All the Bold Days of My Restless Life

I enjoyed this book very much and will keep it in my collection to read again some day. Buy it...you'll like it.

If there was ever a book that fit the definition of zany, this one is it. Very few things make me laugh out loud, but I found myself in hysterics at the closing scenes. I'm not a fan of soap operas, but I do appreciate their spoofs. Bailey is the head writer for a show called All the Bold Days of My Restless Life. Every horrible cliche that applies to this type of show is attached to this one. What can you say about a show that has a main character named Aruba, her mother is Myrtle Beach and her stepsister is Bermuda Schwartz? Bailey's private life could be a feature story on her soap. After her girlfriend dumps her, her friend Peter arranges the three blind dates from hell. The first is with a woman who has a midnight online sex show and likes to use her dates as her "special guests." The second regales Bailey with details about why she has six children and how that has convinced her to start dating women. The last is a cop who gets drunk and starts shooting rats as they walk down the street, causing an encounter with some of New York City's finest. And then there is the fact that the two major stars of the show spend all of their time trying to do each other in professionally. Yes, it's light reading, not great literature, but sometimes it's just fun to read that.

I'm not a big fan of satire, so did not thoroughly enjoy the humorous side of this book. However, I was completely drawn into the underlying story. Bailey, the head writer for a daily soap opera with the same name as the book, seems to have a black cloud over her head. Her long-time girlfriend dumps her, her sarcastic response to a script change earns her a trip to the "Big Guy's" office, she is stuck mentoring a useless new writer who is related to a studio bigwig and ends up wreaking havoc, and she has to write off her favorite character. Of course, she has friends like Peter who want to help, but they only make things worse. While going through all of this, Bailey doesn't even realize she's falling in love with someone at work until it hits her square in the face. I found this book to be similar in structure / intent as 'Castaway' by Advocate. The story was great, the characters were fun, but the comedy was a little over-done. This book is a great lazy-day read, but it won't be a permanent addition to my bookshelf. Enjoy it and pass it on.

In this soap opera spoof, the actors are as screwy as the people they play on the show. This book sucks you into their weird world and you won't want to leave! I loved the funny names of the soap characters, I loved all the personalities, I loved the way they interacted, and I loved the surprise ending. And I can only hope that with the way this book ended that there's a sequel in the works. I want more of these wonderful characters!

I can't remember the last book that made me laugh this much. What a welcome relief this story is, and what an unexpected follow up to the author's first book. This one I read straight through the day I got it. I just couldn't put it down! I loved all the women, but the character that stood out was Peter, a writer on the show. He has some of the best lines in the book. All the behind the scenes stuff at the office is fascinating and really sucks you in so you feel you're really on the soap's set watching these hilarious events unfold. Kudos to Ms. Stone!!!