OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Prosecco & Paparazzi" by Celia Kennedy.]

Prosecco & Paparazzi is a romance novel by Celia Kennedy. It is the first book in The Passport series.

The story follows a woman named Charlotte. She and her roommate Taylor live in New York City and work for a PR company run by Taylor’s mother. Last winter, Charlotte and her old friends from Oxford University went on a skiing trip in France. When they heard that the famous actor Des Bannerman was in town, they set out on a mission to find him. Charlotte has had a huge crush on the man for years and her dreams finally come true when they discover him at a casino. At the end of the night, the paparazzi snatch an embarrassing photo of the two together that finds its way onto the covers of tabloid magazines. But things just escalate from there as their lives become unintentionally entangled. This culminates in Charlotte being served a restraining order. As she tries to move on, this series of incidents with Des Bannerman continue to create obstacles in her personal life.

The book is 276 pages long and is told in the first person from Charlotte’s perspective. It begins in May 2012 and then backtracks to when she was in college. It moves forward to the skiing trip and the events following it before finally surpassing the first scene of the book. The time jumps worked well, though I was a bit confused at the beginning since the reader is plunged right into the chaos. However, the backstory is soon revealed and I settled comfortably in for a delightful read. The drama about Des wavers from being at the forefront of the story to fading into the background. Charlotte becomes involved with an Irishman named Liam, which brings about some erotic scenes. There is a good balance between dialogue and description that’s fitting for this genre. It’s written in a very engaging fashion that consistently kept my interest and attention.

The story does begin in a place of superficiality, as their entire vacation turns into being about chasing down a celebrity. But the rest of the story sees Charlotte trying to get back to living her own life. She goes from having fantasies about a celebrity to down-to-earth worries about her career and real-life relationship. Her character development was well done. There is a lot of discussion about the pitfalls of stardom; it’s not all glamorous. We get to see this briefly from Des’ point of view, but it’s most prominently from Charlotte’s point of view. She’s not a celebrity; she just happens to keep running into one and that alone is doing enough damage. Luckily, she has the support of her friends who obviously care very much about each other.

I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I was slightly annoyed with how obsessive Charlotte and her friends were in the beginning, but the drama that results from that was an entertaining conundrum. Plus, it was a great opportunity for character development. I expected this story to be very different than it actually was, and I’m glad to see that my expectations were overturned.

If you’re not the kind of person who cares about celebrity gossip or movie references, then this probably isn’t the book for you. But if you’re a romance fanatic who’s also interested in the downsides of fame, then you might want to give this book a try.

******
Prosecco & Paparazzi
View: on Bookshelves

Like Tanaya's review? Post a comment saying so!

Not sure how I feel about the jumping around.

Thank you for insightful review. I am not interested in celebrity gossip, so the book probably isn't for me.

I'm sure it's a great book, doesn't really sound like my kind of thing though.

Shelfy

I'm not a celebrity gossip type of person but you did a great job on the review. I feel like there are probably some good lessons in this book and like that the character is able to grow more mature through these events. The title made me think the book was going to be set in Italy.

Nice review. Thanks for the feedback on the book, it definitely sounds interesting, and the type of books I will like. Better go add it to my to-read list!

Nice review! I don't think the book is for me, but I am glad your expectations were exceeded. You made a good point about taking a little time to get used to the plot since the beginning jumps right into the chaos. I have read many books like that where it takes me a while to get up to speed.

Every romance novel I review on this site is always met with "not my kind of book." Sigh. But I understand. I've been reading a lot of dark books on this site lately so this was a nice change of pace. And yeah! On the one hand I kind of like just being thrown and fully immersed from the get go. On the other hand I like to know what the heck is going on. It's an interesting conundrum.

I do like some romance novels. For me, it just depends on the plot and just an instinct for what I want to read. I am surprised that you hear the "not my type of book" so often with the romance reviews. I always thought Romance was a popular genre. Don't take it personally....I get the same response pretty often with my non-fiction reviews.

Yeah, I get that. Everyone has different tastes, and just because you might like a particular genre doesn't mean you'll want to read every book within that genre. I don't take it personally. I only wrote the review. I just find it interesting. Thanks

Amazing review, Tanaya! Your reviews are always such a delight to read!

Aww thanks, as are yours!

I'm not much into celebrities but I would love to read about them in fiction. Their lives sound interesting. I think I'm going to like this book. Great review!

Thanks!

Being a huge movie fan myself, I wouldn't mind all the movie references. I enjoyed reading your review Tanya.