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Finding Passion: Confessions of a Fifty Year Old Runaway
Lynn Westner is a slightly paranoid wife and mother spreading her wings by taking her first trip to Great Britain. She has a change of plans once her seatmate offers her an opportunity of a lifetime: to travel with him and his band for two weeks. Lynn revels in being a groupie and stretches the limits of her comfort level when his wife comes to visit. Her experiences dring her time away from home force her to asess her life in Wichita.Come with Lynn as she takes the opportunity to find passion and experience life being good.This novel contains explicit and adult material.
204 pages, Paperback
First published October 4, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 28, 2011
Won this book on First Reads and just started reading it.
Edit: My mother caught me reading this (she was intrigued by the black people on the cover - she's Bajan) and asked to borrow it, now I'm wondering whether I'm going to get it back so I can finish it.
Edit #2: Okay so I got this back a few days and I started reading it again from the beginning. I didn't get very far and have decided to put it down indefinitely. Despite loving the sense of humour, I was pretty disappointed that the main character never makes it to the UK. I live here and was looking forward to a foreigner's perception of my home country. Also I was a little unsure of the realism of walking off with a stranger to a strange place without anyone knowing where you are, I wondered why she didn't act on her "he could be a serial killer" thoughts. Plus, if I had spent what would have been a lot of money and was going to be taking my first trip abroad I wouldn't be wasting that kind of opportunity for an unknown man. If she had made it to the UK and then abandoned the tour for the seemingly interesting stranger I might have felt differently. But what really made me stop reading were the over-the-top cringe-worthy thoughts and antics, I found it too painful to continue.
There is potential here especially with the incredible sense of humour but the thoughts, actions and behaviour of the characters need to be toned down and made more rational for it to appeal to a wider audience.
Edit: My mother caught me reading this (she was intrigued by the black people on the cover - she's Bajan) and asked to borrow it, now I'm wondering whether I'm going to get it back so I can finish it.
Edit #2: Okay so I got this back a few days and I started reading it again from the beginning. I didn't get very far and have decided to put it down indefinitely. Despite loving the sense of humour, I was pretty disappointed that the main character never makes it to the UK. I live here and was looking forward to a foreigner's perception of my home country. Also I was a little unsure of the realism of walking off with a stranger to a strange place without anyone knowing where you are, I wondered why she didn't act on her "he could be a serial killer" thoughts. Plus, if I had spent what would have been a lot of money and was going to be taking my first trip abroad I wouldn't be wasting that kind of opportunity for an unknown man. If she had made it to the UK and then abandoned the tour for the seemingly interesting stranger I might have felt differently. But what really made me stop reading were the over-the-top cringe-worthy thoughts and antics, I found it too painful to continue.
There is potential here especially with the incredible sense of humour but the thoughts, actions and behaviour of the characters need to be toned down and made more rational for it to appeal to a wider audience.
October 3, 2009
This was one of those books that I was excited about...It was a great summary...but I found it lacking. The story started off pretty good...Grown Woman going off on her own on a tour to Britain then meeting a stranger on the plane that she connects with although she tries not to...She runs of with him on his band tour and abandons her own trip to the UK...It seemed like it was making its way towards being a great romantic read...but then enters the MOP's (Man on the Plane) wife...that's when the book kinda got weird to me...I still don't get why they did what they did but overall it was an okay read...I would like to read the follow up and see if the story plot stays true it just seems like most of the book had too many details about her surroundings and not enough ACTION between Christi and MOP.
October 7, 2009
This book was a little different than the genre I usually chose. It tells the story of a woman who gets on a plane to go on a tour of the UK. Her seatmate to one side is also her "buddy" for her trip and is rather dull. Her seatmate to the other side is a tall, dark, and handsome stranger with whom she feels an instant connection and spark. He talks her into forgoing her planned trip to tour with him and his band around the US.
The main character is a married middle aged housewife and the mysterious man she travels with is also married and middle aged (we never learn his name, she always refers to him as Mr. MOP/man on plane). Mr. MOP contacts his wife and has her "ok" the main character and perform a ceremony that bonds the main character and Mr. MOP before they become intimate. The wife leaves and says she won't disturb their time while in the US, but her husband is hers in Europe. The story tells a little about where the band plays but mostly tells about the two main characters, shall we say, private moments.
