What happens when you are followed by millions . . . and loved by none?
Twenty-seven-year-old Logan Wade is trying to build a life for herself far from her unhappy childhood in Oklahoma. Until she gets the call that her famous cousin needs a new assistant—an offer she can’t refuse.
Logan hasn’t seen Kelsey in person since their parents separated them as kids; in the meantime, Kelsey Wade has grown into Fortune Magazine’s most powerful celebrity. But their reunion is quickly overshadowed by the toxic dynamic between Kelsey and her parents as Logan discovers that, beneath the glossy façade, the wounds that caused them to be wrenched apart so many years ago have insidiously warped into a show-stopping family business.
As Kelsey tries desperately to break away and grasp at a “real” life, beyond the influence of her parents and managers, she makes one catastrophic misstep after another, and Logan must question if their childhood has left them both too broken to succeed. Logan risks everything to hold on, but when Kelsey unravels in the most horribly public way, Logan finds that she will ultimately have to choose between rescuing the girl she has always protected . . . and saving herself.
Excerpt courtesy of Simon and Schuster
After spending the last few months engrossed in non-fiction, I was looking forward to a witty, light, non-thinking story. I wasn’t looking for much, but I was hoping for more than what I found in the new book, Between You and Me, by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
My biggest issue was with the main character, Logan Wade. She’s extremely one dimensional, but there was something else that bothered me that I couldn’t put my finger on. Early on, when she reunites with her cousin Kelsey, I thought the problem was that they lacked a connection. Kelsey outwardly ignores her, until all of a sudden, she falls asleep with her head in Logan’s lap.
Okay, wait. I’m sorry, but who does this? I have a cousin I haven’t seen in what seems like forever. I would risk my life for her, but the only time my head would land in her lap is if I tripped and fell on her.
Carrying on.
Then I thought maybe it was the way she came across like a doormat, taking direction from anyone willing to take charge. I kept hoping she would snap out of it. There is a moment at her turning point, when she finally stands up for herself and for Kelsey, but it’s quickly dismissed and she once again simply follows orders. Sigh.
Even her love interest is yawn-worthy. But, that wasn’t it either.
As I skimmed through a second time, it became clear what my issue was with her. She wasn’t the heroine. From the moment Kelsey comes into the picture, she steals the show. Albeit a show we’ve seen before. Her story is a rip-off of the Britney Spears meltdown. A seemingly sweet pop star gone over the edge, a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder, a strange drugged out appearance on TV, right down to the turning point, where Britney Kelsey barricades herself in the bathroom with her baby.
I didn’t want to like Kelsey either. I wanted to play it bored with the whole child-star-losing-it story, but I have to admit, there was something about her that made me think of her when I wasn’t reading.
Don’t tell anyone.
But let’s be honest, it’s exactly the reason the book might do well. We’re addicted to celebrity train wrecks. And, yes, I’m guilty of it too, as long as it doesn’t involve a Kardashian. I draw the line there. It’s a faint line, but it’s there.
All was not lost, however. Highlights can be found in sporadic bits of witty dialogue, like when a roadie is addressed by Logan about the stench in the air.
“It smells like I’m trapped in a foot.”
He pauses and says, “Just wait 'til we drive through Parma. It’s like a yeast infection in the ass of a pig.”
BEST LINE EVER!
Too bad the roadie didn’t have more appearances.
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