Reading Bliss: Non Friction Review...

Title: Non Friction

Author: Morgan Parker

Genre: Romance Humor

Tour Host: Lady Amber's Tours

Morgan Parker’s first novel, Non Friction, tells the story of a man whose wife just walked out on him. Faced with an empty house and emotional turmoil, he turns to writing a novella, which introduces him to the fast and furious lifestyle of indie literature stardom… and Emma, a woman who comes on a little strong but turns out to be the one sliver of sunshine in his otherwise dark and devastating life.

Now that he has enjoyed a bit of success and attention, his wife (Jennifer) comes back and suddenly decides that they should pursue marriage counseling. Eager to win her back, the main character agrees to anything and the counselor asks them to create something beautiful for each other. Our main character decides on Our Story, a love story that will not only win his wife back, but can also double as his next novel.

Over the course of writing Our Story, the main character realizes that winning Jennifer back might not be the smartest thing for his heart. In fact, he starts to appreciate the true meaning of the word love, which he finds in Emma.

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The silence between us seemed to last an eternity. As we stared at each other, her fingers reached toward mine and traced long lines on my hand. We didn’t hug, didn’t really say anything else until it was goodbye. No happily ever after, not today.

“I wasn’t wrong about us,” she said, her voice hard and determined. But because there were words attached to that voice of hers, I didn’t place a whole lot of trust in them. “Morgan, I love you. No matter what happens, whether you hate me and never speak with me or see me again, I will always love you and the time we shared. And because of this love, I will always be waiting for you, just like Olivia waits until the end of time for Oliver. I’ll be there, always waiting, always for you.” She smiled at that point, and the sadness and doubt from earlier was gone.

“Goodbye, Emma.”

“Bye, Morgan.”

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Reviewed by Erycka:

“Love is a product of habit and routine. If you break that habit and change those routines, the person you’ve loved and lost and can’t live without suddenly becomes an easy memory to file in the back of your mind.”

I feel like I’m on the good book gravy train!! Once again, I’ve found myself smiling at the end of yet another good book!! And once again, I’m pleasantly surprised!!

It has been ages since I’ve read anything from a male author. And I forgot how refreshing it can be to read from a male perspective. The sarcasm that oozed throughout this story was by far, my favorite. Not many people can pull sarcasm off when spoken much less written!! Kudos, Mr. Parker!

“Jennifer decided that our marriage of 12 years, 4 months and 1 ½ weeks just didn’t “do it” for her anymore, I figured now was as good a time as any to take that first step.”

‘Princess Bitch’ (Morgan’s wife,) decides she’s had enough of married life, packs her and their 4 year old daughter up, and leaves Morgan without so much as glance backwards. In his misery, he buys a book that is “supposed” to help him get laid (because he’s lost his only source of sex). Whilst reading this book Morgan decides the mediocre writing, and lame subject matter is something he can perfect. He writes his own version of a ‘how to.’ He encounters great success. In fact he’s dubbed “brilliant.” He’s flooded with fan mail, well flooded may be a term used very lightly because most of it comes from one woman. Emma. She catapults Morgan to ‘rock star’ status when she sends him a pair of her panties…clean of course! (Because lightly used would be too close to a real rock star)

Soon his encounters with Emma border on ‘blurred lines.’ Morgan puts to use some of his “Textual Encounter” handy work. The created a symbol as a ‘code word’ and texted it to one another every time they wanted to chat. }i{…when I first saw this I thought of two people looking at one another, then upon closer review (and yes, Morgan’s description) I was able to see what he saw. Pretty crafty!!

As time moves on, Morgan and Emma continue to blur the lines. She masterfully manipulates or tactfully teases, depending on how you view it (I say she’s tactfully teasing) Morgan. Who by the way, wears his heart on his sleeve and isn’t afraid to share sad heart.

This is a witty, couldn’t-put-down, laughed-out-loud, and snickered a few times, type of book!! It quickly rose amongst the ranks to one of my favorite reads of 2013. I appreciate the humor, the honesty of Morgan, and the masked deviousness of Emma (yes, I said deviousness).

Five souring sarcastic stars for Mr. Parker and non fric•tion!!

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Morgan Parker is the pen name for a shy and introverted banker. He currently divides his time between Toronto, Canada and his imagination. When he isn’t writing or working with clients or relaxing at Balzac’s with a medium non-fat cappuccino, Morgan Parker enjoys spending time with his family. And sleeping, preferably on a bed (the left side) but depending on the day, he can pretty much curl up anywhere. No, he is not currently accepting applications for cuddling partners.

He loves interacting with bloggers, readers and fans, and if you consider yourself one of those, you can reach him through his Facebook page. Although he doesn’t particularly enjoy interacting with people who yell at him, he is always happy to chat with anyone, especially if their criticism will help with his writing. So next time you’re on Facebook, look for Morgan Parker and Like his author page!