I ended up skipping quite a few pages because of the content and I couldn't confidently recommend it to my friends to read.
The main character is a married middle aged housewife and the mysterious man she travels with is also married and middle aged (we never learn his name, she always refers to him as Mr. MOP/man on plane). Mr. MOP contacts his wife and has her "ok" the main character and perform a ceremony that bonds the main character and Mr. MOP before they become intimate. The wife leaves and says she won't disturb their time while in the US, but her husband is hers in Europe. The story tells a little about where the band plays but mostly tells about the two main characters, shall we say, private moments.
I ended up skipping quite a few pages because of the content and I couldn't confidently recommend it to my friends to read.
January 11, 2022
I connected with the title more than I care to admit. I understand the desire to be more and have more than this life presents us. I thought it was a good story and am dying to know how much is based on real experiences by the author (was he a real fling, was he French, was he a real known musician?) Gah! or was it all fantasy? The only part that made me uncomfortable was meeting the wife.
April 22, 2020
My first "First Reads" win and I want to apologize for the HUGE delay in getting this book read and reviewed.
So, to kick off 2010...I really wanted to like this book. I always feel slightly indebted to the authors of First Reads books and feel bad if I don't love their book. I REALLY wanted to like this book after reading a funny blurb in the beginning written by the author and after I read a bit about her - she seems like someone you'd like to know in real life. Did I mention she wrote a nice little note in the cover and signed it?
Some parts of this book were quite funny; the author has a nice sense of humor. The story about the pantyhose in the NYC club with the "incense" was totally hysterical - like it was written from experience.
Christi, our protagonist, is on her way to a 2 week tour through Europe with a tour group (sans husband and kids). She meets a musician, known only as Mr. MOP (Man On the Plane), on the flight and ends up running off with him for 2 weeks as his band tours the U.S. (what the...?) She's hardly been out of her home state in her 50 years, has led a somewhat sheltered life, and has paranoid tendencies toward strange people/places, so to say that this is out of character is an UNDERstatement.
Unfortunately, Christi can't totally pull her character off convincingly and she really fell flat. She is a middle-aged woman who has been married for 27 years with several grown children. Her character almost seems older than 50 at times, though, sometimes reminding me more of my grandmother...like the whole idea that middle aged women can't enjoy pleasures of the body simply because of their age or because "women my age don't do that."
Also, she's scared of everything...of because someone happens to have the window seat next to her on the plane now she gets to spend the next hours in close encounter with a possible psycho killer, of the fact that her oldest daughter told her not to be friendly with anyone since they could hypnotize her simply by talking and then sell her into white slavery, of having her identity stolen by being OVERLY friendly. And the list goes on. While the character admits her paranoia, the "naturally occuring paranoia" got OLD. When Mr. MOP orders a Bloody Mary on the plane, Christi immediately jumps to he must be a serial killer or a vampire. (What the, what the...?) The trip to the pharmacy to get condoms was almost unreadable - I hope the author isn't this inept or know anyone who is - and while the condom aisle can be...overwhelming, I suppose...the thoughts in this woman's head were unbelievable. I almost stopped reading at this point, because the story was starting to err on the side of ridiculous. And the whole condom conundrum became a non-issue for the two weeks of unprotected sex the pair had anyway!
I think my lack of enthusiasm for this book is due to the fact that I have little patience for this type of contrived fantasy. I also wish the story had focused more on Christi after the fact - a lot of the book seemed focus on Christi and Mr. MOP's bedroom romps than on the bigger picture. I was easy to see what Christi's decision would be as the story wound down, but was surprised by another twist late in the book.
Overall, it was ok. I do think Christy (the author) has some promise, especially with her sense of humor.
So, to kick off 2010...I really wanted to like this book. I always feel slightly indebted to the authors of First Reads books and feel bad if I don't love their book. I REALLY wanted to like this book after reading a funny blurb in the beginning written by the author and after I read a bit about her - she seems like someone you'd like to know in real life. Did I mention she wrote a nice little note in the cover and signed it?
