13 reasons why – Jay Asher

Synopsis

Clay reviews cassette tapes recorded by Hannah, a girl he had a crush on in school. She also recently committed suicide. The tapes are an explanation of the 13 people who had some connection to the reasons why she decided to take her own life.

Clay uses the tapes as a guide, walking around town to visit the places where events critical to Hannah’s life happened.

Opinion

First, I must explain why there is no rating for this book- reading this book was way out of my comfort zone. If I had rated it, it would have been low but in way I did not think that was fair to the story. It was a struggle for me to get through this book. But not for the reasons you might think. The story is told from the POV of Clay and Hannah. At times it was difficult for me to determine on the kindle if the words were italicized which would indicate Hannah’s narration (this book is probably best read in paperback).

As for the story itself: I guess the moral should be- Be kind to one another. Being mean and insensitive to a person can lead to their suicide.

While I think it was the author’s intention to create a series of incidents that caused you to feel sorry for Hannah, I was less emotionally moved. It annoyed me that Hannah kept choosing to associate with self-absorbed, egocentric, catty, spiteful, vindictive, obnoxious people. She identified these qualities in them but continued to put herself in situations that allowed them to hurt her feelings as if she was overly optimistic that they would rise above their own catty behavior and be better people. I believe that she kept toxic friends to be able to use them as an excuse for her own self-inflicted behavior.

There is no doubt that Hannah was a victim of an insidious form of bullying. However, that is only part of the story. She was also very immature and displayed some of the same qualities for which she demonized her fellow classmates. In the end, I think her suicide was less about what others did to her and more about what she allowed to happen (that statement will make more sense if you read the book).

Most of the people Hannah’s list were jerks. In the whole book, I felt sorry for 3 people

1. Hannah’s parents – they lost their child. They were already having financial problems. Now they have the added stress and guilt that their child committed suicide and they do not really know why.

2. Guidance counselor – he was not in a position to help Hannah because by the time she talked to him, she had already made up her mind what she was going to do. She gave him such cryptic answers that only a mind reader would have been able to discern what she was trying to say. She was expecting a miracle solution (probably involving time travel to undo what had been done) instead of pragmatic reality. It was not fair of her to blame him.

3. This person will remain nameless (read the book and you will understand who this person is) – this person is one of the few characters of the story who was not a horrible person deserving of a life-long guilt trip.

If so many people had not raved about this book, I would not have given it a second glance. While not my cup of tea, I would classify this book as young adult fiction recommended for teenagers. My only worry is that this book glamorizes suicide as a melodramatic way to have the last say to all those who you perceive have wronged you in some way.

I do hope that those who identify with the feelings that Hannah exhibited understand their own personal responsibility in making sure that someone knows exactly how they feel without talking in code or hoping that someone is going to read between the lines to hear what they are saying.

The conversation should be about open, honest communication before taking drastic measures such as taking one’s own life.

A matter of choice – Nora Roberts

Dec5

A Matter of Choice ♥♥

Synopsis

James Sladerman (Slade) is a detective sergeant that was picked for an undercover assignment to look after the Commissioner of Police goddaughter. Her antiques business is suspected of being part of an international smuggling ring. Since he is a writer, his guise is that he is going to stay at her house temporarily to do some writing.

Jessica Winslow is the daughter of a prominent New England family and is oblivious to the fact that someone is using her business to smuggle illegal goods. The suspect is someone she trusts and her life is soon to be in danger because of it.

Opinion

This is one of my least favorite books by Nora Roberts.

Jessica’s main fault was that she was so dumb and oblivious to all the signs that someone she trusted betrayed her.

As hard as I tried, I did not like Slade. Slade was so bitter over everything.

It was as if he was mad at the world-

mad because he had to take care of his family and could not work in a job he liked
mad because his novel had not been sold
mad because Jessica’s family was rich
mad because he was attracted to Jessica
mad because he had to protect her when he wanted to be far away from her

This comment from Jessica sums it up, “ I realize you might think differently, but you don’t go to hell for being kind.”

I cannot understand how or why Jessica fell in love with Slade. He was sullen or yelling at her most of the time. Even when he declared his love, he sounded angry about it.

His attitude killed the romance for me.

Additionally, consent in this book was not straightforward enough for me.

“ ‘No. This isn’t what I want’

Yes, yes it is, her eyes told him even while her hands pushed him away”.

Ick. I am more sensitive to this issue because so many women get raped when they say no, but the attacker says that they were saying yes with their body.

