Following My Toes

by Laurel Osterkamp

Even if nobody believes her, Faith Emerson knows she's psychic. After all, she totally saw it coming when Peter, her boyfriend of two years, dumped her for her best friend. Heartbroken, Faith needs a fresh start. So when her good friend Carolyn suggests she move from Duluth to Minneapolis, Faith takes the plunge and embarks on a new adventure. However, Faith soon learns things don't always go as planned when she's forced to deal with a coffee shop customer from hell, a bruised tailbone, a phone-sex operator roommate, a freeloading younger sister, her parents' taxidermy convention, and a new love interest who may be stalking her. Yet every time Faith tries to rely on her perceptive abilities, friends or family accuse her of being self-involved. Faith believes in love, but knows she must solve the stalker mystery before she can trust any of the new men in her life. In the process she discovers that she has more to learn about following her heart and following her instincts than she ever imagined. Following My Toes is a tale of love and forgiveness, told with humor and a fresh, innovative voice! Laurel Osterkamp has been a comedy writer for Minneapolis performance groups over the last seven years. She currently teaches creative writing to high school students, and lives in Minneapolis with her husband and son. This is her first novel.

Genres: Chick Lit, Contemporary

264 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2006

About the author

Laurel Osterkamp is the award-winning author of roughly a dozen novels, such as Favorite Daughters and the #1 Amazon bestseller, Beautiful Little Furies. She is obsessed with writing and doesn't know how to stop. In addition to her novels, she has short fiction published in literary journals all over the web, writes a monthly column for Writer's Fun Zone, and runs her website, laurellit.com, with book reviews, lesson plans, and writing advice.

When she's not writing (which is rare) she's often teaching adult ESL or middle school enrichment classes, going running while listening to audiobooks, or educating her daughter about the OG teen soap opera, Beverly Hills 90210. She lives in Minneapolis with a family who loves to argue, and their cats, who love to hiss at each other. Ramona Quimby is her spirit animal.

Follow her on Instagram @laurel_osterkamp.

Reviews

[Jenn Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following My Toes is an amusing story of a young woman who follows her heart
in search of love and happiness. Faith Emerson finds herself in the most
humorous situations which she has to get herself out of.
At the very beginning of the story, the reader is plunged into the character’s
predicament and is taken on a ride to see how she overcomes her dilemma.
The title is rather interesting as it seems to tell you that the story is about a
journey. Following My Toes takes us through Faith’s journey of self-discovery in
a funny, well-written manner. There were several situations that I was glad the
incidents were not happening to me.
There was conflict between Faith and her best friend and within Faith herself.
The theme seemed to be forgiveness as the main character and several minor
characters had to struggle with forgiveness.
The character of Faith is believable because so many of us still try to find our
place and how we fit in. The author has taken the plot and made it into real life
situations, attempting to work out the character’s relationships without hurting
each other too much. It’s hard to do and it is humorous the way Laurel
Osterkamp has worked with the concept within the story.
The other characters seemed real to life as the author captured each personality.
As a reader, you could identify with one of the vibrant characters – Ethan, Peter,
Sally, Glen, Missy, Carolyn, Margaret and Lacey.
The story is set in modern day United States – Duluth and then Minneapolis,
where the real adventure starts. This enticing story, Following My Toes, is a
must read and is meant for anyone who enjoys reading fiction.

[Sibel Hodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Faith's boyfriend leaves her for her best friend, she decides she needs to take drastic action with her life. So she moves to a new city and starts a new job that ends in a journey of self-discovery.

Following my Toes has got a mixture of everything in it - women's fiction, mystery, romance, but above all it's about learning to forgive and get on with our lives following a break-up.

An all-round great read that will keep you wanting more!

[Cathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book about love, betrayal, forgiveness, and the balance between obligations to ourselves and others. This book seamlessly integrates many sub-plots which each showcase a very stark emotion through a relationship between the main character and one of the other characters. It does this while maintaining a very realistic feel. I hope there is a sequel!

[Bette · Rating 3 out of 5]

A romantic comedy that has a slightly wacky heroine claiming to be psychic. Predictable situations but characters are well-defined and interesting. An okay read.

[L_manning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following My Toes is the story of Faith, a maybe psychic who loves to follow her feelings. The story actually starts with Faith and two others being abducted, and then we get a giant flashback to see how they got to that point. I find the term "chick lit" gets a bad rap amongst many readers, but this was chick lit in the best senses of the word. It was fun. There were break-ups, make-ups, friendships, and entirely new lives. The cast of characters was hilarious. I think I'd have a hard time picking a favorite, but if forced I'd probably choose Faith's eccentric roommate Missy. Missy was a free spirit who was loads of fun.

The ending was not entirely unpredictable, but twists and turns are not what this book is about. It's about exploring the intricacies of various relationships and forgiveness. Can Faith forgive people who have wronged her? Is forgiveness really necessary to truly move on with your life after you've been hurt? Can being introspective about our own feelings blind us to everything else in the world around us? All of these are touched upon with a lightly humorous touch. I found myself laughing many times. The ending was satisfying and made sense for all the characters and their quirks.

