Kai, Bea does everything to continue inserting herself into the mix, as she’s been in love with Kai since boarding school. Enter Theodora Leigh, an elusive newcomer to the scene. When she sets her sights on Kai and Evra’s life, can Bea figure out who Theodora really is?

I love Karin Tanabe as a historical fiction writer. This book is another winner and I loved the plot, characters, and pretty much everything about this one!

I really love any story of Hollywood in this time period and this book absolutely nails this golden period of Hollywood in the 70s. There is a lot I loved about this book but I have to say it left me feeling a bit sad at the end. Overall, I enjoyed this one for the atmosphere.
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Thank you #smpress and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hollywood is as irresistible to read about as a People magazine in the doctor’s office. Glitzy, successful, young, talented, rich characters swirl around L.A. as part of The Sunset Crowd. Evra Scott, the daughter of famous actors, Kai de la Faire, a Hawaiian screenwriter, and Bea Dupont, yes—one of THE DuPonts—have a complicated three-way relationship. And when Theodora Leigh enters their lives, the complications tangle further.

I’ll admit it took me a while to like any of the characters. Everyone seemed haughty, self-absorbed, and out of touch with reality, which I suppose is highly believable for the setting. But, eventually, I developed sympathy for each of them. Kudos to Karin Tanabe for writing four distinct characters who are flawed, yet appealing.
Set in the 1970s, The Sunset Crowd reminded me of Daisy Jones and the Six in that Tanabe deftly recreated the zeitgeist of that era.

Themes of friendship, sexism, and ambition collide with money, power, and gorgeous settings to propel the story’s mystery forward. I felt like I had totally checked out of my (rather mundane, but definitely happy) life and had entered a foreign country where the residents spoke a different language and held different values. And isn’t that part of the fun of reading? Going places you might not ever visit and getting inside people’s heads who are totally different from you? Let me answer that. Yes. Yes, that is part of the fun. And, you’ll have fun on this reading journey.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read The Sunset Crowd and write my honest review.

Pub date: 7/4/23
Genre: historical fiction
Quick summary: Photographer Bea Dupont is a photographer in 1970s LA, a scene led by Hollywood royalty Evra Scott and her Hawaiian screenwriter beau Kai de la Faire. As newcomer Theodora Leigh starts to break into the scene, Sunset may never be the same.

I buddy read this one with @electric_bookaloo, and we both enjoyed the vibes of 1970s LA. There’s a very “outsider looking in” tone to the story, and it felt appropriate for summer! I related to outsider Bea the most, and I enjoyed seeing her try to understand this glamorous but complex world, especially when she started to become suspicious of upstart Theodora. Kai was another interesting character with his ever-changing relationships with all the women of LA, including childhood friend Bea.

If you need a lot of plot in your reads, this probably isn’t the book for you. BUT if you enjoy atmospheric reads and books like MALIBU RISING, give this one a try. I liked both audio and text, as the audio was very immersive.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for my e-ARC and Macmillan Audio for my ALC.

I'm torn on this one; it wasn't unenjoyable, but it wasn't necessarily enjoyable either. I don't think I would have continued it had I not been given a copy. There are a lot of characters to follow, and not many discernible characteristics to keep them all straight.

I received an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

I hate to say it but this book was just okay for me. I liked the sex,drugs & rock & roll aspect of the 70’s in the beginning but it got very old very fast. I might pick it up later though & see if my opinion changes.

Great cover and interesting storyline- but very boring writing. I wanted to love this one but could only get thru half of it before I finally left it behind. I hope some people with more patience find something they love in this book.

The Sunset Crowd will transport you to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood in the 1970's. There is plenty of drama as a group of friends chase fame and try to forge a path to stardom. The beautiful writing you've come to expect from Karin Tanabe in the perfect summer book package.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

"𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘯. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵."

Set in Hollywood during the sexy decadence of 1970s, 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗨𝗡𝗦𝗘𝗧 𝗖𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗗 is a character-driven story about a golden clique of 20-somethings involved in fashion, photography, film and, most of all, partying. But when an ambitious newcomer inserts herself into their group, sharing the spotlight fractures their friendships and upends their privileged world.

The blurb for this book references 𝘋𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘺 𝘑𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘪𝘹 which I think is a stretch - other than the time period, they have nothing in common. The author does a terrific job of capturing the hedonism and glamour of the 70s (I particularly loved the descriptions of the clothes and the trip to Cannes) and I enjoyed the almost Gatsby-esque nature of the story, but I struggled with the fact that it's a very slow burn with a lot of characters. They're all nepo babies out for themselves - if I'd had someone to root for, I might have been more invested.

3.25 stars

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the copy to review.

Set in Hollywood in the 1970's with all the glitz, glam, gossip, and secrets.

