Book Review: Acting Obsessed by Peter Silverman

My Rating: 
Book: Acting Obsessed
Author: Peter Silverman
Page Numbers: 336 pages
Publication date: July 10th, 2012

Synopsis: Acting Obsessed is a romance and an exploration of both sides of the thin line that divides obsession from passion. In Ginger Brossard’s life the line seems especially thin and easily crossed. As a young and talented actress with a burning ambition to be on the stage, she embarks on a career with a Shakespeare theater company in Philadelphia. An actor in the company soon displays an interest in her, but she turns his advances aside. When she meets an intriguing new man, and then receives a costly and beautiful gift from an anonymous admirer, Ginger finds herself entangled in a web of unanswered questions from the past, lethal danger, and the obsession of an unknown person who may have the power to devastate her life. In the end, she faces a choice between security and a risky chance for happiness.

My Review:

I received a copy from the author to read and review in return.

Acting Obsessed is a book filled with thrill, suspense, hot (but still subtlety written) romance, great characters, interesting historic scenery depictions and more. The book starts out quite exciting where our main character, Ginger, receives an anonymous parcel and letter from her secret admirer. A few years earlier she had received a same sort of parcel from the same secret admirer which provided the same fake address on the wrapping. The reader is immediately submerged into a suspense atmosphere and gets a taste of where the plot will potentially lead to. After being plunged into the slowly built-up suspense created in the first few pages of the book, the reader is pulled back into the past to discover Ginger's personal story to the point when she opens her second parcel and letter in the present time. As I was mentally traveling into Ginger's past, I noticed that the mood of the story became a tad too lethargic for my liking and thus made it harder for me to get into the story. This is actually the one of the main true reasons why I rated Acting Obsessed a 4/5 rating. Now, let's get into the details of this review!

The characters...

From the very beginning I liked Ginger's character. I found that she was very real in the way that she dealt with other characters and in different situations. Ginger is 'realistically' emotional which often made her disquiet, emotionally "bi-polar", paranoid and impetuous; and I felt, considering the dangerous , crazy and emotionally tearing situations she often found herself in, that her emotions and feelings were not exaggerated. The other characters, either being Ginger's friend or foe, were described very believable which made me either feel an abundance of love or an extreme sense of repugnance for them. What I also found very commendable was that despite the fact that the author is male, he still was incredibly insightful on women's emotions and reactions on certain scenarios which in end again made the story and the characters very authentic. Not to forget the romance which was very piquant but still very softly and subtlety portrayed. I loved it!

The content...

As mentioned, I personally found that the book had a very strong and exciting start, however it quickly thereafter dove into a more slower pace which secretly made me yearn for a little more action and thrill. I felt that the moments which were tense and suspenseful were quite short and I wished perhaps that Mr. Silverman focused a little more on creating such daring moments rather than excessively describing a character's emotion and background, and scenic descriptions. I felt that some scenes were described too excessively and too much in depth that I personally thought that the story was starting to lose its relevance. Even though some scenes were often too thoroughly construed for my liking, I did enjoy how the author described scenes so vivid and blissfully  integrated with an abundance of historical and factual aspects. This made me feel that the author has either experienced some of the situations the characters went through or visited the scenic locations himself. One thing which was also personally lacking for me was the depiction of some of the character's physical appearance. I was not entirely sure how to picture Ginger or some of the other characters in my head due to to the fact that no specific features were detailed. I may have missed this or it was simply not included, but I wish the Mr. Silverman had focused a little more on this.

And so...

In conclusion, despite the story perhaps sometimes dragging on in its scenic and characteristic descriptions, Mr. Silverman truly succeeded in manifesting a constant suspense ambiance and keeping the reader's attention and curiosity in finding out who the secret admirer is (I may have suspected probably everyone!). The twist towards the end is completely shocking and unpredictable and I am sure that if you would read this book you would never guess who would be behind some of the mayhem!

I recommend this book to readers who enjoy a saucy romance and a very descriptive thriller which will consistently provoke you to keep turning the pages. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I look forward to reading more of Mr. Silverman's work!


Purchase the kindle version of Acting Obsessed