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A review by mary_love
Dance Upon the Air by Nora Roberts
1.0
**CHANGED REVIEW AFTER RECENT RE-READ**
Did not age well.
Nell or Helen is the first of the romantic leads in the Three Sisters Island Trilogy. The first time I read this, I thought Mia was a shitty friend, but a reread 8ish years later has shed new and toxic light on this story for me.
Nell has been violently abused by her husband and she escapes to Three Sisters Island (after faking her death), where she finds a true home and true love in the sheriff, Zach. She continues to experience PTSD while the people of 3SI press and press her for information. The attitude is toxic. There are times where moments meant to feel righteous actually feel like a physical punch in the gut as a reader.
Everyone, especially Zach, behaves like they're entitled to Nell's trauma. It is levied against her that, if she really trusts these people, then she'd share her trauma with them.
Zach is the only character who doesn't pry the majority of the book. Then, even though she made specific effort to tell Zach that she would not marry him MULTIPLE TIMES, he is ABSOLUTELY LIVID that she turns out to be married (should be obvious) when he proposes anyway. He then proceeds to leave her until she tells him "the full story." He is told by every character how he is right and she is told how she should have told him about her trauma if she loved him. When she does decide to talk to him, he belittles her, criticizes her handling of her abusive relationship, mansplains, and gives her an ultimatum: reveal she is alive to her attacker so she can divorce him OR break up with Zach. I WAS SICK TO MY STOMACH.
Nell has no therapist, she is verbally abused by her new narcissist boyfriend, Zach, and unsupported by her friends. She never escaped her horrible situation, she only redressed it.
This book is perverse in its toxic masculinity, which is not how the other 2 books are in this trilogy. It has ruined this trilogy for me, but hopefully my edited review can help others decide against reading it.
Did not age well.
Nell or Helen is the first of the romantic leads in the Three Sisters Island Trilogy. The first time I read this, I thought Mia was a shitty friend, but a reread 8ish years later has shed new and toxic light on this story for me.
Nell has been violently abused by her husband and she escapes to Three Sisters Island (after faking her death), where she finds a true home and true love in the sheriff, Zach. She continues to experience PTSD while the people of 3SI press and press her for information. The attitude is toxic. There are times where moments meant to feel righteous actually feel like a physical punch in the gut as a reader.
Everyone, especially Zach, behaves like they're entitled to Nell's trauma. It is levied against her that, if she really trusts these people, then she'd share her trauma with them.
Zach is the only character who doesn't pry the majority of the book. Then, even though she made specific effort to tell Zach that she would not marry him MULTIPLE TIMES, he is ABSOLUTELY LIVID that she turns out to be married (should be obvious) when he proposes anyway. He then proceeds to leave her until she tells him "the full story." He is told by every character how he is right and she is told how she should have told him about her trauma if she loved him. When she does decide to talk to him, he belittles her, criticizes her handling of her abusive relationship, mansplains, and gives her an ultimatum: reveal she is alive to her attacker so she can divorce him OR break up with Zach. I WAS SICK TO MY STOMACH.
Nell has no therapist, she is verbally abused by her new narcissist boyfriend, Zach, and unsupported by her friends. She never escaped her horrible situation, she only redressed it.
This book is perverse in its toxic masculinity, which is not how the other 2 books are in this trilogy. It has ruined this trilogy for me, but hopefully my edited review can help others decide against reading it.