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Bunny on a Bike
Carol and Bev are quirky and unpredictable, incorrigible yet loveable. Graduates, with no idea about what they want to do for a living, they see an advertisement for Playboy croupiers and, with a typical lack of forethought, decide to apply. After parading in bikinis and completing two gruelling maths tests (with a certain amount of cheating) they get the job. They do four weeks training at Victor Lownes' mansion in Tring, where there is free-flowing champagne and a well-stocked jukebox. They are unexpectedly commandeered to be photographed with Victor on his return from hospital, and are subsequently invited to attend one of his weekend parties, where they meet a number of celebrities, including a very tolerant Peter Cook. After their training is completed, they deal blackjack to punters from all walks of life, fend off lecherous pit bosses and almost fall in love. They get into trouble with unscrupulous landlords and come out on top. Through it all, Bev and Carol make us laugh with their very different attitudes to life. One thing is sure - they will be friends forever. Bunny on a Bike is a memoir. The author offers us an authentic, entertaining account of the process of becoming a Playboy croupier, and celebrates the often hilarious aspects of being young in 80s London. If you like frivolity and fun, if you like a dry kind of humour, if you like to laugh, you will love Bunny on a Bike.
204 pages, Paperback
First published June 5, 2012
14 people are currently reading
471 people want to read
About the author
Bev Spicer
6 books48 followersBev Spicer has been writing full-time for a number of years, from her crumbly Charentaise house in France. In a past life she gained a degree in English and French Literature (Keele University) and a PGCE in English methods (Queens' College, Cambridge).
She has lived in Bridgnorth, Cambridge, Rethymnon (Crete), Mahe (Seychelles), and now lives in Charente Maritime with her husband and youngest son. The next place she wants to explore is probably Spain. Her husband is very tolerant, and secretly enjoys chaos.
Bev has been a teacher, blackjack dealer for Playboy, examiner for Cambridge ESOL, secretary (various sorts - most boringly 'legal'), lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, and a Sunday checkout girl for Tesco (who allowed her to deliver surplus bakery products to the homeless – ‘every little helps’).
She loves people, reading, writing, speaking French, astronomy (quantum theory addict), gardening, travelling, and hates housework, cooking, drizzle and honey.
Bev publishes her lighter books under the name of Bev Spicer and her more literary works as B. A. Spicer.
She has lived in Bridgnorth, Cambridge, Rethymnon (Crete), Mahe (Seychelles), and now lives in Charente Maritime with her husband and youngest son. The next place she wants to explore is probably Spain. Her husband is very tolerant, and secretly enjoys chaos.
Bev has been a teacher, blackjack dealer for Playboy, examiner for Cambridge ESOL, secretary (various sorts - most boringly 'legal'), lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, and a Sunday checkout girl for Tesco (who allowed her to deliver surplus bakery products to the homeless – ‘every little helps’).
She loves people, reading, writing, speaking French, astronomy (quantum theory addict), gardening, travelling, and hates housework, cooking, drizzle and honey.
Bev publishes her lighter books under the name of Bev Spicer and her more literary works as B. A. Spicer.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
March 31, 2013
OK the book is about Playboy Bunnies. Or is it? Young attractive women, swinging and I mean really swinging London, casino glamour and then there was this bicycle.
Had to read the book because Playboy Bunnies in high heels intrigued me. The book is tongue in cheek as the young ladies survived it all but did not meet some incredibly handsome and more importantly wealthy millionaire.
What Bev Spicer did do was start to scratch away at the teflon facade of glamour and get into the nitty gritty. Glamour is not all glamour, horror of horrors. But then again very young attractive women may not fully understand that point. At least not at the beginning.
So is the book a feminist recounting of social history. Little bit. As society evolved socially, women were still very much seen as objects of pleasure. At the London Playboy Club and Casino they were the eye candy to help patrons make stupid bets and lose money at the tables. Casinos have not changed and the memory of Playboy Bunnies still resonates.
The two damsels who were mostly in distress worked their way out of one jam after another. One situation more socially outrageous after another. You were never quite sure how they would do it.
Then there's the bicycle. Read the book to figure it out. It's hilarious.
Spoiler Alert: No Hugh Hefner stories.
Special Note to Bev Spicer: I was really cheering for the Playboy Costumes. So will every male reader.
Had to read the book because Playboy Bunnies in high heels intrigued me. The book is tongue in cheek as the young ladies survived it all but did not meet some incredibly handsome and more importantly wealthy millionaire.
