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Blurb

An intimate and light-hearted memoir by viral sensation and three-time Emmy-nominated musical comedian Randy Rainbow that takes readers through his life—the highs, the lows, the lipstick, the pink glasses, and the show tunes.

Randy Rainbow, the man who conquered the Internet with a stylish pair of pink glasses, an inexhaustible knowledge of Broadway musicals, and the most gimlet-eyed view of American politics this side of Mark Twain finally tells all in Playing with Myself, a memoir sure to cause more than a few readers to begin singing one of his greatest hits like “A Spoonful of Clorox” or “Cover Your Freakin’ Face.”

As Randy has said, “There’s so much fake news out there about me. I can’t wait to set the record straight and finally give people a peek behind the green screen.” And set the record straight he does. Playing with Myself is a first-hand account of the journey that led Randy Rainbow from his childhood as the over-imaginative, often misunderstood little boy who carried a purse in the second grade to his first job on Broadway as the host at Hooters and on to the creation of his trademark comedy character. In chapters titled “Pajama Bottoms” (a look back at the days when he wore pajama bottoms on his head to pretend he was Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz), “Yes, It’s My Real Name, Shut Up!” (no explanation necessary…) and “Pink Glasses” (a rose-colored homage to his favorite accessory), Playing with Myself is a memoir that answers the question “Can an introverted musical theatre nerd with a MacBook and a dream save the world, one show tune at a time?”

Review

Memoirs are not my preferred genre, but when I heard that Randy Rainbow was releasing a no-holds-barred story of his life, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it, given that I’ve been a fan of his musical political parodies from the beginning.

Like the man himself, this book was so much fun! I enjoyed learning about his childhood, his family, his struggles with depression, his inspiration, his missteps, and his eventual rise to stardom. I was also surprised to learn that Randy Rainbow is his real name – who could have guessed?

I swear Randy Rainbow is the only person who can make the story of one’s childhood enjoyable and enthralling. And if you’re a fan of celebrities, Randy does plenty of name-dropping throughout the pages, and I enjoyed learning about his relationships with various actors, actresses, and musicians.

I loved getting a behind-the-scenes look at his process — how he comes up with ideas for and makes his videos. It also becomes clear that his rise to fame was the result of a lifetime of hard work and preparation. Though there is a serious aspect to the book, especially regarding self-image issues and bullying, overall, it’s humorous, light-hearted, and fun, peppered with witty asides, enjoyable banter, and jokes. I caught myself laughing out loud so many times as I read about his compelling life.

Frequently, I find memoirs to drag in places where I need to slog through them painfully. Not this one. Playing with myself was a hoot from beginning to end! All in all, I found this book utterly delightful, and it gave me a new appreciation for Randy Rainbow. It was a blast getting to know the man behind the pink glasses. If you enjoy his creative video spoofs, you should enjoy this funny yet heartfelt book. It’s a refreshing and entertaining read about one of my favorite people.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing a review copy of this book.

This title will be released on April 19th but is available for preorder now.

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I’m a massive fan of Bill Konigsberg, so I was very excited to learn he was coming out with a new book. This was certainly an intense and quite a raw read.

It follows two teens, Aaron and Tillie, two strangers but who end up on the George Washington Bridge at the same time with the intention of jumping. Aaron is gay and suffering from depression, and Tillie has just been ghosted by her boyfriend and has been publicly humiliated in an online bullying event. So there are four scenarios that could play out:

1. Tillie jumps, but Aaron doesn’t.
2. Aaron jumps, but Tillie doesn’t.
3. They both jump.
4. Neither of them jumps.

What’s interesting about this story is that it explores all four outcomes in a diverging storyline format, which I typically enjoy. That is to say, the story plays out all four scenarios allowing us to see the fallout and repercussions of each decision on everyone in their lives. It’s funny. I went into this without knowing anything about it (Bill is an auto-buy author for me).

But when we moved onto the second scenario, I thought, “Wait, What??? Isn’t Tillie dead??” It’s at this point I read the blurb and had that: “Aha!” moment.

So….to say this novel is powerful is an understatement.

As you can imagine, any novel with the theme of suicide at its core is no doubt raw and heart-breaking, and this novel is no exception. Though a bit tough to read in places and definitely an emotional roller-coaster, it was also compelling as each section laid out the various possibilities of events following each scenario.

In the story, he delves into themes of mental health, bullying, shame, body shaming, body image, parental neglect, family, loneliness, and of course, death by suicide. But I felt that at no point does the author romanticize suicide but instead shows the brutal results of such an act and how it can affect so many others.

Now given that this is an exploration of these four different scenarios, there’s really not any closure to the story as all of the stories end in an open kind of way. It’s up to us to decide the outcome of each story. I’m glad the author saved the scenario in which neither teen jumps for the last, which ends the novel in a hopeful and optimistic manner.

