My Rude Awakening: An Englishman's Journey – Book One by Edward Charles Featherstone #BookReview #BlogTour
Brace yourself for the most provocative and unique memoir of the year: My Rude Awakening. This gripping, no-holds-barred tell-all delves into the extreme highs, lows, and loves of a life that dances on the edge of propriety and passion.
Born from the intensely personal notebooks he kept during therapy, My Rude Awakening is a passionate and audacious coming-of-age memoir, offering an intimate glimpse into the formative years of the heir to Rockwell Manor, Edward Charles Featherstone.
Charles's eclectic account of his life includes his fascinating and privileged upbringing, the intense but glamourous world of polo, the gritty reality of military service as a combat helicopter pilot in the Royal Air Force, and many more jaw-dropping moments; but it’s actually an unexpected and scandalous love affair with an older woman that becomes Charles’ most significant step into adulthood.
The explicit accounts of his sexual awakening and education as a young man are as compelling as they are shocking, offering readers a front-row seat to his most private moments and inner turmoil as he navigates the battle of loyalty vs lust whilst navigating his most pivotal years.
Sharing secrets from the sky, the bedroom, the polo field and beyond, this incredible memoir also captures the darker elements of Charles’s life, with a distressing retelling of a harrowing helicopter accident and the tragic loss of a close friend – adding depth to a memoir that is as much about survival and resilience as it is about sexual awakening and adventure.
My Rude Awakening is a based on a true story, told with a boldness and candour that is both outrageous and scandalous, promising to captivate, shock, and enlighten in equal measure.
It's my pleasure to be hosting the blog tour for My Rude Awakening today. Many thanks to Midas PR and to Edward Charles Featherstone for inviting me and for sending me a copy of the book.
I really enjoy reading memoirs now and again, particularly when the subject has lived a life vastly different from my own. Edward Charles Featherstone has chosen to write his story, My Rude Awakening: An Englishman's Journey under a pseudonym, although I'm sure people who move in similar circles to this polo-playing heir will be able to figure out his identity.
The memoir opens with a look back at his school days and it's the first indication that for all his apparent privilege, Charles has still encountered and overcome a number of challenges in his life, including the dyslexia which, for a while, saw him moved to a boarding school where he was desperately homesick. However, for the most part, his recollections of his childhood are warm and touching – particularly his memories of his grandfather.
My Rude Awakening turns out to be aptly titled, however, and following this gentle introduction, the book takes a decidedly spicy turn. This is the uncensored version and it's certainly explicit. After a shy, inexperienced Charles meets and falls for an older woman, his sexual awakening is extensive and described in comprehensive detail. Although I wasn't offended or shocked by these intimate scenes, I can't help feeling the sheer number of them perhaps detracts from the rest of the book; there is a risk that My Rude Awakening will only be remembered for the sex, rather than the other, less salacious but arguably more interesting parts of his life.
In fairness, the relationship was clearly more than a passionate affair; it lasted for several years and they obviously loved one another. Their parting is rather poignant but it's his reflections of his time flying helicopters in the RAF which I found the most interesting; although he is unable to describe all his missions here, his compelling account of a life-changing incident is tense and emotional. His honesty in talking about his own mental health, as well as the tragic loss of a friend, following his Hero to Zero spinal cord injury are the most powerful moments in the book and the parts I would prefer to focus on.
My Rude Awakening is an engaging, candid read throughout and despite my reservations about how this uncensored edition is too skewed towards one topic, there is no doubt that the man behind Charles Edward Featherstone knows how to tell a good story. I look forward to reading part two when it is published.
My Rude Awakening is available in three editions; Uncensored, Censored and Young Adult. Purchasing links can be found here.
About the Author
Edward Charles Featherstone is a pseudonym for a hugely successful international entrepreneur. Having grown up amongst immense privilege in the bucolic English countryside, he went on to enjoy an unrivalled education, both academically and socially. The lessons he learnt from these teachers would guide him throughout the rest of his life as he triumphed on the polo field, as a combat helicopter pilot, and in business, with interesting romantic liaisons along the way.
He lives between London and Berkshire and still enjoys polo. Most of all he loves being in the English countryside shooting clay pigeons, but also game birds in the shooting season. There is a difference now though. He gets immense pleasure enjoying these traditional English pastime with his young son, who is already one of the leading young Colt clay pigeon marksmen in the United Kingdom.
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