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hipsterspinster 's review for:
Savvy Sheldon Feels Good as Hell
by Taj McCoy
I'm not sure exactly how to talk about this book. What I liked was Savvy's end result of learning what she needed to feel good about herself and take care of herself. It's rare that we get to see a character get the big promotion then realize it's just not what they want career-wise - rather than a Hallmark movie where they just get the promotion and give it up for their small town ex-high-school-boyfriend. She legitimately realized the role was not going to allow her the space to continue her personal growth, and that's super important.
What I wasn't feeling in this book were the many loose ends. Like Joanie preferring to be called Cotter but continuously being called and referred to as Joanie. It was confusing and made me wonder if there was purposeful misidentification happening. It didn't make sense. WHY was Jason showing up EVERYWHERE Savvy was? Like seriously, was he stalking her via GPS? That was very weird, confusing, and honestly, uncomfortable. The racial/ethnic identities of Savvy's family members also left me confused as her mother was described as being Asian, her father, who is completely out of the picture was Black. Was Uncle her mother's or father's brother? I just started getting confused about who was who, especially the voice choices made by the narrator (audiobook). Spencer constantly leaving in the morning to walk Teddy without saying anything was weird. He explained when she asked him about it and said it bothered her, but then continued to slip out silently instead of just saying goodbye in the morning or inviting her to join him. That should have happened WAY before the end of the book.
Lastly, and I've seen many other reviews mention this, the "revenge body" plot. In a body-positivity world, I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it eventually led to Savvy acknowledging that she herself wanted to change her body, but it was constantly cloaked in Jason's perception. That was a struggle to read, especially when he kept showing up. I can't fault her for feeling terrible about herself after someone she had a relationship with put her down. Sometimes these horrible experiences are the catalyst for evaluation, I just wish there could have been a little more meat given to her personal assessment of how she felt about her body and why, not how she felt about her body in relation to what Jason said and constantly comparing herself to her high school self.
Overall, I just wanted more from this story, and there were loose ends that should have been better fleshed out and tied up.
What I wasn't feeling in this book were the many loose ends. Like Joanie preferring to be called Cotter but continuously being called and referred to as Joanie. It was confusing and made me wonder if there was purposeful misidentification happening. It didn't make sense. WHY was Jason showing up EVERYWHERE Savvy was? Like seriously, was he stalking her via GPS? That was very weird, confusing, and honestly, uncomfortable. The racial/ethnic identities of Savvy's family members also left me confused as her mother was described as being Asian, her father, who is completely out of the picture was Black. Was Uncle her mother's or father's brother? I just started getting confused about who was who, especially the voice choices made by the narrator (audiobook). Spencer constantly leaving in the morning to walk Teddy without saying anything was weird. He explained when she asked him about it and said it bothered her, but then continued to slip out silently instead of just saying goodbye in the morning or inviting her to join him. That should have happened WAY before the end of the book.
Lastly, and I've seen many other reviews mention this, the "revenge body" plot. In a body-positivity world, I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it eventually led to Savvy acknowledging that she herself wanted to change her body, but it was constantly cloaked in Jason's perception. That was a struggle to read, especially when he kept showing up. I can't fault her for feeling terrible about herself after someone she had a relationship with put her down. Sometimes these horrible experiences are the catalyst for evaluation, I just wish there could have been a little more meat given to her personal assessment of how she felt about her body and why, not how she felt about her body in relation to what Jason said and constantly comparing herself to her high school self.
Overall, I just wanted more from this story, and there were loose ends that should have been better fleshed out and tied up.