Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words
Availability
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on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or
Smashwords store
Author:
“Suzanne
Tyrpak ran away from New York a long time ago to live in Colorado. When she's
not working at Frontier Airlines or writing, she enjoys bike-riding, swimming,
skiing, hiking, and dancing.”
Tyrpak has
several books available that range from the comedic (Dating my Vibrator) to historical fiction (Vestal Virgin, set in ancient Rome). For more, visit Tyrpak’s blog.
Description:
“Dreams can
become nightmares. Small town girl, Sarah, hopes to find love and fame in New
York City, but following her dreams leads to a downward slide into the insanity
of the late 1970s: nightclubs, sex, drugs, and violence ὰ la Magic Mike.
Desperate
to dig herself out of debt, Sarah becomes pole dancer Rosy Dreams. But the more
money she makes, the darker her nightmare becomes as she sinks into a world
where no one can be trusted--especially the men who claim to adore her. As
Sarah slips deeper into the underworld, she questions not only her dreams, but
her sanity. She battles demons--imagined and real—while fighting to survive the
city's brutality, fighting for her dreams, and ultimately fighting for her
life.”
Appraisal:
At its
heart, Rosy is a tense tale of how
one easy decision can set us down a path that is hard to reverse. Rosy is easy
to like and I quickly became invested in seeing her meet and overcome the
challenges she faced. It’s a great coming-of-age story with widespread appeal.
However,
for this child of the seventies, the setting made this story even more
enjoyable. Tyrpak captured the attitude and climate of the decade perfectly. A
nice little touch were the chapter headings, each a song title or a snippet of
lyric that summarized the chapter while evoking some musical nostalgia. As a
music geek, a link to the song on Amazon made me happy, as
I was able to
quickly answer the question “who sung that” when I was stumped. Those who read
the book on a suitable device should even be able to stop for a short musical
interlude between chapters while listening to a sample of each song.
FYI:
Adult
language and themes.
Format/Typo Issues:
A small
number of proofing and copyediting misses.
Rating: ***** Five stars
4 comments:
Glad to read this review. I loved "Vestal Virgin."
I haven't read Vestal Virgin, Karen, but the person who reviewed it here did. The 1970s are ancient enough for me. :)
I did read Suzanne's short story collection (Dating My Vibrator) and liked it as well.
I need to proof read my comments. I meant to say the person who reviewed it liked it also. (Reading it, should go without saying.) :)
Al, thank you so much for taking time to read Rosy. I'm so glad you enjoyed the story. So cool that you got into the music--I had a lot of fun choosing the songs. (Also contacted several lawyers to make sure I'd have no copyright issues.)Hopefully, I've corrected the typos in later versions!
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