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dynesha_monae 's review for:
Symphony of Salvation
by Nicky James
Was I seriously supposed to fall for an ableist as*hole?
From the very beginning, Augustus rubbed me the wrong way. I hate how he interacts with his daughter. He spent the majority of the book trying to force her to make her disability more convenient for him instead of thinking of ways to bridge their communication gap. I can sympathize with his reasonings, but ultimately, he was in the wrong. It should not have taken having the hots for her teacher to make him consider learning ASL. This all made it very difficult to like him. Niles on the other hand needs to go to therapy (they all do tbh). I am not without my own insecurities and can empathize, but he created angst for himself over and over because he felt inadequate. Between his parents and the school principal, his self-esteem was in the dumpster. He got so caught up in accolades and credentials that he could not see that Augustus was a deeply flawed man not too different from himself. I Lost count of how many times his snide remarks about his or Agustus’ career made me roll my eyes. I think my annoyance with the characters prevented me from feeling yearning or passion with them like I did with Jersey and Koa in book 1. There was se*ual tension, sure, but madly in love passion? Absolutely not.
Tbh, I spent more time wishing I had a POV from Constance to know what she was thinking and feeling each time she interacted with her father (but that’s just the counselor in me I guess). It’s great that they both made an effort to bridge the communication gap in the end, but the commitment to stubbornness was just too annoying.
And then there’s the matter of Augustus’s departure to Chicago. While I understand why he left and can appreciate that he had the best intentions, doing so without explaining, especially to his daughter was a terrible decision. He did not realize how much his prescience anchored his daughter and she unraveled without him since she believed he was never coming back. The warm welcome he received upon his return was undeserving in my opinion.
The book was wrapped up in a nice, neat little happily ever after, together forever family bow that I am also annoyed with. I’m glad things worked out but for f*cks sake, everyone should have gone to therapy or something! There are land mines left behind that will undoubtedly explode if they don’t address them.
The only thing that kept this from Turing into a hate read is that Nicky James’s writing is so good that it distracted me from how awful the characters were. Truthfully, this was actually one of the most realistic romances I’ve read. I probably know of about 3 couples like them. Unfortunately, I don’t read for realism. I read for escapism. I’ve loved every single book I’ve read from her so far except this one and that makes me sad.
From the very beginning, Augustus rubbed me the wrong way. I hate how he interacts with his daughter. He spent the majority of the book trying to force her to make her disability more convenient for him instead of thinking of ways to bridge their communication gap. I can sympathize with his reasonings, but ultimately, he was in the wrong. It should not have taken having the hots for her teacher to make him consider learning ASL. This all made it very difficult to like him. Niles on the other hand needs to go to therapy (they all do tbh). I am not without my own insecurities and can empathize, but he created angst for himself over and over because he felt inadequate. Between his parents and the school principal, his self-esteem was in the dumpster. He got so caught up in accolades and credentials that he could not see that Augustus was a deeply flawed man not too different from himself. I Lost count of how many times his snide remarks about his or Agustus’ career made me roll my eyes. I think my annoyance with the characters prevented me from feeling yearning or passion with them like I did with Jersey and Koa in book 1. There was se*ual tension, sure, but madly in love passion? Absolutely not.
Tbh, I spent more time wishing I had a POV from Constance to know what she was thinking and feeling each time she interacted with her father (but that’s just the counselor in me I guess). It’s great that they both made an effort to bridge the communication gap in the end, but the commitment to stubbornness was just too annoying.
And then there’s the matter of Augustus’s departure to Chicago. While I understand why he left and can appreciate that he had the best intentions, doing so without explaining, especially to his daughter was a terrible decision. He did not realize how much his prescience anchored his daughter and she unraveled without him since she believed he was never coming back. The warm welcome he received upon his return was undeserving in my opinion.
The book was wrapped up in a nice, neat little happily ever after, together forever family bow that I am also annoyed with. I’m glad things worked out but for f*cks sake, everyone should have gone to therapy or something! There are land mines left behind that will undoubtedly explode if they don’t address them.
The only thing that kept this from Turing into a hate read is that Nicky James’s writing is so good that it distracted me from how awful the characters were. Truthfully, this was actually one of the most realistic romances I’ve read. I probably know of about 3 couples like them. Unfortunately, I don’t read for realism. I read for escapism. I’ve loved every single book I’ve read from her so far except this one and that makes me sad.