Ever since Charlotte Taylor was a little girl she’s wanted fame and fortune. She sings with the voice of an angel and is soon plucked out of obscurity and launched into the limelight as the overnight sensation ‘Lola’.
Charlotte attends wild celebrity parties and moves in circles with the rich and famous, but the people living the life of celebrity aren’t all she imagined them to be and neither is her life. Struggling to find the real Charlotte again she battles against the crazy life she’s thrust into, desperately trying to swim to the surface.
Blake Hudson is a self-made man. Successful in his own right, he’s busy making his own mark on the world. Self-assured, strong and determined, he’s not looking for a permanent relationship. But when he meets the sweet and charming Charlotte, he’s captivated. But the world of celebrity and business collide and commitments, half-truths and unintentional deception don’t make for smooth sailing.
Hilarious consequences ensue through this romantic comedy, but can Lola and Blake overcome the challenges that life and fame throw their way to find their own happy-ever-after, or will Lola just have to Walk on By?
General Release Date: 5th February 2015
Oh. My. God!
I have a giant penis in front of me. A. Giant. Penis. In front of me!
I stared at it, wondering what new kind of exciting experience I’d found myself in tonight. Who on earth hosted a party with furniture shaped as body parts? And rude body parts at that! I tried to snap my mouth shut—it had fallen open at my need to giggle—but someone walked past and stuffed a canapé in it.
A tuna canapé. I loved tuna.
I spilled a bit on my clothes so reached for a napkin from the nearest table. After discreetly removing the offending splodge, I glanced around for a bin. There it was—another body part—but this time it was a woman’s mouth, all pouty red lips in a selfie smile. Cute!
“Wait there a sec,” I said to Roo-Roo, my best mate—real name Rupert, like the bear.
He gave me one of his looks—arched eyebrow, big grin—and waved his hand as if wafting away a fly.
“Isn’t this a scream?” he, well, screamed.
Yes, it was a bloody scream, something I’d never have thought I’d be a part of in a million years. But as parties were held in places where the walls had seriously big ears, I kept my opinion to myself. If I said one wrong thing, I could find myself in the newspaper come the morning.
“Yeah, it’s brilliant,” I said, leaving him to stare at the penis-chair in awe while I scooted around a group of chatters to dump the napkin.
The lips of the bin closed around it, and a freakish burp erupted. I jumped and laughed in shock.
I intended to have fun here and it was ages before I had to go home. We’d not long arrived and a crazy night stretched ahead. Someone griped that they wanted to go home and I wondered why they’d want to leave such a madcap bash. Besides, turning up at a party then buggering off after only being there for five minutes wasn’t the done thing. It would be a huge snub, and I didn’t want to offend anyone.
I went back to stand next to Rupert, feeling lucky I had the chance to make the best of what life had given me. Walk the new path in my sparkly high-heeled shoes and hope I didn’t fall over.
I stared at the penis-chair again. I had to admit its curved shape looked comfortable, but to sit on it? Without feeling…odd?
“I bet you love that, don’t you?” I said.
Roo-Roo let out a snigger, getting stares from a few people and smiles from others. “Oh, you know how I love a bit of that.”
It seemed I’d known Roo-Roo forever. He spent most of his time making celebrities look perfect with his makeup skills. He’d covered spots and blemishes for the best of them, plucked eyebrows—and hairs from moles on chins—so that the public had no idea these icons were actually the same as them underneath the war paint.
Did we all wear a mask? Did anyone else here feel like me? Out of their depth but putting a brave face on it? Going by the way they were all mingling, dancing and laughing, they were coping just fine.
I flopped onto the chair, hoping to ignore the way-too-phallic design but smacked my cheek against something squishy. Roo-Roo roared, clapping his hands together and rolling his eyes. Turning to see what was so hilarious, I realised how I must look, sitting on a chair of this sort.
Rupert was easily pleased though, bless him.
The multi-talented Stacey Solomon was the X-Factor 2009’s last standing female contestant after coming third in the show.
In late 2010, she entered ITV’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and was crowned Queen of the Jungle. She was also voted Mum of the Year in 2011 and is currently the face of Look Again.
2015 saw Stacey release her first fiction novel, a new single and her own perfume.
Check out the series website for Best Things in Life here
Reviewed by Cara Nicole
Walk on By is snarky and laugh out loud funny. Charlotte is real, even though fame found her. She's hilarious, and the interaction between her and Blake, especially when they first meet, had me rolling...
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Reviewed by Roz Page
I really enjoyed this light hearted story which is a brief look into the life of Lola, a girl like you and me who is thrown into the glamorous world of showbiz. You immediately feel a connection to Lola...
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How did you find it putting the book together?
When they first approached me about writing a novel I was like ‘really? Me?’. Then they said they’d have someone write it for me and I just could not bear the thought of that. Not knowing what’s in it and not making it personal to me. I did want to venture out into that world and see if I could give it a go.
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