Monday, May 19, 2014

A Life Less Ordinary by Victoria Bernadine

Title:  A Life Less Ordinary
Author:  Victoria Bernadine
Published:  December 10th 2012 by Love of Words Publishing Inc.
Length:  371pgs
Format:  ecopy
Genre:  Contemporary Romance/Chick-Lit
Shelf:  review
Rating:  ★★★★

Blurb:

For the last fifteen years, Rose “Manny” Mankowski has been a very good girl. She turned her back on her youthful fancies and focused on her career. But now, at the age of 45, she's questioning her choices and feeling more and more disconnected from her own life. When she's passed over for promotion and her much younger new boss implies Manny's life will never change, something snaps. In the blink of an eye, she's quit her job, sold her house and cashed in her pension, and she's leaving town on a six month road trip.

After placing a personal ad for a travelling companion, she's joined in her mid-life crisis by Zeke Powell, the cynical, satirical, most-read – and most controversial – blogger for the e-magazine, What Women Want. Zeke's true goal is to expose Manny's journey as a pitiful and desperate attempt to reclaim her lost youth – and increase his readership at the same time. Leaving it all behind for six months is just an added bonus.

Now, armed with a bagful of destinations, a fistful of maps, and an out-spoken imaginary friend named Harvey, Manny's on a quest to rediscover herself – and taking Zeke along for the ride.

My Review:

Bernadine’s writing is inviting and easy to follow along with. I found her descriptions and narrative easy to picture. At the same time, I did find this story quite difficult to get into at the beginning. There are so many sub-stories going on throughout the novel that you really get to know the supporting characters. At the same time, the main story does get lost at times. Everyone has real life issues going on, and it all fits together, but it’s just too much to get fully wrapped up in.

What a perfect heroine for this story. I couldn’t help but thinking ‘that’s so me’ and ‘ I wish I had the guts to do that’ all at the same time. Reading her story and getting to know her really puts things in perspective for you. The downside to how well developed the entire cast is would be the fact that there is no single person or couple that grab and hold your attention. Of course, the more I got to know the characters, the more I got into the story. You just get so wrapped up in EVERYONE’s lives that you feel like you’re at home with your friends and family.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read with a great deal going on. It’s not a single story, but the convergence of the lives of many women.

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About the author:

Victoria Bernadine (a pseudonym) is, as the saying goes, a “woman of a certain age”. After twenty-something years of writer’s block, she began writing again in 2008. Victoria enjoys reading all genres and particularly loves writing romantic comedy and post-apocalyptic science fiction. What those two have in common is anybody's guess.

She lives in Edmonton with her two cats (The Grunt and The Runt). A Life Less Ordinary is the first novel she felt was good enough to be released into the wild.

|  website  |  Twitter: @vicbernadine  |

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2 comments:

  1. Good morning - thanks for hosting me this morning! I'm glad you enjoyed the book! :)

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    Replies
    1. It was my pleasure & I had a great time reading it, so thank you!

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