Fifteen Minutes

I received a copy of Fifteen Minutes by Karen Kingsbury from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Zack Dylan made a promise to God and his college sweetheart as he left his family’s horse farm in Kentucky to compete on the popular reality television show Fifteen Minutes: If he makes it, the fame won’t change him.

Overnight, Zack is the nation’s most popular contestant, a country singer with the looks and voice of a young Elvis. As his star rises, Zack is asked to compromise and quiet his beliefs, and also some­thing more. Something Zack could never have imagined. Just as America is falling in love with Zack, just as he’s on the verge of winning it all, his choices lead him to the brink of personal disaster.

At the same time, Reese Weatherly, a thera­peutic horse instructor, is no longer sure about her relationship with Zack, or the wedding they had dreamed about. While Zack advances from one round of the competition to the next, an offer comes to Reese—one that will take her to a home halfway around the world.

Then Chandra Olson—reigning diva pop star and one of the Fifteen Minutes judges—intervenes. Chandra has suffered so much public pain and pri­vate agony since her days as a Fifteen Minutes contestant. Now she wants just one thing: meaning.

Can Chandra’s private losses help Zack find his way, or will his fifteen minutes of fame cause him to lose the life he once loved? Fifteen Minutes is a story of character, compromise, and the cost of having it all. A story that raises the question: Who are the real winners?

I really liked this book.  It shows the way we look at celebrities and how hard it must be for them - living everyday in a prison cell that is celebrity.
Zack swears to his family and girlfriend that he won't change if he makes it on Fifteen Minutes.  He keeps telling himself that he hasn't changed.  After about 3 weeks on the show he gets to know Chandra Olson, one of the guest judges on the show.  She's lost her parents and fiance to her fame after she won Fifteen Minutes.  She tries to show Zack how much he's changed and how much he has to lose.  He starts to think about everything that's happened and realizes she's right.