Product Description

This stunning autobiography chronicles the incendiary relationship between a beautiful young career woman and "The King." In a whirlwind romance, Joyce jeopardized her career and defied her strict Catholic upbringing to be with Elvis. But she soon discovered that behind the legend was a lonely man addicted to mood-altering drugs. 16 pages of exclusive personal photos.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1060705 in Books
• Published on: 1994-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 386 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Bova supplies a new perspective on Elvis. No Graceland groupie she, the author was a Capitol Hill staffer on the Armed Services Committee when she met Presley in 1969 in Las Vegas during her vacation. She was unprepared for "how beautiful he was." The fraught and erratic love affair that followed lasted till 1972. Bova, writing with freelancer Nowels, draws a portrait of this larger-than-life star, surrounded by sycophants, drifting into drug abuse and yet still sensitive to his fans. Also intriguing is the fact that Bova struggled to stand up to the "King," to keep her job and her independence. Looking back she sees the star in a softer light than many tale tellers, stressing that he was "devoutly religious and believed in family values." But she also details how Elvis pressured her to take narcotics until she in turn became addicted. It all makes seductive reading, although one questions Bova's 100% recall of conversations and passing thoughts after more than two decades. Even taken with the obligatory grain of salt, this is a piquant and smoothly written addition to the Elvis canon. Photos not seen by PW. First serial to National Star; Doubleday Book Club featured alternate; Literary Guild alternate.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Here's a novel idea: a book about someone who knew Elvis Presley. At least Bova knew him in the biblical sense, which adds a little spice to what otherwise is as slight and silly as a Presley movie. Act one: Joyce Bova, 24-year-old Priscilla Presley lookalike who works on Capitol Hill, goes to Las Vegas where a backstage meeting with the King sets hearts fluttering. Act two: well, the flap copy says it best: "In a whirlwind romance that swept her from the corridors of Congress to the secluded verandas of Graceland, Joyce jeopardized her career and defied her strict Catholic upbringing to be with her lover." Act three: Bova gets pregnant, but when she tries to tell Elvis the news, he gives her his take on motherhood: mamas don't have sex after the baby is born. (Readers of Priscilla Presley's book will recall that the King suffered from an industrial-strength dose of the whore/madonna complex.) Act three, continued: Bova has an abortion, but that doesn't save a relationship riddled with too many drugs. As with so many who knew Elvis, Bova apparently has total recall of every conversation she ever had with the man. There's not much to remember, really, but it beats Bova's own musings on life: "I sat there by myself in the dark and thought and dreamed and fought that lonely battle we fight against our own insecurity, against the icy inner terror that freezes your guts and makes you shrink back from the big scary world out there." It may freeze your own guts to buy this book, but if there are Presley fans in your neighborhood--and there are--you have no choice. Ilene Cooper

From Kirkus Reviews
Bova, a staff member of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, reveals all she knows about Elvis, but her subject has been so intensely overexposed that even the most intimate details sound familiar. In 1969, in Las Vegas, Bova and a friend were hand-picked from a line of waiting show-goers to meet Elvis backstage. Bova believes that her instant rapport with the King grew out of the fact that she is a twin, as Elvis was, although his brother died at birth. Thus began her three-year relationship with a man who was obviously troubled and affected by giant mood swings. Though her own personality remains in the background, Bova manages a no-nonsense outlook and explains that she stood by her man because of love, even though he was married and had complete disregard for her career. Presley had some odd ideas about women: He was so insistent on purity that she hesitated to inform him that she was not a virgin (``In a way he was right, it would be `new' for me,'' she thought about her prospective sexual experience with him), and when Bova was pregnant (unbeknownst to him), he explained that once a woman had given birth he could no longer be attracted to her (she subsequently had an abortion). Presley's addiction to sleeping pills was a constant problem, but Bova had trouble confronting him about it and took them herself at his insistence. Bova also outlines the King's spiritual side, which involved vague, self- important beliefs that he was teaching people through music and that he was ``put here on earth to serve a special purpose'' with his unique powers. A somewhat pathetic portrait of the entertainer limping toward death. (16-page photo insert, not seen) (First serial to National Star; Literary Guild alternate selection) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

A modern-day fairy tale......
Joyce Bova's account of her time with Elvis was a moving, but realistic, romantic tale of two different worlds. She is believable when she recounts her emotions, her fears, her hopes and dreams. The resemblance between Ms. Bova and Priscilla Presley is uncanny. And Joyce's intuition about Elvis is unbelievable. The heartbreak, the highs and the lows that she faces in her relationship with Elvis are ones that all women who have been in love can relate to. Joyce is a romantic, but a realist also. She is a strong lady, who does not resort to pity to interest an audience. She tells it like it is, warts and all.

HER light will never dim
I was completely blown away by the strength of emotions presented to me as a reader.
Joyce's courage and love for Elvis was so palpable, so intense, I was almost embarassed by the emotions I would find inside myself when reading this book.
I often would talk to my wife of Joyces' story and together we would sit and reflect on how intense this love was.
The dispair, fear, futility and finally (sadly), her resignation to the fact that, despite how powerful their love was for each other, despite how much Joyce was willing to sacrifice for that love (for sacrifice she surely did), the only way she could save herself from a terrible fate was to leave the very thing that made her feel complete.
If my words make no sense to you, I apologize. Every time I try to put the feelings that this book caused me to have into words, I inevitably cannot.
I would often talk to a dear friend of this story as well. More often than not, I would have to just stop and catch my breath because I could not put my feelings into the right words.
Joyce, you truly are a remarkable, wonderful and beautiful person. Your strength to finally end your life with Elvis was probably one of the toughest things to do.
But it made you a much stronger person.
Truly remarkable. Thank you.

Very good book on a love affair with "The King"
I read Joyce Bova's book on her love affair with Elvis and I thought that it was a beautiful but tragic story. Personally I believe her. From beginning to end the book showed the start of a relationship and its crashing end due to Elvis' dependency on prescription drugs, which the author also admits to dabbling in as well. However, the only problem I had with the book was Ms. Bova's "messing around with a married man and proud of it" attitude. When she made the remark that "if he's so married, how come he invites me to his home", it made her look less classy and less of a lady- no matter if he was famous or still driving a truck. Other than that, I recommend this book on Elvis. It described him and didn't hold a thing back.