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booking_along's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
i am not sure if this books problems are partly because of the time it was published in (but thats 1997) or of its just filled with horrendous problematic relationships and situations?
Lets start with listing the bad things in this book and you can decide for yourself what of all those things was actually okay:
If a girl got pregnant at 15/16 and the guy was “good” enough to marry her -which let’s not touch that troublesome situation because i will start a rant that will need more length than a review is allowed to have on this website!
let’s ignore the facts that, the father of the main character spend 36 years putting down, belittling and just generally doing anything and everything he can to put his own wife and mother of his three children down and let her feel as if she stupid and should be eternally grateful that he owned up to his part of the pregnancy when she was 15 and he 18.
He got to follow his dream, go to uni, become a doctor and she did everything she could to keep them financially going during those times, he ignores her or pretends shes nobody he knows and her kid has nothing to do with him. What?
Also why the heck does nobody, not even their grow-up sons ever step up and say: hey, dad, you know youre a complete ass to our mother who did nothing but support you in all ways, did her best and rise us wonderfully. How about you don't constantly put her down? Maybe watch your mouth?
That relationship was horrible and had so many problems you couldn’t fit them into an oversized truck!
let’s now focus on the main relationship between cal and jane here.
it starts out with a 23(25? can’t remember) year old whose life goal is it to sleep with an entire football team, is basically hired as the pimp by some football player to find cal a hooker for his birthday. but the poor girl doesn’t know any classy and smart women and she has to be old so 25 should do nicely -cal is 36 by the way!
oh deary!
she only knows easy girls and hookers that are not something anyone would call classy and everyone isn’t that old! she only knows people that are just scratching legal age! what ever should she do!
simple solution really - barge into her parents neighbors house without invitation, make her feel very small and insignificant for getting practical birthday presents on her oh so very old birthday of turning 34 years old -i mean how did jane mange without a walker and some assistant living?!
but thankfully it turns out, jane’s not only a physics genius -went to college at 15 to prove it and everything!- but she’s super desperate for a baby because her so very old ovaries are screaming at her to get a move on pronto before they dry out - like tomorrow, i mean the woman is 34! clearly every clock is ticking and fast! she’s basically just half a step away from retirement! (strangely enough it never was questioned if she might be too old to have a baby at her old old age, but it’s constantly mentioned that she’s clearly not looking 24! which… what?)
And okay, maybe in the middle/end of 1990 it was still a time where most woman did have their children in their late 20s early 30s, but there were also some women that waited and worked on their careers before having kids and getting married. And it actually was the time where more women started to have their kids more towards their early 30s. So jane is actually not outside of that age range at all and fitted most women of the time that wanted to make sure they could actually support the kid they brought into the world. So Jane wasn't old or basically aging out of having children-at the time, at least in Europe, maybe the USA was behind the time in that?
anyway, helpful little pimp girl is nice enough to suggest jane plays hooker and gets herself impregnated by cal -win win!
pimp girl gets her hook up, thanks to the oh so thankful team mate of cal, pimp girl gets her next sexual encounter arrange by them, Jane gets pregnant and gets her wish-baby and Cal might get out of his funk that clearly can only be healed by fast and easy sex by a classy hooker.
Again win win all around.
my honest to god first thought of this super smart solution and introduction was -okay but if Janes so old, as constantly mentioned with her stone age nearing 34, shouldn’t she have trouble getting pregnant and need way more sex than just one fast time with a guy? Also should she have to make sure that shes actually having that sexual meeting at the right time of the month for her to actually get pregnant? But how is that possible if shes Cal's birthday present? Do those to dates - his birthday and her fertile days just magically aline? How does that work out so perfectly?
Its never mentioned, or talked about that there might be a few problems with that entire idea of her sleeping with someone just to get pregnant.
The book would have clearly become too complicated for that!
without spoiling anything, things that are handled really badly and/or are problematic in this book are:
- an woman in her 30s not having had sex before (who cares??)
- secret pregnancy
- forced marriage
- verbally abusive relationships
- horrible football player cliche of them being as stupid as a box of nails and incapable of finding their own behind to wipe it.
