Reviewed for Harper Collins First Look and Front Street Reviews



20 Times a Lady by Karen Bosnak

“Everybody’s got a number -- in fact, everyone’s got a few numbers…. There’s the one we tell our friends, the one we tell our spouses, the one we tell our parents, etc. But only we know what the true number is… How many people have you slept with?”

20 Times a Lady by Karyn Bosnak is the story of Delilah Darling who is obsessed with her number. A recent article in the New York Post claims the average American has slept with 10.5 people, while Delilah's number is almost twice that at nineteen. Determined to impose a limit, she decides her magic number is twenty and she will stop there, even though that leaves her only one more chance to find the perfect man. When she accidentally sleeps with the most awful man she can imagine she resigns herself to a life of celibacy until, inspired by a conversation with her grandfather, she decides to look up all her old boyfriends and find the hidden gem among them.

Bosnak's road novel across fifty states in search of “the one that got away” has its moments. Most of the encounters with Delilah's exes are amusing, although a few are a complete disaster. Delilah is aided in her hunt by a hunky part-time private investigator neighbor named Colin, who could turn out to be a love interest if she wasn’t so focused on ex-boyfriends; Eva, a well-dressed Yorkshire Terrier, who she picks up early on in her quest as a conversation starter; and best friend, Michelle, the lone voice of sanity in this vast wilderness of crazy schemes. Michelle does her best to keep Delilah grounded and bails her out when necessary, which unfortunately turns out to be often.

Although the premise is simple and should work, Delilah is so shallow that it is difficult for the reader to muster any empathy for the character. Bosnak tries too hard to make each encounter more “out there” than the last, resulting in one-dimensional caricatures rather than a cast of interesting secondary characters. The sub-plot of the sister’s wedding, which started out with so much promise, reads as though thrown together at the last minute simply to put Delilah in place for the climax.

There are some really great scenes that are worth the price of admission, including Eva's adoption and Delilah's explanation to Colin of just why she needs the whereabouts of the men on her list. 20 Times a Lady is a good option for a beach read but may leave the reader looking for something more substantial as a backup.

Karyn Bosnak is the author of Save Karyn, the book about the popular Save Karyn website and the pioneer of Internet panhandling developed to dig her way out of credit card debt. 20 Times a Lady is her first foray into fiction.

We had to have our middle cat Mordenkeinen (Morty) euthanized yesterday. I was noodling around on the computer when I heard somebody playing with the closet door in the other room. (My closet has a bi-fold door, and the cats have learned how to get it open, so I usually just leave it unless we're having company.) I went in to see what was going on and found Morty crouched in the back of the closet. He didn't run away when I touched him, which for Morty was completely abnormal. Morty was 100% Dave's cat. I was not allowed to touch him, unless he was already sure death was imminent, such as at the vet's office.

I realized that he wasn't able to move his hind legs. I immediately rushed him to the vet, where he poked and prodded and stuck him with a needle and got no response at all in the afflicted limbs. He suggested it could be traumatic, I couldn't figure out how since the cats are 100% indoors, they get along without any fighting, and the dogs are disinterested. They took an x-ray to rule out that diagnosis, and it came up negative. He said that it could be Thromboembolic Disease secondary to cardiac disease. In any event, whatever the cause, the prognosis was grave, and I opted for euthanasia since I knew that it wouldn't have been in Morty's best interests to hospitalize him and subject him to those additional stresses for what the vet said was a very small chance of recovery.

Morty was only just four years old, and had never had any previous symptoms of heart disease. Earlier this year at his annual exam, I thought he looked a little thinner than the other two, and had blood work done and everything was completely normal. As was his physical, no heart murmur, no signs of anything wrong with him. If there had been anything, we would have followed up on it, and done whatever was necessary to make him well, or manage his disease if he had one.

Reviewed for Front Street Reviews




Murder is the Pits by Mary Clay

Leigh, Ruthie and Penny Sue, reunited in New Smyrna Beach for the third time; are preparing to give depositions in the trial of the drug smugglers they routed in the first Daffodils (Divorced and Finally Free of Deceitful Licentious Scum) mystery - The Turtle Mound Murders.

Aging hippie and neighbor Guthrie (Fred) Fribble shows up on their doorstep, brimming with local gossip and news. It seems that another, rather elderly neighbor, known as Nana, is in the hospital after a home invasion robbery scared her into a heart attack. He also notifies them that there is a Category 3 hurricane potentially heading towards Florida. The ladies quickly make preparations to weather proof the condo. Later Guthrie returns sporting a frozen chicken atop the Ace bandage on his knee to beg for shelter and company during the storm. "Publix ran out of ice" he says to explain the poultry. He injured his knee when he heard a strange noise outside his condo and fell while attempting to investigate. Further investigation links the strange noises with other odd events, including Nana’s heart attack and several deaths. Coincidence? Or is someone out to silence the Daffodils?

To perk up their spirits, the Daffodils and friend Chris agree to participate in a charity racing event, that will raise money for less fortunate hurricane victims. This event has to be postponed when the second storm in as many days is announced to be bearing down on Florida. The ladies evacuate to a luxury hotel on higher ground. But there are strange men lurking around the hotel, so they have to plot a quick escape. Eventually they make it safely to race day only to find out that the other teams aren't all interested in just the racing...

The best so far of the Daffodils books. The author has really fleshed out her characters, and by the third book they are as familiar as old friends. Leigh's levelheadedness, Penny Sue's flirtatious nature and Ruthie's New Age slightly flaky spirituality make them the ideal team. The character interactions, the gentle teasing and feminine in-jokes add to their appeal and invite the reader to imagine themselves as part of the sisterhood. It will be interesting to see what predicament Mary Clay is going to put the Daffodils in next.

Postings have been mainly about books lately, and I'm pretty sure they will be for the forseeable future. I've got a pretty big backlog of review books, so I need to get cracking. I'm trying not to sign myself up for too many more at the moment, because I'm having a hard time tearing myself away from World of Warcraft.

Help, I'm being consumed by a video game...

Went to Kim and JC's house last night and was social. We played a rousing game of Munchkin; which now takes forever since we have the base game plus all the add-ons including the latest one and followed it up with a game of Talisman. It was nice to actually see the people I'm playing with for a change.

Had to go to the doctor the other day, I've discovered that I'm highly allergic to fleas. This wasn't a problem at the zoo, since most of the animals were flea free, or had only a few. Some of the shelter animals come in absolutely crawling with them, and I'll bet that the grassy and wooded area behind the shelter where we walk some of the dogs harbors a bunch. I had to have a steroid shot, and am on Zyrtec until I stop itching. If I can't control the problem with bug repellant, I'm going to have to quit. We don't need the extra money badly enough!