Review – The Camera Never Lies by Tess Daly

This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.

When this book dropped through my letter box I spent a lot of time looking at it, contemplating whether or not I could put aside my views on celebrity authors and enjoy the book for what it was -a debut novel. Eventually I decided to take one for the Novelicious team and go for it… Britt Baxter is our main character in ‘The Camera Never Lies’, she’s a blonde bombshell from the North…weird that, isn’t it? Britt is a model whose career looks like it’s about to come to an abrupt end. Add that to her relationship with boyfriend Alex descending into boredom and Britt doesn’t know what to do next with her life. Maybe she could become a TV Presenter…hmmmmm… Doing just that Britt gets a job as a fashion reporter on ‘Rise and Shine’, the nation’s biggest breakfast show. Soon people are stopping her in the street for autographs and she’s thrown into a celebrity world that she’s never been a part of before. Obviously taking inspiration from her own life and career, Tess writes convincingly about the backstage secrets of working in television and as I continued to read I actually grew to like Britt as a character – I could empathise with her struggle to figure out what it is she actually wanted in life and I enjoyed reading about transition to a more confident, career driven woman. The characters were realistic and well rounded. Putting aside the slightly repetitive nature of certain aspects of the book (I’m sure you’ll notice them.) I actually very much enjoyed it. The descriptions of life backstage at a TV show were great and really made me feel like I was part of the action. The characters were realistically written and well rounded and I continued to root for Britt until the last page. I did struggle to escape the feeling that this novel was a tad unimaginative and autobiographical on Tess’s part. I haven’t found any information that leads me to believe that Tess used a ghost writer and hopefully she didn’t because this book has managed to change my views of celebrity authors…well….just a little. 7/10 MORE ABOUT THE CAMERA NEVER LIES