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glass_carousel's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
This book really ended up falling flat for me, which is unfortunate because I have heard good things about the rest of the series and some of Helena Hunting's other works. I am terrible at writing reviews, so forgive me while I just go on a bit of a rant instead.
My issues started with the female main character, Lainey. Lainey was very sheltered and overprotected growing up, which makes sense given her homeschooling and role as the youngest of 8 siblings. I generally tend to dislike reading about helpless characters who don't seem to have much agency, but given that part of Lainey's arc seemed to be about her gaining independence from her overbearing parents, I was prepared to look past this in anticipation of a storyline where she finds who she is outside of her family's expectations of her. There was so much potential here, especially once she has enough of her overwhelming parents and moves to Chicago to start a new job and life there. This, of course, is ruined when the two main characters decide to make the move to Seattle to be closer to her family at the end of the book. I don't necessarily think it is a bad thing that they move to be closer to family, but it is something I wish had happened a few years down the line after they had learned how to be a family of their own. Some of the comments that her parents made were absolutely horrible and they faced no consequences for them. I was so disappointed when her mother called her a hussy and then repeatedly called her a floozy for having a man at her apartment at the age of 26, all the main character did was tell her to not talk to her that way and moved on with the conversation. It was not enough of a response to the disrespect she was receiving.
As someone who is currently studying biology at an undergraduate level, Lainey's 'research' in Alaska made absolutely no sense and I am not really sure why it was included. I am also confused as to why it is mentioned that she had three different masters degrees in three unrelated subjects and then it is seemingly never brought up again. It was probably to make her seem really smart but it was really just confusing and it would have made more sense had the degrees somehow been worked into the storyline a bit better.
The male main character, RJ, was honestly pretty typical for the genre. He didn't stand out to me all that much. I do believe that he should have had to grovel a bit after accusing her of inseminating herself via turkey baster on page 147. This reaction is never really addressed, and they never really discuss what made him react that way, either. As readers, we know it is because of a previous experience with a fan, but we never actually get to see the main characters have a conversation about what he has experienced because of the life he lives.
Another issue I have is with the premise. I do not feel like it would have been all that hard for them to reconnect at all. Lainey knew that they had been staying at RJ's family cabin and that they made a yearly trip there. She also knew that he was familiar with the locals there and could have easily tried to ask one of them for a last name or some kind of contact information. She tried to call every alpaca farmer in the state of New York but didn't think to try to find out who owned the cabin? How does that make sense? I can suspend my disbelief for the sake of the story, but I think there should have at least been some further explanation as to why they couldn't get in contact with each other, considering it was one of the main plots of the story.
I was also disgusted by the frequent sexism in the book. A lot of it was more subtle benevolent sexism, which unfortunately can be par for the course with books like this, but some of it was just outright hostile sexism. I was absolutely disgusted by the comments made by Lainey's father, Simon, when talking about after his wife gave birth to their last child. He said, "... Elaine asked the midwife to fix things up a little" and "It was like we were newlyweds again". I interpreted these comment to be about adding in an extra stitch after childbirth, also known as the husband stitch, which is a practice that is often done without the consent of the patient to tighten the vaginal opening and often leads to painful intercourse. This real life practice has harmed countless women and I was horrified to see it being joked about like this.
There was also an ablest comment made by the main male character about his father, who died due to complications with diabetes, "some bodies are just defective, you know?". This comment really horrified me and I almost put the book down right away because of it.
I really wish I could have enjoyed this book, but it was just not for me.
As someone who is currently studying biology at an undergraduate level, Lainey's 'research' in Alaska made absolutely no sense and I am not really sure why it was included. I am also confused as to why it is mentioned that she had three different masters degrees in three unrelated subjects and then it is seemingly never brought up again. It was probably to make her seem really smart but it was really just confusing and it would have made more sense had the degrees somehow been worked into the storyline a bit better.
The male main character, RJ, was honestly pretty typical for the genre. He didn't stand out to me all that much. I do believe that he should have had to grovel a bit after accusing her of inseminating herself via turkey baster on page 147. This reaction is never really addressed, and they never really discuss what made him react that way, either. As readers, we know it is because of a previous experience with a fan, but we never actually get to see the main characters have a conversation about what he has experienced because of the life he lives.
Another issue I have is with the premise. I do not feel like it would have been all that hard for them to reconnect at all. Lainey knew that they had been staying at RJ's family cabin and that they made a yearly trip there. She also knew that he was familiar with the locals there and could have easily tried to ask one of them for a last name or some kind of contact information. She tried to call every alpaca farmer in the state of New York but didn't think to try to find out who owned the cabin? How does that make sense? I can suspend my disbelief for the sake of the story, but I think there should have at least been some further explanation as to why they couldn't get in contact with each other, considering it was one of the main plots of the story.
I was also disgusted by the frequent sexism in the book. A lot of it was more subtle benevolent sexism, which unfortunately can be par for the course with books like this, but some of it was just outright hostile sexism. I was absolutely disgusted by the comments made by Lainey's father, Simon, when talking about after his wife gave birth to their last child. He said, "... Elaine asked the midwife to fix things up a little" and "It was like we were newlyweds again". I interpreted these comment to be about adding in an extra stitch after childbirth, also known as the husband stitch, which is a practice that is often done without the consent of the patient to tighten the vaginal opening and often leads to painful intercourse. This real life practice has harmed countless women and I was horrified to see it being joked about like this.
There was also an ablest comment made by the main male character about his father, who died due to complications with diabetes, "some bodies are just defective, you know?". This comment really horrified me and I almost put the book down right away because of it.
I really wish I could have enjoyed this book, but it was just not for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Ableism
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