Author Archives: rosadmin

Reviews

Winner Best in Show first place award from Columbus Recreation and Parks Arts Festival 2012.book_award_2012Judge Number 29, Writer’s Digest 20th Annual Self-Published Book Awards, 2012: “Her character interaction was great and character revelation was, too. She described the settings well and I could see them in my mind’s eye as I read. She was courageous and adventurous and her writing was fine. She has a magnetic personality and attracts people wherever she goes. I enjoyed reading about her Jewishness: she informed people right off that she was a Jew, but not in a confrontational way. She shows that you can go explore your world, as long as you set standards and use caution. I think she’d be a fun person to know as a friend.”

Amazon review: “It was a wonderful way to re-live traveling through Europe. This was quite an experience for Rosalie. I found the book easy to read and it kept my attention the whole time.” Lillian Acker.

Amazon review: “This is a tour de force you shouldn’t miss, a story of one woman’s journey from the USA to Europe and back during the 1970s that was an odyssey of courage and personal discovery. It is an entertaining and well-written memoir that I highly recommend.” Linda Lee Greene.

Amazon review: “A joyful reading experience. I felt as if I stepped into Rosalie’s shoes and relived the 1970s. The book tickled all your emotions as a woman and left you nodding your head up and down…yes,yes,yes!! Way to go Rosalie! Barabara Smiljanich.

Amazon review: “As I was turning the pages, a ravishing feeling engulfed me; I was becoming part of the story traveling alongside Rosalie and experience Europe. The characters were now alive and I could hear the different accents resonating through the paper. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to follow up the journey of a fun and witty writer.” G.W. Ashby

Amazon review: “No Sex in St. Tropez is a great book for women who want to leave everything behind and concentrate on finding themselves. There isn’t a woman out there who can’t relate to this at some point in her life. Rosalie can make the reader visualize France to the point of wanting to eat olives and have a glass of wine after every chapter. Great fun and quick reading.” Barbara Wasserstrom.

Amazon review: “Get this book! It’s a sweet trip into the adventures, longings, joys, travels and relationships of a young woman in 70’s America, England, France and Spain. Rosalie Linver Ungar weaves a yarn that crosses generations and constraints that faced all women then and continues to both advance and hamper all women today. A fabulous read…find three hours and read the whole book. You’ll be delighted and entranced by Rosalie’s history, her terrific end-of-chapter comic comments, and her skill in transporting you from wherever you are.” Docj.

Amazon review: “Loved it. Ordered four copies for my adult children. Well written, well produced. Thank you, Amazon, for selecting this title.” Bob Harris

Amazon review: “I love Rosalie’s passion for life and the gutsy adventure she took to fulfill that passion even against all odds. What a great opportunity to experience her European journey right along with her as she gracefully shares her story. Excellent read! I couldn’t put it down.” Rachel L. Breeden

Amazon review: “Every man should read this book if they want to understand a free spirited woman. They would be a better man for it!” David C. Price

Amazon review: “This is a wonderful tale told in a whimsical voice. For anyone who lived in the seventies, or even for those too young to remember, this is a great read. It is also good for reading on a trip or on the beach.” Business Guy

Amazon review: “This was the worse book I have read in a long time. The author is totally into herself with all the men that love her or think she is so hot. Wow, we should all have people fall for us wherever we go. Get this book off the shelfs.” Sammy

Amazon review: “A riveting travelogue that had me sharing (in my imagination) and cheering Rosalie Linver Ungar’s gutsy jaunts to various European locales. Ah, to be thirty-something and have the courage to indulge your wanderlust! Rosalie’s ingenuity and intrepid attitude serve her well especially during her stay in St. Tropez.” Carmen Ambrosio

Amazon review: “Most people take their European jaunt when they’re around twenty years old. Rosalie Ungar took an extended European adventure at thirty-six, leaving two teenage sons behind in the United States with her ex-husband. It was a gutsy decision for a woman in 1974, which developed into a far richer experience than it would had she been younger. She might have even had sex in St. Tropez; instead she was an au pair who felt guilt and angst over leaving her children, while tending to the needs of a very naughty little French boy. Rosalie also got to know and understand the French in a deeper way than college kids on the bum. She carefully recorded her experiences in a journal, which fermented for many years before becoming a memoir. Yet Rosalie’s recollections and attention to detail and description sound as if her experience happened yesterday rather than in the mid-seventies.  No Sex in St. Tropez offers a rewarding read with its earthy feminist take on a Europe that seems immediate in vibrant details, but also digs up past treasures that no one will ever experience again.” David Del Bourgo “ddelbourgo”.