I do not care what signals a man thinks her body is giving him. If a woman says “no”, then the man should stop.

Should you buy? Only if you are a die hard Nora Roberts fan and have to read every book she has published. Otherwise, pass on this one. It is dark, the heroine is dense, and the hero has too many issues.

The Best Man for a reason

Nov30

The Best Man ♥♥♥

Synopsis

Colin is a trouble making best man at his brother’s wedding. Usually the epitome of a quiet English gentleman, the reason for his out-of-character behavior is that he was once dating the bride. She dumped him for his brother, but in a crazy, dysfunctional way, he was guilted into not only being in the wedding but being the best man.

Beth is a wedding planner with her personal goal to be named partner in the business. She needs for the wedding to go on without a hitch. In this case, it means dealing with Colin’s antics so that he does not ruin his brother’s big day.

Opinion

The story premise was original enough. However, Colin fell in love too quickly for me.

Even with that, I thought Colin was such a sweet cutie with a sense of humor. He was too nice and let his family railroad him when they should have been more understanding. For that one point on its own, he deserved a happy ending.

In the beginning I agreed with Beth when she questioned the relationship. But after a while, I started to get annoyed. Since falling in love did not fit into her plan, she keeps trying to minimize what Colin and she have. Beth was, at times, a grumpy killjoy when it came to love, and then would be despondent that she might be missing out on something.

Overall, the story was cute. I liked Colin and he deserved all the hugs and kisses. But this is how I felt about Beth.

Should you buy? Yea it was cute enough to have in your Kindle collection. This is one of those light romances with a feel good hero.

This is who I imagine will play Colin in the movie version of this book.

Wishy-washy Gypsy love

Nov25

Gypsy Bond ♥ ♥

Synopsis

Juliet married a Gypsy man named Marko and then he left with his Gypsy group. Years later, the Gypsy group is back camping near her home. And she wants her husband. Marko thinks it is best for her to marry a nobleman since the law does not recognize Gypsy weddings anyway.

Opinion

Since the story was short, there was not a lot of character development. The author tried to give a little history of why Marko left Juliet after they first got married. I thought Marko was a jerk when he was trying to hurt Juliet’s feelings as a way to persuade her to forget about him.

He was unnecessarily mean considering Juliet waited so long for him to return. He acted as if she should just forget him because he demanded.

THEN when it suited him, the mutual attraction has him listening to his body instead of his mind. I had about enough of him and began grit my teeth. He cannot claim her and then say she needs to marry someone else.

Juliet was so sweet – possibly because she was pining for her first love and ignoring how he was really treating her. I did not think that Marko deserved her love. But since she loved him, he should have been gracious enough to accept it instead of treating her the way he did.

I do realize these are not real people, but I have strong feelings about the way men should treat women who love them.

Should you buy? No. If you must read this book, try to find it at the library or your local thrift store. There are a lot of books out there for 99cents with better heroes.

Is your Man of Fantasy as good as this

Nov15

Man of Fantasy (Arabesque) ♥ ♥

Synopsis

Nayo is a photographer who is being commissioned to provide artwork for Ivan’s house. His interior decorator said he needed artwork on the walls since the houses design was going to be featured in a prestigious architectural magazine. During the course of the story, they fall for each other.

Opinion

The story consisted of a clichéd plot: a love-then-leave-them, relationship challenged man who is intrigued by a woman who does not want a promise of commitment.

I think a lot of Ivan’s change in attitude towards relationships and marriage had to do with the fact that his two best friends were engaged and had wonderful significant others. They took every opportunity to tell him how great life was to be committed to one woman.

As for Nayo, I cannot understand her reluctance to even consider a relationship and career at the same time. Why not tell the man up front, “A relationship with me does not mean I will not pursue my career”? She acted as if she had to choose one or the other. Granted her ex-fiancé wanted her to choose, but that is why he became an ex! She built a relationship barrier over something that could have been cleared if she would have communicated more.

I did enjoy the characters in a few instances. The scene where Nayo photographed Ivan was cute.

However, most of the time, I was rolling my eyes in annoyance. Ivan was a man not used to having to chase the woman. Plus it seems that he is mostly doing the “relationship thing” not to be left out of the loop with his buddies. As for Nayo, she did not know how to have a work-life balance.

After they get married, the thrill will be gone.

Coupled with the fact that they seemed like they will have to work very hard to make the relationship succeed (as opposed to other couples whose personalities seem better suited), and I wonder how long will they stay married.