What Bev Spicer did do was start to scratch away at the teflon facade of glamour and get into the nitty gritty. Glamour is not all glamour, horror of horrors. But then again very young attractive women may not fully understand that point. At least not at the beginning.
So is the book a feminist recounting of social history. Little bit. As society evolved socially, women were still very much seen as objects of pleasure. At the London Playboy Club and Casino they were the eye candy to help patrons make stupid bets and lose money at the tables. Casinos have not changed and the memory of Playboy Bunnies still resonates.
The two damsels who were mostly in distress worked their way out of one jam after another. One situation more socially outrageous after another. You were never quite sure how they would do it.
Then there's the bicycle. Read the book to figure it out. It's hilarious.
Spoiler Alert: No Hugh Hefner stories.
Special Note to Bev Spicer: I was really cheering for the Playboy Costumes. So will every male reader.
November 22, 2012
This memoir tells the story of Carol and Bev and how they came to work for Playboy because they didn't have a clue what to do with the rest of the lives! This story was laugh out loud funny on nearly every page and the characters themselves were very well described and lovable. They were quirky and unpredictable, but right or wrong you couldn't help siding with them. This quickly became one of my favorite books and I really hope that Bev Spicer decides to write more. I had mixed feelings as I read the last page; it actually ended where it should, but I was sad that it was over! I would highly recommend this 195 page memoir to anyone who has a functioning funny bone. It's really that good!
January 9, 2022
I enjoyed Bev Spicer’s other two Bev and Carol adventures so much that it was a treat to scoop up this one. Bunny on a Bike is the second in the series, though the third I’ve read and reading out of order didn’t spoil the fun. And what fun it was. Through Bev, it’s possible to relive vicariously my youth of the 80s; a time when living in freezing flats, eating poptarts and drinking cheap wine was fun, when going to bed at 4am and getting up at midday was easy and life held no fears, no worries.
Unlike Bev and Carol though, I never became a bunny girl in London which I think was a mistake given the hilarious adventures these two have. Read this book and find out more. You won’t regret it.
Unlike Bev and Carol though, I never became a bunny girl in London which I think was a mistake given the hilarious adventures these two have. Read this book and find out more. You won’t regret it.
December 28, 2012
"Needless to say, next day Carol didn’t remember a thing about her indiscretion and didn’t want me to remind her of the details." from Bunny on a Bike," by Bev Spicer.
...It was this kind of a book, riotous, satirical, and fun! I especially appreciated Bev Spicer for sharing this happy glimpse into the minds and exploits of two young women on the loose in London and Playboy's casino. Knowing it actually happened added more than a dash of extra spice (pun intended:<)
...It was this kind of a book, riotous, satirical, and fun! I especially appreciated Bev Spicer for sharing this happy glimpse into the minds and exploits of two young women on the loose in London and Playboy's casino. Knowing it actually happened added more than a dash of extra spice (pun intended:<)
September 11, 2013
Bev and Carol are at it again. I first met these two "lovely tarts" in Bev Spicer's delightful memoir ONE SUMMER IN FRANCE. Well, they've returned from their hilarious romp, graduated university, and have their whole lives stretched gloriously before them. If only they knew what they wanted to do! Should Carol marry her loyal--if a little dull--farmer? Will Bev's sparkling eccentricities get her anywhere with her boyfriend's rather staid and well-to-do parents? Do either of the girls really care? Carol and Bev are still the most important people in each other's lives.
Together, the girls get a job working for a Playboy casino in London. As you might expect, there's very little glamour and glitz and a whole lot of unforeseen complications. The month-long training program may take place at a luxurious mansion, but any pleasures are curtailed by tiresome housemates, monotonous lessons in card fanning and chip stacking, and the determination of their chaperon/jailer Sonia that the would-be bunnies aspire to her own stick-bug proportions. It's lucky that Carol strikes up a friendship with the cook, or who knows what might have happened to our delicious heroines' bubbly natures and friendly curves.
After training, the duo move into a cold, pokey flat without even a back door between them and the great outdoors. Work quickly becomes stale and routine. They don't even get bunny costumes. As always, Bev and Carol take it all in their stride. My favorite episode is when, eager to create their own New Year celebration, Carol and Bev go to a shop and find it is about to close. Carol gets them in by saying that Bev has a medical condition along the lines of Tourette's Syndrome. As they shop, Bev erupts into such a riot of naughty expletives that even the normally unflappable Carol is a little shaken.