Amazon review: “This is a well written quick reading account of a woman’s time spent in France, England, Spain and Italy during the mid-1970’s. I would classify it as a “paperback chick-flick”. The take away for the reader is realizing the courage, determination, and independence that the author exhibits in accomplishing this journey. In today’s world this feat is not particularly remarkable but 35 years ago it was a cutting edge expedition. JAJ

Amazon review: “This was a very interesting account of her Europe trip. Her nanny experience was interesting as she needed to know French and learned the language as she went along. Not a book for children to read, but truly enjoyed her story.” Edith A. Geber

Recent Reviews

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It’s been a year and a half since No Sex in St. Tropez has been self-published, a satisfying experience. Since that time, this website has had 13,000 hits and well over 1000 copies of No Sex in St. Tropez have been sold.

Here are a few recent reviews of No Sex in St. Tropez. This first one is from Writer’s Digest evaluating my entry to their 20th annual self-published book awards.

“I thought her character interaction was great and character revelation was, too. She described the settings well and I could see them in my mind’s eye as I read. She was courageous and adventurous and her writing was fine. She has a magnetic personality and attracts people wherever she goes. I enjoyed reading about her Jewishness: she informed people right off that she was a Jew, but not in a confrontational way. She shows that you can go explore your world, as long as you set standards and use caution. I think she’d be a fun person to know as a friend.”

This next one is in French. You can get the English translation here.

“Voici , en 2013 , le compte formidable d’une jeune femme américaine pas du tout assujettie aux contraintes usuelles , et qui quitte son continent pour aller voir ailleurs , en dehors de toute image télé , mais Sur le terrain ! Une belle promenade dans les dédales de Saint-Tropez , jusqu’à Paris , mêlée à des rencontres nombreuses , pour cette belle aventuriére hors pair ! De plus , chacun et chacune , peuvent se reconnaître dans cette soif de rencontres et cette belle faculté qu’a Rosalie Roungar , de donner une place , une valeur , un prix , à chacun et chacune , et à tous les petits détails de la vie ! Cette aventure vécue sur le mode simple d’un quotidien , nous donne envie d’aller voir aux USA …. Bravo Rosalie Roungar . Bel ouvrage , à lire sans modération . “

The final one was written and posted here on January 9, 2013, by author and artist Linda Lee Greene

Watch for a travel video from Ed’s and my trip to St. Tropez and Paris in October 2012. You will be able to meet all of the characters from No Sex in St. Tropez as they are today.

Mad Men and Me

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The highly rated TV drama Mad Men on AMC has spotlighted the subject matter of men and women in the 1960s business world and taken it to task. In the first season I watched only one episode. It was painful. I had lived that life in the advertising world where a token woman worked harder than the men for far less pay and still had to serve coffee while listening to degrading remarks about sexuality, femininity, defined skills and forbidden opportunities. Women in mundane jobs had to take orders and ask permission from men who were less qualified than they. Funny thing, many of us didn’t mind the remarks. We were flattered when a man paid attention to us. Was that a lack of self-esteem on our parts or didn’t we know any better? We knew that good looks got us in the door, and we used them.While I was writing No Sex in St. Tropez I decided to soften some of my feelings about the way women thought and were treated in a man’s world. The parts about being a single mother and how I got to be a single parent were part of a back story I chose not to reveal. It was hard enough to explain my position on motherhood of two teenage boys who wanted to live with their father.

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Yes, You Can … Choose a Book by Its Cover

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This painting of a small beach in St. Tropez in the South of France by Madeleine Breton in 1970 is the cover of my book No Sex in St. Tropez, a memoir. While in the midst of a morning meeting of writers in Francoise Bartram’s living room, I looked up on the wall and fixed my eyes on the familiar scene.

“That’s St. Tropez,” I said to the small group of five. “More than that, it’s the way St. Tropez was when I lived there in 1974, but it’s not like that now. Where did you get that painting, Frances? I’ve been searching the web for a scene of St. Tropez in the period of my story. Everything I see is of St. Tropez the way it looks now. Boats and cars and fashion are different. Even the steeple on the church is different, currently painted yellow and red… very touristy.”

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The Book Cover Painting

rosalie_and_francoise_250This photo was taken during the Ohio Writers Guild meeting on Wednesday, April 4, 2012, at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center. Rosalie Ungar holds the painting from St. Tropez which is the cover of her book No Sex in St. Tropez.

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 The painting was in the home of Francoise Bartram. Francoise’s mother, Madeleine Breton, who lived in Paris at the time, painted this St. Tropez scene in the early 1970s, the time period Rosalie Ungar’s memoir takes place. This photo marks Francoise giving Rosalie the painting to keep and cherish as her own. Thank you Francoise.

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