Beverly

by Fiona Pearse

New cover edition.
ASIN: B017PIA928

Beverly sidesteps the need to interact with co-workers by working from home. When she must venture outside, she wears earphones so no one will bother her. Social niceties are designated to her best friend and flatmate, Ella.

Beverly would be jealous of Ella's gregarious charm and high-life, if she didn't have the security of her long-term boyfriend, Roland, who spared Beverly from the dating scene and gave her a future. Beverly won't speak for herself because she has a stutter. This is how she carefully arranges her life, until Roland and Ella make plans of their own.

"This is an entertaining read from an indie author who has immense talent as a story teller"
- Tuck Magazine

Beverly has been awarded a place on the Awesome Indies list of quality independent fiction.

Genres: Fiction

222 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 6, 2015

About the author

Fiona Pearse was born in Dublin, Ireland and has been a software developer for 15 years. Now living in London, she writes code by day and poetry and prose by night. Her day job inspired the award-nominated Orla's Code, and she has recently published a short novel called Beverly. Several of her poems are also published and can be found through her website. When she is not working or writing, she's enjoying the city and sometimes escaping it.

Reviews

[Linda Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful story full of highs and lows this is the second book from this wonderful author Fiona Pearzse and again she has held my interest from the beginning to the end of this amazing book it is one for my fab books my thanks to the author Fiona Pearse for the greatest pleasure of reading another one of her fab books. This book I would be so delighted to recommend to my friends. A truly exquisite book to read and amazing. Characters it was a wonderful gift from the author and a privilege to read. So happy reading g to all from wee me. Xx

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Also reviewed on my book blog:
http://www.gobookyourself.info/2016/0...

I wasn't heading into Fiona's book blind. I'd read and thoroughly enjoyed Orla's Code (even if I didn't understand some of the coding jargon).

Saying that, Beverly surprised me. It was different to Orla's code. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. With Beverly Fiona seems to have really honed her character building skills. A few words came to mind after I'd read this book: real, authentic and flawed.

I love an author that takes on difficulties that many people deal with in their everyday lives. Beverly has a stutter but rather than deal with it she adapts ways to side step words she finds difficult and completely avoids an situation that might lead to her speaking publicly. She rely's on her friend Ella to use her charms to get her through difficult situations.

There is real authenticity in the writing. I'm not sure if Fiona her self suffers from a speech impediment but either way she clearly thoroughly researched the subject prior to writing. That much is obvious. I could feel myself holding my breath with Beverly every time she struggled to say a certain word.

Lots of writers can do 'flawed' but many don't pull it off as convincingly as Fiona does. There is often this perceived notion that a disability comes with a shy 'lovely' personality. Not always. Frankly, Beverly is a bit of a bitch, she loves to party and she loves sex just as much as any other girl. She loves her boyfriend and is willing to do anything to make sure that she remains his favorite.

I loved all of the above but I loved Beverly's development most of all. She learns that actions have consequences and that people won't always make allowances for you; no matter how much you think you deserve it. Sometimes you can't turn the clock back. You just have to deal with it and move forward.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a character driven novel. With Beverly. Fiona's unique voice has shone through again.

[Awesome Indies Book Awards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome Indies Book Awards is pleased to include BEVERLY by FIONA PEARSE in the library of Awesome Indies' Badge of Approval recipients.

Original Awesome Indies' Assessment (4 stars):

Going into this book, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’m not usually a general fiction person, I tend to like to get into books with crazy plot lines, fantasy characters or a massive plot twist, but I found that once I got started reading Beverly, I realized how much I missed reading a book that connected with a person on a more emotional level, and gave you a sense of peace when you finished it. The cover of the book drew me in even more. How often do you feel alone in a sea of people? It’s a very emotional and relatable feeling. That’s how Beverly was for me. I connected deeply with the characters, I felt each and every dramatic moment, and I was pleased when the book ended and the characters’ lives were settled. It was an enjoyable read, with a nice, refreshing plot line, and well thought out characters. I felt the dialogue in the book was crafted well. I’m an American, so there were times when I had to look something up, or remember that customs and speech is different in Europe, but I don’t believe it would be an issue to the book. I enjoyed reading a book set in a different country because it gives you a bit of a sense of adventure. I liked meeting Beverly, Ella, Rolland, and everyone else. The author created great character who really pop from the background, with their unique traits. I also really enjoyed how everyone interacted, or avoided interaction in cases to give us insight into who they are, and how they act.
A look into the more technical aspects of the book, I felt the format was good. I was worried with the main character having a stutter that it might affect the formatting and readability of the book, but it actually flows pretty well, and allows you to get a strong sense of the character and her struggles.

