Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Mamarazzi Character Interview and Review

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

Release Date: September 11, 2015 from Prism Book Group




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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)

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