Elaine Kay

Couldn't get into it too overly descriptive with details that were rather boring. Maybe it's me, but I don't find 21st century books all that interesting.

Initially I gave it a four star but then changed it to two stars. the first 90 pages or so we're intriguing and held my my interest because it addressed issues many of us can relate to. Here we see Winnie, the protagonist who aspires to a New York City career but is forced to move back home stuck in a small town in her case in Michigan. Then she feels stuck in a dead-end job with a ruthless boss who passed up her promotion by giving it to a young tart with whom he was sleeping. Adding insult to the injury her best friend betrays her. After watching some videos of a soap opera depicting a prominent aristocratic family in England, she decides to visit that place to observe the filming. This is where the fairytale begins. Ok maybe she can get lucky and be selected to be one of the extras that are needed but very unlikely to be selected to be an assistant to one of the producers and then an assistant to an actor. Despite that she's being paid under the books there are Union regulations to prohibit such action. Adding insult to the injury she becomes friends with the aristocratic remaining family members and ultimately marries the Marquess. I couldn't help but be reminded of the line often depicted in final endings that states "like all fairytale endings, they lived happily ever after.

Molly Wray on her review told it very well. I totally agree and couldn't say it better

Overall I enjoyed this book. He gives a clear picture of the 1960s and growing up in that era a time I lived through. Kunstler also includes the generation gap issue where his father couldn't accept his son's lack of academic interests and unconventional path to adulthood. He thought his son's music interest as insignificant.This Father and son conflict carried through in later life putting his public life in jeopardy by being accountable for Byron,'s lewd behavior and substance abuse. Sound familiar, like 2024 Biden and his son Hunter's illegal activities. The music scene is also well portrayed illustrating the struggles that celebrity musicians confront, the chaos behavior of fans, and getting stressed out all of which lead to drug abuse and mixing with bad company. However on the negative side I found the book a bit over descriptive in chapter 7 as well as the scenes in Woodstock and in Florida. More condensed versions would have been sufficient. Overall, I give the book 4 stars.

While this might be a young adult book I found it rather confusing with the characters who was doing the speaking. Premise was good but it could have been handled better. The scenes with his parents, I couldn't figure if they were dreams, hallucinations or real as if he was one of the rare breeds that had a memory. I stopped reading just before halfway through

That two star is being generous. Although I did extrapolate some specific facts, overall I found the book overly descriptive and not designed for the lay person. Unless you have background in deep sea diving and understand the technology, you would find difficulty getting through it.