Of course, the fun cannot go on forever. Neither Carol nor Bev is really content working for Playboy. They know that there's something more out there...if only they didn't have to let go of one another to find it. That's what BUNNY ON A BIKE is really about. Two friends who want to hold on to what they have for just a little while longer. In the end, as Playboy is finally about to deliver on those bunny costumes, the girls decide they don't want to bike to work in long ears and a cotton tail. It's sad to see Bev and Carol's paths diverge, but you get the sense that it's only temporary. That they will be back together before long, changed and matured but as good friends as ever.
Together, the girls get a job working for a Playboy casino in London. As you might expect, there's very little glamour and glitz and a whole lot of unforeseen complications. The month-long training program may take place at a luxurious mansion, but any pleasures are curtailed by tiresome housemates, monotonous lessons in card fanning and chip stacking, and the determination of their chaperon/jailer Sonia that the would-be bunnies aspire to her own stick-bug proportions. It's lucky that Carol strikes up a friendship with the cook, or who knows what might have happened to our delicious heroines' bubbly natures and friendly curves.
After training, the duo move into a cold, pokey flat without even a back door between them and the great outdoors. Work quickly becomes stale and routine. They don't even get bunny costumes. As always, Bev and Carol take it all in their stride. My favorite episode is when, eager to create their own New Year celebration, Carol and Bev go to a shop and find it is about to close. Carol gets them in by saying that Bev has a medical condition along the lines of Tourette's Syndrome. As they shop, Bev erupts into such a riot of naughty expletives that even the normally unflappable Carol is a little shaken.
Of course, the fun cannot go on forever. Neither Carol nor Bev is really content working for Playboy. They know that there's something more out there...if only they didn't have to let go of one another to find it. That's what BUNNY ON A BIKE is really about. Two friends who want to hold on to what they have for just a little while longer. In the end, as Playboy is finally about to deliver on those bunny costumes, the girls decide they don't want to bike to work in long ears and a cotton tail. It's sad to see Bev and Carol's paths diverge, but you get the sense that it's only temporary. That they will be back together before long, changed and matured but as good friends as ever.
September 28, 2012
Growing up in the sixties and seventies, the Playboy Empire, imported to London but with its unmistakable whiff of The New World, seemed to me the embodiment of glamour and sexiness, the ultimate in fast-lane living. Seldom did one wonder about the lives of those gorgeous blondes and brunettes who, though dressed in the iconic bunny costumes, looked more like languorous, exotic birds – one simply assumed that they were as amazing as those of the stars and millionaires to whom they dealt cards or served drinks.
Bev Spicer’s hilarious recollection of her time as a Playboy bunny in eighties London blows that notion clean out of the water. She and her friend Carol, footloose, fancy free, fresh out of Uni and – like most young people in Thatcher’s Britain – unemployed, respond to an ad for croupiers in a Playboy casino “just for a laugh”. The world they end up in is one of chilly lodgings, malfunctioning loos, comfort-eating on poptarts and bacon butties (when not forbidden by one of their employer’s enforced diets) and going to work, not in a Ferrari, but on a bike.
Bev Spicer writes in a dry, funny, ingenuous and chatty style which is highly individual and very readable. She describes in merciless detail the back-biting, bitchiness, brushes with celebrities (by which she and Carol seem singularly unimpressed) and the way in which their own lives and loves are woven around their bizarre career. Yet she never for a moment lapses into salaciousness or moralising and the characters she encounters (such as the ubiquitous, bum-fondling Keith) are wonderfully three-dimensional, described with a razor-sharp yet always kindly eye. Though this reads like a novel, it is, of course, all true and its authenticity shines through every page. A rare treat.
Bev Spicer’s hilarious recollection of her time as a Playboy bunny in eighties London blows that notion clean out of the water. She and her friend Carol, footloose, fancy free, fresh out of Uni and – like most young people in Thatcher’s Britain – unemployed, respond to an ad for croupiers in a Playboy casino “just for a laugh”. The world they end up in is one of chilly lodgings, malfunctioning loos, comfort-eating on poptarts and bacon butties (when not forbidden by one of their employer’s enforced diets) and going to work, not in a Ferrari, but on a bike.
Bev Spicer writes in a dry, funny, ingenuous and chatty style which is highly individual and very readable. She describes in merciless detail the back-biting, bitchiness, brushes with celebrities (by which she and Carol seem singularly unimpressed) and the way in which their own lives and loves are woven around their bizarre career. Yet she never for a moment lapses into salaciousness or moralising and the characters she encounters (such as the ubiquitous, bum-fondling Keith) are wonderfully three-dimensional, described with a razor-sharp yet always kindly eye. Though this reads like a novel, it is, of course, all true and its authenticity shines through every page. A rare treat.
