Book Review
"Fifteen Minutes of Shame"
By LISA DAILY
www.forgetperfect.com
What happens when America's cutest, perkiest TV love guru is publicly humiliated and dumped on live TV?
In a deliciously dishy, ripped from the headlines, is-it-true-or-is-it-not story, author Lisa Daily's debut novel Fifteen Minutes of Shame (Plume April 2008) takes readers behind the glossy world of faux celebrities and TV date doctors for a hilarious look at what happens when a best-selling TV love guru discovers that her own husband is cheating.
In one of the book's most memorable (and horrifically funny) scenes the heroine, super successful careerist Darby Vaughn, is sent reeling when Today show anchor Matt Lauer shocks her on live television with the news that her husband has just held a press conference announcing that he is leaving her.
Her poised "I know everything about men" persona collapses as she throws up (as in literally vomits) into the basket of chrysanthemums on the Today show coffee table, live on national TV.
The ensuing fallout as Darby's publicity perfect world spins out of control is a funny, relatable read. With the most humiliating moment of her life splashed across supermarket headlines, and her private pain becoming fodder for late night comedians, you find yourself both laughing and empathizing as Darby lurches from hiding out in airport bathrooms, to spin dating, to drowning her sorrows in Margaritas and estrogen, as her best girlfriends rally to her aid.
However, unlike many of the formulaic books found on the pink table (chick lit), Fifteen Minutes provides an unexpected depth of character and emotion that belie the catchy title and pop culture story line.
Yes, there's the dishy delight of what author Daily refers to as "the Kathie Lee Factor." The voyeuristic thrill of watching a perfect princess take a fall is as delectable as chocolate-covered gossip.
However, Daily also captures the subtle nuances that make Darby human. She deftly explores the deep-seated fear of abandonment common in so many over-achievers and, as the plot unfolds, readers gets a glimpse of the past pain that propelled Darby to try to control every element of her quest for a perfectly polished life.
Although Daily is a real life TV dating expert herself, having written the best-selling dating advice book Stop Getting Dumped and appearing on a weekly TV show, she claims that Fifteen Minutes is pure fiction.
However, Daily's subject matter expertise is evident as she sprinkles dating tips throughout the book, cleverly juxtapositioned against her heroine's train wreck of a life. And insider media knowledge rings true with the hilarious descriptions of how Darcy's "hurl heard round the world" is devoured by the jackals of tabloid journalism.
Yet in her first turn towards fiction, Daily also reveals herself to be a natural storyteller. Her ability to combine humor and heartbreak catapults her into the ranks of top tier novelists like Jennifer Weiner and Sophie Kinsella. With its quirky characters and vivid descriptions, Fifteen Minutes reads like a smart sassy movie, a la Hugh Grant, Meg Ryan, Drew Barrymore, James Marsden or Katherine Heigl. (No surprise Hollywood has already optioned it as a feature film.)
And - spoiler alert - while Fifteen Minutes is a romantic comedy, the heroine reclaims her own power before she decides to share it with a man again.
Simply put: Fifteen Minutes of Shame is the best book to hit the Pink table since the Shopaholic series and In Her Shoes. Lisa Daily's current fans will be delighted with more of her trademark humor, and she'll quickly garner an even wider audience with this well-crafted, engaging, uproariously funny novel.
Syndicated columnist Lisa Earle McLeod appears weekly in The Buffalo News, The Chattanooga Times Free Press, Gray Newspapers, Southern Newspapers and other metro dailies.
FIFTEEN MINUTES OF SHAME
BY LISA DAILY
PLUME APRIL 2008
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© Copyright 2008, by Lisa Earle McLeod. All rights reserved
If you're interested in running Lisa's syndicated column on a regular basis contact Lisa Earle McLeod at 770-985-0760 or lisa@forgetperfect.com
