Michele Kwasniewski – Rising Star

‘Rising Star’ is the first book in the ‘Rise and Fall of Dani Truehart’ Series by Michele Kwasniewski.

Dani Truehart is living a life that is not quite her own. Driven by her mother’s desire for fame and fortune, she has spent her childhood dutifully training for a career as a pop star. On the brink of discovery, doubts begin to creep into Dani’s mind as she questions her own desire for fame, and she wonders whether she can trust the motivations of the adults who are driving her forward.

Following a brilliant audition arranged by her vocal/dance coach and former ’80s pop icon Martin Fox, Dani is thrown full force into the music industry. She leaves her friends, family and scheming mother behind to move with Martin, who has become her legal guardian, into the Malibu compound of her new manager, Jenner Redman. Jenner, the former swindling manager of Martin’s boy band, leverages what’s left of his depleted fortune to launch Dani’s career. Isolated from her life at home and trying to stay apace with her demanding schedule, Dani struggles to keep in touch with those she loves, connect to her withholding mother and find her voice as an artist. With Martin and Jenner at odds over their rocky past and finding herself unprepared to handle the pressures of her future singing career, Dani’s debut album and future stardom are at risk of falling apart.

A brand new series aimed at young adults, it is told by Dani Trueheart-her dream is to be a famous pop star. We are witness to the extreme pressure and stress that teenagers, who we see hit the limelight in their youth, become susceptible to.

It was always Dani’s mother’ dream for her daughter to become famous and make their family rich. The epitome of a pushy parent, she encouraged Dani to miss school to train in one way or another. Dani was either singing or working out instead of concentrating on her education.

The very moment Dani fulfils her dream and signs a recording contract and has to have a legal guardian her mother is enraged with jealousy and realises she no longer has control of her daughter…or her career. Dani is not used to being away from her boyfriend but she has to move away to further develop her career, she realises this has to happen and on top of the loss of her boyfriend, her mum is still green with envy and very bitter towards her.

This is an eye-opening read, it made me think about all our young pop stars, in the U.K and America too. The gruelling schedules they all went through to gain the place they have in the recording industry. Just thinking about what I read in ‘Rising Star’ I really feel sorry for anyone starting along this path and know they have to be dedicated and drop everything but the lessons needed to gain the stardom they lust after.

‘Rising Star’ is fascinating as well as eye-opening. It goes behind the scenes and showed me just how hard the parents push their children to achieve the things they really wanted to do. We see it in the relationship between Dani and her own mother. She pushed Dani for years and the minute she discovers that the ‘big bucks’ are not within reach as yet she becomes hard and bitter towards her daughter, using every opportunity to hurt her in every way possible. This part of the story made for an uncomfortable read, a child being basically rejected is never nice. Kudos to Dani for uprooting herself and having the backbone to stay on the road to stardom and leave everything and one behind. My heart went out to Dani, no maternal figure who cared and making these decisions no young person should need to without parents to guide them.

A fabulously written story of Dani who is just embarking on the start of her adult life with all the sweat and tears that come with it. The beginning of a series that is a fascinating and immersive read and I am sure the next book will continue the same way with us following Dani’s life and career.

Thanks to Random Things Tours and Michele Kwasniewski for the copy of the book.