- horrible stereotype of smart women working with greedy sexist men that would to literally anything to force the woman out of their job (thought that one was the most realistic of the entire story to be honest, the sexist men i mean.)
- blackmail and slander of character
- strange parent/child relationships that are never really explained but constantly mentioned?
- strange obsession with female age? because the men clearly couldn’t be too old or young for anything
- making a career change seem horrible or bad instead of a good thing
- manipulations left and right in all relationships and ways possible
- genius woman that’s supposed to not be able to turn her brain of if she’s trying to solve a problem is suddenly super happy digging in dirt and having no problems to solve at all.
- no relationship problems and issues solved or discussed at all - but aw they are so cute and love each other so much!
- super rushed and strange ending
all in all?
this series can only be read as a comedic relief.
i hope so at least.
i am not sure if this series gets better? i hope so?
but it’s really problematic and no issues are ever actually solved in a good way.
it’s all very much -love solves it all!
i don’t like that.
of people have actual real issues - be in a by lying or mistreating another person… it’s never actually talked out or tried to find a solution to the problem.
also while the men are seeing that some things are their fault too, it has to be forced to be understood by them.
can i also just say that i don’t really get how it’s only the woman’s fault for becoming pregnant if to consenting adults have sex and not using real protection such as condom? and the woman then not clearly stating to her one night stand she wouldn’t mind if it ends up with her being pregnant but also doesn’t force the issue? it’s not as if she’s poking holes into the condoms behind his back or forcing him to go in bare?
i had issues with the sexual relationships okay? they all made very little sense to me.
i also didn’t get why such a huge drama was done up out of every little thing but the actual big problems where only shortly mentioned and then never addressed after a dramatic scene was over.
i think if you want a romance that’s less problematic by this author read “dance away with me”
that’s still problematic but a lot - A LOT- better compared to this.
as i said i don’t know how much of the -especially women should really take more care how they treat their husbands and catch a good one even if it’s with a baby- attitude was of it’s time? but it’s not great
this book wasn’t the worst but it’s not good either.
Lets start with listing the bad things in this book and you can decide for yourself what of all those things was actually okay:
If a girl got pregnant at 15/16 and the guy was “good” enough to marry her -which let’s not touch that troublesome situation because i will start a rant that will need more length than a review is allowed to have on this website!
let’s ignore the facts that, the father of the main character spend 36 years putting down, belittling and just generally doing anything and everything he can to put his own wife and mother of his three children down and let her feel as if she stupid and should be eternally grateful that he owned up to his part of the pregnancy when she was 15 and he 18.
He got to follow his dream, go to uni, become a doctor and she did everything she could to keep them financially going during those times, he ignores her or pretends shes nobody he knows and her kid has nothing to do with him. What?
Also why the heck does nobody, not even their grow-up sons ever step up and say: hey, dad, you know youre a complete ass to our mother who did nothing but support you in all ways, did her best and rise us wonderfully. How about you don't constantly put her down? Maybe watch your mouth?
That relationship was horrible and had so many problems you couldn’t fit them into an oversized truck!
let’s now focus on the main relationship between cal and jane here.
it starts out with a 23(25? can’t remember) year old whose life goal is it to sleep with an entire football team, is basically hired as the pimp by some football player to find cal a hooker for his birthday. but the poor girl doesn’t know any classy and smart women and she has to be old so 25 should do nicely -cal is 36 by the way!
oh deary!
she only knows easy girls and hookers that are not something anyone would call classy and everyone isn’t that old! she only knows people that are just scratching legal age! what ever should she do!
simple solution really - barge into her parents neighbors house without invitation, make her feel very small and insignificant for getting practical birthday presents on her oh so very old birthday of turning 34 years old -i mean how did jane mange without a walker and some assistant living?!
but thankfully it turns out, jane’s not only a physics genius -went to college at 15 to prove it and everything!- but she’s super desperate for a baby because her so very old ovaries are screaming at her to get a move on pronto before they dry out - like tomorrow, i mean the woman is 34! clearly every clock is ticking and fast! she’s basically just half a step away from retirement! (strangely enough it never was questioned if she might be too old to have a baby at her old old age, but it’s constantly mentioned that she’s clearly not looking 24! which… what?)
