#BlogTour ‘Ruthless Women’ by Melanie Blake

About the book….

Ambition can be deadly…

A sizzling thriller set behind the scenes of a glamorous TV soap, from a Sunday Times bestselling author.

Falcon Bay is the UK’s favorite TV soap, beamed to millions three days a week from its beautiful location in the Channel Islands. But the show has a new owner, and ratings are falling.

The cast and crew used to be ‘one big family,’ but now they’ve turned against each other in the battle to impress their new boss and survive the downturn. Writer Farrah, lead actor Catherine, and producer Amanda are the driven, ambitious women who keep the show on the road.

But Farrah is losing episodes to her less experienced male rival, Catherine is terrified of the public falling out of love with her, and Amanda’s evil husband Jake, vice president of the network, is plotting to get his wife kicked off the show. Can these women team up to bring down their rivals?

Only if they are prepared for a battle of the sexes—where they’ll need to be as ruthless as the men to come out on top..

I think I nearly bit poor Bei at Midas Pr’s hand off when I was emailed to see if I wanted to be on the blog tour for Melanie Blake’s second novel, ‘Ruthless Women’ which is put from February 18th in hardcover, published by Head Of Zeus. ‘Thunder Girls’ was brilliant and I couldn’t wait to see how Melanie pulled back the curtains on her years of experience in television programming and she does not disappoint.

Scheming, shenanigans and sex are the order of the day as manipulation in front of, and behind the camera, is needed to boost the flagging ratings of what was once a watercooler tv show.

The women around whom the story is constructed all have very different parts to play, from new mum Amanda, who was demoted in favour of her husband whilst on maternity leave, to casting agent Helen , who was responsible for the hiring of ingenue Farah, and a lifelong friendship with Falcon Bay’s grande dame, Catherine, they all have integral roles which are overlooked by the men in their lives.

They have agency, clout and charisma to burn, and they are at the precipice of the show which brought them together, the show which they made as much as it made them, becoming resigned to one of those ‘nostalgia porn’ shows on Channel 5 that are aired in the middle of the night when you are too drunk/tired/lazy to turn over.

This is not just a book which pits men against women and using tired old tropes to prop up a story ,as was perceived  of Jackie Collins’ novels , this is a novel of female empowerment and what happens when women are tired of being written out of their own narratives. In much the same way that Jackie’s novels were overlooked as scandalous bonkbusters read by sexually frustrated housewives, I can imagine people sneering at a book framed around a soap opera on the verge of undoing its decades long legacy.

But, read it closely and you will see a cultural reflection on the ways that society controls and dominates the way that women present themselves, package themselves and the limits that they can reach. They find sex joyous and make no apologies for looking for satisfaction in that department and honestly, there are quite a few scenes which will leave you hot under the collar.

Furthermore, there is a sense of reflection on how far soaps, or rather ‘continuing dramas’ as they have been relabelled, are perceived. In one part it because they have been a victim of their own success, looking for bigger and better headline grabbing storylines, and in another, the actors have been stepping up from behind the camera to become celebrities in their own right. And this is what is done so well in ‘Ruthless Women’, there is a fantastic crew meeting at the beginning of the book where uber-knob, Amanda’s husband Jake, demands something big, something ground shaking to reboot the image of Falcon’s Bay. As person after person throws out outlandish suggestions, he shoots them down reminding them that they have already done each of them to death. It’s such a funny scene, but when you take it apart, Melanie has it bang on the nail, the soaps used to be a staple of character acting and the stories were extensions of them rather than a nail to hang an issue on.

Everyone knew the names of the Eastenders showrunners, the were an institution and for all their faults in the early days, it was a sense of family, of community which pulled all the actors and viewers together. Can you imagine a double handler,extended episode with two women in old age topping the ratings polls? Ethel and Dot’s episode is one which is very close to my heart, but you can imagine execs these days saying that the women were too old, they weren’t attractive and a focus on them would lose viewers. Baby snatches, serial killers, arson all seem pretty dynamic when compared to a strike at Mike Baldwin’s knicker factory or Jimmy Corkhill’s breakdown.

And in this space between what is and what was, Melanie gives us a book which is deeply feminist and looks back with fondness to the values that started a tv show, started a series and then ignores all the things which made them so good, in favour of ratings and awards and legitimacy. And to take back control, you know you are going to have to be pretty damn ruthless..

I read this at white hot speed, smoke flying off my fingers, eager to devour chapter after chapter as these women who were all in each other’s orbit, take a really good look at each other and stage a coup. Will they be successful? Get yourself a copy of ‘Ruthless Women’ and see for yourself!

*NEWSFLASH!*

Melanie will be talking to the stars of the musical based on her novel, ‘Thunder Girls’-click on the link below for more details!

Melanie will be launching the book alongside two of TVs leading ladies Coleen Nolan and Beverly Callard who will be spilling the beans on their own personal lives for a digital book launch “Melanie Blake’s Girls Night in” that members of the public can buy tickets to for £10 including a copy of the book.

A Girls Night In With Melanie Blake | Projects | Fane

About the author…

At fifteen years old Melanie Blake was told by her high school career advisers that her decision to do work experience at a local record shop was an ‘embarrassment and a clear example that she wouldn’t go far in life or her career’. They were wrong. By twenty-one she was working at the BBC’s iconic Top of the Pops show and by twenty-seven she had built a reputation as one of the UK’s leading music and entertainment managers, with her own agency and a roster of award-winning artists who had sold more than 100 million records.

After a decade at the top, Melanie decided to manage a smaller client list and concentrate on her other passion, writing – first as a columnist for a national newspaper, then as a playwright and now as a novelist. They say write about what you know, and having lived and breathed every aspect of the music and entertainment industry, in The Thunder Girls she certainly has.

Twitter @MelanieBlakeUK  @MidasPR @panmacmillan