Can't Wait

by Carol Weiss Rosenberg

Can't Wait
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Can't Wait

by Carol Weiss Rosenberg

Published Feb 11, 2025
298 Pages
5.5 x 8.5 Black & White Paperback
Genre: FICTION / Women


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Book Details

Be Careful What You Wish For

The ad in the local paper read, “If nothing else has worked, what have you got to lose?  Only those unwanted pounds.  Hypnosis is safe and painless, and it gets results.  Gain poise and confidence. You can change your life!”  Two of the women who answered the ad were neighbors who hardly knew each other before the slim, elegant French-Canadian hypnotist with a beguiling foreign accent came to town, but they bonded over a shared desperation to lose the weight that had plagued them forever.  For Andrea, hypnosis was a last-ditch effort to save her marriage.  For Sally, it seemed like a way to finally lead a healthier life and get some respect.  Mme. LaMince promised to make things better, and she did – at first.  But after Andrea’s handsome, successful husband meets the glamorous hypnotist who has his wife under her influence, unexpected consequences threaten to destroy a friendship, a marriage, and even a life.  When Sally begins to suspect that there’s something going on between Andrea’s husband and Mme. LaMince, she can’t be sure she isn’t imagining it, and she’s plagued by doubt: Does a true friend keep a secret like the one she thinks she’s discovered?  Can’t Wait is a captivating story of friendship, love, heartache, and mystery.

AMAZON REVIEW5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing page-turner for book clubs looking for something new

  • Can’t Wait has two things going for it right off the bat.
    First, it offers universal appeal with its dedication to “Everyone who ever felt different.” That’s us.
    Next, it unveils its fascinating plot against a background that explores two issues rarely discussed in today’s fiction—obesity, the root of the characters’ problem, and hypnotism, the magic wand they hope will transport them into the Land of the Thin.
    Author Carol Weiss Rosenberg has created two authentic characters in Sally and Andrea. Although they could be our next-door neighbors, they tumble down separate paths that compel the reader to turn the page. And the next.
    Set in a small town near Rochester, New York, Can’t Wait possesses a charm all its own. It provides comfort; we’ve met these characters and walked these streets. Yet the issues facing them may shock us. The author’s smooth narrative is a masterful job that weaves fresh new material into a familiar setting.
    Can’t Wait would be a great selection for book clubs looking for a lively
    discussion.

    AMAZON REVIEW:
    Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2025
    Madam La Mince turned toward Andrea and me. “Mees Kandor?” Thus begins the weight-loss journey of Sally and her neighbor Andrea as they submit to hypnosis by La Mince, the “Thin Lady”. The women become friends as well as neighbors, united in their quest to lose as much of their 200-plus pounds as they can. The story is told entirely in the first person, by Sally, in down-to-earth folksy style, with many conversations between the two friends as they learn more about each other. Matt, Andrea’s husband, is another major character who seems to support Andrea in her quest to lose weight; he is waiting for her to become her ideal self before they proceed to become true partners and perhaps start a family. The writing is lively and the back-and-forth between the characters make it easy to picture them in their homes or in the car as they travel to appointments with La Mince. As it proceeds to a suspenseful climax, the writer’s style keeps the reader turning the pages, anxious to learn the outcome for Sally, Andrea, and Matt of the hypnotic powers of the Thin Lady.

    BOOKSPROUT REVIEW:
    “The quality of the writing is excellent. I could even see subtle distinctions in the language and behavior of the main character and her (far better educated) friend.  It was cleverly set in the 1980s, and we saw evidence of those times, including a medical condition that was just emerging into the public arena during that period…  It's been a while since I had the experience of reading ‘just one more chapter’ before putting the book down." 