April 4, 2013
I thought it was fantastic! It was so funny in parts that I kept laughing at it as I dozed off to sleep. Bev has a good use of language and an ironic sense of humour and her observations of people had me in stitches. On a serious note it gave an insight into the world of a bunny girl croupier, a world I knew nothing about. I enjoyed it so much that I also read the prequel, One Summer in France, which again was told in her amusing narrative voice. I'd recommend them both.
If you like memoirs perhaps you'd take a look at mine, Shadow Across the Sun. It has both humour and pathos and I hope that Bev won't mind me including my link in her review http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadow-Across... Shadow Across the Sun: A memoir
If you like memoirs perhaps you'd take a look at mine, Shadow Across the Sun. It has both humour and pathos and I hope that Bev won't mind me including my link in her review http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadow-Across... Shadow Across the Sun: A memoir
December 28, 2012
I found the author's voice in this memoir enticing to the point that I couldn't put my e-reader down. Her use of English colloquialism enthralled me and added a twist to the humor of the story. I found the descriptive elements so vivid that I was pulled into the story to the point that at times it was as if I was there. I enjoy the opportunity to escape for a time in a good book and BUNNY ON A BIKE was a great book for that. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a fun and enjoyable book, this is it. If you were alive in the 70's or 80's, you'll find this to be flashback to a day gone by.
OFFICIAL RATING 6* out of 5!
OFFICIAL RATING 6* out of 5!
October 27, 2020
Fun Packed Hilarious Memoir
This is a warm hearted memoir and Bev and Carol certainly know how to have a good time and live life to the full, oh what fun they have. What a strong forever friendship they have.
Now in the early 80s when times were of a relaxed nature and there was plenty of fun to be had. Bev and Carol having finished University and not knowing what to do with their lives, not really wanting to go out into the big wide adult world they decided to apply for jobs as Playboy Croupiers. After arduous maths tests, interviews, parading themselves in bikinis they manage to secure jobs.
Life is not all fun as they encounter unscrupulous landlords, live in chilly bedsits, malfunctioning loos where they survive on Pop Tarts and bacon butties. The characters they meet are delightful described especially the bum fondling Keith, not too sure I would have been able to refrain from smacking him. Needless to say the girls had much fun and frivolity along the way.
Bev writes in a lovely chatty way that pulls you in and you feel part of their adventures. This was a warm amusing and highly entertaining read. Thank you once again Bev xx
This is a warm hearted memoir and Bev and Carol certainly know how to have a good time and live life to the full, oh what fun they have. What a strong forever friendship they have.
Now in the early 80s when times were of a relaxed nature and there was plenty of fun to be had. Bev and Carol having finished University and not knowing what to do with their lives, not really wanting to go out into the big wide adult world they decided to apply for jobs as Playboy Croupiers. After arduous maths tests, interviews, parading themselves in bikinis they manage to secure jobs.
Life is not all fun as they encounter unscrupulous landlords, live in chilly bedsits, malfunctioning loos where they survive on Pop Tarts and bacon butties. The characters they meet are delightful described especially the bum fondling Keith, not too sure I would have been able to refrain from smacking him. Needless to say the girls had much fun and frivolity along the way.
Bev writes in a lovely chatty way that pulls you in and you feel part of their adventures. This was a warm amusing and highly entertaining read. Thank you once again Bev xx
November 17, 2012
Well gals, I must admit, this was a bit out of my normal read zone, but I was pleasantly surprised.
This is the tale of Bev and her best friend Carol that decide on a whim, to venture into the metropolis of London and shake-up their rather boon-doggled lives, in the outer country side, by applying for a job at the new Playboy Casino.
Sounds glamorous doesn't it? Well, for those of us who are veterans of Casinos and the strip bars, we know those are "working girls" and it's their job. Find a date elsewhere.
Bev does an excellent job describing the rather mundane activities with the humor of twentish girls just trying to get by and having as much fun as the law allows with winding up in irons or the brig.
Guys, I hate to disappoint you, but this not some sultry tale of "behind the scenes" of the Playboy world. So, go ahead and get this months copy and let your dreams become a reality.
I believe the parts I enjoyed the most were the altercations with the landlords. You see, Carol, is too say least, a real "fire plug" and is constantly reminding the mansion owners that the outhouse they are renting is in great disrepair and needs immediate attention. To put it simply, these gals rented a dump, and that's being nice.
I would have liked to seen Bev riding a bike in the bunny costume with the fluffy tail. That would have been a site!
