After thirty-four years of just letting life happen to her, Paula Tenenbaum's mundane existence was suddenly interrupted. It was bad enough to be fired from her job because she was "average", but on that same day, her boyfriend also dumped her for being "un-dynamic." Somehow, someway Paula needed to make a change. But before she could figure out what her first step should be, her scheming neighbor Larry tapped into her silent desperation and dreams and challenged everything that she believed about herself. At first Paula was skeptical and scared, but quickly, she realized that she had nothing to lose, as she donned the persona of the successful, and vibrant individual that she had always dreamed of being, navigating thru business, colorful personalities and the people that she had idolized from afar. Written with sharp humor, and huge personality, Paula Takes A Risk is the hilarious story about the metamorphosis of Paula Tenenbaum, who naively enters into an adventure that changes her life. This is a story certain to strike a chord in anyone who secretly desires change, but is afraid to make it.
Excerpt:
She called upon movies she saw and the magazine articles she read about how the celebrities stood, posed and behaved at cocktail parties and formal affairs. She incorporated it all. When she was in the company of shallow people she quoted gossip magazines as if they were as factual as the Wall Street Journal. When she was speaking with business-types, she would listen intently, adamantly agree and then echo their opinions. When she was speaking to someone who had no interest in topical events or business, Paula discussed her fictitious life in London. She became very popular.
To Larry she’d say, “I can’t be that interesting. These people are just as shallow and phony as I am.” None of it mattered. Paula was having a great time. She was outgoing and—dare she think it—dynamic. She felt and looked fabulous. She wore expensive clothes and for the first time in her life, dressed appropriately for each occasion.
In the evenings, she wore designer cocktail attire and beautiful dresses from the boutiques in Beverly Hills, cute little hair bobs and fancy shoes with dainty purses to match. Gone were the days of carrying a huge pleather catchall bag that housed everything from an oversized wallet-checkbook combo to a spare pair of socks and a bag of trail mix. In place of the daytime jeans and T-shirt, she wore clothes that were referred to as leisure wear, lounge wear and cruise wear. She learned that dressing right for an occasion removed a lot of stress and self-doubt.
Review Rating: 4 LIGHTNING BOLTS
Review: It's about time for a risk....Could you live your entire life without doing so? Well, for far too long, that's the case with the heroine in this story, Paula. And now it's time she enters a new venture in her life.
Paula's dynamic change in this story is amazing. She goes from living dull to taking a chance, thanks to her neighbor. Though Larry is a bit on the shady side, and not completely trustworthy, the two as a pair makes for quite an interesting story.
Paula Takes a Risk is a witty novel that keeps the flow upbeat and fun. It was a easy read and one that I enjoyed. Are you willing to take a risk on this book? If Paula can take one, anyone can!
Author Bio:
Randi Sherman, a native Californian, lives in San Francisco. With her tremendous grasp of the obvious, Randi has always had the ability to find humor in the mundane and share the laughter. She dares to examine and discuss everyday foibles, which obliges people to stop taking themselves too seriously.
Developing characters and writing have been a part of Randi’s life since she was a teenager, umm-mmum-mumm years ago. She spent time performing stand-up comedy at Los Angeles club amateur nights and studied Improvisation in the Bay Area. Realizing that she preferred having an income, living indoors and eating regularly, she reluctantly put her dreams on hold and entered the corporate world, yet never left behind her sense of humor and creative storytelling ability, skills which were not always appreciated during budget and strategy meetings.
Now, after living indoors for a while and eating, albeit too much, her book, Paula Takes a Risk is here. Randi’s unique wit, writing style and candor will surely make the reader sit up, stand up, roll over or assume an interested leaning position and take notice.
Randi would never claim to have a genius IQ, the body of a super model or always have the right thing to wear. However, she can spell the words, “smart” and “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Randi maintains a trim, well-toned body that is cleverly concealed beneath twenty pounds of soft protective layering and she has the appetite of a bird. (By “bird” I mean vulture.) Her entire wardrobe consists of black, black and varying degrees of black, except for those items that are covered with lint because she put them through the wash with a tissue.
Things that Randi cannot live without: people to laugh with, her car horn, a gym membership where there are chubby women who break into a sweat while putting on a jog bra, wine, waist capes, and her partner, Carol.
Randi does not like mean-spirited people, liver, left-overs, communal dressing rooms, tight underwear, and people who point.
Randi is five-foot-seven.
Connect with Paula!
Randi Sherman, a native Californian, lives in San Francisco. With her tremendous grasp of the obvious, Randi has always had the ability to find humor in the mundane and share the laughter. She dares to examine and discuss everyday foibles, which obliges people to stop taking themselves too seriously.
Developing characters and writing have been a part of Randi’s life since she was a teenager, umm-mmum-mumm years ago. She spent time performing stand-up comedy at Los Angeles club amateur nights and studied Improvisation in the Bay Area. Realizing that she preferred having an income, living indoors and eating regularly, she reluctantly put her dreams on hold and entered the corporate world, yet never left behind her sense of humor and creative storytelling ability, skills which were not always appreciated during budget and strategy meetings.
Now, after living indoors for a while and eating, albeit too much, her book, Paula Takes a Risk is here. Randi’s unique wit, writing style and candor will surely make the reader sit up, stand up, roll over or assume an interested leaning position and take notice.
Randi would never claim to have a genius IQ, the body of a super model or always have the right thing to wear. However, she can spell the words, “smart” and “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Randi maintains a trim, well-toned body that is cleverly concealed beneath twenty pounds of soft protective layering and she has the appetite of a bird. (By “bird” I mean vulture.) Her entire wardrobe consists of black, black and varying degrees of black, except for those items that are covered with lint because she put them through the wash with a tissue.
Things that Randi cannot live without: people to laugh with, her car horn, a gym membership where there are chubby women who break into a sweat while putting on a jog bra, wine, waist capes, and her partner, Carol.
Randi does not like mean-spirited people, liver, left-overs, communal dressing rooms, tight underwear, and people who point.
Randi is five-foot-seven.
Connect with Paula!
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ReplyDeleteThanks for the spotlight and review - Paula Takes A Risk sounds like a very interesting story
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