Confessions Of A Karaoke Queen [Kindle Edition]

This is another debut novel for 2011 that I've really been looking forward to. Ella Kingsley hasn't hidden the fact that the name is a pseudonym for another women's fiction writer, but it's apparently a hugely kept secret who that is, but I am very curious about it! I'm not sure about the need for all the secrecy but it seems to be a popular thing to do at the moment, writing under a pseudonym, so I do wonder if eventually it'll be revealed or we'll be forever guessing about exactly who it is! Anyway, I thought the idea for the book was great, and the cover is fantastic as well, a perfect girly cover that certainly jumps out at you. I loved the sound of it from the minute I read the synopsis, so I had really hoped that it would live up to my expectations!

The book centres around the character of Maddie, daughter of 80's popstars Pineapple Mist, and someone who is a bit embarrassed about that fact as well. Her parents own a karaoke bar, but she tends not to set foot in there because she doesn't do Karaoke, and it's her idea of a bad nightmare. However, when her parents run away on holiday and Maddie is left in charge of the karaoke bar, she takes it upon herself to sign it up to a reality TV show. Of course, some consequences occur and Maddie finds herself having to make a few hard decisions. I really did like her as a main character, and found she led the book really well. She doubts her decisions a lot of the time, but her heart is in the right place and I think she does well with her problems throughout the book, although she is a bit too naive about her ex-boyfriend for my liking!

I thought the setting for the karaoke bar was really great. I could imagine in my head Maddie's parents dancing around and loving every minute of it, and I felt Kingsley wrote those characters really well, even if they don't appear that much in the book. In fact, it was the other characters of the bar that were the best people. Drag Queen Ruby was fantastic, very camp and hilarious, fab American character Jasmine and even the awful TV producer Evan (the book's baddy!) were brilliantly written, and all came to life on the pages as I read. In fact, Evan is certainly the pantomime villain of the piece, and you can certainly work out what he's up to long before poor old Maddie does! The other character I liked who I felt we didn't see enough of was Nick, the director. I enjoyed his friendship with Maddie but wanted things to move faster than they did if I'm honest!

Overall, this was a really enjoyable and funny read that had me laughing in places, and cringing in others! Yes, perhaps Maddie was a bit blinkered and naive with certain things but other than that, it was really enjoyable and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It's one of those books you can pick up after a busy and stressful day and just sit and enjoy reading because you know you're going to like it. It's funny to read about all the old songs that come up throughout, and Maddie's real name as well... seriously?! Ella Kingsley has a great writing style whose first person narrative flows really well and immediately gets you hooked into the story to see how things will work out for Maddie and Pineapple Mist too! A great book to get stuck into, especially over the festive period where I'm sure we'll all be having an ill-advised go on the karaoke ourselves! Fab!

I was lucky enough to win this paperback book from a giveaway run by @Btweenthesheets on Twitter. I hadn't heard anything about this book previously but I loved the fun, girly cover and was looking forward to reading it.

This was a bit of a slow starter for me, it began with a brief introduction to Maddie's life and swiftly moved on to her current situation - being dumped by her boyfriend in a rather hurtful way.

When Maddie's crazy parents decided to go on tour again they left Maddie to take charge of their karaoke bar, understandably this made her feel a bit overwhelmed and unprepared. After a suggestion from the bars resident drag queen, Maddie decided to throw herself into trying to revive the place. This was the point where it started to get interesting for me.

Everything that followed this was funny and witty, although maybe a bit predictable at times, it gave me plenty of laughs especially during an eventful bowling evening and an interesting Beyoncé impersonation.

Each chapter was headed by a song title, this was a really nice touch and, even though there were a few I didn't know, I found myself singing along to those that I did.

This book highlighted the darker side of reality TV and a particular betrayal showed Maddie that she may have made the wrong choice in getting involved with the show.

A fun story with lots of drama and a good old happy ending, perfect if you're looking for a laugh and a sing-song!

Confessions of a Karaoke Queen is Ella Kingsley's debut novel, although Ella Kingsley is a pseudonym used by a well known woman's fiction writer. I have tried to work out who she Ella really could be, and while I have my suspicions, I'm more than likely wrong.

Confessions of a Karaoke Queen explores the realms of the reality television and just how far people are preapred to go to get their faces on TV. Maddie is the main character in the book. She is the daughter of 80's pop duo Pineapple Mist, who now run a down trodden karaoke bar, which Maddie ends up finding herself in charge of. Hoping to get the business back up on its feet, she allows a TV crew to film the business's and it's staff every move.

There are an array of characters featured in the book, many of which edged on the side of eccentric. Jaz was a rather strange character, particularly in the way she was described, and I really didn't know what to make of her guniea pig Andre's part in the book.

Aside from that I enjoyed the book and thought it was well writter and quite different from the story featured in a lot of chick-lit books. It was a relatively light-hearted read that I devoured over a weekend and which I would recommend to fans of chick-lit.