Who will like this? Simple. Any and all women who wanted to say, "Yeah, I did that."
Well done Beverly!
October 8, 2017
4.5 stars: A very enjoyable romp about friendship. I received this book for free during a promo, but have only just got round to reading it. It is definitely not my normal read and for a while I was wondering if I would even get through it, but something changed and I found myself touched and moved by the brash nonsense of these two girls as they bluffed their way through countless awkward and embarrasing situations during their brief careers as Playboy Club croupiers. There were occasional gentle moments when my sympathy for Bev deepened, moments when she was alone and I realised there was more to her and to Carol too than the careless excesses they indulged in. Very well written, it reads more like a novel than a memoir, so I imagine there's a level of creative elaboration involved, but it is clear the author must have had diaries from the period. There is so much detail, and now that explains the 4.5 and not the full 5 stars. Sometimes I felt there was too much detail and too many irrelevant inserts, but in the end, it did not detract too much from the story. A really good read, and very true of the kind of close friendships we all form when young and totally carefree. Great stuff, Ms Spicer.
November 22, 2012
Let's get this out of the way:
If I had met Bev Spicer back in the early 80s, I would have fallen head-over-heels in love with her. I doubt she would have noticed, though, as she was having too much fun researching material for this book.
"Bunny on a Bike" is a well-written, richly humorous and not at all salacious romp. We follow Bev and her best friend Carol through a short period of their lives as they are recruited into the Playboy empire in 80s London. The fact that they were both totally unsuited to their new profession is only a minor obstacle. From the traumas of the interview and entrance tests, the training in a Playboy mansion, and their employment in a casino, to the search for accommodation and the bathroom open to the elements, this book kept me smiling for hours. It reminded me of how innocent 1981 was compared to now. The only adverse comments I would give is that it ended rather abruptly and the formatting is unconventional. If you download a sample onto your Kindle and think it looks odd, just ignore that aspect - it starts to look normal after acclimatising with the first few pages.
If I had met Bev Spicer back in the early 80s, I would have fallen head-over-heels in love with her. I doubt she would have noticed, though, as she was having too much fun researching material for this book.
"Bunny on a Bike" is a well-written, richly humorous and not at all salacious romp. We follow Bev and her best friend Carol through a short period of their lives as they are recruited into the Playboy empire in 80s London. The fact that they were both totally unsuited to their new profession is only a minor obstacle. From the traumas of the interview and entrance tests, the training in a Playboy mansion, and their employment in a casino, to the search for accommodation and the bathroom open to the elements, this book kept me smiling for hours. It reminded me of how innocent 1981 was compared to now. The only adverse comments I would give is that it ended rather abruptly and the formatting is unconventional. If you download a sample onto your Kindle and think it looks odd, just ignore that aspect - it starts to look normal after acclimatising with the first few pages.
April 26, 2013
Bunny on a Bike is simply hilarious!
It is also a warm hearted, easy going and chatty memoir.
What’s not to like about the real life story of two young girls with little responsibility applying for jobs in the (not so) glamorous Playboy Empire of the early 1980’s....and surprisingly get taken on!
Not yet in the serious stage of their lives they just want to have fun....and they do that in spades. The bed-sits are dingy, their landlords stingy, their diets unhealthy. Then there’s the catty colleagues, the wannabe’s, the celebrities (when they recognise them) and of course the punters. We also meet their long suffering and extremely patient boyfriends.
Reading this is a bit like sitting in a pub with a pint in your hand and eavesdropping on the table behind. Lots of things are going on, but try as you might you just can’t drag your attention away, not even to go up to the bar to get another drink; you’re stuck there, glued to the seat, listening and laughing along as the girl behind tells her story....you just can’t leave, because you know you’ll miss something interesting!
A bunny girl...on a bike; do I really need to say anything else?
It is also a warm hearted, easy going and chatty memoir.
What’s not to like about the real life story of two young girls with little responsibility applying for jobs in the (not so) glamorous Playboy Empire of the early 1980’s....and surprisingly get taken on!
Not yet in the serious stage of their lives they just want to have fun....and they do that in spades. The bed-sits are dingy, their landlords stingy, their diets unhealthy. Then there’s the catty colleagues, the wannabe’s, the celebrities (when they recognise them) and of course the punters. We also meet their long suffering and extremely patient boyfriends.
Reading this is a bit like sitting in a pub with a pint in your hand and eavesdropping on the table behind. Lots of things are going on, but try as you might you just can’t drag your attention away, not even to go up to the bar to get another drink; you’re stuck there, glued to the seat, listening and laughing along as the girl behind tells her story....you just can’t leave, because you know you’ll miss something interesting!
