Title: Battle Royal (Palace Insiders #1)

Author: Lucy Parker

Genre / Themes: Contemporary romance / reality TV / Baking* Enemies-to-lovers 

Title: Headliners (London Celebrities #5)

Author: Lucy Parker

Genre / Themes: Romance / TV presenters/ British

Release date: 20 Jan 2020

Author's links: Website / Twitter / Goodreads

My rating: 5 Stars

Trying yet another new thing - First Paragraph Monday it's exactly what the title says - I want to share the beginning of romances that I have found striking, unusual, memorable for various reasons.

The first excerpt I will share is from Artistic License by Elle Pierson (Lucy Parker). I've had the book on my Kindle since 2014, before I even knew who the author was. I only got to read it last week after a Twitter convo reminded me about it and I was just looking for what to read next. The story is lovely and I highly enjoyed it but the beginning just blew my mind. Here it is:

Picasso would have loved his face. It was all brutal planes: the long blade of nose, the sharp jut of bone in cheek and jaw, the thin slashes of brows and lips. No angle of which sympathised with another, as if he's been at the end of the line when features were assembled and forced to scramble together what was left. Sophy had never in her life seen a walking, breathing human quite so like a Cubist painting. 

His face was wonderful.

Title: The Austen Playbook (London Celebrities #4)

Author: Lucy Parker

Genre / Themes: Romance / Theatre actors / British

Release date: 22 April 2019

Author's links: Website / Twitter / Goodreads

My rating: 4.5 Stars

She can’t take her eyes off him.

Griff can hardly focus with a contagious joy fairy flitting about near him, especially when Freddy looks at him like that. His only concern right now should be on shutting down his younger brother’s well-intentioned (disastrous) schemes—or at the very least on the production (not this one) that might save his family home from the banks.

Instead all he can think of is soft skin and vibrant curls. 

As he’s reluctantly dragged into her quest to rediscover her passion for the stage and Freddy is drawn into his research on a legendary theater star, the adage about appearances being deceiving proves abundantly true. It’s the unlikely start of something enormous…but a single revelation about the past could derail it all.

Title: Making Up (London Celebrities #3)

Author: Lucy Parker

Genre / Themes: Romance / Show business

Release date: 28 May 2018 

Author's links: Website / Twitter / Goodreads

Add to Goodreads

My rating: 4 Stars

Blurb 

Once upon a time, circus artist Trix Lane was the best around. Her spark vanished with her confidence, though, and reclaiming either has proved…difficult. So when the star of The Festival of Masks is nixed and Trix is unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight, it’s exactly the push she needs. But the joy over her sudden elevation in status is cut short by a new hire on the makeup team.

Leo Magasiva: disgraced wizard of special effects. He of the beautiful voice and impressive beard. Complete dickhead and—in an unexpected twist—an enragingly good kisser. 

To Leo, something about Trix is…different. Lovely. Beautiful, even though the pint-size, pink-haired former bane of his existence still spends most of her waking hours working to annoy him. They’ve barely been able to spend two minutes together for years, and now he can’t get enough of her. On stage. At home. In his bed.

When it comes to commitment, Trix has been there, done that, never wants to do it again. Leo’s this close to the job of a lifetime, which would take him away from London—and from Trix. Their past is a constant barrier between them.

It seems hopeless.

Utterly impossible. 

And yet…

This is a second-chance enemies to lovers story. I liked the tension between the MCs and how they came together, first just as colleagues working on the same project, then as roommates and finally as lovers.

Trix is a great heroine, we get to meet her in the aftermath of her escape from a verbally abusive and manipulative relationship. We see the whole process of her going back to herself, regaining her confidence and professional ambition, re-learning to trust her judgement and to rely/be more open with her friends. It was a difficult journey that i found so easy to relate to at times - she had panic attacks and anxiety peaks, she made mistakes at work and it too her a long while to finally being able to discuss her issues with a psychologist. And in the midst of this painful journey back to herself, she fell in love

Leo too, was at a bad place when they met - he was dealing with some heavy stuff, professional problems, personal issues with his sister (two of them made their own family). They were like archnemesis for years after being very close (and in love with each other) in school due to a misunderstand caused by someone else. While I usually hate misunderstandings as the root of the conflict in romance, it worked for me here because it happened when they were teenagers and they both overreacted.

