Ruthless Women giveaway collage
Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI (2); Howard Wise (2);

Let the guessing games begin!

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Which legendary leading lady got a young co-star fired in order to save his life? Which iconic leading man can’t get even the simplest of lines right? Which director is willing to go to shocking lengths in order to secure her place behind the camera? These are just some of the juicy scandals bubbling behind the scenes of the long-running soap Falcon Bay… a show of which you’ve probably never heard.

That’s because Falcon Bay is the fictional soap at the center of Ruthless Women, the kind of bestseller that leaves readers trying to figure out who the real-life counterparts of the scandal-plagued characters might be. And according to author Melanie Blake, readers aren’t the only ones playing detective! “My inbox exploded with DM’s from celebrities all over the world asking if each character was based on someone they knew,” she reveals. “Which I thought was hilarious because no one ever spotted themselves, which tells you a lot about famous women!”

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While the women around whom the book centers engage in some jaw-droppingly questionable behavior, Blake insists that “in this instance, ruthless doesn’t have a negative connotation. The leading ladies of my novel all love what they do and don’t want to lose their roles on the show. When you’re passionate about something, you’ll do anything to hang on to it.”

Plus, she points out, “if they were male characters, they’d be called ‘powerful.’ But of course, any woman who stands up for herself always has some sort of negative connotation. In this book, they own that and are gloriously ruthless women!”

Readers will notice that Blake’s characters are, for the most part, not the 20- and 30-somethings so prevalent in pop culture. “It’s absolutely vital to have representation of older women in all forms of media, be it written or visual, who are still deemed to be attractive, strong, sexual and valid,” she declares, “because women’s prime has no expiration date.”

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While we won’t offer any spoilers aside to say that the novel lives up to the author’s promise of being “all thriller, no filler,” Blake did share a bit of good news: A sequel already is in the works. “Ruthless Men picks up exactly six weeks after the shocking end of Ruthless Women,” she teases. “In many ways, the books are not just set behind the scenes of a fictitious soap opera, they read like a continuing drama even though they are two separate books.”

Want to get your hands on the sexy sudser? Luckily for you, we just happen to have five copies to give away and all you have to do is leave a comment below between now and April 7.

*NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. Visit https://soaps.sheknows.com/ruthless-women-sweepstakes-rules/ for official rules & entry instructions. Promotion takes place beginning on 04/01/2021 at 7:00 AM (ET) and ending on 04/07/2021 at 11:00 PM (ET). Open to commenters who are individual legal residents of the United States (including the District of Columbia, but excluding the U.S. territories and possessions), age 18 (or the legal age of majority, as applicable) as of event date. Additional restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. Subject to all applicable laws and regulations. © 2021 SheMedia, LLC. All rights reserved.