No Ordinary Woman

"To my mind there is nothing so beautiful or so provocative as a second hand book store...to me it is astonishing and miraculous to think that any one of us can poke among the stalls for something to read over night- and that this something may be the sum of a lifetime of sweat, tears and genius that some poor, struggling, blessed fellow expended trying to teach us the truth." - Lionel Barrymore
After my Fifty Shades of Grey review I felt the need to review a real love story. This is the type of book that you dream of finding when you're wandering the bookstore. No Ordinary Woman by Valerie Byron is an apt title for an extraordinary book. From growing up in England to eventually finding her soul mate in California this book has a little bit of everything. Val talks about moving to Beverly Hills, meeting an eclectic mix of stars (Such as the Beatles and The Rolling Stones), and working at Granada in Britain. It's a no holds barred coming of age story that turns into the type of love story we all desperately want to believe exists.

It's the love story that I really want to focus on, because in the end it's a roller coaster of a story that brings everything together. Their are many different characters in this book, many men, varied loves and in the end I can't hate any of the characters. Even Valerie's ex husband is painted in such a light that while you realize she is meant for better things; you can't completely hate Bill (her ex) for his actions even if you wanted to, because she doesn't. She doesn't leave anything out, and is harsh in her commitment to including everything, which means their good points and flaws are given equal light.

One of my favorite things about this book is how Valerie and John (the soul mate) meet. *spoiler alert* We all like to think that dating websites work, and in our ever growing view of the world, is meeting someone online really that far fetched? With the invention of Skype, online games and facebook it should be easier than ever to meet someone online, but it's still scoffed at. Wait, you guys met where?! Valerie proves that while meeting people online is no easier than meeting someone you can connect with at a bar, it can bring two people together that may have never met otherwise.

This book is one of the best biographies I've ever read, it's full of all of the excitement and emotion that 50 Shades was lacking. Valerie has a lot of short stories that you can read for free at bookrix.com but No Ordinary Woman is well worth the $15 on amazon.