I
am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the RISING STAR by Michele Kwasniewski Blog
Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the
giveaway!
About
The Book:
Author: Michele
Kwasniewski
Pub.
Date: October
20, 2020
Publisher: Rand-Smith LLC
Formats: Paperback,
eBook
Pages: 268
Find
it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org
In the first book in THE RISE AND FALL OF DANI TRUEHART series, RISING STAR, fifteen-year-old Dani Truehart is living a life that is not quite her own. Driven by her mother's desire for fame and fortune, she has spent her childhood dutifully training for a career as a pop star. On the brink of discovery, doubts begin to creep into Dani's mind as she questions her own desire for fame, and she wonders whether she can trust the motivations of the adults who are driving her forward.
Following a brilliant audition arranged by her vocal/dance coach and former '80s pop icon Martin Fox, Dani is thrown full-force into the music industry. She leaves her friends, family and scheming mother behind to move with Martin, who has become her legal guardian, into the Malibu compound of her new manager, Jenner Redman. Jenner, the former swindling manager of Martin's boy band, leverages what's left of his depleted fortune to launch Dani's career.
Isolated from her life at home and trying to stay apace with her demanding schedule, Dani struggles to keep in touch with those she loves, connect to her withholding mother and find her voice as an artist. With Martin and Jenner at odds over their rocky past and finding herself unprepared to handle the pressures of her future singing career, Dani's debut album and future stardom are at risk of falling apart.
Excerpt
This is a scene occurs just after Martin reviews Dani’s contract with her
and her parents.
I walk back
to the couch, sit down and stare at my parents.
I feel like I’ve aged a lifetime in the past few hours I’ve listening to
my mom haggle over every detail of my contract like I’m a piece of meat at the
butcher. “Mom, I’ve been working for this my whole life. Stop causing problems
and let Martin do his job. You can’t threaten to stop me now after you’ve
already given guardianship to Martin. Acting like a concerned parent this late
in the game isn’t going to work. If you really wanted to protect me, you would
have never handed me over to Martin.”
I shake my
head and narrow my eyes at my mom, so furious I can barely speak. “I’m sorry
that the money I make isn’t going directly into your pockets like you’d hoped.
I promise the first thing I’ll do is to pay you and Dad back for all the
lessons you’ve given me. You deserve some return on your investment. But if the
past few hours have shown me anything, it’s why you really pushed me to do this
all these years. I’m sorry that you won’t be getting the big payday you’d hoped
for.”
My parents
just sit there, stunned.
Tears
stream down my face as I get up to leave. I’m a mess of anger and sadness, and
I just want to be alone. Dad grabs my hand as I leave. “Honey, your mom and I love you. We don’t care about the money. We thought giving guardianship to Martin was
what you wanted.”
I groan
loudly confused by the sadness and anger swirling in my chest. “I did too, but now that it’s happening it
feels like…” I grasp for the right words, “like…you’re just throwing me away. Like you don’t care.”
I turn to
him, but I can barely look him in the eyes. I’m so bitterly disappointed in
him, and I’m just now realizing it after a lifetime of deluding myself. “Come
on, Dad. You never stood up for me. Or Geena. You’ve always let Mom do and say
whatever she wanted. You’re just as bad as she is.”
He lets go
of my hand and it feels like he’s letting go of so much more—it’s just another
feeling of loss thrown into the hole that’s forming in my chest. I shake my
head and turn away.
My mom
jumps up and reacts the only way she knows how. “Don’t you speak to your father
that way. You haven’t even signed the contract yet and you’re acting like an
uppity diva. I’m going to call Martin right now and tell him the deal’s off.
It’s not worth it if it’s going to change you into a disrespectful brat like
this.”
I walk
toward the stairs. “Give it a rest, Mom. Yelling or calling me names isn’t
going to make what I said untrue.”
About Michele:
Michele Kwasniewski, is an entertainment industry insider who has seen what the Hollywood
machine can do to people – having worked for many years in film and television
production on such films and TV shows as Primal Fear, Independence
Day, Evita, Face/Off, Big Brother, and many TCL, HGTV,
and Discovery series including: Meet the Pandas, Adoption
Story, Wedding Story, and Extra Yardage.
With her book, she shares the glamour and excitement of fame as well as the hard work it takes to achieve success and the price of living life in the public eye. Everyone wants to be famous, but most people have no idea what that really means. Michele has seen it firsthand. She is an active member of the Producers Guild of America.
Michele's colorful experiences in the industry inspired her to write THE RISE AND FALL OF DANI TRUEHART series. Michele lives in San Clemente, California with her husband, their son, and their disobedient dachshund. RISING STAR is her first novel.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Amazon | Goodreads
Giveaway Details:
3 lucky winners will win signed copy of RISING STAR & RISING STAR pencils, US Only.
a Rafflecopter giveawayTour Schedule:
Week One:
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1/18/2021 |
Kickoff Post |
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1/18/2021 |
Instagram Post |
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1/19/2021 |
Interview |
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1/19/2021 |
Instagram Post |
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1/20/2021 |
Guest Post |
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1/20/2021 |
Instagram Post |
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1/21/2021 |
Guest Post |
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1/21/2021 |
Excerpt |
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1/22/2021 |
Guest Post |
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1/22/2021 |
Instagram Post |
Week Two:
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1/25/2021 |
Review |
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1/25/2021 |
Guest Post |
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1/26/2021 |
Review |
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1/26/2021 |
Excerpt |
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1/27/2021 |
Review |
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1/27/2021 |
Instagram Post |
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1/28/2021 |
Review |
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1/28/2021 |
Excerpt |
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1/29/2021 |
Review |
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1/29/2021 |
Excerpt |
