Friday, 25 October 2019

Friday Fiction Feature: The Prosecco Effect

Delighted to feature The Prosecco Effect by Cheri Davies.
A piece of writing advice commonly given to new writers is: write what you know. Like many authors, I write under more than one name. In my other author incarnation, I draw inspiration from newspaper articles, overheard conversations, observations on the life I see around me, but rarely on my own lived experience. But in my ‘Cheri’ guise I’ve drawn extensively on my personal experience for my Stage Door series of novels, of which The Prosecco Effect is the first.
Before I was a writer, I was an actress and like the heroine of The Prosecco Effect I spent many glorious months touring the length and breadth of Italy, playing Gwendoline in Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest. The company visited all the iconic Italian cities and it was a time of my life I shall never forget. I fell in love with Italy, and Wilde, if not a zillionaire restaurateur like my heroine Felicity. Sadly. Or maybe not. I adore my fella – a penniless musician – and that was the hardest things about the tour: being apart from him.
I drew on all of this for the novel – and then I ramped up the stakes, and some! Felicity is a former soap opera star (I wasn’t) and she’s been jilted – I escaped that one too. Phew. 
Her Italian lover, Orlando, is seriously loaded (see above re. my fella) and, like her, seriously talented. He’s Italy’s answer to Jamie Oliver. But his director father is a nightmare – the #metoo movement emerged because of men like him – and his family are involved in all kinds of shady deals. And don’t get me started on Orlando’s stepmother… 
But Orlando isn’t the only one with a troubled past; Felicity is damaged too. Felicity and Orlando are hugely ambitious; their careers mean everything and show business has a nasty habit of destroying relationships. Can their love survive?

Can love shine brighter than a super trouper spotlight for Felicity and Orlando?
Felicity Joy is a fallen star: axed from the leading role in a TV drama and jilted at the altar, her life is a mess. A six-month theatrical tour of Italy offers escape: a chance to rebuild her career, mend her broken heart and indulge in her favourite cuisine.
Orlando Locatelli is an Italian restaurateur superstar. But his family are big trouble and his theatre director father has a penchant for his leading ladies.
Damaged by secrets and with careers their number one priority, Felicity and Orlando aren’t looking for love. But when they meet, the attraction is instant.
Will theirs be a brief encounter or can they overcome their fears to be together forever?
An uplifting, irresistible romance set in Italy and the glamorous world of show business – a perfect, sunny read
Cheri Davies is a mother to ginger boys and author of The Prosecco Effect. A former actor, Cheri loves to write romance and intrigue set in the glamorous world of show business. The Prosecco Effect is the first book in the Stage Door series, following the adventures of Felicity Joy and Orlando Locatelli in Italy. 
The second – out in the New Year – takes the couple to New York City, where the pressures of celebrity begin to take their toll. Cheri has published four novels and numerous short stories in another guise. An unsporty girl, Cheri surprised herself, and many others, when she broke the school long jump record aged 12. It was the first time she’d jumped – competitively.


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