NEW RELEASE
It Felt Like a Kiss - Sarra Manning (2014)
Ellie works at an upmarket London art gallery owned by Vaughn (from the 2009 novel Unsticky). She's never met her rock-star father Billy Kay - the guy her hippie mother, Ari, had a love affair with. Most people in Ellie's life don't know about her heritage but then her ex-boyfriend, Richey, stumbles across her secret and sells the story to a tabloid. Now she's being stalked by the paparazzi, portrayed as a sex-crazed gold-digger. She is forced to turn to her father's lawyer, David Gold, for help. How can she prove to him she's not the girl the media makes her out to be? This story shines a light on what it is like to be thrown into the spotlight, at the mercy of the British press. Although my interest in the storyline waned throughout, the hounding of Ellie and the back story of her mother's relationship with Billy were highlights. The downsides: the chemistry between Ellie and David felt more like a peck, than a smouldering kiss, and Vaughn was simply awful - was he still such an obnoxious jerk at the end of Unsticky? But despite this, readers looking for a satisfying way to spend a few hours shouldn't go past a Sarra Manning novel.
It Felt Like a Kiss, by Sarra Manning, asks have you ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with? The summary says: "Ellie Cohen is living her dream. A great job at an exclusive Mayfair art gallery, loyal mates, loving family, and really, really good hair. Well, there's the famous rock-star father who refuses to acknowledge her and a succession of 'challenging' boyfriends, but nobody's perfect. But when a vengeful ex sells Ellie out to the press, she suddenly finds herself fighting to keep her job, her reputation and her sanity. Then David Gold - handsome, charming but ruthlessly ambitious - is sent in to manage the media crisis . . . and Ellie. David thinks she's a gold-digger and Ellie thinks he's a shark in a Savile Row suit, so it's just as well that falling in love is the last thing on their minds." It Felt Like a Kiss is out in February 2014.