Holly Hearts Hollywood
by Kenley Conrad
Release Date: 09/23/14
Swoon Romance
Summary from Goodreads:
Seventeen-year-old Holly Hart wants to be a star. She moves to Los Angeles from the small town of Cedar Junction, only to hear she’s too fat and ugly to be a famous singer.
But when Shell Shocked Records looks past Holly’s plus-size and less-than-graceful-personality to offer her a recording contract, Holly cannot believe her good fortune. On closer inspection, however, the record execs want Holly to do all the singing, and a thinner and more beautiful girl, Lacey, would lip-sync and get all the credit. Holly goes for it because after all, she wanted to sing.
Contractually bound to secrecy, Holly is more than happy to sit backstage while Lacey shimmies in the limelight and basks in the fame. Before she knows it, Holly is friends with Serena, the pop-star daughter of a music-mogul, flirting with an intern, and developing a strange half-friendship with Lacey.
When Grayson Frost, the biggest country star in America, and coincidentally, a former school bully begins dating Lacey, Holly hopes that he won’t recognize or torment her.
Through a series of embarrassing and weird events, Holly gets to know Grayson and learns that he is much nicer and more mature than he was four years ago. Holly is horrified when she starts falling for him. When Grayson admits he fell for Lacey’s voice, what is a girl to do when she can’t legally tell the truth at the moment when the truth matters the most?
Buy Links:
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Likeable and Yet…
Have you ever read a book with characters who weren’t designed to be “liked” but you found yourself drawn to them? I have. For example, I named my cat Draco after Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series. There isn’t a lot about Draco that’s genuinely likable throughout the seven books until maybe the final few pages of the last novel. But I found myself liking him for his unattractive qualities. Sometimes perfect characters are exhausting.
When people ask me who my favorite character is in Holly Hearts Hollywood you probably expect me to say Holly. Then again, if you ask anyone who their favorite Harry Potter character is NO ONE says it’s Harry Potter. The same goes for me and my own book. Even though Holly is a lot like me, I found myself drawn to characters with different kind of flaws.
My favorite character is Lacey. She wasn’t always the girl she is now. In the beginning she was your typical mean girl. But the more I wrote her and the meaner I tried to make her the more I said to myself, “She can’t be mean for no reason. Why is she mean?” Gradually a character with many layers and depth appeared in my head and that’s the Lacey I have on paper now. She’s constantly changing in my mind and I can’t wait for her to develop into the beautiful bird she deserves to be.
About the Author
I’m the author of the upcoming YA series Holly Hearts Hollywood, coming September 2014 by Swoon Romance. I’m a twenty-something cat lady who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. When I’m not working my office day job or writing books, you can find me either singing and dancing or binge-watching TV shows on Netflix.
Author Links:
Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook
GIVEAWAY:
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Blog Tour Organized by:
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Hit or Miss Books 
I didn’t know about this one before but it’s a cute cover. thanks for sharing!
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Okay, this sounds super-cute! I think I’ll check it out. There is potential to “angri-fy” me but I’m hoping it won’t. I love foe yay but it’s bullies, what to do?!! XD Okay, I’m definitely checking it out.
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Okay, this looks like a cute read but not something I would particularly enjoy… maybe I should go to goodreads and read more reviews to make up my mind as to decide if I should read it or not
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“But I found myself liking him for his unattractive qualities. Sometimes perfect characters are exhausting.”
THIS! Yes. Give me the dark, tortured, damaged, or highly imperfect characters any day, I always find myself drawn to them over the shiny and perfect characters. Love the adorable cover on this book and I can’t help but want to know how things between Grayson and Holly are going to work out!
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I do know what you mean about the characters designed to not be liked. Draco is a great example.
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I loved this post because I know exactly what she means and now I just want to pick this up and read it.
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Not really Lacey’s fault so yes I could like her
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You’re very right — sometimes those lovely, sweet adorable characters are just too darned much. (I really grew to like Draco!) Haven’t heard of this story but it sounds intriguing!
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Oh, this sounds kind of cool! And reminds me of all the times they did this in the 40s and 50s. (I hope they still wouldn’t do this nowadays, but who’s to say?) I also like that Lacey, the “mean” girl, is going to have a lot of depth to her. That makes it sound a bit more interesting and I might just pick this one up! Nice promo, Lola. 🙂
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I saw this one the other day and thought it looked so cute. I’m wanting to give it a go at some point 🙂
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