Blog Tour, Review & Giveaway: Passion and Pain by Kathy Petrakis
Synopsis:
Does passion and desire guarantee success?
Can friends really be trusted?
Can true love be found beneath lust and deceit?
These are questions street dancer Elena Martinez faces as she struggles to compete against the most talented students at New York’s top Performing Arts High School. Along with her best friend, the cheeky and mischievous Sebastien Duval, they are determined to make center stage. But the singing diva Letitia has other plans. Beautiful, talented and popular, her desire for power and revenge could ruin everything for Elena and Sebastien. Now, they must fight against prejudice, treachery and deceit as Letitia sets out to destroy Elena’s friends, her romance, her dignity and her dreams. Can Elena win the battle for true love, happiness and success?
Review:
When Kathy contacted me about reviewing her book, I asked her how much sex was in the book….let’s just say I have been surprised a lot lately. She said there was 1 scene so I said I would be happy to read and review the book. I’m not a prude, I’m all for some spicy scenes, but I am trying to keep the blog as clean as possible. Anyway, this book reminded me of the TV show Fame….high school age students at a dramatic and performing arts school. The students had a wide variety of personalities, talents and personal histories. It made for an eclectic group of students. And of course there always has to be the “mean” girl….trust me you won’t like Letitia! It was interesting to see how thin the students seemed to stretch themselves in what they participated in during the school year….plays, musicals, dance classes, show choir…the list goes on and on.
Elena, one of the main characters, has a lot going against her from her background to being the subject of ridicule and bullying by Letitia. She does persevere but without letting her insecurities get the better of her. I also felt a wide range of emotions from her in the different situations she was placed.
We really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read book two, Bitter Sweet and give the book 4 1/2 paws.
About the Author:
Kathy was born and raised in Sydney Australia to Greek immigrant parents. She has always loved the performing arts – dancing, acting and singing but considered them merely hobbies with the expectation of a ‘serious’ professional career. She won an award at 11 for a short story competition but didn’t pursue any sort of creative writing at that point. Her mother always encouraged her to keep writing but the most she did was entertain friends via emails about her endless travels overseas.
After nearly twenty years in the corporate world, her means of financing her passion for dancing, singing and acting classes, she decided to live in London for an indeterminate amount of time. She did not know why but found herself with a desire to rekindle the creative writing, the first novel burning in her head. Thus began the birth of the Dancers and Divas Series. It began as one book and has evolved as a trilogy. Since then, she has not been able to stop and has so many ideas constantly begging to be written.
She is also playing with Play and TV Script formats as alternate way of telling stories. Maybe the Dancers and Divas series will be a TV series one day – it is definitely the right type of story for it!
Buy the Book:
It is a steal at just $0.99 during the blog tour – available on Amazon or Barnes & Noble
The Giveaway:
Paperback and ebook giveaway
Up to $1000 Fan giveaway in either Amazon, Book Depository or PayPal credit – Terms and Conditions
**a copy of this book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review