Some parts of this book were quite funny; the author has a nice sense of humor. The story about the pantyhose in the NYC club with the "incense" was totally hysterical - like it was written from experience.
Christi, our protagonist, is on her way to a 2 week tour through Europe with a tour group (sans husband and kids). She meets a musician, known only as Mr. MOP (Man On the Plane), on the flight and ends up running off with him for 2 weeks as his band tours the U.S. (what the...?) She's hardly been out of her home state in her 50 years, has led a somewhat sheltered life, and has paranoid tendencies toward strange people/places, so to say that this is out of character is an UNDERstatement.
Unfortunately, Christi can't totally pull her character off convincingly and she really fell flat. She is a middle-aged woman who has been married for 27 years with several grown children. Her character almost seems older than 50 at times, though, sometimes reminding me more of my grandmother...like the whole idea that middle aged women can't enjoy pleasures of the body simply because of their age or because "women my age don't do that."
Also, she's scared of everything...of because someone happens to have the window seat next to her on the plane now she gets to spend the next hours in close encounter with a possible psycho killer, of the fact that her oldest daughter told her not to be friendly with anyone since they could hypnotize her simply by talking and then sell her into white slavery, of having her identity stolen by being OVERLY friendly. And the list goes on. While the character admits her paranoia, the "naturally occuring paranoia" got OLD. When Mr. MOP orders a Bloody Mary on the plane, Christi immediately jumps to he must be a serial killer or a vampire. (What the, what the...?) The trip to the pharmacy to get condoms was almost unreadable - I hope the author isn't this inept or know anyone who is - and while the condom aisle can be...overwhelming, I suppose...the thoughts in this woman's head were unbelievable. I almost stopped reading at this point, because the story was starting to err on the side of ridiculous. And the whole condom conundrum became a non-issue for the two weeks of unprotected sex the pair had anyway!
I think my lack of enthusiasm for this book is due to the fact that I have little patience for this type of contrived fantasy. I also wish the story had focused more on Christi after the fact - a lot of the book seemed focus on Christi and Mr. MOP's bedroom romps than on the bigger picture. I was easy to see what Christi's decision would be as the story wound down, but was surprised by another twist late in the book.
Overall, it was ok. I do think Christy (the author) has some promise, especially with her sense of humor.
October 14, 2009
First off, I really wanted to like this book. I always feel slightly indebted to the authors of First Reads books and feel bad if I don't love their book. I REALLY wanted to like this book after reading a funny blurb in the beginning written by the author and after I read a bit about her - she seems like someone you'd like to know in real life. Did I mention she wrote a nice little note in the cover and signed it?
Some parts of this book were quite funny; the author has a nice sense of humor. The story about the pantyhose in the NYC club with the "incense" was totally hysterical as were some of Christi's internal monologues. Unfortunately, Christi, our protagonist, can't totally pull her character off convincingly. She is a middle-aged woman who has been married for 27 years with several grown children. Her character almost seems older than 50 at times, though, sometimes reminding more of my grandmas. For example, she's scared of someone hypnotizing her on her overseas trip or being abducted and raped by a stranger on the plane. While the character admits her paranoia, it still doesn't seem to fit her. It took me forever to place why - Christi hardly ever uses contractions. I saw a few, I admit, but most of them were "ain't". The lack of contractions makes Christi seem formal and a bit distant. Which is at odds with her true character, I think. Especially since she can curse like no one's business and more than once used some words that made me do a double take and then laugh out loud. The character felt flat to me, overall.
Christi is on her way to a 2 week tour through Europe with a tour group (sans husband and kids). She meets a musician, known only as Mr. MOP (Man On the Plane), on the flight and ends up running off with him for 2 weeks as his band tours the U.S. She's hardly been out of her home state in her 50 years, has led a somewhat sheltered life, and has paranoid tendencies toward strange people/places, so this is quite out of character for her. Through some introspection on Christi's part, the reader wonders if Christi's fling was worth it? Should she regret it? What would I do in the same situation?
