Miss Bubbles Steals the Show

Murray's energetic debut novel stars 25-year-old Stella Aurora Monroe, a struggling actress in New York City whose sparkle may be dimming after one-too-many miserable auditions. On the rebound from an affair with a married man, Stella drowns her sorrows in chocolate martinis and one-night stands. She's on the lookout for a man who might help her career and thinks she's found her ticket to romance and fame in "ascending-to-the-stratosphere" actor Jasper Hodge, until he turns out to be another two-timing dog. Meanwhile, as Stella's career goes nowhere, her whistling white Persian cat, Miss Bubbles, lands a supporting role in Jasper's prestigious Off-Broadway show, and Stella slowly starts to question her own motives in pursuing stardom. She learns something about self-respect and authentic ambition, and makes a quick recovery from a trampled heart when she realizes the bookish boy next door is the real thing. By the end of this entertaining if somewhat thin novel, readers see a shallow, hapless Stella grow up into a more serious—but still spunky—young woman. (July)