Five Times Lucky

By: P. David Temple

Narrated by: Karen Kleeger Temple

Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

In Five Times Lucky, an intrepid traveler gets more than her share of tabloid celebrity.

Who hasn’t wondered what life was like inside the velvet rope of the Hollywood in-crowd? In this fast-moving comedy, the quest for fame has no boundaries...but celebrity has its downsides. We follow ex-actress BunnyLee Welles, who returns to Los Angeles for her best friend’s wedding and finds that she is instantly recognizable. From the customs officer to the baggage clerk to the Lyft driver, everyone knows her single-dimple smile. They mimic her. They take selfies with her. They hand her unsolicited film scripts. In the four years she has been traveling abroad, her sole commercial role for Dial-a-Denture has recently become an online meme. Like it or not, BunnyLee is now famous.

It seems like everyone BunnyLee crosses paths with is seeking to exploit her notoriety. An old boyfriend from college is using material gleaned from their relationship to further his stand-up career. Another college acquaintance, a burgeoning local TV news reporter, trades on her friendship with BunnyLee for a scoop on the evening news.

BunnyLee seeks shelter in the rambling estate of an aging Hollywood heartthrob whose own career has been derailed by a years-old altercation with Kermit the Frog on Sesame Street. He can relate to BunnyLee’s plight as others in his sphere—a duplicitous chauffeur, a social-climbing cook—vie for a piece of his fame. But as much as BunnyLee strives to keep things platonic, romance is a snake lurking in the underbrush.

BunnyLee borrows Buck’s vintage Mustang and hits the road with her new puppy on what begins an odyssey through a culturally conflicted modern-day America. Along the way, car trouble leads to her rescue by an injured professional wrestler whose career is a cautionary tale about trading everything meaningful in life for the chance to bask in the limelight of fame.

©2020 P. David Temple (P)2022 P. David Temple

Really great fun!

Full disclosure: I was pre-disposed to like this book; the author is my brother-in-law and the reader is my sister.

I was not, however, prepared for exactly how much I would enjoy the book or the performance. It took me until way into the second chapter to stop hearing my sister and to fully appreciate the amazing variety of voices and accents I was hearing. I’m sure the drivers of other cars on the road were wondering wth was making me laugh out loud!

I’m craving oxtail soup with noodles, but only as prepared by Jimmy Chan!

Looking forward to David’s next book and Karen’s next performance!

Wonderful narration!

The narration for this entertaining, fast paced tour de force was animated and read with gusto and verve. The accents and different characters were cleverly executed and I found the narration utterly engaging. The book came alive for me!

Brilliant Storytelling and narration!!

Wonderful, lighthearted comedy with original, wacky characters. Brilliantly narrated by Karen Temple- really fun characterizations.

Fair warning: the audio quality wasn’t quite where you’d want it- but the writing and narrating is so good I had to give it 5 stars. I feel “five times lucky” to have discovered it! A perfect road trip companion ❤️

Great Writing Made Even Better in Audio

I had previously read and loved Five Times Lucky, but it wasn't until going on a road trip and listening to this marvelous narration that I realized just how good the writing is. When I'm reading I often feel under time pressure (type A that I am) and then don't take the time to savor the craft of the author's writing. This dynamic narration solved that problem, and I could feel the care and precision with which the text is crafted. I haven't listened to that many audio books, but of the ones I have listened to, none come close to the creative expression of so many different characters that are shown here. At one point in the story, I was imagining two very different characters conversing, when I suddenly realized -- Wait a minute, both those voices are being done by the same person! Highly recommended!