I think my lack of enthusiasm for this book is due to the fact that I have little patience for story lines that seem flip about extramarital affairs - I'm just totally opposed to them. Always. No matter what. I don't care what your physical/spiritual/mental connection is or if you met in a past life or if Mr. MOP's wife "prepares" the two of them for their joining. It's simply inexcusable; have enough respect for your spouse to either follow your vows or ask for a divorce. Interestingly enough, this is the only issue that I take such a hard line on - other than this, I'm a pretty laissez-faire type person.
I also wish the story had focused more on Christi after the fact - a lot of the book seemed focus on Christi and Mr. MOP's bedroom romps than on the bigger picture. I was guessing up to the end of what she would do, and was a bit surprised by another twist late in the book.
Overall, it was ok. I do think Christy (the author) has some promise, especially with her sense of humor, where I think her true talent lies, and which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Some parts of this book were quite funny; the author has a nice sense of humor. The story about the pantyhose in the NYC club with the "incense" was totally hysterical as were some of Christi's internal monologues. Unfortunately, Christi, our protagonist, can't totally pull her character off convincingly. She is a middle-aged woman who has been married for 27 years with several grown children. Her character almost seems older than 50 at times, though, sometimes reminding more of my grandmas. For example, she's scared of someone hypnotizing her on her overseas trip or being abducted and raped by a stranger on the plane. While the character admits her paranoia, it still doesn't seem to fit her. It took me forever to place why - Christi hardly ever uses contractions. I saw a few, I admit, but most of them were "ain't". The lack of contractions makes Christi seem formal and a bit distant. Which is at odds with her true character, I think. Especially since she can curse like no one's business and more than once used some words that made me do a double take and then laugh out loud. The character felt flat to me, overall.
Christi is on her way to a 2 week tour through Europe with a tour group (sans husband and kids). She meets a musician, known only as Mr. MOP (Man On the Plane), on the flight and ends up running off with him for 2 weeks as his band tours the U.S. She's hardly been out of her home state in her 50 years, has led a somewhat sheltered life, and has paranoid tendencies toward strange people/places, so this is quite out of character for her. Through some introspection on Christi's part, the reader wonders if Christi's fling was worth it? Should she regret it? What would I do in the same situation?
I think my lack of enthusiasm for this book is due to the fact that I have little patience for story lines that seem flip about extramarital affairs - I'm just totally opposed to them. Always. No matter what. I don't care what your physical/spiritual/mental connection is or if you met in a past life or if Mr. MOP's wife "prepares" the two of them for their joining. It's simply inexcusable; have enough respect for your spouse to either follow your vows or ask for a divorce. Interestingly enough, this is the only issue that I take such a hard line on - other than this, I'm a pretty laissez-faire type person.
I also wish the story had focused more on Christi after the fact - a lot of the book seemed focus on Christi and Mr. MOP's bedroom romps than on the bigger picture. I was guessing up to the end of what she would do, and was a bit surprised by another twist late in the book.
Overall, it was ok. I do think Christy (the author) has some promise, especially with her sense of humor, where I think her true talent lies, and which I thoroughly enjoyed.
November 3, 2009
An account of a fairly sheltered and naive married woman suddenly throwing caution to the wind and heading off on an adventure with a man she meets on a plane (Mr M.O.P. - Man On Plane), one of this book's strong points is a nicely self deprecating narrative voice with some funny observations and asides. However, the actual dialogue and character interactions felt stilted, and although I understood the physical attraction in her relationship with Mr M.O.P. I didn't quite get the sense of the spiritual and mental connection that supposedly existed between them.
It may have helped to have had a little more to their non-physical relationship as while the book goes into detail about the placement of a hand on an ass or, indeed, the act itself once they get around to it, instead of the same attention to detail to their mental connection we are told instead simply that they talked all night long. Due to this I was never particularly invested in the characters, and didn't get a real sense of who Mr M.O.P. was as a person, other than being a talented musician and like human catnip for Christi, and only truly became engaged at the very end when her remembrances suddenly felt more personal and heartfelt.
