NEW RELEASE


Real Happy Family - Carol Wolfson Widger (2014)

Stage mother Colleen has always been willing to go to any lengths to help daughter Lorelei find fame and fortune. But after an embarrassing episode on reality TV show Flo's Studio, Lorelei has taken off and is refusing to speak to her. Life in Reno is becoming more desperate by the day for Lorelei, where she is a waitress at a dingy establishment and hangs out with her druggie boyfriend Don. Meanwhile her sister-in-law Robin, the agent who got her the audition on Flo's Studio, has started fertility treatment only to find husband Darren has to be away on a film shoot. When Colleen is offered the chance to feature the family on reality TV show Real Happy Family, which stages intervention for troubled family members, it seems this is Colleen's shot at getting her daughter back and giving her another chance at fame. With strong character development, this is a well-written dark tale about a family falling apart and the dangers of chasing stardom.



Carol Wolfson Widger's novel Real Happy Family is centred around one messed-up family. The summary says: "Part-time actress, full-time party girl Lorelei Branch isn't famous yet, but she's perfected a Hollywood lifestyle full of clubbing, fashion, and the latest juice cleanse. When Robin, her sister-in-law and agent, throws a plum job her way, Lorelei jumps at the chance and auditions to be the new girl on television's hottest reality show, Flo's Studio. Enter Colleen, Lorelei's pill-popping mother, who wants nothing more than to see her daughter win the fame and glory she never had a chance to pursue herself. But Lorelei's dream of becoming the next reality star is dashed when she loses the spot on Flo's Studio to a stunning African woman. In an attempt to defend her daughter against what she calls a rigged contest, Colleen goes ballistic and delivers a racist rant on live television, sparking a national media frenzy. Lorelei flees the limelight, humiliated and broke, with her slacker boyfriend Don and heads for Reno where she begins to self-destruct. Meanwhile, the rest of the Branch family starts to come apart at the seams. Colleen and her husband, Carl, are quietly drifting apart. Darren, Lorelei's older half-brother, is stuck in Florida working on a contentious film set while his wife, Robin, continues the tedious regimen of fertility drugs meant to help them conceive a child. Desperate to bring the family together again and make things right, Colleen hatches a plan to stage an intervention for Lorelei on the reality show Real Happy Family. Soon the entire Branch family is entangled in a mission to bring the prodigal daughter back into the fold. Will Lorelei ever forgive Colleen? Will Real Happy Family air their most sensational intervention yet? All roads lead to a seedy Reno hotel room, where a reality TV crew is waiting."

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