I kind of thought we'd get to the actual explanation of the abduction from the first few pages sooner, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment. Overall, I found this book to be fun and funny, while still providing several things to think about. In the end, I felt like the characters were old friends I would love to keep hanging out with. And I definitely want to know where they are going from here.

Copy of book won in website giveaway.

[Alexis DeSousa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway.

For me, the book started out a bit slow, but as I kept reading, I became more engrossed and the story and the characters. I think that the beginning was a bit confusing, but it all makes sense in the end.

Faith is a young teacher who is dumped by her boyfriend for her best-friend. Despite her "psychic" abilities, she didn't see this one coming. I would have loved to see more of this psychic idea, but I felt it was very secondary to Faith's character. I liked the title and how it integrated with Faith's "itching in her toes" whenever she felt especially clairvoyant about something.

Faith moves to the city from a small town. While she's there, she tries looking for a new job. In the process, she meets several men who are interested in her. She also finds she is being stalked. It was an interesting ride to try and figure out who Faith's stalker was. I also enjoyed her eccentric roommate, Missy, and her sister Margaret. All of the characters worked well in the overall story.

I have to admit that I am a sap for love stories. Faith is particularly find of a mechanic named Ethan, but their relationship is volatile. I think they fought a lot (too much?), but it could have been because they were too similar. In the end, I would have liked to see more of them together.

Overall, I think this is a good read for those that are really into "chick lit". It was a light and fun read.

[Tami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Faith needs a life change. She had thought her life was going pretty good. After college, she had found a teaching job back in her home town of Duluth. She had a great boyfriend, whom she had been dating for two years.

Then, everything fell apart. The boyfriend gave her the "it's not you speech" and Faith soon realizes that he's been seeing her best friend behind her back. It gets worse when the two decide to get engaged, so much for him not being the marrying type.

Faith decides that a change is definitely in order so she makes the move to Minneapolis. However, her new life isn't quite what she expected. She can't seem to find a job. Her needy roommate has a side job as a sex phone operator. Faith might also have a stalker.

Following My Toes connects the reader to the feeling of chatting with a close friend. You are with her through the laughs and through those hard parts. You get that she'd be so much better off if she just stopped trying not to make mistakes and just followed her heart. You also know that she's going to have to do everything the hard way.

[Kitty Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say I am not one to read this type of story often. I believe todays society calls books like this chick lit. Though after reading this book I can honestly say that I loved it.

This story was a whirlwind! It was fun, exciting, and real containing all the emotions every woman has experienced at least once in their lives. I would definitely recommend this book to women who love this type of genre and even ones who have yet to embark upon the journey.

The characters are bright, vivid, and balanced. They have real emotion and the story is intriguing, keeping you reading until the very end. There's an underlying mystery to the entire scenario and I bet you will never guess the answer until the writer reveals it.

This book was great! Kudos to Laurel Osterkamp for creating such a great novel!

Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.probo...

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book through the Member Giveaway on Library Thing.

Laurel Osterkamp is a great story-teller. In Following My Toes, we get to know Faith Emerson, an English teacher who can predict when bad or good things are going to happen to her (her skin would hurt if something is bad, and her toes would itch if it's a good thing).

When she is dumped by her boyfriend for her best friend (and since she doesn't know what to do), she decides to move to Minneapolis where one of her friends says she could get a fresh start.

Over the course of the story, we can see different kinds of friendship and relationships, and how Faith's outlook on love and friendship changes. We see the mistakes that the characters make, and how important is forgiveness.

The characters are great, I mean, they seem real, with their good and bad traits. The pace of the story was good too. And although the ending made sense, I wanted to know what was going to happen after that.

[Birgit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess Laurel Osterkamp's novel can be best described as chick-lit with a serious undertone. Girl (who gets itchy toes when something good's about to happen) gets dumped just to find out her guy fell in love with her best friend. What sounds like a run-of-the-mill plot is actually an engaging journey of self-discovery, learning to let go and learning forgiveness. What I liked the most about this novel was that it was not only entertaining to read but how, despite of the genres tendency to give you happy endings, this one has a realistic, open ending.
As far as the characters go I could sympathize with Faith all the way through. While the other characters were distinct and well drawn some were also a bit "over the top", but that was obviously the intention of the author. Bottom line is that both the plot and the cast make this a wonderful reading material for a lazy afternoon.
In short: An enjoyable, touching and fun read!

[Ciara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any book about a woman's self discovery is a winner in my book :) Faith, which is ironic because she has none, has just found out that her bf of two years has left her for her best friend of 20 years!! After supporting him and being emotionally neglected by him she decides the only way to move on is to literally move on! An old friend convinces her to move from her small town of Duluth to Minneapolis. There she embarks on a road of self discovery as she falls for a guy even more emotionally held up then her, rooms with an OCD roommate who strips and works as a phone sex operator, develops a closer relationship with her flighty younger sister (this storyline is unexpected!!) and makes a few violent enemies, which helps build up the suspense!
I like how the love interest and her come to a decision at the end that is so realistic I actually was surprised I liked it. Life is not always about happy endings and finite relationships!!!

[CharleeMoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following My Toes is a great quick read. It starts out with the main character –Faith Emerson- in a…predicament, and through out the story it was fun trying to figure out the how she managed to get herself in it.

Faith moves to a whole new place after getting dumped by her boyfriend for her best friend. From then on she meets very interesting people, including herself. For parts of it, it wasn’t easy to fell the supporting characters. But you really get to know Faith, and maybe the author did it to make you feel like Faith is self involved like everyone keeps telling her. Who knows.

I would definitely read this one if you want a quick chicklit book.

[Received through the LibraryThing Member’s Giveaway Program]

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

An average read. I would have given it three stars, but the lessons learned by Faith, the heroine, were just too one-sided that I had to deduct one star from my rating. Every character in the book accuses her of being selfish, and she believed it herself, but I couldn't see it. In my eyes, it was everyone else who was selfish. There were some good points in the book--some of Faith's sense of humor made me chuckle a little bit, and the one truly moving scene where Faith and her ex finally talked honestly to one another about their break-up showed a glimmer of the book's potential. But they weren't enough for a three-star rating.

[Venise Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following My Toes is a fun read told from the perspective of the main character, Faith Emerson. The story starts off with Faith being kidnapped and I was instantly pulled in, and couldn't stop reading until I found out why and by whom. What I found was a delightful story with an entertaining lead. Not to mention all of the funny predicaments she finds herself and the amusing cast of supporting characters. The only thing missing was the time of year that I read this. This is just the type of book that I enjoy in the summer, lazying around the beach. I would recommend this book to all of my girlfriends.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

breaks up with her because he has been sleeping with her best friend. Faith decides to move to bigger city where collage roommate is living. She meets Eathen car mancanic as she hits town. She meets Bill where she lives. met max. she is trying to get over the anger and hurt. Trying to find herself. Its a good story kept me up reading. I liked the book club questions at the end. I think it would be a nice book club bFaith is a high school teacher teaching english. Her boyfriend book.

[Lenore Kosinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went between loving it and being confused by it...I think I can't like it more than a 3 star b/c I have a hard time with adulterers being human....which they are...but wouldn't it be easier if they were evil?? Obviously this is not a fault of the book, but a fault of me. Faith was an interesting character, and I didn't always get where the author was going with her (with all the being accused of being self-involved). I guess it went over my head. *shrugs*

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I definitely did not expect to like this book as much as I did. In fact, by the time I was done, I loved it. I needed something cute and entertaining to read as I procrastinated studying for finals. I started reading Following My Toes and absolutely could not put it down. Spent the entire day and night reading until I was completely done. Great job, Lauren Osterkamp. This was a very entertaining book.

[Shannon Hertz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was exhausted by Faith and the storyline about halfway through. It wasn't a bad story but Faith's life just wore me out. The back of the book had questions asking how it would compare to books of the same genre, like Something Blue. I loved Something Blue and this was nowhere near as good as it. It was okay read but I'm not anxious to know what happens to Faith. I'm just glad I can put her story to rest finally!

[Alicia Prevost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really really cute and quirky book. I wasn't entirely sure it would work and yet somehow it completely did and made for a fun, and yet at sometimes, serious read. The lead character wasn't always the most likeable person and yet I couldn't help but feel for her. And the ending wasn't at all what I would have hoped for but in this book it worked perfectly.

So in short it was a book that shouldn't have worked for me...but it really did. Definitely a fan of this writer now.

[Stephanie Lindsay Hagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laurel Osterkamp is a captivating author. She digs deep and nails it. The self-doubt and self-analysis of the main character made my head spin. All this agony eventually led to self-discovery and forgiveness. The people closest to you can and do hurt you the deepest. A little bit of psychic itching always helps.

[Bree · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't hate the book, but I didn't love it either. Aspects were to complicated or to simplistic. There was no balance and the ending fell flat considering I hung in there for the entire ride! I hate to badmouth books because I personally know how hard it is to write. I do have to say the authors style and wit were impressive.

[Keri English · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun story about growing up and learning whether or not to trust your instincts. Faith may or may not be psychic, but she definitely experiences the ups and downs of life while she looks for her answers.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am somewhat unsure of how I felt about this book. I finished it, but was frustrated with Faith's lack of confidence in herself. However, I realize the book is about self- discovery and the writing style was fun. I plan on checking out other books by this author.

[Rosely · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good read. A bit slow, and the heroine was a bit difficult to root for as were her friends, but I think that was the author's intention.

[Lucie Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but kinda wished it didn't end the way it did!

[Erika Marquez Saldana · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute storyline... couldnt relate to the main character, despite being close in age with her. Cute read.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished this one... a pretty decent beach bag read.

[pcb · Rating 3 out of 5]

a Kindle freebie...

[Lyz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book. I enjoyed it, but thought the end was a little lame, like it ran out of steam.

[Michele Padua · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book kept me interested but I feel like the ending needed work.