Rosen applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Eliza Starts a Rumor, and reported the following:
From page 69:Follow Jane L. Rosen on Facebook and Twitter.Amanda was often the butt of Carson’s sexually explicit jokes; his favorites were always the ones that came at her expense.If a reader was to open Eliza Starts a Rumor to page 69, as the page 69 test suggests, would they get a poor or good idea of the whole work? The answer here is both yes and no. Page 69 of my book details the struggles faced by one of my characters, Amanda Cole, in dealing with her awful Hollywood husband, Carson Cole. While it is an important page for her storyline, it gives you no clue as to what her four co-stars, Eliza, Alison, Olivia and Jackie, go through in the fictitious town of Hudson Valley. It does, however, give an excellent picture of what Amanda is running from and the theme of her personal #metoo centered story. If I were to randomly choose to read this book based on the paragraph above I would find it enticing and want to read more.
“We are going home to bed. Anyone want to join us?” he would ask a group of young actresses at a party. Or “Look how well-trained my wife is!” to a group of men in response to her bringing him a drink. He was too full of himself to notice how uncomfortable it made others feel, let alone Amanda, who became instantly mortified. When she spoke out, he would cut her down further, insisting that it was her insecurity talking. He would never accept the blame for her feelings of inadequacy.
As far as other women were concerned, Amanda knew that Carson could get grabby, especially after a couple of drinks, but had no idea of the extent of it. She often witnessed his hand grazing a woman’s buttocks in a way that could only be deemed accidental the first time it happened, not the second or the third or the twentieth. Once, at her birthday dinner with a table of her friends, Carson became so handsy with their young waitress that it decimated the night. When she approached the table to inquire about dessert she stood as far from him as possible. He got up to go to the men’s room, pausing at her side to listen to the choices. As he stepped behind the poor girl and began massaging her shoulders all appetites were lost. It was painful to watch, heartbreaking really, yet no one stopped him. The entire table, Amanda included, just sat silently as the young waitress rattled off the list of deserts like she was calling out casualties of war. By the time she got to the tiramisu, a lone tear formed in her eye and rolled down her cheek
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