REVIEW and GIVEAWAY
Just Pru
by Anne Pfeffer
Just Pru by Anne Pfeffer has just been released. You can read my review and an excerpt below. This release week blitz and giveaway is brought to you by Reading Addiction Book Tours. Please be sure to visit the other participating blogs as well.
Description
When twenty-five-year-old Pru Anderson - braless, pajama-clad, and clutching her cat, Chuck - is rescued from her burning Los Angeles apartment, the thing that scares her most is meeting the neighbors. New people make her hide in the bathroom, counting by sevens, but when her home is destroyed, she must turn strangers into friends … or crawl back to the controlling parents she only recently escaped.
What would her idol, Pepper Hathaway, do? That’s a no brainer: the detective-slash-supermodel heroine from Pru's favorite TV series would take no prisoners while looking fierce in a tankini and stilettos. So when the chance comes up to live with playwright Ellen, Pru sets aside her fears and goes for it.
Thus begin the adventures a girl who's never had a job, a friend, or a first kiss. Swept into Ellen's whirlwind life, Pru begins to build her own, as director's assistant for a new play, muse to brooding actor Blake, and possible love interest to adorably neurotic neighbor, Adam.
Only one thing can derail Pru's exhilarating journey. Well, actually, it's two things - and they're in a car headed straight for LA to torpedo her life. When the past that nearly destroyed her comes calling, who will she be: a Prudence or a Pepper?
Excerpt
From Pru’s Journal:
How can you know if you’re normal when you’re always alone? You have no one to compare yourself to. I mean, I have my mom and dad, and I’m pretty normal compared to them. But then… a lot of people are normal compared to them.
***
As the rich CaraMellow ice cream slipped along my tongue, I popped a few potato chips in my mouth for contrast. Ah, the soothing combination of sweet, salt, cream, and crunch.
No good. Its magic wasn’t working.
Shifting my size 16 tush around on the sofa, I focused on the TV. It played an old episode from Model Cop, my favorite show ever on the Wholesome Family Channel.
Today, the show’s awesome heroine, Pepper Hathaway, was tracking down a serial killer in between fittings for a runway show at Fashion Week. It was hard to juggle her two jobs as a police detective and supermodel, but she excelled at both. Pepper ended every episode with a wink to the camera and her life motto: Remember, folks. Do Good, Look Good!
She was amazing.
I sighed. I bet Pepper didn’t get job rejections like the one I’d had today. Dear Loser, the letter said. We are relieved to say we cannot offer you the position of Low-Level Proofreading Gnome at our crummy little start-up online encyclopedia. No matter how unknown and undesirable our company is, you are more so.
Sincerely,
Executive Drone
Okay, so they didn’t use those exact words, but it’s what they meant. As I lifted my spoon, caramel dribbled down the front of my flannel nightgown. I scraped it off with a potato chip and ate it.
Mmraow. My cat emerged from one of his many hiding places. I suspected he hid on purpose, just to annoy me. “Hey, Chuck-Chuck.” I scratched his orange-and-white striped back. It lasted only a few seconds. Done with human contact, Chuck strolled away, tail in the air.
On the TV, Pepper was returning home to her elegant apartment in the Big City. Hey, girlfriend, she called out to her funny, devoted homosexual roommate Tad. They sat down and sipped Chardonnay. She was so cool.
I bet Pepper could pay her rent. I bet she didn’t run out of money just two months after moving into her place. I could justify having bought a used car, but perhaps the fifty-inch flat-screen TV had been excessive. Then there were those unfortunate yard sale purchases, but I had needed furniture, after all. I needed that Victorian-style vanity and the faux-leather recliner.
I could still hear my father’s voice, cool and cutting. You won’t last a month in Los Angeles. Mark my words, you’ll be back in Oregon before you know it.
Well, ha ha on him, I’d lasted two months now.
And ha ha on me, because I didn’t know if I could last a third.
Tears prickled the backs of my eyes. I wished I could talk to Dr. Abbot, my wonderful therapist back in my hometown of Clayton. He had died unexpectedly last week. I’d hardly left my apartment since I’d gotten the news.
On the TV, Pepper was modeling her latest fashion purchases for Tad. I scraped the bowl with my spoon while contemplating her minuscule waistline. Was that real or digitally enhanced? Could a person’s body organs really fit into such a tiny space?
Not mine—I was sure about that. My body organs undoubtedly filled giant caverns, which was why I’d been blessed with my five foot ten inch, big-boned body.
