Flirting with Fame by Samantha Joyce – Review, Guest Post & Giveaway
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / BAM
Description:
Elise Jameson is the secret author behind the bestselling, cult hit Viking Moon series. But when a stranger poses as Elise, the painfully shy, deaf nineteen-year-old starts to see how much she’s missing. Can she really hide in the shadows forever? This clever, coming-of-age debut is for anyone who has ever felt unsure in their own skin.
After a freak childhood accident leaves her deaf and physically scarred, nineteen-year-old Elise Jameson retreats into a world of vibrant characters she creates on her laptop. She is shocked when her coping mechanism turns into a career as a phenomenal bestselling novelist. Fans are obsessed with Elise’s Viking Moon series and its author—a striking girl with zero resemblance to Elise who appears on the back covers. Elise sent the randomly Googled photo to her editor following a minor panic attack. Now, horrified to learn she is expected on set of the television pilot based on her novels, Elise tracks down her anonymous stand-in. To Elise’s surprise, Veronica Wilde has been taking credit for Viking Moon for years. She eagerly agrees to keep up the charade if Elise will pose as her assistant.
It’s hard for Elise to watch a stranger take credit for her work and get all the perks she desires, including admiration from the show’s heartthrob star. Edged onto the sidelines of her own life, Elise reconsiders her choice to stay anonymous. Is she ready to come to terms with her true identity—and with the long-buried secrets that could cost her her career, her fans, and the few precious friendships she’s made?
Review:
Flirting with Fame by Samantha Joyce is her debut novel, which is a very good start to a bright career. Flirting with Fame is considered New Adult genre, but I felt this type of story fits for everyone, young and old. We meet our heroine, Elise Jameson, who is deaf, from a childhood accident. Elise is a very shy freshman at college; has anxiety around crowds, caused by a scar on her face, and her being deaf. This has caused Elise to not feel good about herself. We also learn that Elise has a big secret that only a friend and her family know: she is Aubrey Lynch, the author of the Viking Moon series, which has become a major bestseller and cult favorite. There will also TV series on Viking Moon. Elise, who is now 19, wrote the first book at the ripe age of 16, and even her agent doesn’t know who she really is, nor what she looks like.
Having been forced to submit a picture of herself, a couple of years ago, Elise pulled one off the internet of a pretty girl. But that is about to be blown up in her face, as Elise sees the girl she used is now masquerading as her. With the upcoming TV series, she is being told to help be on the set, and in panic investigates who the girl pretending to be her is. Elise will then offer Veronica money to continue to act as her.
Elise will be on the set acting as Veronica’s assistant to be able to answer questions. What follows is an interesting coming of age for Elise. Elise is a wonderful character, as you feel for her throughout, and root for her to gain confidence in herself. She will slowly come out of her shell, especially with a possible romance on the horizon. What will help Elise are the friends she finds at college, such as Reggie, and Clint, as well as her old friend, Jin; who were great characters developed by Joyce. But it is the star of the TV show, Gavin, who will win her heart, and change everything . Gavin may be a star, but he finds himself falling for the sweet innocent and pretty Elise. Having had a sister with a hearing problem, Gavin knew sign language, and was able to communicate well with Elise. But as normal, there are obstacles in the way.
Veronica was a bitch, and we couldn’t wait for Elise to become more confident to stand up to her. Elise’s anxiety and fears were a major obstacle for both her telling the truth and any possible romance with Gavin. She must also face her friends , Gavin, her agent, editor, etc, when the truth is revealed.
Flirting with Fame was a nice and fun read, as well as a light sweet romance. Very well done by Samantha Joyce.
Reviewed by Barb
Copy provided by Publisher
Writing a Heroine
It’s funny because, when you hear the word heroine, the first image that usually pops into your head is a woman who kicks physical butt. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who is probably my favorite heroine off all time, it’s easy to imagine a heroine as someone who saves the world, and maybe even gets the boy while she’s at it.
But there are those women who hold their power internally, and whose strength will not win them any physical competitions, but it is what keeps them going in the face of adversity and is what pushes them to survive even the darkest of times.
Elise, in my book Flirting with Fame, is such a heroine. She’s overcome a lot in her life. She was deafened and scarred in an accident when she was younger, and thrust into a new world of silence and ridicule at thirteen. Her way of combatting this was to create a world where she felt safe and powerful—a Viking world in the novels that eventually get her best-seller status, titled Viking Moon. Elise finds a way to heal through her writing. As her Vikings battle it out on the pages of her books, she battles through a world where she is ostracized for the scars on her face.
The moment she’s forced into college by her parents, and her best friend leaves for his own school, her instinct is to run and hide in her dorm room. But her roommate will have none of that, and Elise has to visit the set of the TV show based on her books as part of her author deal. To make matters worse, she has to face the most perfect-looking man she’s even seen (and her celebrity crush) on set, Gavin Hartley.
Elise isn’t the most graceful of women, and she often makes poor decisions that land her in hot water. She frequently acts before thinking, and sometimes, as a result, just makes things worse for herself. But, as much as she wants to give up, she doesn’t. She still goes to classes, she still visits the Viking Moon set, and she still loses herself in her characters.
Writing a character like Elise, who is not an obvious heroine, was a challenge. She doesn’t get to throw punches and dropkick the bad guy (or bad girl, in this case). She must dig down and find what it is that makes her special and deserving of the same kind of love she believes everyone else is entitled to. When it comes to battling her own self-image, she is the only one who can give herself the acceptance she needs. In order to do that, she needs to make mistakes and take the wrong path once in a while, because it’s the only way she’ll be able to find her way back to herself. And she will carry what she learned with her like newly minted Viking armor.
The one thing I knew when writing this book was that Elise’s scars are not a symbol of her weakness, but of her strength. They are proof she survived something terrible, and that if she can survive that, she can survive anything.
And, in that way, she totally stands next to the Buffy’s of the world and kicks some butt of her own.
Samantha’s publisher is offering an e-copy of Flirting With Fame to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.
1. If you have not previously registered at The Reading Cafe, please register by using the log-in at the top of the page (side bar) or by using one of the social log-ins.
NOTE: If you are having difficulty commenting after logging onto the site, please refresh the page (at the top of your computer).
2. If you are using a social log-in, please post your email address with your comment.
3. Please follow Samantha Joyce on FACEBOOK.
4. LIKE us on FACEBOOK and then click GET NOTIFICATION under ‘liked’ for an additional entry.
5. LIKE us on Twitter for an additional entry.
6. Please FOLLOW us on GOODREADS for an additional entry.
7. Please follow The Reading Cafe on Tumblr
8. Giveaway runs from March 14-17, 2016