Evra Scott is the darling of Hollywood, the daughter of 2 Hollywood household names, and a style icon. She owns her own Boutique, and is dating the screenwriter of the moment Kai de la Faire. Bea Dupont, a photographer for Rolling Stone, and Vogue went to boarding school with Kai, and has been harbouring a crush on him since they were teens. Bea finds herself wrapped up in Evra's world and crowd and everything is glamorous until Theodora Leigh makes a splash. Theodora will do anything to get ahead and make her dreams come true, which may include using and destroying everyone around her in the pursuit of power, fame, and money.

Was this book a bit predictable, yes. Did i care? No. I loved the entire ride this book took me on. It was a roller coaster from start to finish and I was happily along for the ride. This was over the top in all the best ways. I love book featuring celebrities, and this one did not disappoint in the star power department. The characters felt so raw and real, and could not get enough of them. It was very gossip girl in the 70's and I ate it up.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley. This book drew me in by the cover and 1970s Hollywood setting. I did find the amount of characters a bit overwhelming and at times hard to follow. Some parts gave me DJ6 vibes! Bea DuPont shares her experience of Hollywood and her friends taking part of the party crowd. It was a slow start but makes for a fun beach read

2.5/5 stars

"I rolled up an old issue of Rolling Stone and made sure he breathed his last on the glossy pages."

The premise of this is what drew me in initially. When the pitch says things like "[In] Hollywood, no one stays on top forever...a dramatic quest for power in an industry that is as glamorous as it is duplicitous." and "From Rodeo Drive to the French Riviera, Karin Tanabe's The Sunset Crowd is a tale of survival and reinvention, of faking it until you make it, and the glittering appeal of success and stardom, as it seeks to answer that timeless question―who gets to have the American dream?" while also being marketed to lovers of Daisy Jones and the Six, you know you're in for a wild ride and living in a vivid world from page one.

And it's all told through the lens (literally sometimes) of Rolling Stones Photographer Bea DuPont. Coolest concept. Execution.... not so much.

But I was so bored. It was almost like Karin Tanabe had so much she wanted to say and evoke about 1970s Hollywood, that she decided not to cut anything, and stick as much in as possible for every single character and event. With that, I think this story also didn't fully know what to be? It wanted to be a character/history study like Daisy Jones, but also wanted to be a mystery/heist type novel? And in the end neither was very successful because of that.

It took me almost an entire month to read, and I had to almost force myself to pick it up most of the time. The book itself didn't really start pulling in some action until the last 30% for me, and by that point I had really lost most if not all interest in the characters or what happened to them.

The Sunset Crowd was published on July 4, 2023. Thank you to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley and the author for the advanced reader's copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Karin Tanabe is one of my fave authors, so when I heard she was releasing a new novel set in 1970s Hollywood with scammer elements, my jaw hit the floor.

THE SUNSET CROWD follows a group of high-profile friends navigating 1970s Hollywood. Bea, a socialite who abandoned NYC for life as a photographer in LA, finds herself intertwined in the life and exploits of Evra Scott, the daughter of two Hollywood heavyweights who has eschewed stardom in order to open her own store. While Bea enjoys Evra, she also keeps her close for selfish reasons: Evra is dating Kai, who Bea has always harbored a not-so-secret crush on since their days at a Swiss boarding school. When the group meets Theodora Leigh, their lives are turned upside down. Theodora is ruthlessly ambitious, and will stop at nothing to achieve the stardom she’s always longed for.

I largely enjoyed my experience reading this book, but I think it suffered from a bit too much in the way of telling and not showing. I’d expect a novel set in the lush world of 1970s Hollywood to be full of details about the clothes, the parties, the pop culture and big names that defined the period. While Tanabe crushed it in that aspect, a lot of the actual plot points feel like they were relayed to us after the fact. I often feel this way with historical fiction — there’s so much pressure to adequately and accurately set the scene that a lot of the actual storytelling can fall to the wayside.

That’s not to say that the entire book was bogged down in this. Once I got about a third of the way through, I think the pacing ramped up. While most of the characters aren’t particularly likable, I thought they were well-developed and pretty compelling. Elements of this almost felt Gatsby-esque, which I really liked!

All in all, not my favorite of Tanabe’s work, but still a good summer read.

If you’re interested in the elite and famous this was an incredible behind the scenes story that showcases all the drama, love, loss, ambition, money and familial relations.

A great pick for summer or a book club, just wasn’t 100% my style.

Not actually what I thought 'The Sunset Crowd ' would be. Yes, there was the '70's vibe of sex, love and rock and roll. The characters were good, even though some of them, I'm not sure why they were in it, they didn't add anything to the book to me. When one character entered the book, after a very short while, I pretty much knew what would happen. It became a little bit predictable too me. I didn't expect some stuff and that had upped my rating. Then by the end, I was expecting something more from a couple characters, but it didn't happen, which lowered my rating back to 3⭐ . It ended up being a very light 3 for me.

Published July 4, 2023

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the E-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

😊 Happy Reading 😊

#netgalley
#stmartinspress
#karintanabe

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.