Prime Time: A feel-good rom-com from the author of The Big Five O

by Jane Wenham-Jones

Overview

If you love Milly Johnson, Trisha Ashley and Catherine Alliott, you'll love Jane Wenham-Jones's deliciously entertaining novels!

'Funny, realistic and full of insight' Katie Fforde

'I love Jane's writing!' Jill Mansell

'Feel-good' Woman & Home

Laura Meredith never imagined herself appearing on TV - she's too old, too flabby, too downright hormonal, and much too busy holding things together for her son, Stanley, after her husband left her for a younger, thinner replacement.

But best friend Charlotte is a determined woman and when Laura is persuaded on to a daytime show to talk about her PMT, everything changes. Suddenly there's a camera crew tracking her every move and Laura finds herself an unlikely star. But as things hot up between her and gorgeous TV director, Cal, they're going downhill elsewhere.

While Laura's caught up in a heady whirlwind of beauty treatments, makeovers and glamorous film locations, Charlotte's husband, Roger, is concealing a guilty secret, Stanley's got problems at school, work's piling up, and when Laura turns detective to protect Charlotte's marriage, things go horribly wrong. The champagne's flowing as Laura's prime time TV debut looks set to be a hit. But in every month, there's a "Day Ten" ...

Don't miss Jane's other delightfully entertaining titles, filled with humour and insight: The Big Five O, Mum in the Middle, One Glass is Never Enough and Perfect Alibis are all out now!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781908262790
Publisher:	Headline
Publication date:	01/12/2012
Series:	Jane Wenham-Jones
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	370
File size:	500 KB

About the Author

Jane Wenham-Jones is a well-known author and journalist who regularly appears on radio and TV. She has written for a wide variety of magazines and newspapers, is a regular columnist for Woman's Weekly and the agony aunt for Writing Magazine.

She has published six novels: Raising The Roof, Perfect Alibis, One Glass Is Never Enough, Prime Time, Mum in the Middle and The Big Five O, as well as three non-fiction books - Wannabe a Writer? and Wannabe a Writer We've Heard Of? plus a humorous yet useful diet book, written in the style of the Wannabe guides - 100 Ways to Fight the Flab and Still Have Wine and Chocolate.

Jane lives with her family in Broadstairs, Kent, where three of her novels are set. For more info see www.janewenham-jones.com and www.wannabeawriter.com

Read an Excerpt

Recent research has shown that the kind of male face a woman finds attractive can differ depending on where she is in her menstrual cycle. For instance, if she is ovulating she is drawn to men with rugged, masculine features. Whereas if she is menstruating she is more prone to be attracted to a man with a heavy pair of scissors shoved in his forehead …

Ho bloody ho. I sit on my hands so I can’t punch the computer screen. Hilarious, these Internet jokes. Or they might be if not so close to the truth. I quite often imagine Daniel cowering in a corner, whimpering while I take a blunt instrument to him. Or the way he might look if I wiped away that supercilious expression by treading on it. Especially on Day 19. Day 19 of my menstrual cycle is when I am at my most malevolent and think my darkest thoughts. Then I write vitriolic letters in my head and fantasise about wreaking revenge on everyone who has ever done me wrong. It is when I smash crockery, forget things, scream, shout and eat four KitKats without drawing breath. It is Day 19 today and already I am …

‘Am I going to Dad’s tonight?’

Stanley appeared in the doorway in his school shirt and boxers. His hair, as usual, stood up in tufts. He yawned and wrinkled his freckled nose. ‘Do you know where my tie is?’

I gripped the edge of the keyboard. ‘No, I do not know where your tie is. It is wherever you left it, the same as it is every morning when you ask me, and yes, you are going to your father’s. We’ve been talking about it for five days. Since the last time you went, in fact. Which was last Sunday. When your father said he would pick you up this Friday, which is today, and you could stay the night with him and he would take you to the football match. You know you are going to your bloody father’s …’ I clapped a hand to my mouth and bit it.

