Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines by Carol Wyer

                     

EBook:

408 pages

Genre : Humorous Fiction

Publisher: Smashwords 2011

Source: eBook provided by the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Sample From Chapter One : The protagonist describes herself: ABOUT ME My name is Amanda Wilson. I like chick flicks, wine, romantic novels, wine, 1970’s and 80’s music, chocolate and wine. I am a very desperate housewife. I live in a village in rural Staffordshire, populated almost entirely by elderly people. Even the local window cleaner is in his seventies. I used to have a life and a job. Nowadays, I seem to spend most of my time acting as a referee between my husband, Phil - who since he retired - has become the grumpiest of grumpy old men, and my son. We waved him off with a fanfare to university a couple of years ago but he returned to the nest almost immediately, having turned into a complete drop out. Life is a tad on the dull side at the moment. However, there are changes afoot, very significant changes and that is why I am writing this blog. By the way did I mention I like wine?

My Opinion: I agree with the author that there is something of Amanda in all of us.
Reading this novel is not about great literature, it is about reading the debut of a novelist who knows how to make you laugh and take you away from the cares of the world for a few hours. Well maybe not exactly away from all your cares as if you are a woman of a certain age you may well recognise some of your own thoughts.
If I ever met such a whiney moaning couple I would want to shake them out of it.  Being depressed and miserable is not the right way to approach 50, and anyway it is not that bad, age is just a number! However reading about the trials and tribulations this couple face in their day to day life will certainly bring a smile to your face.
Thanks to Amanda deciding to set herself up with an online blog she does manage to shake up her own life. As I got to know the characters I became more sympathetic to Amanda's anxieties about facing 50. Like the commenters on her blog I found myself encouraging her to make certain decisions as she dealt with situations such as shopping trips with her husband, her lazy son, eccentric mother and her own plans to get fit.
A very funny book and I feel an excellent debut from an author whose writing we can expect to see get even better as she grows in confidence. She has a tremendous sense of humour and has the ability to see the funny side of life in every day events. Keep writing Carol as I think there are many of us women of a certain age that will keep reading.

Author photo.
Born into a military family, Carol’s childhood was mostly spent abroad where she developed a love of reading, travel and languages.
It was therefore natural that she should later become a linguist, translator and teacher who enjoyed a career in various countries, finally settling in the UK when she met her husband.
Carol then ran her own language company for several years until she managed to tip her offspring out of the nest and indulge in her passion for writing.
Facing a major birthday last year and determined to enjoy her fifties she immediately set about writing her humorous blog Facing 50 with Humour which encourages others to laugh at life and age-related difficulties. It rapidly gained in world-wide popularity and it was this that led her to write her debut novel Mini Skirts and laughter Lines which was completed earlier this year.
I am including the following press release that will tell you more about the book, in Carol’s own words, that she kindly sent me.
Approaching any big birthday can be daunting, but Carol Wyer's delightful new book Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines will take the sting out of getting older. Written in the form of a blog or diary, this debut novel is hilarious from start to finish.
Her main character, Amanda Wilson, is a desperate, wine loving, housewife whose dull existence is transformed by logging on to the Internet where she finds, escapism, friendship and someone she didn't bargain on meeting again.
Amanda refuses to acknowledge she has reached her sell by date in spite of evidence to the contrary. Her mission is simple; to turn back the clock, regain control of her body, her oafish son and her aged party-loving mother who is attempting to age as disgracefully as possible.
The novel is a serious of blog entries which track her life, efforts to turn herself into a sexy vixen and her hopeless and highly comic attempts to interest her newly retired husband who seems to have lost his joie de vivre -from wild parties with the octogenarian neighbours - to art classes with jaw dropping results.
It isn't long before a semi-defeated Amanda, frustrated by all around her, embarks upon a steamy online relationship which gives her much more to concentrate upon than being fab at fifty.
The perfect companion on holiday, this fun, light-hearted novel should be enjoyed while on the beach, or relaxing by the pool. Beneath the chuckles and chortles though lie many truths and anxieties that are easily recognised and can be related to by any person facing middle age.
Carol has already begun the sequel to Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines.

Tomorrow just happens to be the official publication date for Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines and Carol Wyer is holding a big online launch party to celebrate.
Maybe now you have read this review and watched the video you are interested in popping over to join in the fun, so here is your invitation from Carol.
        
The World-Wide Laughter Lines Party
I would be utterly delighted and honoured if you could participate in what I hope will be the worlds biggest, fun-filled all day, book launch party for my debut novel Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines. Please help to make it the most successful launch -ever.
Date: September 16^th 2011- an all day event in every time zone
Where: www.carolwyer.com and also at
www.facing50withhumour.blogspot.com
RSVP: cewyer@hotmail.co.uk

Thank you so much for participating.
Carol E. Wyer.
If you are still not convinced that you would enjoy this book, please watch this interview with Carol Wyer as she explains how she came to write Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines. As Carol says Amanda Wilson is not a fictional character she is all of us women over a certain age.


Biographical and other information including photos and videos are courtesy of the following websites and the author herself.
Websites: www.carolwyer.com
www.facing50withhumour.blogspot.com
http://fortifyingyourfifties.blogspot.com
Facebook Profile - Carol Wyer