I must admit that I only read celebrity gossip magazines in the doctor or dentist’s waiting room, oh, and in the Chinese takeaway! I only actually buy one when there is a royal wedding. I don’t even do what Only You’s Jane Hollinger resorts to doing, and start to use the local newsagent’s as a research library!
Would I like to be featured in one? No, absolutely not, and neither does Jane. It is awful for someone as private as Jane to see her photograph in one of these magazines and it must be equally terrible for her to see someone she knows and cares about being harassed and provoked by paparazzi photographers.
Actor, Robert Armstrong, was in a high-profile relationship but now he craves privacy. Most of the publicity was orchestrated by his actress girlfriend but he didn’t like it and it was one of the reasons why he ended their relationship. But it doesn’t alter the fact that he is a famous actor who is in the public eye and, therefore, the paparazzi see him as fair game.
It’s something Jane can’t quite understand, even when it is explained to her in simple terms by her fashion journalist sister, Mags. In Only You, Jane has to ask herself whether she can give up some, if not all, of her privacy to be with Robert. Is it something she is prepared to do? You’ll have to read Only You to find out!
Jane Hollinger is divorced and the wrong side of thirty – as she puts it. Her friends are pressuring her to dive back into London’s dating pool, but she’s content with her quiet life teaching family history evening classes.
Robert Armstrong is every woman’s fantasy: handsome, charming, rich and famous. When he asks her to meet him, she convinces herself it’s because he needs her help with a mystery in his family tree. Soon she realises he’s interested in more than her genealogy expertise. Now the paparazzi want a piece of Jane, too.
Can Jane handle living — and loving — in the spotlight?
Read An Excerpt From Chapter Ten…
This evening, she was spending a few hours with Mags for a change. She’d been neglecting her sister a bit lately. Sitting down on the sofa, she placed the stack of magazines on the coffee table. The magazine on top was Total Gossip. Total Crap, more like. She picked it up and flicked through the pages before stopping at an article. ‘Gillian Jacobs on exes’. Just how many did the woman have besides Robert?
“Read the Gillian Jacobs interview in Total Gossip,” Mags ordered from the kitchen. “Her split from Robert wasn’t quite as amicable as was made out at the time. A lot of jealousy on both sides by the sound of it.” She came into the living room with the bottle of wine and two glasses, closing the door with her foot. “I suppose he didn’t mention anything?”
“Why do they do this?” Jane asked instead of answering. “These awful interviews?”
“It keeps up people’s interest in them.” Mags poured the wine, passed her a glass then kicked off her shoes and curled up at the other end of the sofa.
“Well, not my interest.” She tossed the magazine onto the floor, picked up the next one and read; ‘“I can’t play the perfect gentleman all the time.”’ It was Robert on why he chose to play East End drugs baron Mitch Barnes.
Oh, not Mitch Barnes. She discarded the magazine, put her glass down and reached for another. It was Total Gossip and included the ‘At home with Gillian Jacobs and her new beau John Davis’ feature. Except it looked like a posh hotel.
Next was a copy of Spilling the Beanz. A post-it note was sticking out, she went straight to the page and read; ‘Robert Armstrong and Mystery Brunette leave Vincent’s.’
There was a double-page spread with a huge photograph and ‘A Sally Read Exclusive!’ printed alongside it. Her heart did a somersault. Oh, God, she was now ‘Mystery Brunette’. How corny was that?
Explore Only You on my blog for more excerpts, character profiles, and background information
Lorna Peel 