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A review by misha_ali
CeCe Sloan Is Swooning by Jamey Moody
1.0
Loved the cover and was super keen on a series about a bunch of queer sisters each finding their person. Melissa Brayden, for example, has done this with the Lavender sisters to great effect and it's a great way to build-in close relationships and continuity in the stories.
That said, I had several problems with this one. First, we are thrust into this world full of sapphic women and no reason to care or be invested in them. I lost count around the time CeCe goes to Lovers Landing for a free stay with her days-old relationship and meets no less than three sapphic couples. I completely lost track of who was who and why a bunch of people CeCe has literally just met are so deeply invested in her relationship.
Which brings me to the other thing I absolutely hated in this book: the fact that these are forty something women (I am that age myself) and I feel like they're all actually thirteen or something because who on earth is this gossipy and invested in their friend/coworker/stranger they have just met's private life? I lost count again of the times a side character asks CeCe about her relationship or dates or make-out progress or locations with Alexis, or literal coworkers in a hospital asking Alexis about her dating CeCe because apparently her smiling at all in 15 years of working there is so rare that it merits comment. Bizarre and immature and very much indicative of nothing else really going on in the plot so that every single person is incredibly and deeply invested in the main characters.
Lastly, and this was a minor thing to start with, but the fact that we open with forty year old sisters being surprised by one of them having bought a part of a mall with three shops and then on a whim deciding on their businesses and names. Absolutely ridiculous. As the book progresses, it feels like they're a money laundering operation because nobody seems to pay for anything, just give things away to friends and special people and refuse payment. The idea of deciding on a business, making up a plan and getting it all stocked and ready in three months is laughable and then on top of that, there doesn't really seem to be any concern about those businesses breaking even or making any money. It's just a paper-thin backdrop for the sisters to exist in close quarters and be extremely nosy and also connected to literally every person the narrative tosses out.
The worst offender for me were the conversations. They're insipid and shallow and I do not for one second understand anything about anyone's character (except CeCe has low self-esteem for some reason, we GET it) and Alexis doesn't smile. Ask me to define a single characteristic of Desi, the mum, or either of the other sisters, or any of the six random sapphic women we meet for one scene in Lovers Landing? Couldn't do it.
TL:DR;
(for those who did not want to read my rant)
* Annoyingly shallow characterization
* Conversations are vapid and repetitive, revealing nothing about anyone's character
* Everyone in this story is OBSESSED with CeCe and Alexis' love life. Absolutely gagging to hear every single detail of this extremely vanilla and rushed love story.
* Apparently, businesses are just fine as long as you have family running them
* I forgot to mention: there should be a Bechdel test equivalent for romance novels where if every conversation between two characters is about nothing but their relationship, the book fails the test. This one would fail.
That said, I had several problems with this one. First, we are thrust into this world full of sapphic women and no reason to care or be invested in them. I lost count around the time CeCe goes to Lovers Landing for a free stay with her days-old relationship and meets no less than three sapphic couples. I completely lost track of who was who and why a bunch of people CeCe has literally just met are so deeply invested in her relationship.
Which brings me to the other thing I absolutely hated in this book: the fact that these are forty something women (I am that age myself) and I feel like they're all actually thirteen or something because who on earth is this gossipy and invested in their friend/coworker/stranger they have just met's private life? I lost count again of the times a side character asks CeCe about her relationship or dates or make-out progress or locations with Alexis, or literal coworkers in a hospital asking Alexis about her dating CeCe because apparently her smiling at all in 15 years of working there is so rare that it merits comment. Bizarre and immature and very much indicative of nothing else really going on in the plot so that every single person is incredibly and deeply invested in the main characters.
Lastly, and this was a minor thing to start with, but the fact that we open with forty year old sisters being surprised by one of them having bought a part of a mall with three shops and then on a whim deciding on their businesses and names. Absolutely ridiculous. As the book progresses, it feels like they're a money laundering operation because nobody seems to pay for anything, just give things away to friends and special people and refuse payment. The idea of deciding on a business, making up a plan and getting it all stocked and ready in three months is laughable and then on top of that, there doesn't really seem to be any concern about those businesses breaking even or making any money. It's just a paper-thin backdrop for the sisters to exist in close quarters and be extremely nosy and also connected to literally every person the narrative tosses out.
The worst offender for me were the conversations. They're insipid and shallow and I do not for one second understand anything about anyone's character (except CeCe has low self-esteem for some reason, we GET it) and Alexis doesn't smile. Ask me to define a single characteristic of Desi, the mum, or either of the other sisters, or any of the six random sapphic women we meet for one scene in Lovers Landing? Couldn't do it.
TL:DR;
(for those who did not want to read my rant)
* Annoyingly shallow characterization
* Conversations are vapid and repetitive, revealing nothing about anyone's character
* Everyone in this story is OBSESSED with CeCe and Alexis' love life. Absolutely gagging to hear every single detail of this extremely vanilla and rushed love story.
* Apparently, businesses are just fine as long as you have family running them
* I forgot to mention: there should be a Bechdel test equivalent for romance novels where if every conversation between two characters is about nothing but their relationship, the book fails the test. This one would fail.