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 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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