Highly acclaimed, award-winning author of Act Like It Lucy Parker returns readers to the London stage with laugh-out-loud wit and plenty of drama
The play's the fling
It's not actress Lily Lamprey's fault that she's all curves and has the kind of voice that can fog up a camera lens. She wants to prove where her real talents lie—and that's not on a casting couch, thank you. When she hears esteemed director Luc Savage is renovating a legendary West End theater for a lofty new production, she knows it could be her chance—if only Luc wasn't so dictatorial, so bad-tempered and so incredibly sexy.
Luc Savage has respect, integrity and experience. He also has it bad for Lily. He'd be willing to dismiss it as a midlife crisis, but this exasperating, irresistible woman is actually a very talented actress. Unfortunately, their romance is not only raising questions about Lily's suddenly rising career, it's threatening Luc's professional reputation. The course of true love never did run smooth. But if they're not careful, it could bring down the curtain on both their careers…
Source: audiobook borrowed from Hoopla
Luc Savage has much on the line at the moment. He's invested a huge chunk of money in renovating the Queen Anne Theatre, his newest play is proving to be quite challenging with a diva in the cast and the urgency to find another actress to take on one of the final key roles to be filled. His assistant, Amelia keeps pushing him to consider Lily Lamprey who has achieved notoriety in a scandalous but popular tv show. Luc's being a snob about it. On a normal day - which is near impossible in the theatre - he wouldn't even entertain the thought that Lily could be talented enough for his production. But right now he's desperate and he trusts Amelia enough to give it a go. when he does, he sees potential though she will need extensive training and discipline to make this gamble work. Never having done theatre before, Lily is all too aware that she has much to prove - to herself, to her detractors - who view her as an upstart who most likely slept her way into her latest role. She understands that her looks and her current role as a sultry homewrecker on her tv show seem to have people thinking that she's just like her alter ego. To distance herself from that she abides by a certain set of rules but then there's Luc. For how much he might still have doubts about her acting ability on stage, she can't help but fall for him. Same goes for him. Lily is not someone he'd ever expect to be attracted to but despite the number of times he's been brusque with her, she's never broken down. Now that they're working together he gets to see firsthand what she contends with as a woman who looks a certain way and receives a certain kind of attention and gossip.
One reason I like Lucy Parker is that she writes strong, funny women. Lily faces so many presumptions based on her looks that lead people to be skeptical of her talent and work ethic. However, she chooses which battles to fight on her terms. In both books I've read so far (Act Like It was the previous one), the female leads have been top notch figures who are unyielding and don't easily fade into the background when up against a forceful personality. In Pretty Face I was also excited about Amelia whose quick replies and jabs at Luc's grumpiness and sometimes irrational tones made me laugh. She kept him on the straight and narrow. Behind every man ... as the saying goes. Even Lily's bestie, Trix was a joy. And as for Lily and Luc? They're terrific together. As much as distancing themselves from each other for propriety's sake would be the best professional move, they can't fight that inevitable collision. They seriously have great chemistry and even though he's the director and she's the actress, and there's an age difference, as far as their relationship is concerned, they're equals. I like that Luc started out the gruff, stalwart of the group but relented to the change in dynamics, even showing remorse for his own past behaviour towards Lily.
Lucy Parker is basically my hero. She gifts us with amusing and uplifting reads that just put me in such a good mood and I love how happy I feel after I'm done with her books!
~ Bel
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