Reviewed by Tidal
TITLE: The Perils of Praline: Or, the Amorous Adventures of a Southern Gentleman in Hollywood
AUTHOR: Marshall Thornton
PUBLISHER: Kenmore Books
LENGTH: 233 pages
BLURB:
Before Kim Kardashian broke the Internet with her butt, Peter “Praline” Palmetier brought it crashing down with his own bubblicious booty. When he falls in love with a reality TV show contestant, Praline leaves his home in rural Georgia and—failing to recognized this might be considered stalking—travels to Hollywood to find and meet his soul mate, Dave G. Once in Tinseltown, he encounters a collection of startling, and often horny, characters in his quest. They include a studly steward, the Godfather of the Gay Mafia, a bondage-crazed landlord and casting assistant Jason Friedman, who always manages to be there in time to save Praline from total disaster. But it is conservative pundit Malcolm Wright who propels Praline’s derriere into the Internet hall of fame when the two are filmed in the backseat of an SUV. Will Praline eventually realize his dream of becoming a same-sex celebrity spouse? Or will he find everyday, ordinary love?
REVIEW:
The Perils of Praline is reminiscent of the wonderful weekly serial The Perils of Pauline from 1914. Pearl White was one of the original damsel’s in distress in the weekly movie theater serials. Praline “Peter Palmetier” does her memory proper justice.
Praline falls in love with Dave G. an actor from his favorite television reality show. It is true love and he is sure Dave G is his soul mate, they have not met yet, but this is just a minor technicality. Praline possesses a strict code of ethics and honor. He was raised to respect and practice the 10 commandments. The 10 Commandments the he learned at his mother’s knee differed however from the 10 Commandments Bible but nonetheless he embraces them fully as his moral compass.
Praline runs into disaster after disaster and you have to feel for the guy. Really if you think about it, these things could have happened to anyone. Quickly you find that the things that could happen to anyone seem to happen to Praline on a regular basis. He does not have a plan and remains convinced that the concept of planning or the necessity of having a “plan B” is unnecessary. Everything will work out in the end and in fact, it seems too. Praline just has one dream in his life; find his soul mate Dave G, and become a world famous same-sex celebrity spouse.
Two of my favorite characters in the book are Pralines mother, and his friend Jason. His mom has a code as well but hers is not as solid and shifts according to her needs unlike the code Praline follows. It takes time for Praline to grow on Jason because he is so busy putting out all the disasters Praline gets himself into.
Sometimes life takes us on funny detours as we follow our dreams. The detours that Praline’s life takes are a revelation to himself particularly because he honestly sees himself as a sophisticated man of the world; he has extensive years of extensive television watching experience to prove it.
The writing in the book is side splitting funny. The hero is endearing and you cannot help rooting for him. He does not have a malicious bone in his body. The sex scenes are hysterically funny. In Praline’s mind, there is no worse offense than being rude, it is just plain Un-Southern and unforgivable. Unfortunately his trying not to be rude gets him into constant trouble.
This is a great read, it is wicked funny, moves quickly, and the kind of book that makes you laugh out loud. The only thing that I did not like about the book was that it was over before I knew it. That being said it is successful for just that reason; successful people say always leave them wanting more. Marshall Thornton does that very well. It is a fabulous book and well worth your time and money. It is my true hope that we have not seen the last of Praline “Peter Palmeiter”.
RATING: 
BUY LINK: