Review: Paula Takes A Risk by Randi Sherman

PAULA TAKES A RISK

We all hope for a dream life. However, most of us are afraid or overwhelmed to make changes necessary to have a beautiful dream life. This is the reality for the lead character in PAULA TAKES A RISK by first time author Randi Sherman.

Paulas’ life is a disaster. She loses her job and boyfriend on the same day, and has no future prospects or plans. Life just isn’t working out for her. Having only done what was expected of her, not making any waves, reading celebrity magazines, and believing the dream life is for everyone else but her – she now finds herself lost in her tiny, musty apartment without a clue of what to do.

 Life drastically changes for Paula, when she is unwittingly drawn into an adventure by her neighbor Larry, who is broke and deep in debt. She vaively goes along with his plans and poses as a successful business woman to carry out an elaborate money making scheme. To desperate, too afraid and too involved to step awat, she live a lie as she takes on the persona of the person she always wanted to be. Paula blossons a she navigated her way thru complex business and socical situations until the whole plan starts to unravel. The scheme and lies are uncovered and what happens next will delight the reader.

This is a story that is certain to strike a chord in anyone who is wishing for a way out of their present life, and on to the red carpet of their imagination, but is afraid of making the change. Author Randi Sherman is a funny woman, with a history of stand-up comedy, her humor keeps the reader hooked throughout this witty and entertaining story. She eloquently achieves taking the seemingly mundane experiences of life and turning them into a laugh a minute.

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This was an interesting read for me.  It was one where I wasn't overly fond of either of the male interests at all, but was rooting for the heroine to find SOMETHING. Paula reminds me of a couple of people I know.  Scared to live their life because of the change that will have to come with it...the effort to do so is just so overwhelming that they prefer to continue plodding along towards nothing.  When creepy boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her instead of picking herself up and fixing things, she continues to wallow in her misery.  Making her the perfect target for creepy neighbor, Larry, who reminded me of a stereotypical greasy used car salesman. (Remember the car salesman in "True Lies"?  That is what I envision.) Larry turned on the charm and Paula fell for his schemes.  

I wanted to see Paula take charge and really come into her own and was happy to see by the end of the book she had opened her eyes to life.  I really liked the fact that the author, Randi Sherman, did not play up a huge love story, but wrote the story of a woman trying to learn to stand on her own two feet. I do wish that we had a little bit more to the story from the moment the con fell apart and the big surprise at the end was revealed, I wanted to see how Paula got to where she ended up.  But this was a cute book and I really enjoy the voice that Randi Sherman brings to her characters.  Whether they are creepy con men, whiny momma's boys, a naive heroine, or her witty mother, they all kept me turning the page to find out what happens next.