Stanley’s face, which had lit up at the thought of 22 blokes kicking a bag of air, clouded again. ‘I hope She isn’t there.’

‘She will be,’ I said grimly, suffused with shame at swearing and giving my son’s future therapist even more material to work with. ‘She lives there.’

She is Emily, Daniel’s new girlfriend, who is totally welcome to him because I wouldn’t have him back if his was the last paunch on earth. She has set up home with him which I don’t care about at all. I do think, however, it smacks of indecent haste as far as Stanley, who has to visit them, is concerned. Them and their laminate floors and low black coffee tables and single lilies in tall glass tubes (I didn’t press Stanley for these details – he gave them up quite readily under cross-examination).

Stanley wrinkled his nose even more. ‘I can’t find my trousers either.’

‘Boiler!’ I got up from my desk in our tiny spare bedroom and stomped to the door in two paces. ‘They were muddy, remember? I washed them. I told you they were on the boiler to dry. I knew you weren’t listening … And why weren’t you dressed ages ago? I’ve got to get this lot finished today,’ I shrieked, jabbing a finger at the pile of paper teetering on the top of the ancient filing cabinet. ‘And how can I do that with you constantly interrupting me?’

‘All right. Take a chill-pill.’ Stanley sighed and plodded across the landing. He knows when it is that time of the month.

‘Keep it on,’ he called from the safety of the stairs while I kicked the waste bin. ‘Will you make me some toast?’

One, two, three, four, five. Breathe in and out. Adopt sing-song voice to disguise the fact I want to throttle him. ‘Yes darling,’ I trilled through gritted teeth. ‘I will make you toast even though you are 11 and a half and quite old enough to make it yourself. Even if I am right in the middle of a paragraph.’

‘You were doing emails.’

‘Work ones. When I was 11 …’

‘You got up at dawn to scrub all the floors, made breakfast for the whole family, did all the washing and walked through fire and flood 20 miles to school …’ Stanley poked his head back round the door and grinned.

I glared. ‘Just get ready!’

Editorial Reviews

Have you ever wondered how they make those reality shows on TV? If you have, then your curiosity will be satisfied by reading Jane Wenham-Jones's hilarious PRIME TIME.

CLICK HERE to read the full review

theromancereviews.com

Poignant and hilarious in equal measure, Prime Time is stuffed full of likeable, realistic characters you can’t fail to care about - and it’s brilliantly written.

Laura Meredith finds it difficult to keep her emotions under control at the best of times, but since her husband, Daniel, abandoned her for the skinnier, younger and more glamorous Emily, she feels fat, old and unkempt and seems to be suffering from non-stop PMT.

She is worried about her son, Stanley, who is unhappy at school, worried about work and money, and worried that at 40 she’s over the hill and destined to spend the rest of her life alone.

Chuck into the mix her concerns about her best friend Charlotte’s previously rock-solid marriage and it’s fair to say Laura is in a pretty dark place. That is, until she is persuaded onto daytime television and catches the eye of a sexy producer, Cal.

Soon, a camera crew is following her every move as she embarks on a thrilling journey of self-improvement designed to hold back the years. But while the filming takes over her fantasy life, her real one is imploding - and just how sincere is Cal anyway?

It’s a pleasure to read about feisty, funny women with a fondness for pinot grigio and a few cigarettes - the sort of women you’d want to be friends with and will certainly be rooting for as they negotiate the indignities of the ageing process.

Prime Time is thoughtful, insightful and often laugh-out-loud funny. I raced through it and thoroughly enjoyed myself in the process.

Daily Mail

A pleasure to read about feisty, funny women with a fondness for pinot grigio and a few cigarettes - the sort of women you'd want to be friends with and will certainly be rooting for as they negotiate the indignities of the ageing process.

...thoughtful, insightful and often laugh-out loud funny

From the Publisher