I'm just writing brief comments here and checking this book of as "read" without writing a legitimate review for it. This won't be published on my blog, or anywhere other than here, so you can count it as a status update if you want to.

I just didn't like this book. The main character, Lee, had too many people obsessed with her and she herself was obsessed with passing judgment off on others. The ending was predictable and sad, but I was too angry about everything else to really pay attention to it very much. 

My question, though, is why exactly is women's chick-lit, like this, so awful, boring, and judgmental? The idea has only just occurred to me as I sat down to write this brief comment. It seems to be a stereotype now that books written "for women" that are busy and don't have much time to read are usually terribly written, terribly executed, and just terrible on every level. I'm wondering why that is. Why are books like this popular with anyone?

I don't see the likability factor, especially in this one. 

I'm sorry but really--

"I'm sorry, Mary. I just wanted to say you look very pretty tonight."

 

I was surprised by Amos' comment. Mary could have been pretty, but she wasn't wearing makeup, her hair was badly cut, and her fluffy dress was much too childish for a woman in her early to middle twenties. I would have loved to turn Mary over to a good stylist for a complete redo. (emphasis mine)

 

What is this lady's PROBLEM?? It's impossible for this young, shy, and quiet girl to be pretty because she has a bad haircut, doesn't wear makeup, and likes to wear fluffy dresses? Excuse me, but as a girl in her early twenties (twenty itself, to be precise), I know plenty of girls my age who look fantastic without makeup, and who don't need a fancy haircut to be beautiful. Let alone her "fluffy" dress, which is described as looking somewhat like a prom dress. (Did Mary go to prom? Guess what, Lee--IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY MATTER.)

I just get so angry when books try to justify a certain type of beauty, and the main character (who gets angry when people assume she's a conservative because she's from Texas) makes the worst assumptions about people based on their looks. It's so frustrating and disheartening to see this kind of bashing go on in novels.

1) Our library is mainly used by foreign students trying to improve their English. A book that often has words missing (similar to many mistakes I see in the papers of the students I tutor) is probably not helpful for that kind of atmosphere.

2) I'm getting really sick of literally everyone falling all over Lee all the time. She's our main character, she's crazy tall, she blonde, she's beautiful--I get it. She's also a newlywed who apparently spent five years as a trophy wife. First, Dr. Mendenhall--the man who gets murdered--spends literally all his time alive in this book hitting on her and getting fresh with her in the car. Then, the police detective in charge of the investigation hits on her in the middle of a diner. THEN, the stupid desk clerk of the motel says he can fudge his statement about seeing her if she "does him a favor in return," or something like that. EVERYONE. EVERYONE IS OBSESSED WITH HER.

And Lee blames it on herself! She notices the clerk watching her again in the diner, and she says, "A stranger was leering at me? Why? I was dressed conservatively--blazer and slacks. I wasn't wearing a lot of makeup. And I thought I'd been behaving myself."

What?!?!?! No x1000000??? Stop your train of thought???

Because one, dressing conservatively is an entirely subjective idea, and while I have my own ideas of modesty, there are dang sexy women who look hot in a blazer and slacks, so that literally has nothing to do with how attractive you are, or how attractive other people will find you; and two, WOMEN WHO WEAR LOTS OF MAKEUP DON'T DESERVE UNWANTED ADVANCES FROM RANDOM STRANGERS, SO HOW IS THIS RELEVANT??? And three, you're sitting in a diner with your husband, what does "behaving yourself" have to do with anything? I don't understand??

I know I'm being kind of harsh on this book, but I mean, honestly? Why do we assign things like "perfect flawless heroine" to being a sterotype of young adult literature when it's apparently just as prevalent in adult literature? Could we please not? Can people stop making drool-worthy heroines a thing? Dr. Mendenhall being a creep, I can understand. But a police detective, too?? He wouldn't actually care about his job and what he stands for, and finding the person who murdered this guy? And the teenage desk clerk isn't far more likely to be terrified out of his mind, because he's just a kid who has been caught up in a murder investigation because he happened to work the wrong shift? Whaaaaaaaaaat.

Well, this might come as a surprise to quite a few of you! So I owe a little bit of an explanation, since this isn't my "usual" type of book.

I work in a tutoring center where I and others help people with their writing and stuff. We have a small library. My friend, who is in charge of the library, asked me to read some books that were donated to see if they should be added to the library. So since I have some hours left over at the end of the week I can fill up, I said yes! So this is the first one I'll be reading. (:

I do like chocolate, so I have high hopes...