Maude thinks her life can’t get any better: her first music album is a hit, she’s about to meet her extended family, and she’s looking forward to her first date with teen pop star, Matt.
But when scandal strikes, Maude must part ways with Matt and watch Soulville Records fall into the hands of an ambitious Alan Lewis, who will stop at nothing to turn Maude into an unparalleled star.
Between glamorous parties, an unauthorized tell-all book, a web of lies, new revelations about her French past, and her rivalry with Lindsey Linton attaining a whole new level, Maude must fight for her voice to be heard and decide if being a star is more important than her love for music.
The French Girl series has sold over 40,000 copies in English.
Prologue
Maude Laurent had remained locked up in a basement in France for sixteen years and had been on lockdown in Manhattan for the last sixteen hours.
She pondered for some time on whether being locked up was all she was good for. On the fifteenth hour, she rested. And on the sixteenth hour she awoke, famished for edible forms of French sanity. French rolls, French somethings, French anythings.
Manhattan was madness, Maude was in Manhattan, Maude was in madness.
She threw an irate “humpf” at the celestial blue bar and at the crowd of paparazzi scrambling underneath. Teasing her misery by displaying a large, sunny grin, the sky refused to dissolve into misty tears to satisfy Maude’s stormy mood.
After having brushed her rebellious curls into a bun, the young girl let her reflection peer back at her through the oval mirror. Her chocolate brown skin glowed under the flirtatious ray of light dancing around the room, and her almond-shaped eyes glowered with defiance at her reflection.
“Today, I’m breaking free,” she stated, like many optimistic celebrities had done before her.
Easier said than done. But when she stared into the face of the gathered crowd, Maude had to drag her courage, tangled in seaweeds of cowardice, before she surfaced into light. Microphones. Cameras shoved in her face with unhinged eagerness. They’d waited hours on brownstone steps and now demanded answers to their questions.
Had Matt left Lindsey Linton for Maude?
Were Maude and Matt an item?
What was his relationship to Lindsey Linton?
Was Maude going out with Thomas Bradfield or Matt?
Was Matt coming on tour with her?