Looked at from the perspective of a 'travel' book, there wasn't really enough detail or description to allow you a sense of place and I felt I knew more about the interior of hotel rooms than I did any of the cities visited, though that's perhaps understandable seeing as a lot more was invested in what was happening inside those hotel rooms than on the excursions.
I hate not being able to give this a higher rating as I'm hugely grateful for the opportunity to be one of the first to read this and Christy seems like a lovely woman but, as they say...honesty is the best policy.
It may have helped to have had a little more to their non-physical relationship as while the book goes into detail about the placement of a hand on an ass or, indeed, the act itself once they get around to it, instead of the same attention to detail to their mental connection we are told instead simply that they talked all night long. Due to this I was never particularly invested in the characters, and didn't get a real sense of who Mr M.O.P. was as a person, other than being a talented musician and like human catnip for Christi, and only truly became engaged at the very end when her remembrances suddenly felt more personal and heartfelt.
Looked at from the perspective of a 'travel' book, there wasn't really enough detail or description to allow you a sense of place and I felt I knew more about the interior of hotel rooms than I did any of the cities visited, though that's perhaps understandable seeing as a lot more was invested in what was happening inside those hotel rooms than on the excursions.
I hate not being able to give this a higher rating as I'm hugely grateful for the opportunity to be one of the first to read this and Christy seems like a lovely woman but, as they say...honesty is the best policy.
October 3, 2009
I got this book on Firstreads. I requested it because it looked like it might follow the line of thought of Anne Tyler's Ladder of Years. It didn't. Anne Tyler's character ran away to find herself. The character in this book ran away to find sex.
The protagonist talked about connecting with her suitor on physical, mental and spiritual levels, but other than writing one poem for him and visiting a couple of tourist attractions together, all that the book described was them connecting physically. And that was in more detail than my Puritanic brain likes to read about.
I also found the plot line a little hard to swallow. Woman from a very sheltered background sets out for the adventure of her lifetime that she's been saving for over a long time. She nearly panics when a MAN sits next to her on the plane because she's afraid he might be a pervert or serial killer. Then, half an hour later, she decides to throw away her European tour to travel with him (a complete stranger) for two weeks??? Doesn't add up.
The best part of the book was the decision that she makes at the ending. I won't spoil it for other readers.
Thanks, Christy, for sharing the book. Your enthusiasm and friendliness are admirable. But, I'm afraid that I'm the wrong audience for your book.
The protagonist talked about connecting with her suitor on physical, mental and spiritual levels, but other than writing one poem for him and visiting a couple of tourist attractions together, all that the book described was them connecting physically. And that was in more detail than my Puritanic brain likes to read about.
I also found the plot line a little hard to swallow. Woman from a very sheltered background sets out for the adventure of her lifetime that she's been saving for over a long time. She nearly panics when a MAN sits next to her on the plane because she's afraid he might be a pervert or serial killer. Then, half an hour later, she decides to throw away her European tour to travel with him (a complete stranger) for two weeks??? Doesn't add up.
The best part of the book was the decision that she makes at the ending. I won't spoil it for other readers.
Thanks, Christy, for sharing the book. Your enthusiasm and friendliness are admirable. But, I'm afraid that I'm the wrong audience for your book.
October 28, 2009
Just won this on first reads! I can't wait to get it!
This was a fun book! It really made me think in spots, and in other spots, I was reading exceptionally funny passages aloud to my husband. Definitely an enjoyable read.
FBC: Came out in October
This was a fun book! It really made me think in spots, and in other spots, I was reading exceptionally funny passages aloud to my husband. Definitely an enjoyable read.
FBC: Came out in October
May 14, 2009
Of course, I may be biased because I wrote it but I think it is exceptional. The real question is, if you were presented with the same opportunity, would you take it?
Read
January 23, 2009This is such a wonderful and timeless read. I am so happy that I was able to share in the experiance of a lifetime with Christy!
February 4, 2010
This book made me look at getting older and being faithful in a whole new light. I now want to travel and know what cities to go to.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews