Today, I have Brooke Williams promoting her Hollywood inspired romance novel called Mamarazzi. We're having a character interview and I've also written a review for this book.
Mamarazzi
By Brooke Williams
Join the Sept. 15th
Release Day Party on Facebook HERE
Enjoy giveaways with a
dozen different authors!
Danica Bennett isn't sure what she hates
more...her job or the fact that she's good at it. As one of the many
Hollywood paparazzi, she lives her life incognito and sneaks around trying to
get the best shot of the latest star. When she is mistaken for an extra
on a new, up and coming TV show, her own star rises and she becomes the one
being photographed. Add that to the fact that she's falling for her
co-star, Eliot Lane, and Danica is in a whole heap of trouble.
Add “Mamarazzi” to your Goodreads list HERE
About the Author
Brooke Williams writes in a sleep-deprived state while her daughters
nap. Her romantic comedy is best read in the same state. Brooke has twelve
years of radio in her background, both behind the scenes and on the air. She
was also a television traffic reporter for a short time despite the fact that
she could care less about hair and make-up. Today, Brooke stays at home with
her daughters and works as a freelance writer for a variety of companies. When
she isn’t working for paying clients, she makes things up, which results in
books like “Accept this Dandelion.” Brooke is also the author of "Accept
this Dandelion," “Wrong
Place, Right Time,” “Someone
Always Loved You,” “Beyond
the Bars.” She plans to continue the Dandelion story into a series and
looks forward to her first children's book release “Baby Sheep Gets a Haircut”
in June 2016. Brooke and her husband Sean have been married since 2002 and have
two beautiful daughters, Kaelyn (5) and Sadie (nearly 2).
Connect with Brooke:
Note from the Author on the book's inspiration:
I've always been fascinated by the Hollywood life and the idea that
"they" are different from "us." The idea for Mamarazzi has
been with me for a long time. I'm not even exactly sure when I came up with it,
but in college, I had a screenwriting class and I had to write a portion of a
screenplay. I wrote "Paparazzi," which was the same general idea only
with a male lead character. When I began writing romantic comedy, the idea came
back to me and I decided to chance the main character to a female and call it
"Mamarazzi." I even had a naming contest so that facebook fans and
blog readers could name the characters in the book. Every character in the
novel is reader named and approved! Overall, I wanted to examine what happens
when you take someone from one side of the fence and plop them on the other
side. In the end, famous or not, we're all just people. And in this book, they
all have secrets...
And next from Brooke Williams....
"Dandelions on
the Road"
releases November 5,
2015...
pre-order today by clicking
below
Character Interview:
Hi, my name is Danica and my story is featured in the novel “Mamarazzi.”
Thanks for having me today and I hope you’ll go easy on me. What do you want to
know? I’m literally an open book, if you read “Mamarazzi.” Haha.
(P.S. This interview occurred before the events of the book took place)
What’s your favourite part of the
day? Morning, afternoon or night?
I have to pick just one? As far as my job goes, night is best. It’s hard
to take pictures after dark, but the good shots are always available with night
as a veil. Personally, though, morning is best. The day is fresh and anything
can happen.
If you had to take anyone with you
on a long journey away from home, who would it be?
My mom. She’s been there for me all of my life and continues to be a
support no matter what I do. Time with her is precious because as I get older,
I understand days are fleeting. Hers are limited and I want to make sure I get
as much as I can in with her.
What is your motto in life?
Grab every opportunity you can, when you can. You never know when
something else might roll around. It’s easy to make mistakes when you grasp
anything that whizzes by, but if you don’t get on the train when it comes,
you’ll never know where it ends up.
Name one of your weaknesses that
you’d like to work on.
Well, I have plenty, but I’d say my profession is my biggest weakness.
I’m a photographer by trade and I really want to get into the professional
photography business. But breaking into that world is really tough and I’ve
fallen into taking, you could say, not so flattering pictures of celebrities. I
want to quit, but I need the money to keep myself and my mother afloat.
If you were able to invent something
totally new for your world, what would it be, and why do you think it’s needed?
I’d invent a machine that allows people to glimpse a snippet of their
future. I wouldn’t want to see too much and ruin the element of surprise. But
if I knew a few things about my future, I’d know better how to conduct things
today.
Give a memory from childhood.
I remember spending endless hours in Nebraska cornfields. Sounds boring,
right? My mother took me to a variety of landscapes around the state so she
could shoot the fields at sunset or at other times of the day. While she took
pictures and tested the light, I was left to entertain myself. It’s amazing
what a kid can come up with in an empty field! Those were some of my fondest
memories of growing up.
Are you similar to how you were as a
child or have you changed significantly? If you’ve changed, what changed you?
I think my sense of wonder is a bit jaded now that I’m an adult. When I
was a child, I didn’t realize how much adults struggle at times to make things
meet. I still have my childlike belief that if you try hard enough, you can
succeed. But I also know how hard success can be to achieve.
What is the most sacrificial thing
you’ve done for someone else?
I care for my mother. She’s too young, but she has Alzheimer’s and it’s
advancing fast. Though she lives back in Nebraska and I live in Hollywood, I
pay for her care and all of her needs. I wish I could see her more than I do.
It kills me to be this far away, but it’s also hard when I visit and she
doesn’t know me. I don’t see her care as a sacrifice, really, though. She’s my
mom and she’s done so much for me, I owe her way more than I can ever do in
return.
Cat or dog person?
I love animals in general. I don’t have pets myself, but I grew up in a
rural area and there were plenty of every kind. I look forward to the day when
I am more settled and have regular hours so I can have some of each!
Review:
This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.
I was hooked by this story right from the beginning. The plot kept me going throughout and didn't bore me. What a great story! I thoroughly enjoyed it. The twists and turns and the happenings were so unusual, different and yet authentic. When an ordinary person enters the world of Hollywood and acting, their life changes forever. So it is with Danica who is a paparazzi photography and gets swept up, purely by accident, into a part in a TV series called Cousins. I loved taking Danica's journey as she struggles to keep her past a secret and to balance all the changes in her new life. Even though the things she did in the beginning really got to me, I understood why she did them and could sympathize with her. I could also see the character arc as she changed through the book. I don't want to spoil it and share too much, but it's well worth a read if you want a book that will keep you hooked and invested throughout. Great setting, characters and what fun to enter behind the scenes of Hollywood.
4.5 stars (oh sorry, Eiffel Towers)