And okay, maybe in the middle/end of 1990 it was still a time where most woman did have their children in their late 20s early 30s, but there were also some women that waited and worked on their careers before having kids and getting married. And it actually was the time where more women started to have their kids more towards their early 30s. So jane is actually not outside of that age range at all and fitted most women of the time that wanted to make sure they could actually support the kid they brought into the world. So Jane wasn't old or basically aging out of having children-at the time, at least in Europe, maybe the USA was behind the time in that?
anyway, helpful little pimp girl is nice enough to suggest jane plays hooker and gets herself impregnated by cal -win win!
pimp girl gets her hook up, thanks to the oh so thankful team mate of cal, pimp girl gets her next sexual encounter arrange by them, Jane gets pregnant and gets her wish-baby and Cal might get out of his funk that clearly can only be healed by fast and easy sex by a classy hooker.
Again win win all around.
my honest to god first thought of this super smart solution and introduction was -okay but if Janes so old, as constantly mentioned with her stone age nearing 34, shouldn’t she have trouble getting pregnant and need way more sex than just one fast time with a guy? Also should she have to make sure that shes actually having that sexual meeting at the right time of the month for her to actually get pregnant? But how is that possible if shes Cal's birthday present? Do those to dates - his birthday and her fertile days just magically aline? How does that work out so perfectly?
Its never mentioned, or talked about that there might be a few problems with that entire idea of her sleeping with someone just to get pregnant.
The book would have clearly become too complicated for that!
without spoiling anything, things that are handled really badly and/or are problematic in this book are:
- an woman in her 30s not having had sex before (who cares??)
- secret pregnancy
- forced marriage
- verbally abusive relationships
- horrible football player cliche of them being as stupid as a box of nails and incapable of finding their own behind to wipe it.
- horrible stereotype of smart women working with greedy sexist men that would to literally anything to force the woman out of their job (thought that one was the most realistic of the entire story to be honest, the sexist men i mean.)
- blackmail and slander of character
- strange parent/child relationships that are never really explained but constantly mentioned?
- strange obsession with female age? because the men clearly couldn’t be too old or young for anything
- making a career change seem horrible or bad instead of a good thing
- manipulations left and right in all relationships and ways possible
- genius woman that’s supposed to not be able to turn her brain of if she’s trying to solve a problem is suddenly super happy digging in dirt and having no problems to solve at all.
- no relationship problems and issues solved or discussed at all - but aw they are so cute and love each other so much!
- super rushed and strange ending
all in all?
this series can only be read as a comedic relief.
i hope so at least.
i am not sure if this series gets better? i hope so?
but it’s really problematic and no issues are ever actually solved in a good way.
it’s all very much -love solves it all!
i don’t like that.
of people have actual real issues - be in a by lying or mistreating another person… it’s never actually talked out or tried to find a solution to the problem.
also while the men are seeing that some things are their fault too, it has to be forced to be understood by them.
can i also just say that i don’t really get how it’s only the woman’s fault for becoming pregnant if to consenting adults have sex and not using real protection such as condom? and the woman then not clearly stating to her one night stand she wouldn’t mind if it ends up with her being pregnant but also doesn’t force the issue? it’s not as if she’s poking holes into the condoms behind his back or forcing him to go in bare?
i had issues with the sexual relationships okay? they all made very little sense to me.
i also didn’t get why such a huge drama was done up out of every little thing but the actual big problems where only shortly mentioned and then never addressed after a dramatic scene was over.
i think if you want a romance that’s less problematic by this author read “dance away with me”
that’s still problematic but a lot - A LOT- better compared to this.
as i said i don’t know how much of the -especially women should really take more care how they treat their husbands and catch a good one even if it’s with a baby- attitude was of it’s time? but it’s not great
this book wasn’t the worst but it’s not good either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
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