Red Carpets & White Lies: A Novel

by Lea Black

In a city known for its never-ending parties, Miami socialite Leigh Anatole White hosts the most extravagant party of them all. Her annual Charity Ball, a star-studded benefit for troubled teens, is the most highly anticipated event of the season, and Leigh pulls out all the stops to ensure it doesn’t disappoint.
This year—the tenth anniversary of the Ball—Leigh has decided to give Miami one last blowout before relinquishing her title as hostess. Suffice it to say, the pressure is this year’s Charity Ball simply must be the best yet. With help from her committee, a few close friends, a masterful personal assistant and her supportive husband, Leigh is poised to deliver. Even the dirty secrets and entanglements of her friends and pseudo-friends—the good-hearted, hard-drinking gossip queen Dixie Johnson; drag queen extraordinaire Diva Elaine Manchester; and bronzed, botoxed and backstabbing Katie Parker, to name a few—can’t slow her down.
When an influential art dealer shows up, offering to provide high-end artwork for the Charity Ball’s auction, Leigh is thrilled. This is just what the gala needs to set it apart from previous years’, and after all of Leigh’s hard work, it looks as though the last Charity Ball may just live up to the hype. But as always in the world of Miami’s rich and shameless, a scandal is never far off…and this one hits  everyone  close to home.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction

437 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 21, 2015

About the author

Mother, wife, philanthropist, author, television personality, political activist and entrepreneur are all titles that can be claimed by Lea Black, a Texas native who moved to Miami in the late 1980s and quickly rose to the heights of Miami society. In addition to having played a prominent role on The Real Housewives of Miami, Lea also blogs regularly for outlets such as The Huffington Post and E! Online, has founded and co-founded several health and beauty lines, and hosts an annual gala that wrangles in Miami’s considerable wealth and talent in order to raise money for charity. Lea is also president and CEO of a multi-brand company she created and founded, The World of Lea Black. She is married to renowned trial attorney Roy Black, with whom she has a thirteen-year-old son, RJ.

Reviews

[Sherrie Howey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is written by Lea Black, one of the housewives of "Real Housewives of Miami" and features Leigh White(how similar to Lea Black) who is chairing her tenth charity ball. Leigh has enlisted help from all of her close friends to assist with the ball but it appears that many of her friends are more interested in publicity and in some cases, drinking and affairs rather than helping with the gala. Many of the characters are bizarre and all one can do is laugh at their antics. Leigh is very dedicated to her gala but her reputation is in serious danger when art work which has been sold at the gala comes into question and she is charged with fraud. Her husband , who is a lawyer is determined to clear her and an involved trial takes place. This is an easy read and offers a view of privileged life in Miami and some of the characters in the boo , really make one laugh.

[WriteVibeMagazine · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the debut novel, RED CARPETS & WHITE LIES by Lea Black readers will immediately be drawn in because of the author. Who better to carefully weave together such a scandalous work of fiction than Bravo TV’s Real Housewives Of Miami own, Lea Black. Upon reading this novel, you know she was listening and learning the game of survival.

Red Carpets & White Lies tells the tale of Miami socialite Leigh White who is one of the city’s elite and her annual charity fundraiser to help troubled youth is the place where the elite will meet.

The book was filled with so much and just downright scandalous behavior I often questioned was this fiction or simply a tasteful expose.
The storyline was more than believable and the character development was on point from start to finish. In the fashion of Jackie Collins who is famous for writing about the rich and shameless, Lea Black gives her readers something to talk about as well. I would also add that this was not some novella filled with clichés, this was a full-length novel with over 400+ pages of DRAMA!

I enjoyed this debut and look forward to more writing from Lea Black!

Reviewed by Kisha Green for Literary Jewels
Format: Paperback
Review Copy Supplied by Publisher

[Fluff Smut & Murder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adore celebrity authors. I’ve read the good (Katie Lee, Betheny Frankel, Allison Sweeney) and the bad (Tinsley Mortimer, Joan Collins and a few others). I don’t really care if the star is doing the actual writing or if they’ve paid handsomely for a terrific ghostwriter – a good story is all that matters to me. I also love my Housewives – except I never got into the Miami series so I only had a vague idea of what this tale was supposed to be a fictionalizing.

What I loved: The way Ms. Black wrote the epilogue (always a must in books with a climatic ending with a large cast of characters) was original and offbeat. I’m not going to spoil it but I must give props for the ingenuity.

What I didn’t love: It is really slow in the beginning. Really slow. It only picks up in the last third but it’s page turner once the &*( finally hits the fan . The accent for Dixie Johnson was so strong that I almost had to read her dialogue outloud to understand what she was trying to say. Maybe the audiobook would have been a better choice.

What I learned: I don’t think I missed much by missing the RHO Miami…

Overall Grade: C+

www.fsam15.wix.com/fluffsmutandmurder

[Joanne Drozdowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and quick read

Lea Black did an excellent job of entwining mystery, humor, and scandal in this book about the Miami socialites. It's a must read.

[Nicola · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read far better books about the lifestyles of the rich (like 'Crazy Rich Asians'). The problem was that the book simply lacked a plot until around page 300. There's no love story or conflict until we finally get to the (painfully obvious) set-up & court case. Until then there's only so many descriptions of shoes, gossip, and over-done sex scenes that can fill the pages. I ended up tossing up putting the book down v.s. skim reading through it until the plot emerged and settled on the latter. The last quarter of the book was vaguely interesting but the book can definitely be skipped!

[Krystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was not a huge fan of this book. Maybe its just not my cup of tea. I found it a little annoying and repetitive. I don't want to sound mean but reading about the scandal, cheating, binge drinking and expensive clothes of the rich and famous just doesn't appeal to me. I don't find it "juicy" or 'sexy", I just find it a little obnoxious.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I watched Real Housewives of Miami so I was familiar with Lea. The book started out as typical chick lit, but as the story line became stronger, I became hooked. Her characters had a lot of depth and personality and it was the connection to them that drew me further into the story. The last half of the book is suspenseful.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of fluff to read on the cruise. Found this gem in the ship's library and thought I'd see if I could finish it by the end of the trip. Mission accomplished! Lea must have had a difficult time writing this "fiction" novel as it's basically her life story.

[Chris Gurney-hsiung · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beginning of the novel is a bit slow, and the characters are not very likable at first. Found the beginning and middle of the book difficult to get through. Novel picks up, becomes more enjoyable, and a lot more interesting near the end.

[Deuce Bigelow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could've been much better had it been edited down about 100 pages.

[Den · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. What an amazing book. I worked for a woman who ran a nonprofit, and was nothing like the main character. The person I worked for was like Miranda Priestly, but the main character in this book is like Glinda the Good Witch. You get an inkling from the beginning that there was going to be an issue. However, I never thought of what was going to happen, happened. Lea Black took things down a different path. WOW!!!

I recommend this book and Lea Black wholeheartedly. I am looking forward to reading more of her books.

[Jo Elaine Boyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't be too critical ....

I was going to write a bad review but it is what it was described to be-trashy but entertaining. Beach read

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially great when u think about Lea black writing it

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, but the first 100 pages about the first gala could have been omitted. Also, it's very repetitive and we get it-Leigh and Brad are the only genuine people in all of Miami. Had fun reading it because I did watch RHOM and liked how she included real people in her book.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like chic lit, Bravo & People so when I saw RHoMiami Lea Black had written this I figured why not...Not great is why not. Caricature characters w/ nothing new in Miami. I skimmed my way to the end of this, not so much bc I cared about what was written but bc I hate not to finish a book.

[Jackie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stopped reading

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very slow book.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish--too dull.