Friday, October 5, 2012

Lily Steps Out / Rita Plush


Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: YES  Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Rita Plush is a writer, interior designer, and instructor of the decorative arts. She lives in Queens, New York, with her husband.” For more, visit her website.

Description:

“Empty nest, retired husband ... after thirty-three years of marriage as wife, mother, nursemaid, and family mediator, Lily Gold has had it! There must be more to life than making beds and cooking dinners. A lot more, she discovers, when she decides she needs something of her very own – a job.”

Appraisal:

I describe Lily Steps Out as “women’s fiction,” rather than chick-lit, because in chick-lit the protagonist may have a love interest with a portion of the story working out how or if that relationship works into the rest of her life, but she isn’t normally married to him. Other than that, this reads a lot like chick-lit. Lily Gold is married and has lived a traditional life (even old-fashioned by today’s standards) as a wife, mother, and homemaker. I think she was happy with that life, but with her son building a career and her husband retired, Lily is ready for more, even if her husband is happy with things the way they are.

Lily’s search for something to give her life new purpose and how (or even if) to fit that in with her current life, has much in common with chick-lit. Lots of humor (both from some idiosyncratic secondary characters and Lily herself), some soul searching, and plenty of conflict, all combine into a story that is both entertaining and enlightening.

FYI:

Some mild adult content.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four stars

6 comments:

Walter Knight said...

"Lily Steps Out" caught my attention because it's published by Penumbra Publishing, a new and very author friendly small press.

Congratulations and good luck Rita. Keep writing.

Charles O'Keefe said...

Hi Rita, Walt and Al :)

Congrats on the review! I hope everything is going well. I'm a Penumbra author as well, currently working hard on book 2 of my series. Best of luck and have a great weekend :-)

Charles

Kent McDaniel said...

I'm sold, though I'm not your usual chick-lit reader, I guess. This sounds like something I could get into

BooksAndPals said...

As always, thanks for the comment, Walter.

Good luck on your book, Charles.

Kent,at some point I realized I'd been reading chick lit for years and didn't know it. :) I'd be going through the paperback section at the local department store, see a book that looked aimed at women, but with a cover that didn't look like a romance book. I'd read the blurb and think, this sounds good, and buy it. A good story is a good story.

Penumbra Publishing said...

Thank you Big Al for a positive review of 'Lily Steps Out' - it is a fun book that can be enjoyed by many readers, not just women, although it does focus on the woman's perspective. Your thoughtful comments are always appreciated. Also thanks to all who've commented and expressed support for the author, Ms. Plush!

P.M. Penumbra Publishing

BooksAndPals said...

Thanks Patricia.