'Did she really just say that? I am fifteen again, except the reality is I am experiencing full parental horror, aged twenty-five. I want to die.' Life hasn't quite worked out how Arielle Lockley imagined it would. Becoming the next Coco Chanel was always her childhood dream, yet she's spent the past four years living a dizzying whirl of glitzy parties, luxurious holidays and daily shopping sprees - all paid for by her boyfriend, Piers - and not doing anything to make her Coco dreams happen.
When the recession hits, it's not just the economy that takes a tumble. Arielle finds herself living back with her parents, on bad terms with Piers, and she has a CV that is as welcome as a pair of knock-off Jimmy Choos. And, maybe it's the location, but she's also finding unwelcome thoughts of her childhood sweetheart are popping into her head...
What's a girl to do? Can Arielle figure out what she now wants to do with her life and move on, or will she be doomed to spend the rest of her life dwelling on her worst mistakes, stuck listening to her parents' embarrassing dinner table talk each night?
*
"I'm starting to realise that age is just a number, but Tabitha pointed out I'm only saying that because I'm twenty-five, engaged, and have my life together. (Touch wood things stay that way.)"
Arielle is back! OK, she's not on her way to becoming the next Coco Chanel, her childhood dream, but she is one way step closer to running her very own shop with her business partner, Felicity.
She's also planning her perfect romantic wedding to fiancé, Piers, and Arielle is starting to believe that she's finally found her place in the world... Of course life is never that straightforward.
With a new-found foe interfering with her shop decisions, not to mention haughty wedding planners and loved ones facing personal struggles, will Arielle figure out what's important before all is lost?
*
"What do I honestly know about the music industry? I'm just another idiot with a dream who is naive enough to hope that I might be the next big star."
Etta Millhouse has always had big musical ambitions to match her big voice, but she's also got three very big problems - the addiction she won't admit to, her godmother's illness she can no longer ignore, and her godmother's useless business partner (who she wishes she could ignore).
Keeping an eye on Arielle's bad business decisions is the last thing Etta wants to do when she's offered the chance to record a demo with a top producer. But, a promise is a promise, even if it has her reaching for another pick-me-up... And then another. And then one more.
When the secret she must keep for her godmother, Felicity, sends her drug habit spiralling out of control, can Etta battle her demons in time and make her dream happen? Or, will her music career be over before it's even begun?
"How did people even come up with the idea of these dizzying skyscrapers, let alone work out how to make them possible? Whoever built the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, their legacy will live on forever. What sort of a difference will I ever make?"But, trying to sort out business in London whilst her fiancé, Piers, recovers from surgery in New York, is starting to take its toll on their relationship. Can Arielle and Etta work together to continue Felicity's legacy without destroying it, and will Arielle and Piers even make it down the aisle to say "I do"?
*
My standalone novel Geli Voyante's Hot or Not was released in October 2013. You can purchase it in Kindle and paperback formats on your local Amazon website. It has placed in the Amazon.co.uk top 100 humour chart (paid), and reached #6 in the (free) humour chart in May 2015. In Canada, Geli Voyante's Hot or Not reached #87 in the overall (paid) best sellers chart. It also reached #1 in the (free) contemporary romance chart and #9 in the overall (free) best sellers chart (May 2015).
"I think I will always be known as the Hot or Not girl, defined by it for the rest of my career. Even my tombstone will read: Angelica “Geli” Voyante, beloved trendsetter. Death? Not Hot.
Yet, it doesn’t sound right. Why won’t anyone realise that there is more to me than this fickle persona I have inadvertently become?"
Geli Voyante is bored of being the Hot or Not girl, even if it has the perk of sitting next to Theo, the newspaper's very Hot political columnist. She's also getting a little lonely being single.
When her arch-nemesis Tiggy Boodles gets engaged, and other loved ones start to settle down, it's time for Geli to convince Theo that she’s not as shallow as her column suggests and, more importantly, she’s the one for him. Geli should remember though that there are always two sides to every story, and that applies to people too...
