Literary, etc

Elle Miller has been having a difficult time since her father’s death. When her laptop breaks down she asks to borrow her father’s, but her mother refuses to lend it to her. Knowing she’s on a deadline she’s at a loss on how to proceed until her friend, Adam, suggests she exchange her laptop for her father’s. Taking the plunge she does it and happily proceeds to work until she notices a strange sound and an exotic flower appear on the screen that comes and goes. Not wanting to appear crazy she passes it off as a fluke until it happens again. Armed with this knowledge she attempts to uncover the truth behind this phenomenon with the help of Dr. Quez Shirrock who has an interest in life after death. To complicate things, Elle finds the lead doctor on her soap, Brad asking her out. Will Elle discover the truth of the messages and live a happily ever after?Dee DeTarsio’s All My Restless Life to Live is a soap within a soap. Elle is a writer on the soap, I’d Rather Be Loved and fills in as an actress when needed. Life for Elle begins to imitate art and I enjoyed this aspect because it was a fun spin on the outrageous world of soaps. Character development is strong even if it’s told in first person narrative. DeTarsio does a very good job developing them and you get to know them on an individual basis. Adam is Elle’s best friend and he’s a hoot! He realizes Elle’s mother is a bit difficult to manage and he’s happy to assist her when she needs it. Even though he was a jerk, I adored Liam! We’ve all had those type of coworkers that take credit for work that they didn’t do, but I truly believe he made Elle a better writer because she had to stand out. Quez is interesting beause not only is he a doctor, but he’s suppose to be a man of science. His admission to Elle about life after death was unexpected and I don’t want to reveal anything for fear of spoilers. Then we have the hunky television doctor, Brad. Again, I won’t go into details, but I really liked him. He’s your typical male celebrity, but there’s so much more to him. DeTarsio’s secondary characters are the heart of the novel and you’ll love getting to know each one.DeTarsio’s writing is engaging and she’s a hilarious writer. It’s easy for an author to create a conflict between the main characters and that usually drives the entire plot, but DeTarsio actually makes Elle and Quez work out their issues. I’m not revealing a spoiler, because she does the same with Elle and Brad. It should also be noted that the paranormal aspect of the plot doesn’t dominate the entire storyline. I know some readers aren’t into the paranormal genre, but I fully believe you’ll enjoy the “what ifs” and questioning the idea about life after death.If you’re a fan of soap operas, then Dee DeTarsio‘s All My Restless Life to Live is a must read. It’s a fun quirky read that will leave you wishing soaps were still popular and you’ll relive some of your favorite soap memories.This review is posted at Literary, etc