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A review by stephanie_inman
Pulling Home by Mary Campisi
1.0
TW/CW: Grief, death of a loved one.
Sexual harassment and assault (isn’t main character and isn’t on page, but there are a few mentions of this)
Questionable consent
Yikes.
I had this on my Kindle (it was a freebie) for a few years. I’m trying to do a Kindle “cleanup” this year and read ones that have been on there for a while rather than keep buying new books.
I liked the premise of this one. Audra is a widow, her husband dies. Her kid gets sick. So, lotta heartbreak for Audra here. Okay, that I’m cool with. We find out that Audra had been in love with her husband’s brother, who is now the doctor treating her kid. (We all know where this is going, right?). I didn’t feel much build up because it was so obvious what was coming up. There’s another “twist” about Audra that we also see coming a mile away.
So, I just couldn’t get into the story, but that wasn’t even my main issue. Like I rolled my eyes so freaking hard at this one. Jack is Kara’s (the kid) doctor? He’s related to her, but a hospital is like “nah, go ahead and perform SURGERY ON A CHILD YOU ARE RELATED TO?! Really?
Audra works as a head writer on a soap opera, but she writes it anonymously? This book was published in 2014. There is the issue that a) why would an employer think that Audra is so indispensable that they allow her to write for a show and be all “no one can know who I am” and b) again, this is 2014. People barely gave a fuck about soap operas then, yet alone care enough that when her identify is reveled the paparazzi heads to the state she’s in with her in-laws (Audra was living in California. Her in laws lived somewhere else. This is brought up a lot because her late husband’s parents blame her for their son moving to California)
I’ve never known anyone to be so into the writers of a TV show that the writers are hounded by paparazzi. This was just beyond ridiculous, imo.
Also the fact that this book was published in 2014 is astounding. It reads like one of those old paperbacks my grandma might have read. Everything about it seems outdated.
We have a heaping pile of misogyny and slut shaming.
Some reviewers didn’t like the sex, which is fair if you’re into cleaner reads. However, if you don’t mind or even like your books on the sexier side of things, the scenes here are probably not going to interest you. Very bland. Very tame. Again, think old paperback with Fabio on the cover.
Jack is a cheater. And in my opinion there’s some questionable consent. There’s a scene were Audra is on pills that help her relax/sleep and Jack goes into her room and has sex with her. Ick.
I ended up skimming this one when I got about midway through. Not only was I just not enjoying the story, but the writing was too jumbled for me. There was too much back and forth of Audra with side characters. While we had the main story, we also had Audra looking for her dad and the story of her mom’s past. It just wasn’t all necessary.
I hated pretty much every character in this book. Both the hero and heroine were insufferable. The mother in law and her friends were mean and petty. The hero’s fiancé was vapid. The fiancé’s brother was written as a “nice guy”. The father in law was the only one I didn’t hate. He should have taken the kid and left the rest of this crew.
I had three other books in this series on my Kindle. While I’m sure there is an audience for them, I realize that this author just isn’t for me. Maybe it’s that they are more chick-lit and that often doesn’t work for me. Maybe it’s because of how dated everything in it felt to me. Whatever the reason, I deleted them and am moving on.
Sexual harassment and assault (isn’t main character and isn’t on page, but there are a few mentions of this)
Questionable consent
Yikes.
I had this on my Kindle (it was a freebie) for a few years. I’m trying to do a Kindle “cleanup” this year and read ones that have been on there for a while rather than keep buying new books.
I liked the premise of this one. Audra is a widow, her husband dies. Her kid gets sick. So, lotta heartbreak for Audra here. Okay, that I’m cool with. We find out that Audra had been in love with her husband’s brother, who is now the doctor treating her kid. (We all know where this is going, right?). I didn’t feel much build up because it was so obvious what was coming up. There’s another “twist” about Audra that we also see coming a mile away.
So, I just couldn’t get into the story, but that wasn’t even my main issue. Like I rolled my eyes so freaking hard at this one. Jack is Kara’s (the kid) doctor? He’s related to her, but a hospital is like “nah, go ahead and perform SURGERY ON A CHILD YOU ARE RELATED TO?! Really?
Audra works as a head writer on a soap opera, but she writes it anonymously? This book was published in 2014. There is the issue that a) why would an employer think that Audra is so indispensable that they allow her to write for a show and be all “no one can know who I am” and b) again, this is 2014. People barely gave a fuck about soap operas then, yet alone care enough that when her identify is reveled the paparazzi heads to the state she’s in with her in-laws (Audra was living in California. Her in laws lived somewhere else. This is brought up a lot because her late husband’s parents blame her for their son moving to California)
I’ve never known anyone to be so into the writers of a TV show that the writers are hounded by paparazzi. This was just beyond ridiculous, imo.
Also the fact that this book was published in 2014 is astounding. It reads like one of those old paperbacks my grandma might have read. Everything about it seems outdated.
We have a heaping pile of misogyny and slut shaming.
Some reviewers didn’t like the sex, which is fair if you’re into cleaner reads. However, if you don’t mind or even like your books on the sexier side of things, the scenes here are probably not going to interest you. Very bland. Very tame. Again, think old paperback with Fabio on the cover.
Jack is a cheater. And in my opinion there’s some questionable consent. There’s a scene were Audra is on pills that help her relax/sleep and Jack goes into her room and has sex with her. Ick.
I ended up skimming this one when I got about midway through. Not only was I just not enjoying the story, but the writing was too jumbled for me. There was too much back and forth of Audra with side characters. While we had the main story, we also had Audra looking for her dad and the story of her mom’s past. It just wasn’t all necessary.
I hated pretty much every character in this book. Both the hero and heroine were insufferable. The mother in law and her friends were mean and petty. The hero’s fiancé was vapid. The fiancé’s brother was written as a “nice guy”. The father in law was the only one I didn’t hate. He should have taken the kid and left the rest of this crew.
I had three other books in this series on my Kindle. While I’m sure there is an audience for them, I realize that this author just isn’t for me. Maybe it’s that they are more chick-lit and that often doesn’t work for me. Maybe it’s because of how dated everything in it felt to me. Whatever the reason, I deleted them and am moving on.