I liked Trix and Leo together, the support, the admiration for what the other can do professionally. It was so important, it made all the difference from her previous relationship.

Now, there were two scenes that I found unpleasant and which affected my overall enjhoyment of the story. Minor spoiler ahead!

The first is the opening scene where a fellow performer vomits all over the heroine and then they proceed to talk with a couple of people, including the hero, for a while before they get the chance to shower. It was weird and yucky, definitely felt unnecessarily prolonged.

While I found this scene simply annoying, the other one was more problematic. The heroine woke up to the hero painting/applying make-up to her body while she was still asleep. It was not sexual for either of them but it made me feel uncomfortable. She woke up worried, disoriented, not knowing what as happening and the hero not seeing anything wrong about his action was not Okay for me.

I absolutely loved the epilogue - we get a glimpse of Trix and Leo as a couple a few years down the road and it was perfect for them and made me so happy.

Despite the abovementioned two troubling scenes, I quite enjoyed the book and highly recommend it. It was a touching story about dealing with manipulation, self-doubt and leasrnng to trust yourself and others again.

Title: Pretty Face (London Celebrities #2)

Author: Lucy Parker

Genre / Themes: Romance / Theatre actors / British

Release date: 20 Feb 2017

Author's links: Website / Twitter / Goodreads

Add to Goodreads

My rating: 5 Stars

Blurb

The play's the fling

It's not actress Lily Lamprey's fault that she's all curves and has the kind of voice that can fog up a camera lens. She wants to prove where her real talents lie—and that's not on a casting couch, thank you. When she hears esteemed director Luc Savage is renovating a legendary West End theater for a lofty new production, she knows it could be her chance—if only Luc wasn't so dictatorial, so bad-tempered and so incredibly sexy.

Luc Savage has respect, integrity and experience. He also has it bad for Lily. He'd be willing to dismiss it as a midlife crisis, but this exasperating, irresistible woman is actually a very talented actress. Unfortunately, their romance is not only raising questions about Lily's suddenly rising career, it's threatening Luc's professional reputation. The course of true love never did run smooth. But if they're not careful, it could bring down the curtain on both their careers…

Review

I read Lucy Parker's debut novel, Act Like It, last year and have been looking forward to her next book ever since. And I ended up loving it even more than the first. Pretty Face is of my best reads of 2017. For me this story represents contemporary romance at its finest - a compelling story, engaging characters. slow burn romance with numerous twists and turns and some drama (well, a bit more than necessary) and a well deserved and fitting HEA.

I admit I'm not a big fan of age gap stories but every rule has its exceptions and this is case with Pretty Face. I found the age difference to be handled believably and it really worked well to highlight differences between the hero and the heroine. And they were quite a few, seemingly insurmountable at the beginning.

This is a story about expectations and presumptions and how their deceive us, about complex family relationships (Lily's family was just Wow! so messed up) and relationships between friends and ex-lovers and new lovers and colleagues. We also get a glimpse at the drama of the theatre/TV series world which I found interesting and done just right - not too little, not too much.

Lily is a wonderful heroine. She is trying hard to shed the image of a brainless bimbo and it's no easy given her curvy figure and breathy voice, and the role in a popular TV series which made her popular. But she is much more than people see on the screen and just because she is young and successful and comes where she comes from, people have a certain image of her. Initially we see Luc falling victim to his own assumptions and snobbish prejudice, only to gradually discover the real Lily behind the fake public image. And that was quite a journey of discovery for both of them. 

