Kenneth Rosenberg

I quit reading this book given the author’s outdated and misogynistic description of women. Dialog between two young women, from Chapter One:

“I thought you couldn’t stand him?” Natalia tried not to raise her voice.
“You know he’s a rapist, right?”
“All I know is rumors, just like you.”
“Wouldn’t you like to be raped by him? It might not be so bad, eh?”

Does the author really believe women would say this? It’s insulting, and when I’ve shown this dialog to multiple show more men and women they are horrified. A few responses: “Eww.” “What the actual heck?” “Why do men think women fantasize about being raped?” “What??? No!!” “Yikes!” “This author is clearly clueless and a complete idiot.” “It’s hard to believe someone would actually write this. It’s so gross.” “What?! Am I misreading this? Is this an actual sentence?” “Just no.” show less

My thoughts:
This book is wonderfully written! Insightful and refreshing! A story of self discovery and the search for what is most important in life!
This is the first true romance that I can remember reading that the author was a man, where I opened the book knowing that the writer was a man and I wondered about perspective and voice. I was impressed. He has shown a fantastic grasp of the intricacies of the emotions of both men and women. Kenneth Rosenberg has created characters that you can show more believe in. He has cast them into a world where money is power (sound familiar?) and the wants and desires of some are disregarded.
The characters are realistic and easy to invest yourself into. The relationships portrayed are lifelike for the characters both when they are young and as they grow older.
The story comes down to the choices between what you really want and what you are willing to fight for versus what is expected or desired by those in positions of power and wealth.
The characters drive the story and keep you turning the pages, but the story itself keeps you holding your breath and hoping.
Of all the supporting characters, Byron stands out the most for me. I think the friendship that he and Kate build is wonderful. I was thrilled when he throws away "the napkin" (you'll have to read it for details!). This action is him making what I believe to be one of the most powerful statements in the book; that he is no sell out and that honor and principles come before money!
I loved Kate, the beautiful and successful architect making it on her own. Nick, what can you say about Nick...spoiled, rich, entitled, gorgeous, expecting. Of course these are what you see on the outside. On the inside they are both sad, unfulfilled, still hoping, still searching, still waiting. Truly worth a read! Don't miss out. show less

This memoir is the kind of travel writing that makes you want to throw a change of clothes into a backpack and join the merchant marine or take off to Tahiti to surf, just two of the adventures the author describes in his journey through life. Along the way he describes his struggles to make a living as a writer, illustrating with clarity the difficulties faced in living a creative life. Be warned, if you are a struggling writer yourself, this book will fill you alternatively with both show more despair and delight. If you are not a writer, you will still enjoy the author's adventures and the perspective he gives into a life unlike those most people have chosen to live. Now I need to check out the rest of his books, particularly having learned so much about the effort and love that went into them. show less

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review as part of the Members Giveaway program. This is a rather detailed review and brief plot spoilers may follow.*

I have a small confession to make. I, like the protagonist in this book, am named Amanda. (Quite obviously, unless you haven’t gotten a peek at my username. Lol) But I also, like the protagonist in this book, have quite the crush on a celebrity. So I sort of understood her captivation with her guy, even if that does show more make us two peanuts sharing a shell. My head’s not in the clouds about my crush, however, and I would never go to those lengths to pursue anyone, much less a public figure that I know nothing about aside from PR-dictated and carefully crafted/worded interviews. I’m more skeptical of public figures than Amanda was, which is why our camaraderie ended at her immediate acceptance of the person she saw on TV; her immediate thought that this man was going to be everything he portrayed on TV and would fall into her arms. This is the age of reality, where nothing is actually ‘real,’ and at this stage in the game I just thought that was common knowledge. I found it painfully, if not almost dangerously, naïve for Amanda to completely leave her life behind, shack up with a stranger across the country, and go into full-blown stalker mode for someone she hardly knows. The plan never made sense to me; it seemed rather ridiculous from the beginning and even more so once she actually started to execute it after moving to La La Land, and I wondered how she didn’t see that. I initially thought that Amanda’s naivety was the cause of an author-dictated ‘small town, small mind’ mentality so that we could see just how disconnected her town was from the rest of the world, until I realized that she was the only one thinking that way. Not even her best friend went to the extent that she did; didn’t even want to. I understood Amanda’s captivation to the level of wishing oneself was the lucky gal, but isn’t that the rub with a celebrity crush anyway? It’s not necessarily meant to be pursued, but I think that ultimately Amanda’s desire to have a different life might have pushed her to pick up and make a new life for herself somewhere else.

Number Five was the physical manifestation of the desires she wanted in life, and even though I thought she was completely bonkers to do what she did, I have to admire her courage in doing it. If she hadn’t had the thought that she’d win her dream guy over, she probably never would have left her hometown. Subconsciously knowing that she belonged somewhere else, I think attaching herself to Bachelor Number Five and becoming fed up with her lot in life gave her the courage to seek out what she wanted. She found it, but nearly screwed it up before realizing it. I wanted to smack her silly for going with Five when she already had Peter, someone she’d nearly ruined a developing friendship with her roommate (and only LA-based friend) for, waiting for her. It was an incredibly selfish move, but at the same time I suppose her thought was that she’d never have the opportunity again, so she had to take the road. After all, it was what brought her to LA. Despite the fact that by that time I wanted to smack her one, I understood that this was something she needed to do. I also liked that at the end of the story, everyone had received what they really wanted and Amanda was brought back to reality.

Funny enough, my favorite characters in this book were not the major characters at all. In fact, all of the major players ended up annoying me to no end. Peter didn’t really annoy me; he was just completely bland and I wasn’t sure why both Lauren and Amanda fell over themselves for him, but I can say that I appreciated his candor about his life before Amanda came along. Throughout the book I found myself more interested in some of the minor characters Amanda interacted with rather than the main folks involved. I kind of figured Number Five would end up being the typical Hollywood type as they often are in these books, so that didn’t surprise me. The tiny part of me that identified with Amanda kind of wanted him to at least be a decent guy, giving her the opportunity to knowingly turn him down in favor of who and what she really wanted. She only turned Five down because he ended up being a horrible guy and shattered her idol worship of him. I was more annoyed with the plot of the story than I was with how it was written; I thought everything was descriptive enough for me to visualize everything as I was reading along, and I did get a good feel for the main characters and their motivations (no matter how dumb some of those motivations may have been lol). An important factor for me when reading books is if there’s conflict or some sort of flaw hindering one of the characters, I enjoy watching the character evolve throughout the book and come to some healthier realizations, even if they hurt at first to deal with. I saw that in this book, with Amanda as she had to confront her rather unrealistic dreams concerning Five and the clash they created when she fell in love with Peter, with Lauren as she came to her own realizations concerning Peter and her current relationship, and even with Peter as he fell in love with Amanda. I think Mr. Rosenberg did a great job of showing the reader both the logical side to 99% of situations involving celebrity adoration and how if we just have the courage to follow what we’re after, we may end up with exactly what we wanted, even if it involves taking a detour to get there. show less