Synopsis
A witty, winning escapade through the south of France from the internationally bestselling author of Gossip Hound.
The only intrepid reporter in her hometown hamlet, Kate Clegg has dreams of parlaying her dead-end job at the Mercury, or Mockery, as it is affectionately known, into an award-winning career with the most celebrated papers in London. But things seem to be going in the toilet, literally, since her biggest break thus far has been investigating a drainage disaster at the local high school. At least things can't get worse...
That is until shady billionaire Peter Hardstone pulls up outside the Mercury's tiny storefront office in his gold Ferrari and begins firing the staff. Soon enough, Kate herself decides that leaving the Mockery behind may just be the best career move she'll ever make-until Hardstone's wildly attractive son, Nat, takes up residence at the Mercury's office with an offer Kate cannot refuse-a chance to cover the Cannes Film Festival on the luxurious Côte d'Azur.
With internationally acclaimed author Wendy Holden's signature verve, intelligence, and originality, Azur Like It is a rollicking ride through the parties, haute couture, and glamour of the French Riviera where, behind the glitz, lies a mystery that would make even the most jaded journalist salivate.
Publishers Weekly
Predictable plot turns and humorless puns abound in Holden's superficial satire (after Gossip Hound, etc.), which starts out as a promising tale of a smalltown reporter's attempt to break out of her sleepy English hometown and quickly devolves into a colorful but clich d farce crowded with outlandish caricatures and unlikely goings-on. Kate Clegg, the slightly plump senior reporter for the Slackmucklewaite Mercury (more often referred to as "the Mockery"), longs to have the exciting life of a London reporter, but barring that, she'll settle for covering sleepy stories by day and penning her racy book, Northern Gigolo, by night. Aspiring actor Nat Hardstone, the gorgeous son of her callous new boss, may be the answer to one of her more scandalous dreams. Not only does he want to shake the dust of Slackmucklewaite off his shoes, but he wants to take her with him to the C te d'Azur for the Cannes Film Festival. Though it's obvious that Nat is as shallow and scheming as his father-he makes her foot the bill at a fancy restaurant and then presses her to front the money for his plane ticket-Kate rides his coattails to the south of France and is promptly abandoned. But with the help of a few friendly strangers, she finds love and scandal in a French town eerily similar to the English one she just left. By the end of the novel, Kate is as clueless as when she started her unlikely adventure, and readers will have as little sympathy for her as they do for Nat and his impossibly small-minded acquaintance, Champagne D'vyne. (Jan. 7) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.