The promoter's effusion of admiration sounded insincere. (effusion: outpouring, outburst, gush; insincere: false, disingenuous, artificial) His guest disliked the superficiality of public praise and had a marked susceptibility to embarrassment. (superficiality: shallowness, glibness, triviality; susceptibility: vulnerability, sensitivity, responsiveness) A less susceptible visitor might have endured another verse. (susceptible: vulnerable, prone, sensitive) She ended the welcome after the rhyme about her chin.
The promoter tried a joke. She heard the insincerity again, this time in his sudden intimacy. (insincerity: falseness, pretense, hollowness) Flattery, then mockery: the two-facedness was beginning to spoil an evening both had looked forward to. (two-facedness: duplicity, hypocrisy, insincerity) The promoter finally admitted he had never read her book.
She pulled a copy from her case and read him a page. Asked to introduce her, he described what had happened in the last five minutes. That story required no posturing and earned the only applause she enjoyed. (posturing: posing, affectation, pretension)