Luc also has a public image (one of grumpy, heartless theatre director), yet in his heart hearts he is sweet and cares about his friends and family. Somewhat unexpectedly both for him and for Lily, she breaks through his hard facade and brings to to fore his gentler, more human side. 

All these discoveries and revelations happen through some fun banter and comic situations. We see some complex, nuanced characters in an intriguing plot finding their way towards each other and it's a pleasure to follow along. Lucy Parker is a masterful writer that draws you into the story and keeps you invested in it till the very end.

There were some plot twists, especially towards the end which felt a bit too much, but it's a minor thing which did not detract from my overall enjoyment of this romance. I can recommend this, together with first book in the series (they both can be read as standalones) to all fans of contemporary romance. 

Purchase links: Amazon | iTunes | B & N | Audible

Here is another New and Debut post and I'm delighted to introduce to you Lucy Parker, author of contemporary romance. I read her debut novel, Act Like It (review), a romantic comedy set in the theatre world of London and I enjoyed everything about it. I was lucky enough to get an ARC of her next novel, Pretty Face, which comes out on Feb 20 and which in my opinion is even better than her first book. Read on to learn more about Lucy Parker, her upcoming book and a short excerpt from Pretty face. 

1. Tell us about yourself and why did you become a romance writer?

I’m probably similar to a lot of people in that I started writing stories at a young age. I was always terrible at maths and science (in fact, I was so bad at science that after an…incident, my high school chemistry teacher had to watch over my shoulder when I was doing practical work, to make sure I didn’t accidentally blow up the lab), but I loved reading and I loved writing. And I was a romance fan from the beginning. Even my long-suffering Barbie and Ken dolls were put through an epic romantic saga. At one point, Barbie had a terrible fall off a cliff (my bed), lost her memory and temporarily dumped Ken. The amnesia trope: never gets old.

It was watching the Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle version of Pride & Prejudice, though, that really directed me toward romance novels. I loved the miniseries so much that I read the book, my teacher saw me with it at lunchtime and gave me a copy of Jane Eyre to try, then my mum’s best friend showed me her shelf of Georgette Heyer novels, and that was that. I was about twelve when I realised there was an entire section of romance novels at the library, and at that point I might as well have packed a bag and moved in, because I pretty much lived there.

Again, like many people, writing and publishing a novel was my biggest dream, but it took me quite a long time to make that push and think “I can keep saying ‘I want to do this’ forever, but it’s never going to happen if I don’t actually sit down and try.” You really just have to decide one day: “Now. I’m starting it right now.”

2. Can you share some of your favourite books and authors?

I have so many, and different favourites for different times in my life. There are the books that I turn to when I’m stressed and need a laugh, the books that I’ve read so many times that the characters feel like real people to me, the books that have got me through some very difficult times. To name just a tiny few, in a total mix of genres and no order whatsoever: Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, P.G. Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Nalini Singh, Laura Florand, Julia Byrne, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Laurie R. King, Robin D. Owens, Lois McMaster Bujold, J.K. Rowling, Elizabeth Hoyt, Penny Reid, Eileen Wilks, Susanna Kearsley, Laura Kaye, Kresley Cole, J.D. Robb, Carla Kelly, Pamela Clare, Jenn Bennett, Sarah Mayberry and Julianne Donaldson.

In terms of specific titles, a handful of my all-time favourites: Nalini Singh’s Kiss of Snow, Laura Florand’s The Chocolate Rose and The Chocolate Touch, Julianne Donaldson’s Edenbrooke, and Susanna Kearsley’s The Shadowy Horses.

3. Who/what do you consider your writing influence/inspiration?

I don’t know if I could say any one particular author here. I honestly think that the books you read and love become such a part of you that they do shape your personality as you grow and age, and it’s everything you read and see and hear that channels into your own voice.

4. What kind of stories can the readers expect from you (contemporary/historical/sci-fi, adult/NA/YA, etc)?

Adult contemporary romance, but I’d love to try other genres as well in the future.