    GOODREADS REVIEW:
  • July 28, 2025
    I couldn’t stop reading this until I finished it. This is a new lifetime favorite book for me. Sally strikes a friendship with her neighbor Andrea. They’re both on the bigger side so they bond over that and a commitment to try a weight loss hypnosis program. Things eventually spiral out of control. This book isn’t just about that though, it’s about female friendships, the way women’s self worth is determined by their weight, and having to make tough decisions in the best interest of those we love most. I couldn’t believe how things began unfolding and I was nervous as I read because I wasn’t sure what I’d do in those situations so I was enamored by what Sally chose to do. This was such an endearing yet relatable read, I will absolutely read it again and again!

  • GOODREADS REVIEW:
     August 10, 2025
    A heartwarming and heartbreaking tale of friendship. Two unlikely friends that go down a path of emotions that will leave you …Well thought out characters and a story that feels like it could be your best friend’s. I couldn’t put it down. I was gut wrenched yet rooting for that ending.

 

Book Excerpt


                                           PROLOGUE

                                              1980

Oh God, not again.  I’d woken up in full panic mode, my heart racing and the sheets a tangled mess, as I tried to drag myself up out of the familiar nightmare that still had the worst way of sabotaging me. It had been months since Andrea left and I hit rock bottom.  When you’re fast asleep and all alone and suddenly you’re sure that something terrible is about to happen but there’s nothing you can do to stop it, you don’t exactly feel rested and ready to greet the day when it’s finally time to rise and shine. 

And here I’d thought I’d actually begun to make peace with everything that went wrong.  It just goes to show you how guilty consciences have a nasty way of ambushing folks when they least expect it. I wonder if Andrea’s husband has nights like this.  Maybe not.  Maybe Matt Farleigh actually has pleasant dreams when he finally drifts off, dreams that take him back to the time before everything went south.  Boy, what I would give for some peaceful nights like that.  So far, no luck. 

I can’t wait to get away.  Not forever, you know, just for a while, to put some distance between me and memories that are still too raw. Just another couple hundred dollars, and that brand new 1980 Scamp trailer I’ve been saving up for is mine.  Then I’m out of here.  (Question: How many miles does a person have to travel to leave her past behind?)

The way I’m pinching pennies, I’ll have all the money socked away before you know it, but seriously, the time can’t pass fast enough.  Once I’m on my way, I’m gonna try not to think about the  house next door, where Matt still sometimes prowls around until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning.  Men never remember to close the curtains once it gets dark; Andrea used to do it like
clockwork.  I’d half expected him to pull up stakes and sell the place, but maybe he thinks he doesn’t really deserve a fresh  start.  Who knows?  We don’t talk much, and when we do, both of us make such an obvious effort to avoid certain subjects that it gets pretty awkward.  Fortunately, with him working  days at the bank and me working the swing shift at the factory, we don’t run into each other all that often.  Sometimes, when I do bump into him and he’s looking all lost and miserable, I feel like giving him a good shake and yelling, “What the hell, Matt!” but don’t worry, I’m not about to do anything like that.  Yeah, he was stupid and reckless, but how could he have known what was coming down the pike?  It’s not like anybody can predict the future.  Besides, I’m not exactly Susie Sunshine myself, these days. There are times when I wake up and it hits me all over again and I just want to pull the covers up over my head.  Still, I get myself out of bed every day and pretend everything’s normal, even if it feels like the end of the world.  Putting one foot in front of the other is one way to keep from losing it.  I know it’s dumb, but there’s some part of me that keeps waiting to wake up and discover that it all really was just a bad dream, and nothing’s changed.



 

About the Author

Carol Weiss Rosenberg

It’s a good thing that writing is a portable enterprise. While moving over a dozen times in thirty years, Carol Weiss Rosenberg published features, profiles, humor, reviews, and short stories in magazines and newspapers from coast to coast. The charms and quirks of the places she’s lived and the people she’s met animate her work. The picturesque canal-side village in Upstate New York she once called home inspired the setting for both Can’t Wait and her previous novel, Waiting for Prince Charming. Praise for Prince Charming: “Don’t pass up this book because you think you know what’s going to happen. What happens will surprise you.” – Amazon Review

Also by Carol Weiss Rosenberg

Waiting for Prince Charming
Can't Wait (eBook Edition)