A bunny girl...on a bike; do I really need to say anything else?
October 29, 2015
Another light and funny book.
Having just read the first book in Bev Spicer's Bev and Carol memoir series, I was eager for more and went straight onto the second book immediately. This book starts where Bev and Carol, having been students in their last adventure, have now finished their courses and got their degrees. What next? They don't know....then they decide: to be bunny girls, croupiers in casinos. Just like book one, there are some very good descriptive details of the people they meet. Again, a great fun book and I sniggered out loud quite a few times! Such brilliant and really different expressions in her books-I love the way Bev and Carol speak through the writing. Added to that, Dave's 'Yorkshire talk' is so amusing. (I am from Yorkshire and it really amused me!) Many fun escapades, another light and funny book. Can't wait to read book three, 'Stranded In The Seychelles'-I'm sure that will be great too on the strength of the first two I've already read. Very impressed with this writer.
Having just read the first book in Bev Spicer's Bev and Carol memoir series, I was eager for more and went straight onto the second book immediately. This book starts where Bev and Carol, having been students in their last adventure, have now finished their courses and got their degrees. What next? They don't know....then they decide: to be bunny girls, croupiers in casinos. Just like book one, there are some very good descriptive details of the people they meet. Again, a great fun book and I sniggered out loud quite a few times! Such brilliant and really different expressions in her books-I love the way Bev and Carol speak through the writing. Added to that, Dave's 'Yorkshire talk' is so amusing. (I am from Yorkshire and it really amused me!) Many fun escapades, another light and funny book. Can't wait to read book three, 'Stranded In The Seychelles'-I'm sure that will be great too on the strength of the first two I've already read. Very impressed with this writer.
February 6, 2016
Bunny on a Bike is a very humourous memoir of Bev and her friend Carol as they embark on a short journey into the world of Playboy as croupiers in one of London's casinos.
Bev's description of the characters and the situations they found themselves in, made them appear all the more real, and by the end of the book, you felt as if you knew them personally. Having been a teenager in the 80's, it was like stepping back in time.
It's a shame Bev left before geting her bunny outifit. I would love to have read about the reaction of people seeing her and Carol cycling to work dressed as Playboy Bunnies!
If you like an entertaining light read, then I recommend this book. I loved it, but wish it had been longer!
Bev's description of the characters and the situations they found themselves in, made them appear all the more real, and by the end of the book, you felt as if you knew them personally. Having been a teenager in the 80's, it was like stepping back in time.
It's a shame Bev left before geting her bunny outifit. I would love to have read about the reaction of people seeing her and Carol cycling to work dressed as Playboy Bunnies!
If you like an entertaining light read, then I recommend this book. I loved it, but wish it had been longer!
February 3, 2013
Bunny on a Bike is a very humourous memoir of Bev and her friend Carol as they embark on a short journey into the world of Playboy as croupiers in one of London's casinos.
Bev's description of the characters and the situations they found themselves in, made them appear all the more real, and by the end of the book, you felt as if you knew them personally. Having been a teenager in the 80's, it was like stepping back in time.
It's a shame Bev left before geting her bunny outifit. I would love to have read about the reaction of people seeing her and Carol cycling to work dressed as Playboy Bunnies!
If you like an entertaining light read, then I recommend this book. I loved it, but wish it had been longer!
Bev's description of the characters and the situations they found themselves in, made them appear all the more real, and by the end of the book, you felt as if you knew them personally. Having been a teenager in the 80's, it was like stepping back in time.
It's a shame Bev left before geting her bunny outifit. I would love to have read about the reaction of people seeing her and Carol cycling to work dressed as Playboy Bunnies!
If you like an entertaining light read, then I recommend this book. I loved it, but wish it had been longer!
February 18, 2013
Bev and Carol, her partner in crime are trying to find what they want out of life. Right out of college Bev talks Carol into going to London to interview for a croupier job at a playboy bunny like club. They are totally different in some ways, but compliment each other. They get to the interview and most are younger than them, but they get the job because of their math skills. They look for a place to live that they can afford, it's not a nice place and far from work. The girls spend a lot of their monies just getting back and forth from work. They were having a hard time with their landlord, so they look for another place closer to work if possible. BevSpicers book is funny on every turn. Download yours now and find out what becomes of Bev and Carrol.