5. Please, introduce your latest/upcoming release.

My new release, Pretty Face, is out on February 20. It’s a standalone contemporary, but set in the same world as my previous book, Act Like It—the West End theatres of London. The heroine, Lily Lamprey, is an actor on a primetime period drama/soap opera, where she plays one of the villains of the show and is hopelessly typecast as a man-stealing half-wit. Her dream is to make the move into theatre and prove to the skeptics that she can actually act. She sees an upcoming production as her big chance—if she can put up with the bad-tempered director. Meanwhile, iconic director Luc Savage is appalled that he’s being stuck with the “Marilyn Monroe impersonator” who probably needs direction to tie her own shoes. They don’t expect to like each other. They certainly don’t expect to fall in love. And their relationship has the potential to ruin both Lily’s career and Luc’s reputation.

BLURB

Highly acclaimed, award-winning author of Act Like It Lucy Parker returns readers to the London stage with laugh-out-loud wit and plenty of drama 

The play's the fling 

It's not actress Lily Lamprey's fault that she's all curves and has the kind of voice that can fog up a camera lens. She wants to prove where her real talents lie—and that's not on a casting couch, thank you. When she hears esteemed director Luc Savage is renovating a legendary West End theater for a lofty new production, she knows it could be her chance—if only Luc wasn't so dictatorial, so bad-tempered and so incredibly sexy. 

Luc Savage has respect, integrity and experience. He also has it bad for Lily. He'd be willing to dismiss it as a midlife crisis, but this exasperating, irresistible woman is actually a very talented actress. Unfortunately, their romance is not only raising questions about Lily's suddenly rising career, it's threatening Luc's professional reputation. The course of true love never did run smooth. But if they're not careful, it could bring down the curtain on boththeir careers… 

Purchase links: Amazon / B&N / Carina Press

Excerpt

Luc Savage looked like Gregory Peck, circa some dapper time between Roman Holiday and To Kill A Mockingbird. There was more bulk in the shoulders, silver in the hair and darkness in the soul; otherwise, the resemblance was uncanny. Lily had seen him once before, at an opening night for another director’s play. The theatre had been full of famous faces that night, and the production distractingly bad, and she hadn’t paid him any particular attention. Her mental image of him had been formed more closely and recently by Jamie’s faithfully repeated insults, so she’d been expecting something more along the lines of an orc.

Any resemblance to Old Hollywood charm ended at his bone structure.

He stood in the doorway to his office, surveying her. When she’d arrived, his secretary had also done a head-to-toe sweep, and then shaken her head in apparent disbelief, which hadn’t built Lily’s confidence.

She stared back at him, directly into his unimpressed grey eyes. She had put a stranglehold on her nerves during the long wait, dialling back from jiggling knees to a bit of subtle nail-picking.

Yet all of a sudden, she wasn’t nervous at all.

This was Luc Savage. Award-winning, career-making, ego-curdling Luc Savage. Get-in-my-way-and-I’ll-crush-you-like-a-bug Luc Savage. And her driving instinct was to touch the tips of her boots to his—and then stand her ground until he stepped back first.

Her spine prickled.

After a long pause that was too charged to be awkward, he stepped forward and extended a hand. “Luc Savage.”

She glanced down at his fingers wrapped around hers. “Lily Lamprey.”

They released each other’s hands; their eyes met again.

Game on.

Author Bio and Links

Lucy Parker lives in the gorgeous Central Otago region of New Zealand, where she feels lucky every day to look out at mountains, lakes, and vineyards. She has a degree in Art History, loves museums and art galleries, and doodles unrecognizable flowers when she has writer’s block. 

When she’s not writing, working or sleeping, she happily tackles the towering pile of to-be-read books that never gets any smaller. Thankfully, there’s always another story waiting. 

Her interest in romantic fiction began with a pre-teen viewing of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (Firth-style), which prompted her to read the book as well. A family friend introduced her to Georgette Heyer, and the rest was history.

Website / Twitter 

Date of publication: 30 Nov 2015