Soap Opera — Eileen Fulton

Real-life star of As the World Turns for over forty years, actress and novelist Eileen Fulton weaves a sizzling tale that could only come from someone with an insider's savvy about what happens on a TV soap--after the cameras stop rolling...

Left at the altar in her small Midwest town, Amanda Baker heads to New York City to start anew and follow her dreams right onto the set of TV's most popular soap opera. She is to be the new "Hope" on Another Life, a role that will make her a star. But nothing comes without hard choices, and soon Amanda is swept into an off-camera crisis involving the troubled cast of Another Life--a shocking real-life drama that could shatter Amanda's own glittering new world. Now she must risk everything to save her career... and her heart.

And was that really Monique O'Day, the beautiful and sophisticated star who had been so captivated with Amanda that she insisted on sharing a cup of Queen Ann tea with her in her private dressing room after the test? And, of course, Hank. The executive producer who held her hand, led the way, then later, while she was in Monique's dressing room, asked her if she would be their Hope. Amanda collapsed onto the bed and began replaying her audition over and over in her head, trying to savor each moment of the day that was about to change her life.

In another part of Manhattan, Hank Pride was sprawled naked across his stainless-steel platform bed, replaying the very same audition scene. Hank watched the images flash across the two large-screen televisions in front of him. Amanda's audition tape was playing on the left and a twenty-year-old scene from Another Life featuring a very young Monique O'Day was playing on the right. While the scenes flashed across his naked and perspiring body he suddenly had an inspiration for the next twist in the plotline.

And it had nothing to do with the soap.