NEW RELEASE
Faking It - Lotte Daley (2011)
For Katie Lewis, fame wasn't something she wanted or dreamed of. But it was what she got when her actor boyfriend, Jack Hunter, suddenly dumps her via text and trots off for a public relationship with the IT girl of the moment, Jessica Hilson. Katie quickly finds herself on the paparazzi's radar and the subsequent pictures of her behind (complete with cheap Tesco knickers) splashed across the tabloids aren't at all flattering. So Katie's PR colleagues want to make her over from head to toe and tell that horrible, egotistic ex of hers where to go. Soon, Katie is attending glamorous parties on the arms of the most eligible men in the country and dressing in Valentino and Donna Karen instead of Tesco and Primark. But, what Katie doesn't know is that someone is out to make a big profit all at her expense. When you're thrown into the world of celebrity, it's hard to tell who you can and can't trust - and this is especially true in Katie's case. But can she trust the one man who has stolen her heart? Or is she set for public heartbreak yet again? This is a brilliant debut, which starts off a little dicey but soon picks up. Katie is just like the girl-next-door, who can't seem to keep herself from disaster, but manages to look good in the end nevertheless. It's guaranteed to bring lots of laughter into any drab day. (AS)
Freelance journalist Charlotte Kymberley Walsh is to release her debut novel, Faking It, under the name Lotte Daley. It debates whether the girl-next-door can become the next big thing. The summary says: "It's not you, it's me - that's the cowardly text message that Katie receives from Jack, her actor boyfriend of three years, when he dumps her. And things go from bad to worse when photos of Jack canoodling with a famous size-zero actress are splashed across every gossip magazine and tabloid soon after. Just how much humiliation can a girl take? With the paparazzi camped out on her doorstep, Katie decides to preserve what's left of her dignity. So she agrees to become her PR colleagues' next project. They will make her over (hair, teeth, clothes, Botox, boobs - the works) and turn her into an instant celebrity in order to win back her ex and show the world that an ordinary girl can rival a beautiful bimbo. But will a new life in the limelight be everything Katie dreamt of? Can she make it in the cut-throat world of the beautiful, rich and famous? Is Jack worth all the hassle or is there someone else out there who might love Katie just the way she is?" Faking It is released in February.