Viewer Discretion Advised

Book Review for “Viewer Discretion Advised”

“Viewer Discretion Advised” by Cindy Roesel

When Charlene (Charley) gets fired from her job and moves to Miami to work as a news director at a local television station, she’s up for the challenge. She soon realizes that her boss, Jonathan Lefton, will go to any extreme to get good ratings – no matter what. After nude pictures are found of a female coworker, that’s just the beginning of her problems. After meeting a very dirty cop who pulls her over, her life is turned upside down even more so! Risking ratings for her show, will Charley risk her life to expose a crime or will she save a relationship with the one she’s sleeping with?

“Viewer Discretion Advised” was a quick read that was filled with TV drama, giving us a clear view of what it’d be like working in newscaster business! Charley, Oz, the dirty cop, John, and Jonathan all played wonderful characters that kept the reader hanging.

I liked how Cindy’s writing was fast and quick, and there was action on each page. She did a great job of defining characters, giving them have their own personality. Though, I had a hard time defining between John and Jonathan (Lefton). While their names weren’t the same and they had different personas, I would’ve made their names less similar. I wasn’t really taken with Charley’s character, nor did I believe the way felt about her job or her friends, or especially her relationship with Oz. As for the book seeming real, I believe it — news is everywhere! There were also quite a few random sentences that just popped up out of nowhere and I had to reread the sentence (sometimes the paragraph) over again that didn’t make sense.

**POSSIBLE ENDING SPOILER BELOW**

Overall, I think that Cindy Roesel has nailed it by writing a book that gives us a reality into the life of what it’s like to be in the news industry. There were parts that were funny, which gave off a lighthearted feel to the reader. I give her a lot of credit for keeping me interested to see what Charley does, though would’ve liked to know the details about her job at the end and what’s said between her, Jonathan, and/or the other characters.

I give this book 3 1/2 out of 5 stars!

About the author:

Cindy Roesel is an Emmy Award winning television broadcast journalist. After working for twenty years in newsrooms filled with ambitious backbiting adrenalin junkies, she’s turning her experiences into novels. Cindy lives in Miami with her shih tzu, Sassy.