The message at the core of these four stories is kind of a wake-up call — maybe even a personal message to anyone who has or has ever had suicidal thoughts. There’s no ideation here, but instead, the author attempts to show us that things will, indeed, get better, as well as illustrating how devastating the death of a loved one by suicide can be for family and friends.

I also think these four stories create an often much-needed conversation around the topic of depression and mental illness in general. In the case of one of the characters, it’s discussed how exhausting it is to keep a smiling face when the darkness inside threatens to overwhelm you and pull you down.

The events that kicked off each scenario were not only fascinating but also eye-opening, and I felt that the author did an excellent job of bringing these events to life for the reader.

And even though we get the same story after the events of the George Washington Bridge, the book is not at all repetitive because every decision the teens make sets off a chain of entirely different events. The ripples and repercussions of each person’s decision in the story made for fascinating reading.

I felt the story in which they both jumped was especially powerful, and the author took it to the next level by showing the hole that they left not only now but in the future. Here, the author shows us how far into the future, the ripples of their decision can reach. For instance, the book introduced the people they were supposed to fall in love with, people who now felt like something is missing from their life, but they can’t put their finger on what.

So here, we see the effects not just on the people they knew but also on the people they should have known. Ah… I’m tearing up just thinking about it.

So again, the book is not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination. It’s dark, heavy, sad, and gut-wrenching. The grief in this story jumps off the page. But it’s also hopeful, in that there’s always another option, and in this book, we explore those options.

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The story follows Samiah Brooks, a tech genius whose boyfriend Craig, as she discovers, has also been dating two other women. Enraged, she confronts him in a restaurant where he is on a date with one of the other ladies – the same restaurant reservation that she booked for their date that he canceled earlier that evening. A video of her explosive confrontation ends up going viral on YouTube.

But on the positive side, she ends up forming a close friendship with the other two women, London and Taylor, and they create a pact not to date any men for the next six months; instead, they’ll use that time to work on themselves on and their dreams.

What Samiah didn’t count on is sexy Daniel Collins, the new hire at the tech company where she works, Trendsetters. She tells herself that she will not allow herself to become distracted by Daniel, though that’s a lot easier said than done, and pretty soon, she wonders whether Daniel may be too good to be true.

This could be the case as we slowly learn that Daniel is indeed not who he says he is, that he’s on some sort of undercover assignment at Trendsetters, thus keeping a massive secret from Samiah. It doesn’t help matters that he starts to fall for Samiah as well, causing him all sorts of guilt and anguish because of the need to deceive Samiah.

Now given that the story starts out with Samiah being deceived by a three-timing boyfriend, the deception issue is especially touchy here, and Daniel is positive that this isn’t going to end well. What’s nice is that we go back and forth between both Samiah and Daniel’s POV, so we get the story from both sides.

I loved the workplace vibe in this story – it definitely sounds like the type of place I would love to work at. I also enjoyed the conversation about why Samiah is such a perfectionist — how she has to work twice as hard as her coworkers, being black and a woman, and how her work always, always has to be perfect the first time because it’s unlikely she’ll get a second chance. Unfortunately, too much of this is still true today in many instances. But I did like the book’s message about diversity and equality in the workplace. I believe Daniel is multi-racial — Korean and Black if my memory serves, so there’s excellent representation with both characters.

All in all, this is a fun own-voices rom-com with strong, admirable characters and a touch a mystery, which adds extra intrigue to the narrative. I thought there was excellent chemistry between the two protagonists, and I also enjoyed the friendship theme that ran throughout.

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This was such a fun, unusual book. It follows our main character Lillian who is a bit down on her luck at the moment. She is then summoned by her wealthy best friend Madison to her mansion, where Madison offers her a position: to work as a governess for her husband’s one-year-old twin children, Roland and Bessie.

Up until now, they were homeschooled and living with their mentally unstable mother until she recently passed away. But there’s a catch. Apparently, the twins spontaneously combust whenever they are agitated, setting fire to pretty much everything around them; though the fire doesn’t harm them at all. Lillian also has to keep the kids’ “ability” a secret as their father, Senator Robert, vies for Secretary of State.

It’s also worth mentioning that the children, who are suffering from trauma brought on by their mother, are wild, with violent tendencies leading to biting and attacking people and then…the flames come.

So Lillian agrees to be their nanny, and we follow her and the fire children over the course of the summer as she slowly establishes trust between the nearly feral kids and herself. She begins to realize that she needs these extraordinary kids as much as they need her. She begins to fight for the kids’ best interests as feelings of protectiveness arise within her, and the kids provide her with a new sense of purpose.

And as the story moves towards its explosive conclusion, Lillian has to make an enormous decision that could affect her and the kids’ lives forever.

So I really, really loved this quirky little book about exploding children and, ultimately, acceptance. It was wickedly funny, charming, and endearing — an all-around feel-good yet odd story with a super weird storyline, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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