[Angela Pearse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled across this book and was immediately hooked in by the quality of the writing and the predicament of the FMC.

Beverly suffers with a debilitating stutter that affects every aspect of her life. She works from home and relies on her flatmate Ella to speak for her, this way she can ignore the problem. But when her boyfriend of ten years breaks up with her, Beverly is forced to face her issues.

This was a captivating read, and I truly felt Beverly's pain when trying to speak. The author was masterful at description and dialogue. She held back just the right amount of information to make me want to keep reading. There was also a droll humour which I liked. A real hidden gem!

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it while I was stuck in my hospital bed. It hit hard. Beverley's story and mine are so similar right now and I needed to read about someone combatting their fears and succeeding. I'd recommend it to everyone stuck with anxiety problems just to stop feeling alone.

[Angela Goodrich · Rating 2 out of 5]

I absolutely hate writing this review. Why? Because Beverly is a well-written book and it’s clear that the author either has first-hand experience with the subject matter or has done a great amount of research into stuttering, anxiety, and programming. When we were offered the opportunity to review Beverly, I jumped at the chance. The blurb gave me just enough information to whet my appetite, and as I’ve worked with a client or two who stuttered, I was excited to see how it would play out in a romance. Unfortunately for me, I just didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I expected to. I found that the first third of the novel just dragged on and on, for me. And let me stress the “for me” as this is purely my reaction to the book. While I understood the need for spending so much time in Beverly’s head in the beginning of the book, I felt as though I was there too much and not getting to experience Beverly’s world enough. Later in the book, there were times when I would get caught up in the story, but it was too short-lived and occurred too infrequently to improve my overall enjoyment. It didn’t help any that when the interactions between Beverly and her world began to increase, that she became quite petty in her actions, in my opinion. I understood why she felt hurt and betrayed, but what she did in “retaliation” seemed out of character for the woman she’d been presented as to that point and more like she took a page out of the “What Would Ella Do?” playbook. I don’t know. In the end, as much as it pains me to say it, Beverly was a just okay read for me. Again, FOR ME. My recommendation is that you download the sample and check it out for yourself because it is an interesting book that I think many people will love, it just didn’t do it for me.

I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!

[Sandra Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story follows the life of Beverly, a bright, young girl with a stutter, as she reflects on the times she spent with Roland both pre and post-break up. Little did she realize that her roommate, Ella, would accept a date with him. But how could that be? Ella and Roland have nothing in common.

Although Beverly considers Ella a friend, at times, she can’t help but feel overshadowed and dominated by her. I mean, if she didn’t want to get her boobs fitted into the “right” bra, then she shouldn’t have to.

Writing had a simple and easy flow, although, at times, the story lagged a bit with excessive, monotonous detail. But, nonetheless, readers will relate to the unspoken hopes, fears, and insecurities as shyly expressed by someone who doesn’t really know how to express them. You will root for the girl with the speech impediment as she navigates through work, relationships, and life.

Story was a little slow for my taste, but, overall, I deem it an okay read.

[Wendy Janes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beverly has a stutter, and avoids interacting with people as much as she can. She runs her business from home and relies heavily on her boyfriend, Roland, and her flatmate, Ella, to help her communicate with the outside world. How will Beverly cope when she loses these supports?

On the surface this is a familiar scenario of a young woman struggling to find herself when her best friend and boyfriend do the dirty on her. However, the story is given depth and an interesting slant by the scenes describing the lengths Beverly goes to, to avoid conversation. I could really relate to Beverly and sense her anxiety rising at these points in the story.

For me, the strongest and most interesting scenes are those with Beverly and her speech therapist. Fascinating to read about the exercises her therapist sets and Beverly’s thoughts and feelings about them. This story certainly made me think about communication and its complexities.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of two roommates. Ella, the social butterfly and Beverly, the wallflower-by-choice. Beverly tries to avoid too much interaction with people due to her stutter, not only in social situations, but she also in her work life which she’s arranged to work from home, avoiding interaction with co-workers. While Beverly's stutter at times makes her dialogue harder than usual to read, it also keeps her difficulties front and center in the reader's mind.

How Beverly is pushed to deal better with her stuttering problem is central to the story. But there are also a few good themes running throughout including some points made about setting boundaries between friends and the nature of friendship.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **

[Melanie Tiernan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beverly, is anxious and awkward with a debilitating stutter, she is pulled out of her comfort zone completely when she has to do things for herself and get over past experiences, can she manage it? I didn't know what to expect when I started reading Beverly but I was quickly and pleasantly surprised, it's turned out to be one of my favourite books of the year so far. I liked Beverly as soon as I started reading she's a very likable character, absolutely well worth a read.