My Life Uncovered, by Lynn Isenberg

My Life Uncovered: Unraveled, Revealed... Bared, by Lynn Isenberg, was the first book I read of the ones I bought during my trip. It was also my first Red Dress Ink, and one by a new-to-me author, too.

Laura Taylor thought she had a done deal with a Hollywood producer. Turns out the only deal her agent closed was his own disappearing act. (Rumor has it he's in rehab somewhere in North Dakota.) But a chance encounter with a "guy who knows a guy" opens up a world of opportunities for Laura and gives her a chance to break into films -- adult films. (Someone actually writes those things?) Hey, a job's a job, and no one has to know about it. She'll write under a pseudonym. And it'll only be this one time . . .

Pretty soon, Laura's new career takes off and she finds herself leading a double life: pitching her legitimate screenplay in one part of town while playing the belle of the ball in another. Sure, she's always wanted the awards, the success, the attention, but it isn't exactly something she can write home about, and for once she's trying not to get noticed. After all, if her worlds collide, her future in Hollywood could get an X rating.

My Life Uncovered was quite readable, and I did mostly enjoy myself while I was immersed in it, but in a way, it was just empty calories. A C.

The problem was that while, as I said, it was a mostly entertaining book, it simply wasn't satisfying emotionally. I didn't close it and go "ahhh"; my reaction was more "so that's it?".

The reason I say "mostly" entertaining is that while the parts about the making and writing of adult movies were fascinating (though I, even with practically 0 knowledge of pornos in real life, have some doubts about whether Laura's movies would be sooooo successful), the rest, all that about the wheeling and dealing in Hollywood, bored me out of my skull. In the end, I just didn't care if that boring-sounding The Law of Malus ever got made, I was so sick of it!

Another problem is that the tone of the book went to extremes when it was about emotion. At some parts, things felt glossed over, as in how Laura felt about certain... sexual experimentations she did. And when there was sentiment, it felt mawkish and maudlin, very "deep, inspiring thoughts" kind of things.

Also, I felt it was kind of lacking in drama, because I never really felt a sense of danger from the possibility that Laura's identity as Bella Feega would be discovered. In a way, that was good, because if it had been taken seriously, kind of as the worst thing that could happen, a great disaster, I would have found it idiotic. But as it was, I didn't see any conflict, and this contributed to my simply not caring.

What I thought might bother me, which was the fact that the book was written in the present tense (first person, present tense, to be exact, but it was the "present tense" part that had me worried), ended up not bothering me at all. For the first few pages it was a little bit distracting, but I soon quit even noticing.