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A review by ilikechandeliers
What a Wallflower Wants by Maya Rodale
3.0
My most pressing problem with the story is technical. She does a lot of POV shifting between Prue and John within the same scene. While not confusing, it's abrupt enough to take me out of the story. Not only that, I've noticed, even in her other stories, she has a habit of contradicting a characters previous established action, thought, or speech for the sake of moving the story along, which makes for character inconsistencies. Mostly within the heroine herself. Prue wasn't as overt as the other heroines, but it was still significant enough for me.
Now for the story itself. I liked how Prue's rape and all the emotional baggage around it was written. It did move me, and wrenched me. I did think John was a bit too modernized, but considering I'm a romantic, I'm ok with this. However, and maybe this is just my taste, I felt, that despite the subject matter and gravity in which it was spoken and dealt with, there wasn't enough angst in it. In my experience, the trauma does not magically alleviate to almost non-existence, even if you have trust, love and such an understanding partner.
And with Dudley's POV, while I appreciate the effort, it felt too textbooky. He's supposed to act that way because he seeks power. But the way it's executed, it seems as if she barely touches the surface and then shies away. It's just too superficial. Maybe no one really wants to be in the mind of a rapist and then write it, it's definitely a dark place to be in, but considering that she explicitly puts his POV, I don't know, there's something missing.
Maybe what I mean is that, overall, this book seems a bit expository. Too many things were stated, instead of established by action.
Now for the story itself. I liked how Prue's rape and all the emotional baggage around it was written. It did move me, and wrenched me. I did think John was a bit too modernized, but considering I'm a romantic, I'm ok with this. However, and maybe this is just my taste, I felt, that despite the subject matter and gravity in which it was spoken and dealt with, there wasn't enough angst in it. In my experience, the trauma does not magically alleviate to almost non-existence, even if you have trust, love and such an understanding partner.
And with Dudley's POV, while I appreciate the effort, it felt too textbooky. He's supposed to act that way because he seeks power. But the way it's executed, it seems as if she barely touches the surface and then shies away. It's just too superficial. Maybe no one really wants to be in the mind of a rapist and then write it, it's definitely a dark place to be in, but considering that she explicitly puts his POV, I don't know, there's something missing.
Maybe what I mean is that, overall, this book seems a bit expository. Too many things were stated, instead of established by action.