A ringing began—yet another fire alarm. Great. We’d had two go off already this month, I thought grumpily, and they’d turned out to be cases of burned toast—a total waste of time.
I struggled up from horizontal, made my way to the living room window, and peered out. It was 8:00 on a June evening. It had just turned dark. Below loomed the building’s quiet, empty courtyard.
Just as I thought—no flames, no people fleeing for their lives.
The sofa called to me, yet the alarm blared on.
I should probably investigate, even though it meant I might have to talk to someone. And for what was probably a false alarm. I stumbled to my bedroom dresser and wrestled a pair of plain white panties up under my nightie. Where had I thrown my bra? When you’re a size 36D, you do not venture forth into public without one.
My eyes swept my twin-sized bed, the flowered rug, the vanity whose drawers I used to store cat toys. No bra to be seen.
Feet thudded down my hallway.
WHOMP! A fist hit my front door. “Vacate the building now! Everyone out!” The man’s voice resounded through my door, then grew fainter as he moved away from me.
In an instant, sweat beaded my forehead. Vacate the building?
A siren, then others, wailed from the street. A megaphone-amplified voice blared from outside. “Immediate evacuation is required.”
“Chuck!” I shrieked. That ingrate. He’d probably hidden from me again. I dropped to my belly and crawled commando-style around the bedroom, checking under the bed and dresser. No sign of his malevolent green-eyed gaze. I checked the open laundry hamper. He wasn’t there either.
Outside, shouts and cries came to me from a distance, sirens grew louder, and banging noises intensified. I rushed again to the open living room window. Spotlights now lit the courtyard below, which had transformed into a disaster scene. Groups of people milled behind barricades. Firefighters twice the size of ordinary humans unfurled hoses and set ladders up against walls, while smoke drifted from some windows on the fourth floor, where I was.
Holy moley! Were we really on fire?
Praise for the Book
"Just Pru is a laugh out loud, heartwarming story ... Pfeffer does an amazing job with Pru’s character ... The supporting cast is ... easy to fall in love with and to cheer for...." ~ The Self-Publishing Review
"A five star read all the way ... a happy, funny tragicomedy of errors with a cast of delightful neurotics." ~ Literary homebody.com
"Pru is hilarious ... Totally a perfect story, IMO. How often does that happen? Like never." Candacesbookblog.com
"I loved this story from start to finish ... I loved its message and what it has to offer readers. Empowerment. Independence." ~ The Nerd Herd Reads
" ... story that’s offbeat but not implausible, sweet but not saccharine, and poignant, but never (thank god) sentimental…." ~ Susan Myers
"What a great read! It has humor, ... drama, ... romance ... and good old-fashioned dysfunction." ~ Teresa Kander
My Review
By Lynda Dickson
Pru has only been away from home for two months when she loses all of her belongings, bar her journal and her cat Chuck-Chuck, in an apartment fire. She even loses her medication for anxiety and depression - all this after her therapist, Dr Abbot, died only a week ago! Pru is helped out by her neighbor Adam, who suffers from a few neuroses of his own. Ellen, another neighbor who is a playwright and director, takes Pru in and offers her a job as her assistant and chauffeur. The problem is, Pru has never had a job, has trouble dealing with people, and is terrified of driving! Pru learns to cope with her new living arrangements, her new job, and the attention of not one, but two, hot guys by implementing the life lessons she has learned on television. In the meantime, she lives in fear of her parents, Lloyd and Phyllis, showing up at any moment to drag her back home to Oregon - the worst fate possible.
Pru is a very endearing protagonist, and the rest of the characters are both quirky and likable - except for Pru's parents! The story is interspersed with entries from Pru's journal, which give us an insight into just how far she has progressed following the death of her therapist. As Dr Abbot once said, Pru needs to "practice the art of living." And that she does. I truly enjoyed Pru's tale of learning to cope in the big, bad world. All of the story lines wrap up neatly. But, who knows? We may see more of Pru in the future. I sure hope so!
About the Author
Anne Pfeffer worked in finance and was a children’s rights attorney before she decided to follow her respective dreams of writing books and working in her pajamas. Since then, she has self-published the novels Any Other Night, The Wedding Cake Girl, and Girls Love Travis Walker, which was named one of IndieReader.com's Best Indie Books of 2013.
Anne loves her family, cool breezes, carbohydrates, and elastic waistbands. She lives in Santa Monica, California, with her dachshund, Taco.
Giveaway
Enter the blitz-wide giveaway for a chance to win a $125 Amazon gift card.
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