Fifteen Minutes of Shame
  Lisa Earle McLeod

What happens when America’s cutest, perkiest TV love guru is
publicly humiliated and then unceremoniously dumped on live TV?

Darby Vaughn, a small-town girl turned dating guru, has finally
landed the life she’s always dreamed of: A handsome, charming
husband she’s crazy about, a fabulous home in an exclusive
neighborhood, a bestselling dating book, and tax-deductible
pedicures. Thousands of women have attended Darby’s famous
Dreamgirl Academy and followed her man-snagging advice to the
letter, in hopes that their lives will turn out just like hers.
Until it all comes crashing down.

In a deliciously dishy, ripped from the headlines,
is-it-true-or-isn’t-it story, author Lisa Daily’s debut novel
Fifteen Minutes of Shame (Plume, April 2008) takes readers behind
the glossy world of celebrities, gossip and television date
doctors for a hilarious look at what happens when a best-selling
TV love guru discovers that her own husband is cheating.

In one of the book’s most memorable (and hysterically funny)
scenes the heroine, super successful careerist Darby Vaughn is
sent reeling when Today show anchor Matt Lauer shocks her on live
television with the news that her husband has just held a press
conference announcing that he is leaving her.

Her poised “I know everything about men” persona collapses as she
throws up (as in, literally vomits) into the basket of
chrysanthemums on the Today show coffee table, live on national
TV.

The ensuing fallout as Darby’s publicity perfect world spins out
of control is a funny, relatable read. With the most humiliating
moment of her life splashed across supermarket headlines, and her
private pain becoming fodder for late night comedians, you find
yourself both laughing and empathizing as Darby lurches from
hiding out in airport bathrooms to spin dating to drowning her
sorrows in Margaritas and estrogen as her best girlfriends rally
to her aid.

However, unlike many of the formulaic books found on the pink
table (chick lit) Fifteen Minutes of Shame provides an unexpected
depth of character and emotion that belie the catchy title and
pop culture story line.

Yes, there’s the dishy delight of what author Daily refers to as
“the Kathie-Lee Factor.” The voyeuristic thrill of watching a
perfect princess take a fall is as delectable as
chocolate-covered gossip.

However, Daily also captures the subtle nuances that make Darby
human. She deftly explores the deep-seeded fear of abandonment
common in so many over-achievers, and as the plot unfolds,
readers gets a glimpse of the past pain that propelled Darby to
try control every element of her quest for a perfectly polished
life.

Although Daily is a real life TV dating expert herself, having
written the best-selling dating advice book Stop Getting Dumped
and appearing on weekly TV show, she claims that Fifteen Minutes
of Shame is pure fiction.

However, Daily’s subject matters expertise is evident as she
sprinkles dating tips throughout the book, cleverly juxtaposed
against her heroine’s train wreck of a life. And insider media
knowledge rings true with the hilarious descriptions of how
Darby’s “hurl seen round the world” is devoured by YouTube
viewers and the jackals of tabloid journalism.

Yet in her first turn towards fiction, Daily also reveals herself
to be a natural storyteller. Her ability to combines humor and
heartbreak has instantly catapulted her into the ranks of top
tier novelists like Jennifer Weiner, Emily Giffin, Jane Green and
Sophie Kinsella. With its quirky characters and vivid
descriptions, Fifteen Minutes of Shame reads like a smart sassy
movie, ala Hugh Grant, Meg Ryan, Drew Barrymore, James Marsden or
Katherine Heigl. (So it’s no surprise that one of Hollywood’s
hottest screenwriters has snatched up rights to turn it into a
movie.)

And -spoiler alert - while Fifteen Minutes of Shame is a romantic
comedy, the heroine reclaims her own power before she deciding to
share it with a man again.

Simply put: Fifteen Minutes of Shame is the best book to hit the
bookstores since the Shopaholic series, The Devil Wears Prada,
Something Borrowed, or In Her Shoes. Lisa Daily’s
(www.lisadaily.com) current fans will be delighted with more of
trademark humor, and she’ll quickly garner an even wider audience
with this well-crafted, engaging, uproariously funny novel.