March 11, 2016
This is a book that is a humorous semi autobiographical tale of two youngish (23 &24 )Uni grads deciding to use their grand degrees t become Black Jack dealers in a Playboy casino in London in the early 80s.
It is somewhat reminiscent of the style of Bridget Jones' Diary but these ladies aren't man crazy or desperate. What they are is somewhat naive. They also aren't very serious about their temporary careers, although they are punctual.
I was surprised when the author said at the age of 24 she had never been to an Italian restaurant. As a life long east coaster that would be like saying you have never been to a movie theater.
I was also surprised to learn that dealer and croupiers at Playboy in London couldn't accept tips. So this was a flat salary and free dinner job.
It is somewhat reminiscent of the style of Bridget Jones' Diary but these ladies aren't man crazy or desperate. What they are is somewhat naive. They also aren't very serious about their temporary careers, although they are punctual.
I was surprised when the author said at the age of 24 she had never been to an Italian restaurant. As a life long east coaster that would be like saying you have never been to a movie theater.
I was also surprised to learn that dealer and croupiers at Playboy in London couldn't accept tips. So this was a flat salary and free dinner job.
December 20, 2014
I got this from the First Reads giveaways on Goodreads and was pleasantly surprised, though Bunny On A Bike is still pretty different from my usual fare. I found it was more about the friendship and misadventures between Bev and Carol than working for Playboy, but it made the book very lighthearted and fun. Some of the narrative is pretty linear ("this happened, then we did this, and then we did that...") and there's not really a set plot, but that seems to be what you get in most memoir stories. Still not a bad book, and I walk away from it now happy that I read it.
October 4, 2014
I love the humorous interaction between the two friends, Bev and Carol, as they leave university and start to explore the world of working as croupiers at the Playboy Club in London. This is the first book written by Bev Spicer that I read. She also writes as B A Spicer, and whether writing light hearted material such as Bunny on a Bike or crafting more suspenseful novels, all her writing is first rate. Highly recommended.
November 13, 2017
Bunny on a Bike is a light hearted and easy book to read. The writing style is clear and direct and conveys the sense that the writer is talking to you directly really well. The story of her initiation into the Playboy world is fascinating and often hilarious. When I was growing up in the Swinging Sixties the Bunny Girl was the epitome of glamour and sophistication. This book certainly blows the lid off that idea! Great book - highly recommend it
June 13, 2014
The opening of the Playboy Club on London's Park Lane added a new dimension to 1960s Britain. It certainly added a new dimension to the life of the vivacious narrator who describes her adventures with a zest which reeled in this reader. Absolutely marvellous, I'm looking forward to reading more of Bev's work.
April 25, 2020
Surprisingly Uplifting!
I was drawn to this in my search for something light-hearted and funny, something to distract me during these challenging times. If you a) have a sentimental fondness for your early 20's, b) have known the unique joy of having an attached-at-the-hip best girlfriend, and c) have a full history of poverty-driven antics, then you will really enjoy this!!
I was drawn to this in my search for something light-hearted and funny, something to distract me during these challenging times. If you a) have a sentimental fondness for your early 20's, b) have known the unique joy of having an attached-at-the-hip best girlfriend, and c) have a full history of poverty-driven antics, then you will really enjoy this!!
April 4, 2013
Even if this had been fiction I'd have thought it well plotted. Two young women in a delightful romp through some of the seamier aspects of 1980s London, with a beginning and a middle and an end. And with the horror that was Pop Tarts.
March 3, 2016
WERE WE LIKE THAT?
This was a fun book to read and brought back a lot of memories of those days – which made me cringe. Were we all such unfeeling brats in those days? A good laugh and i shall be looking out for more books by this author.
This was a fun book to read and brought back a lot of memories of those days – which made me cringe. Were we all such unfeeling brats in those days? A good laugh and i shall be looking out for more books by this author.
August 21, 2013
An enjoyable account of two women starting out in the 80's and taking a job as a croupier at playboy after university...
October 18, 2017
Funny. Amazing book. Took about 3 day to read it but I kept going back in the book to reread it. A five star book. First book i read from the author.
July 3, 2023
A little older, but not much wiser.
This is the second in the "Bev & Carol" trilogy. In the first, ("One Summer in France") the two college mates take advantage of a grant to spend three months at a seaside resort immersed in what their college fondly hopes is "French culture." Of course, they do what most youngsters would do given the chance. They shop, party, work on their tans, and fall in and out of love. And maybe that's as close to French culture as they needed to be at the time.
