Melanie Blake was a music manager and talent agent before becoming a novelist. At twenty-one she was working at the BBC's iconic Top of the Pops show, and by twenty-seven she had created her own agency. Her music clients have sold 100 million records between them, and her acting clients include Emmy and BAFTA award-winners from Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks and Dynasty. Melanie Blake is known within the entertainment industry as the Queen Of Soaps, having represented more leading actresses from long running TV dramas than any other agent in the UK. Her first novel, The Thunder Girls, was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller, and was recently turned into a successful play.
'Melanie Blake has spent over two decades working behind the scenes in showbiz and has based her new novel Ruthless Women on what really goes on behind the scenes on the set of a UK TV drama when the cameras stop rolling' * Magic FM * 'The best book of the year so far, Ruthless Women is the perfect antidote to lockdown, a high-octane escapist binge-read that will have you up all night!' * Take A Break * 'Melanie Blake is to the UK TV industry what Jackie Collins was to Hollywood. Both using insider industry knowledge to write authentic stories, and both challenging the double standards faced by women in the entertainment industry' * TV Choice * 'More glamour, divas and bitch-fights than an episode of Ru Paul's Drag Race - what's not to love!' * Absolute Radio * 'It had us rooting for its irrepressible, beautiful, ambitious cast of women - each completely unstoppable in their fight against injustice' * Yours * 'If there's one book you're going to read in 2021, make it Ruthless Women. Utterly addictive from its opening chapters, the technically fictional novel (which draws on author Melanie Blake's real-life experience as an agent to the stars) is unpredictable, unputdownable and unique to anything I have ever read. I've read a lot of books in my 28 years! It's clearer to me than ever when an author has put their heart and soul into a project. This is exactly what Blake has achieved and for that reason alone, this book deserves all the success in the world' * Female First * 'This thrilling novel is written by soap queen Melanie Blake, who is one of the most successful soap star agents of all time, and the woman behind some of soap's biggest comebacks. Now, for the first time ever, she's writing about her experience behind the camera' * Inside Soap * 'Ruthless Women is this year's must-read' * Notebook Magazine * 'A brilliantly plotted story with characters that jump off the page, Ruthless Women will have you gripped to the last page, while also making you laugh' * Bella * 'Shocking and utterly unputdownable' * Daily Express * 'With women who are beautiful, shrewd and determined and a story of revenge, treachery and lust - Ruthless Women is a shockingly good read' * The Sun * 'An addictive page-turner you will shamelessly devour in one sitting, Ruthless Women reworks the classic 1980s formular of sex, sleaze, trash, glamour, and high society for the 2020s ... Jackie Collins would be bursting with pride at the effect she has had on this woman. In this best possible way. The Bitch is back and it's brilliant!' * Writer's News * 'More shocking than Jackie Collins, sexier than 50 Shades, and with more laughs than Jilly Cooper, Ruthless Women sees bestselling author Melanie Blake return to her unstoppable best' * That's Life * 'It's the sauciest, most riveting read of the year - a bonkbuster so gloriously sexy, funny and page-turning, we devoured it in just two days' * Daily Record * 'Think Sex and the City 20 years on, injected with a career-hungry cast. Suspense soaked in glamour. Beautifully written, a nod to the old genre of career women having it all, revved up for 2021 with romps, rivals and ruthless ambition to die for' * My Weekly * 'Everything Fifty Shades should have been' * Heat * 'The bonkbuster is back with a bang! Ruthless Women is the read of 2021' * Woman's Own * 'Does for TV what The Devil Wears Prada did for fashion; shows the rotten truth hidden behind the golden facade. The must-read novel of the year; unmissable' * OK! * 'A twist so shocking, you'll be talking about it for years ... This is the book of 2021' * Daily Mirror * 'So addictive we couldn't put it down! Revenge, betrayal, murder and some of the hottest scenes you'll ever read ... Ruthless Women has got it all' * Sunday Express * 'Buckle up you're in for a raunchy ride! So addictive we couldn't put it down - it's a real roller coaster of a ride' * Sunday Mirror * 'A page-turning bonkbuster so gloriously sexy, funny and gripping, it's sending the showbiz elite WILD!' * New Magazine * 'Glitz, glamour and ambition - it's all there! A truly addictive page-turner. Melanie Blake's Ruthless Women is the binge read we all need right now' * Woman & Home * 'All rise for the new Queen of the bonkbuster ... Glamorous women, hunky men, mendacious producers, insecure actors and people stabbing each other in the front, back and side' * The Times *