Title: Walk On By
Series: Best Things In Life #1
Author: Stacey Solomon
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Publishers: Totally Bound
Released: 5 February 2015
Blurb
Ever since Charlotte Taylor was a little girl she’s wanted fame and fortune. She sings with the voice of an angel and is soon plucked out of obscurity and launched into the limelight as the overnight sensation ‘Lola’.
Charlotte attends wild celebrity parties and moves in circles with the rich and famous, but the people living the life of celebrity aren’t all she imagined them to be and neither is her life. Struggling to find the real Charlotte again she battles against the crazy life she’s thrust into, desperately trying to swim to the surface.
Blake Hudson is a self-made man. Successful in his own right, he’s busy making his own mark on the world. Self-assured, strong and determined, he’s not looking for a permanent relationship. But when he meets the sweet and charming Charlotte, he’s captivated. But the world of celebrity and business collide and commitments, half-truths and unintentional deception don’t make for smooth sailing.
Hilarious consequences ensue through this romantic comedy, but can Lola and Blake overcome the challenges that life and fame throw their way to find their own happy-ever-after, or will Lola just have to Walk on By?
Excerpt
Over 18 only
Copyright © Stacey Solomon 2015. All Rights Reserved,
Total-E-Ntwined Limited, T/A Totally Bound Publishing.
Oh. My. God!
I have a giant penis in front of me. A. Giant. Penis. In front of me!
I stared at it, wondering what new kind of exciting experience I’d found myself in tonight. Who on earth hosted a party with furniture shaped as body parts? And rude body parts at that! I tried to snap my mouth shut—it had fallen open at my need to giggle—but someone walked past and stuffed a canapé in it.
A tuna canapé. I loved tuna.
I spilled a bit on my clothes so reached for a napkin from the nearest table. After discreetly removing the offending splodge, I glanced around for a bin. There it was—another body part—but this time it was a woman’s mouth, all pouty red lips in a selfie smile. Cute!
“Wait there a sec,” I said to Roo-Roo, my best mate—real name Rupert, like the bear.
He gave me one of his looks—arched eyebrow, big grin—and waved his hand as if wafting away a fly.
“Isn’t this a scream?” he, well, screamed.
Yes, it was a bloody scream, something I’d never have thought I’d be a part of in a million years. But as parties were held in places where the walls had seriously big ears, I kept my opinion to myself. If I said one wrong thing, I could find myself in the newspaper come the morning.
“Yeah, it’s brilliant,” I said, leaving him to stare at the penis-chair in awe while I scooted around a group of chatters to dump the napkin.
The lips of the bin closed around it, and a freakish burp erupted. I jumped and laughed in shock.
I intended to have fun here and it was ages before I had to go home. We’d not long arrived and a crazy night stretched ahead. Someone griped that they wanted to go home and I wondered why they’d want to leave such a madcap bash. Besides, turning up at a party then buggering off after only being there for five minutes wasn’t the done thing. It would be a huge snub, and I didn’t want to offend anyone.
I went back to stand next to Rupert, feeling lucky I had the chance to make the best of what life had given me. Walk the new path in my sparkly high-heeled shoes and hope I didn’t fall over.
I stared at the penis-chair again. I had to admit its curved shape looked comfortable, but to sit on it? Without feeling…odd?
“I bet you love that, don’t you?” I said.
Roo-Roo let out a snigger, getting stares from a few people and smiles from others. “Oh, you know how I love a bit of that.”
It seemed I’d known Roo-Roo forever. He spent most of his time making celebrities look perfect with his makeup skills. He’d covered spots and blemishes for the best of them, plucked eyebrows—and hairs from moles on chins—so that the public had no idea these icons were actually the same as them underneath the war paint.
Did we all wear a mask? Did anyone else here feel like me? Out of their depth but putting a brave face on it? Going by the way they were all mingling, dancing and laughing, they were coping just fine.
I flopped onto the chair, hoping to ignore the way-too-phallic design but smacked my cheek against something squishy. Roo-Roo roared, clapping his hands together and rolling his eyes. Turning to see what was so hilarious, I realised how I must look, sitting on a chair of this sort.
Rupert was easily pleased though, bless him.
Review
Foxy Rating = Four Stars
*Copy provided by the publishers in exchange for an honest review
This was released as part of Totally Bound’s new Celebritease line and the Best Things In Life series. In this book Stacey Solomon has delivered an engaging, romantic and comical read all about the celebrity circuit and all the highs and lows that entails.
Charlotte aka Lola is new to the celebrity life, having found fame as a ‘thrust into the spotlight’ singer. She doesn’t have many people to support her apart from her new bestie – Rupert or Roo Roo as he is known. It had always been Charlotte’s goal to be a famous singer and now that she has achieved that she finds herself with a new focus – to find the man of her dreams, her soul mate and as if it were meant to be Blake comes into her life. But besides being oh so sexy, gorgeous and sweet, he is also hiding something secret.
I liked the feel of this read as it held a little of everything to keep the reader entertained. There were some real laugh out loud moments and some quite surprising steam thrown in. I did find myself at times wondering if a certain character was based on someone in the spotlight, especially at the parties Charlotte was made to attend.
Overall a good hearty plotline and although the ending was a little abrupt, it did leave the room for a further book to soothe the reader’s thirst for more. Four stars.
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About Stacey Solomon
The multi-talented Stacey Solomon was the UK X-Factor 2009’s last standing female contestant after coming third in the show.
In late 2010, she entered ITV’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and was crowned Queen of the Jungle. She was also voted Mum of the Year in 2011.
Stacey is currently the face of Look Again and we regularly see her lighting up our screens on numerous TV shows including Sing If You Can.
Alongside the publication of her new book, 2015 sees her releasing a new single and her own perfume.
Follow Stacey on Twitter
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