Friday Review: My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me

Today's review is by BookSpin contributor Evangeline Han. You can read her blog at http://www.sugarpeach.wordpress.com . Her twitter name is @EvangelineHan .


My Boyfriend Wrote A Book About Me: And Other Stories I Shouldn’t Share With Acquaintances, Coworkers, Taxi Drivers, Assistants, Job Interviewers, Bikini Waxers, And Ex/Current/Future Boyfriends But Have
by Hilary Winston
Sterling Publishing Co., Inc
Hardcover
May 2011 $17.95
240 pages

My Boyfriend Wrote A Book About Me is a collection of personal relationship stories by Hilary Winston. Winston writes about all the ups and downs of quirky relationships she has been in. The main focus of the book is Winston’s nearly five-year relationship with Kyle. After their break-up, she visits a bookstore and finds that he has written a book based on their relationship. To set the record straight about their relationship, Winston penned My Boyfriend Wrote A Book About Me.

This book should have a too much info warning in its beginning. Winston did not spare blushes in this candidly written book about her boyfriends. If I were any of her boyfriends, I would be squirming in my seat.

Hilary Winston

Winston pokes fun at all the heartbreaking and hilarious relationships she has been in. She describes her ex-boyfriends in telling details. More often than not, they are placed in a negative light and it seemed as if she thought that there could be no perfection in her any of her exes. It was a relief to read her self-examination at the end of her book. She keeps herself grounded by admitting that she has character weaknesses too.

The more pages I turned in the book, the more I wondered if Winston had used hyperboles. Characters in the book frequently had dramatic reactions to incidents. Either they were very colorful people or their reactions were exaggerated.

This book is a collection of very personal of stories. Right from page 1, Winston practiced the no holds barred attitude. I was amazed at the way she doesn’t shy from being brutally honest when narrating her stories. It takes plenty of guts to publish such an intimate, telling book.

The ending of the book leaves something to be desired. Winston still hasn’t fully gotten over her relationship with Kyle. Perhaps, there is a sequel in works? If there is a sequel, I will definitely want to read it. The thing I enjoyed most is Winston's writing style. She writes in a casual and humorous style. She is frank and expresses her emotions well in the book.

My Boyfriend Wrote A Book About Me was a hilarious collection of stories about the ups and downs of Winston’s relationship life. Its openness left me a little uncomfortable sometimes, but hey, this book is about real incidents in a real person’s life.

As for who “Kyle” is, read this book and then do a spot of Googling!

About the author: Hillary Winston is currently working as a writer and producer of the critically acclaimed comedy Community and was one of the writers for the Emmy®-award-winning show My Name Is Earl. She began her writing career by getting people coffee at various places like National Public Radio and Hollywood Squares. She can now proudly say someone else gets her coffee. Unfortunately, she doesn’t like coffee. Winston lives in Los Angeles with her cat Lolly. 

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Evangeline Han is a student from Malaysia. She is a voracious reader with a penchant for books with humor and intrigue. Besides reading, she also enjoys listening to music, surfing the Internet,  checking out the movies and browsing through the latest news.