Jet Setter

Born in 1978 in South Africa and forced to move up north due to political struggles. I always had a passion to travel and because of my experiences I then realized the importance of sharing with others the do’s and don’ts when one travels on commercial planes.

In October 1958, Pan American World Airways began making regularly scheduled flights between New York and Paris, courtesy of its newly minted wonder jet, the Boeing 707. Almost overnight, the moneyed celebrities of the era made Europe their playground. At the same time, the dream of international travel came true for thousands of ordinary Americans who longed to emulate the “jet set” lifestyle. Bestselling author and Vanity Fair contributor William Stadiem brings that Jet Age dream to life again in the first-ever book about the glamorous decade when Americans took to the skies in massive numbers as never before, with the rich and famous elbowing their way to the front of the line. Dishy anecdotes and finely rendered character sketches re-create the world of luxurious airplanes, exclusive destinations, and beautiful, wealthy trendsetters who turned transatlantic travel into an inalienable right. It was the age of Camelot and “Come Fly with Me,” Grace Kelly at the Prince’s Palace in Monaco, and Mary Quant miniskirts on the streets of Swinging London. Men still wore hats, stewardesses showed plenty of leg, and the beach at Saint-Tropez was just a seven-hour flight away. Jet Set reads like a who’s who of the fabulous and well connected, from the swashbuckling “skycoons” who launched the jet fleet to the playboys, moguls, and financiers who kept it flying. Among the bold-face names on the passenger manifest: Juan Trippe, the Yale-educated WASP with the Spanish-sounding name who parlayed his fraternity contacts into a tiny airmail route that became the world’s largest airline, Pan Am; couturier to the stars Oleg Cassini, the Kennedy administration’s “Secretary of Style,” and his social climbing brother Igor, who became the most powerful gossip columnist in America—then lost it all in one of the juiciest scandals of the century; Temple Fielding, the high-rolling high priest of travel guides, and his budget-conscious rival Arthur Frommer; Conrad Hilton, the New Mexico cowboy who built the most powerful luxury hotel chain on earth; and Mary Wells Lawrence, the queen bee of Madison Avenue whose suggestive ads for Braniff and other airlines brought sex appeal to the skies. Like a superfueled episode of Mad Men, Jet Set evokes a time long gone but still vibrant in American memory. This is a rollicking, sexy romp through the ring-a-ding glory years of air travel, when escape was the ultimate aphrodisiac and the smiles were as wide as the aisles. Praise for Jet Set “Aeronautics history, high times from the 1950s and ’60s, incredibly versatile name-dropping (from Mrs. John Jacob Astor to Christine Keeler of the Profumo scandal) and Sinatra’s ‘Come Fly With Me’ as a kind of theme song [all] connected to the glamorous days of air travel.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times “What a book William Stadium has written. . . . The Kennedys, the Rat Pack, Frank Sinatra, and early financiers like Eddie Gilbert are dealt with in depth. . . . I lived intimately through it all in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s and I am yet to find a mistake in author Stadiem’s amazing book. Order it now. All the players are here.”—Liz Smith, syndicated columnist “William Stadiem sexes up the glory days of aviation in Jet Set. Fly me!”—Vanity Fair “William Stadiem’s Jet Set takes you where no modern airliner can: to a time . . . when the means of travel was as exotic as the destination, and sometimes more so.”—Town & Country

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • Named One of the Best Beach Reads of the Year by Parade, O: The Oprah Magazine, and Good Housekeeping “The exuberant activity aboard the Splendido Marveloso is no match for the fireworks set off as the lies explode. Full of wicked humor and delicious destination details.”—People (Book of the Week) NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ESQUIRE When seventy-year-old Charlotte Perkins submits a sexy essay to the Become a Jetsetter contest, she dreams of reuniting her estranged children: Lee, an almost-famous actress; Cord, a handsome Manhattan venture capitalist who can’t seem to find a partner; and Regan, a harried mother who took it all wrong when Charlotte bought her a Weight Watchers gift certificate for her birthday. Charlotte yearns for the years when her children were young, when she was a single mother who meant everything to them. When she wins the contest, the family packs their baggage—both literal and figurative—and spends ten days traveling from sun-drenched Athens through glorious Rome to tapas-laden Barcelona on an over-the-top cruise ship, the Splendido Marveloso. As lovers new and old join the adventure, long-buried secrets are revealed and old wounds are reopened, forcing the Perkins family to confront the forces that drove them apart and the defining choices of their lives. Can four lost adults find the peace they’ve been seeking by reconciling their childhood aches and coming back together? In the vein of The Nest and The Vacationers, The Jetsetters is a delicious and intelligent novel about the courage it takes to reveal our true selves, the pleasures and perils of family, and how we navigate the seas of adulthood.

Larry Land started his European trek with the idea of seeing as much of the continent and its way of life as he could in a year. To pay his way, he photographed celebrities. That’s how he met the notorious Countessa di Loraine - or Marcy, to her intimates. And Larry quickly became one of her intimates. Life moved into high gear when Marcy introduced him to The Jet Set, - wild parties, yacht cruises, champagne and beef bourguignon, weekends in Spain, nights in Paris, and the insatiable demands of movie queen Loretta Alsace. Larry was living it up - until he met Dorry Malloy and fell in love. That was the beginning of the end, for no one could dump The Jet Set and escape their vicious revenge.

The Mile High Club is about to induct its newest member... Recently single flight attendant Erica Blake finds herself caught between her pilot ex-boyfriend, Brad, and billionaire Malcolm McDaniel on an intercontinental jaunt on his private jet. The young playboy is en route to Tokyo with a bevy of beauties, and it's up to Erica to remain professional even when he decides that the most gorgeous woman on the plane is her! Malcolm is used to getting his way and won't take no for an answer. He'll do whatever it takes to convince Erica that he's the man she needs to move on from her ex. But when the plane crashes on a tropical island and they must turn to each other for survival and comfort, ex-boyfriend Brad lets Erica know that he has no plans of letting her go. This bundle includes all four parts of the steamy, romantic adventure series as well as a bonus epilogue that isn't available anywhere else. Jet-Set Billionaire: The Complete Series is a novel length book that totals 43k words and includes a very HEA.

While cleaning a jet for entrepreneur Seth Jansen, Alexa Randall finds the strangest items: his one-year-old twins! Seth needs a temporary nanny; Alexa needs time for a one-on-one business pitch. So she says yes to an intimate stay on a lush Florida island—and yes to the man whose passion makes her question the choices she's made. Living in luxury brings back memories of the world she left behind. The babies remind her of the family she once wanted. And the nights with Seth are…incomparable. This billionaire could be the man of her dreams—if he's not out of her league.

From the moment Slade Carruthers lays eyes on the beautiful Clea Chardin, he has to have her. But Clea has a reputation, and Slade doesn't share his women. If Clea wants him, she'll come on his terms. Clea isn't a loose woman, as everyone believes, but the label helps to protect herself from heartbreak. Now she's about to meet her match. So begins a jet-set seduction that takes Clea and Slade around the globe and ultimately to bed....