Customer Reviews

Talk Gertie to Me

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nori Stedworth is having a "bad" day. What can an out of work data-source hunter do when she walks in on her best friend - make that ex-best friend and her almost fiancée in bed? When her mother walks in unannounced on the run from her husband and Ten Commandments Kansas -I mean Iowa, where ever? Bad things come in three right? That's when a "grumpy hunk" accidentally swaps laptop computers at the local coffee shop.

Mac Randolph is going to lose his job if he can't come up with a new voice for his radio station. Now he know he has found the New Voice IF he can just meet her. So Mac spends time at the local coffee shop hoping to find the owner of the laptop he accidentally took.

Mayhem and chaos are the general condition of the day for Mac and Nori. Between trying to get her mom back home, keeping her new job quite and starting a new love interest Nori hand are full. Oh yeah, did I tell you Nori's father shows to find her mother making a bellybutton casting with Hyman Perth.

TALK GERTIE TO ME is Ms Winston's debut book. Laughter, wit and just a touch of womanly wisdom gives the book a fresh take. After reading this book you can say "Yeah, I have had days like that." Well, just pull up a chair and join the club and laugh along with the rest of us and Gertie.

Reviewed for eBookIsle.com by Michele

The cover caught my eye not just because it was pink, but because of the great title. What was inside the cover didn't disappoint. The story has a mix of a things including Gertie, an imaginary childhood friend who returns to help Nora through her crises. Add a menopausal mom, a handsome man and unexpected success and this book doesn't stop making you chuckle. The witty dialogue and different story line are sure to grab you until the very end and leave you with a smile.

Honora "Nori" Stedworth thought she had it all. She lived in a garden level apartment in Manhattan, has a rich dermatologist boyfriend, and a good job at a dot-com. Then, in the space of only a few hours, Nori finds her boyfriend cavorting in the Jacuzzi with her supposedly best friend, she gets laid off from work, and her mother flies in for an indefinite visit. To cope, Nori does what she did when she had been little; she has a conversation with her imaginary friend named Gertie. Gertie is Nori's sarcastic side with some pretty snappy come-backs. Sounds harmless, right?

Enter Mackenzie "Mac" Randolph. Mac is the station manager for WBAT radio. WBAT is the Big Apple's talk radio, which focuses totally on men and sports. Due to a computer mix-up, Mac and Nori end up taking the radio station by storm. Nori is now the hottest thing on radio with her talk show "Gertie Gets Even". As Gertie, Nori tells men exactly what about them annoys women. And the ratings soar. But Nori is not the only one in the family getting famous.

Constance "Connie" Stedworth is tired of living in the shadow of her husband. Her husband, Earnest, is the mayor of their home town called Ten Commandments, Iowa. Earnest refuses to leave the 1950s and runs the town and his family the same way. Connie leaves Ten Commandments for various reasons and her entrepreneurial side comes out. Connie becomes famous as the "Belly Button Artist to the Stars." But by following their dreams will Connie lose her husband and will Nori become the family's black sheep?

***** Absolutely hilarious! At one point of the book I tried to read the story out loud, with different voices for each character. But I could not keep a straight face and I kept snickering. This novel is like two stories in one. Nori and Connie take turns telling what is going on in their lives. Oh, and the secondary characters are just as colorful as the main ones! After all, the setting IS in New York, where colorful characters abound and anything can happen (and usually does with frequency). I am hopeful that Reese may get her own story told one day. Author Lois Winston deserves a standing ovation for this gem! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Talk Gertie to Me is an artfully crafted book with humorous characters that are not cartoony but all too human--all but Gertie, that is. Lois Winston has combined the stories of a young, semi-successful woman and her yearning-to-be somebody menopausal mother in an intricate tale that leads both women down some very rocky paths.
Nori Stedworth loses her job and security and privacy in one maddening day. Her mother, long suffering but talented in ways few people could possibly be, ventures from the safe anonymity of Iowa to the whirlwind life of a NYC entrepreneur. Nori doesn't know what caused her mother to leave her father. Her mother thinks running away will resolve her marital problems and her meddling will eventually bring Nori a happy marriage with the home-town mortician.
Only Gertie, Nori's imaginary friend resurrected from her youth, can help bring about happiness for both women in this mad-cap, coming of age, honestly romantic free-for-all book. This is a must read delight.

A. Fontaine

I passed this book by over and over before finally giving it a chance. The book jacket summary made it sound very strange to me, but don't worry- its not! It a very cute and fun read. The secondary plot regarding the mother is great too! Give it a try! You won't be disappointed!

TALK GERTIE TO ME by Lois Winston
September 25, 2006

Rating: 3.5 Stars


TALK GERTIE TO ME by Lois Winston was a funny lighthearted story about Nori Stedworth, a young woman who was raised in a clean Christian family in the Midwest but is now currently living in Manhattan, trying to make a living and doing it her way. Unfortunately she's having a string of bad luck. She's lost her job, her best suit, and she's just found her boyfriend having sex with her best friend. And then her mother shows up, saying she's left her father. Life can't get any worse.

GERTIE is Nori's alter ego, and through a new friend she's met in her favorite coffeehouse, Gertie gets her own radio show on a sports talk show. Nori does the show, stipulating that her real name be kept out of it so she doesn't embarrass her family back home.

In the meantime, her mother is having her own adventures, starting up a craft business under the mentor of one of Nori's neighbors. And back home Nori's father, the mayor of their small town, is having his own issues.

TALK GERTIE TO ME was a fun romp with a bunch of eclectic characters. My only problem with the book was the narration, which went back and forth between Nori and her mother. I think the book would have been much better if the narration was kept with one person, Nori, since the tone of the book felt more like Chick Lit than anything else. Nori's mother, Connie, was a hoot and I think she could have been her own novel. Her adventures with her "belly button casings" would have been enough for a full-length novel. Despite the problems with the book, I found this to be a good debut, with enough humor to keep the story interesting enough to read to the end.

What a great read. Loaded with fun, wit, wonderful characters and lots of action. Unlike the last book I finished before reading this, I was satisfied with the ending and had no lingering questions about the characters and their futures. Well written, captured my interest, going to pass the book on to my mom.

Although I'm not a huge fan of chick lit, I enjoyed this story. Liked the fact it had an older character, the heroine's mother.
Promising debut for a good writer.

I advise you to ignore the hissy-huff of "icefox" from Colorado and pay attention to the other reviewers. You'll love this book. (Like I did) "Icefox" is obviously dead-set on the expectations of written-to-formula romance wherein she expects a kiss by page #X, sex scene one by page # XX, and sex scene two by page #XXX, along with very little subplot, etc. to distract. TALK GERTIE TO ME has far more to offer than that.
I so enjoyed the sub-plots in this book. Nori's family plus friends made the book richer --Nori's mom is a hoot! In TALK GERTIE TO ME the POV changes happen so logically within the sequence of events, the fit is wonderfully funny. You don't get force-fed formula writing in GERTIE. It has a touch of ChickLit, a touch of HenLit and romance that doesn't feel false. When Nori Steadworth's childhood friend Gertie offers not only stress escape but a new job, the results are hilarious and romantic, touched by feminine wisdom. I enjoyed this book. It's original. It's funny. I hope Lois Winston gives us more.

After picking up the book -- so pink! (That's hot.) -- I did the next logical thing -- read the first sentence. Wow! I knew instantly that I wanted to read the rest of Gertie -- and Winston's next... and the one after that. Get clicking now and buy Gertie. The first line alone is worth it! Ms. Winston: You go, girl!