Monday, January 19, 2015

Reprise Review: Rosy / Suzanne Tyrpak


Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO
Click 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

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