In this book, the friends have finished their degrees, but without any idea of what they want to do with the rest of their lives. They are now young women in their early twenties, but you'd never know it by some of the decisions they make. Then one of them sees that the new Playboy Casino in London is hiring croupiers and they rush to apply. It's the 1980's and the Playboy brand is shiny and exotic.
Typically, they underestimate the difficulty of the job and they fail to educate themselves about the services available to help London newcomers navigate a savage housing market. They're hired, but fall prey to a predatory landlord. After months of discomfort and some danger, they finally start asking the questions they SHOULD have asked before they signed on the dotted line. The optimism of youth comes at a high price.
The casino turns out to be a place where unglamorous people go to throw their money away. The job is boring and few of their co-workers are congenial. Most are would-be models, actresses, or limo-ladies hoping to be noticed by powerful men. All are ultimately disappointed.
Most of the stories are simply young people making fools out of themselves due to lack of experience. As the author Bev says (looking back many years later) "My lack of understanding of human nature was boundless." Still, I was interested to read more about her family. In contrast to Carol's safe (if boring) childhood as the daughter of two teachers, Bev was the child of divorce at a time when it was uncommon. She gives glimpses of her selfish, angry mother and her sweet, ineffectual father. She's known love, but never emotional security.
It's also an interesting look at how the traditional English class system still holds sway, although everyone believes it's disappeared. Bev and Carol are from lower-middle class families and attended "grammar" schools - public institutions set up for college-bound students. They are a cut above "comprehensive" schools (for students NOT headed to college) but far below the private boarding schools patronized by wealthier families.
Bev is dating a university lad from a posh family and is awed by his sophistication. Will she "marry up"? Carol moves in the opposite direction with a farmer boyfriend who's sweet and reliable, but whose thick Yorkshire accent is a dead give-away to his lowly origins. Will she "marry down"?
Nothing profound about these books, but it's fun to see an intelligent woman looking back at herself as a twenty-something and being both appalled at her ignorance and impressed by her nerve and determination. Youth only happens once, which is just as well. We're lucky to survive it the first time. What sane person would risk it a second time?
It's a well-written, frequently very funny book about two likable young women.
This is the second in the "Bev & Carol" trilogy. In the first, ("One Summer in France") the two college mates take advantage of a grant to spend three months at a seaside resort immersed in what their college fondly hopes is "French culture." Of course, they do what most youngsters would do given the chance. They shop, party, work on their tans, and fall in and out of love. And maybe that's as close to French culture as they needed to be at the time.
In this book, the friends have finished their degrees, but without any idea of what they want to do with the rest of their lives. They are now young women in their early twenties, but you'd never know it by some of the decisions they make. Then one of them sees that the new Playboy Casino in London is hiring croupiers and they rush to apply. It's the 1980's and the Playboy brand is shiny and exotic.
Typically, they underestimate the difficulty of the job and they fail to educate themselves about the services available to help London newcomers navigate a savage housing market. They're hired, but fall prey to a predatory landlord. After months of discomfort and some danger, they finally start asking the questions they SHOULD have asked before they signed on the dotted line. The optimism of youth comes at a high price.
The casino turns out to be a place where unglamorous people go to throw their money away. The job is boring and few of their co-workers are congenial. Most are would-be models, actresses, or limo-ladies hoping to be noticed by powerful men. All are ultimately disappointed.
Most of the stories are simply young people making fools out of themselves due to lack of experience. As the author Bev says (looking back many years later) "My lack of understanding of human nature was boundless." Still, I was interested to read more about her family. In contrast to Carol's safe (if boring) childhood as the daughter of two teachers, Bev was the child of divorce at a time when it was uncommon. She gives glimpses of her selfish, angry mother and her sweet, ineffectual father. She's known love, but never emotional security.
It's also an interesting look at how the traditional English class system still holds sway, although everyone believes it's disappeared. Bev and Carol are from lower-middle class families and attended "grammar" schools - public institutions set up for college-bound students. They are a cut above "comprehensive" schools (for students NOT headed to college) but far below the private boarding schools patronized by wealthier families.
Bev is dating a university lad from a posh family and is awed by his sophistication. Will she "marry up"? Carol moves in the opposite direction with a farmer boyfriend who's sweet and reliable, but whose thick Yorkshire accent is a dead give-away to his lowly origins. Will she "marry down"?
Nothing profound about these books, but it's fun to see an intelligent woman looking back at herself as a twenty-something and being both appalled at her ignorance and impressed by her nerve and determination. Youth only happens once, which is just as well. We're lucky to survive it the first time. What sane person would risk it a second time?
It's a well-written, frequently very funny book about two likable young women.
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