On the other hand...
I think it's partially the feminist lens through which I view the world (and can't turn off, even when I want to). The deal is, this book is technically a romance novel (I think), and I just couldn't go with every romance convention the author wanted me to. In a nutshell, Our Heroine is a high-school art teacher living with the school's coach in an unspecified small town, where everyone knows everyone, and her life is "beige." Then she finds a dog, and it sets off a wacky set of events. She moves out on the coach -- more on him later -- inspires her mother to come out as a lesbian, inspires her best friend to start wanting "more" out of her relationship, and finally decides to go for it with the hot mechanic who is also her sister's ex-husband.
For a story that's allegedly all about a woman finding her own empowerment, Quinn spends every sex scene enjoying being dominated by the man. (Plus, can I just say, "he sank in to her deep pinkness" is the LEAST SEXY THING ever?) Meanwhile, her ex boyfriend, who is introduced as a fairly normal guy, goes absolutely ape shit bonkers and stalks and attacks her, because she's "his," and he just can't let her go. And when she tells this to the Hot Mechanic She's Loved Forever, he's all "yeah, that's just how men are. Women are posessions to us, no matter how wrong that seems." So she's gone from a loveless relationship to one with a guy who's a huge flake and a known womanizer, but who's hot. And that's fine; she wanted excitement and she got it. But she also went from a guy running her life to another guy who wants to run her sex life (and how) and it just... it triggered something ooky for me.
Here's another problem. I never really bought the "longing true love" aspect of Quinn and Hot Mechanic (hereafter Nick). We get his internal lust for her, how he thinks she's his best friend, and the only woman he won't fuck because he doesn't want to lose her. But at no point was I shown a best friend relationship. He helps her move. The end. Therefore, he has always loved her. I was unconvinced he'd changed at all, and I hope she's still happy that she threw herself at him when he leaves her in a year, as is his wont, or flips out when she tries to prove to him that she's not his property, as he so charmingly put it.
Wow, I'm angrier about this than I thought.
Last really super irritating point: Quinn's best friend decides her marriage needs spark, since Quinn is out seeking spark. So BF goes to her husband Max's work, and tries to seduce him. He says maybe when they get home, after the kids are in bed. She tells him to go to hell. Next plan: she answers the door naked. He's brought company home. She goes upstairs and cries, he watches football. Next plan: she wears sexy lingerie, he falls asleep while she's changing, next morning he notices and she almost punches him. Next plan: she wears different sexy lingerie, he accuses her of thinking he's cheated on her and flipping out, she gets so angry she leaves him. FINE. Except when did the stupid stupid STUPID woman TELL HIM WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS? NEVER! She just kept behaving weirdly and then freaking out when he didn't catch the snap.
For a story that's allegedly all about a woman finding her own empowerment, Quinn spends every sex scene enjoying being dominated by the man. (Plus, can I just say, "he sank in to her deep pinkness" is the LEAST SEXY THING ever?) Meanwhile, her ex boyfriend, who is introduced as a fairly normal guy, goes absolutely ape shit bonkers and stalks and attacks her, because she's "his," and he just can't let her go. And when she tells this to the Hot Mechanic She's Loved Forever, he's all "yeah, that's just how men are. Women are posessions to us, no matter how wrong that seems." So she's gone from a loveless relationship to one with a guy who's a huge flake and a known womanizer, but who's hot. And that's fine; she wanted excitement and she got it. But she also went from a guy running her life to another guy who wants to run her sex life (and how) and it just... it triggered something ooky for me.
Here's another problem. I never really bought the "longing true love" aspect of Quinn and Hot Mechanic (hereafter Nick). We get his internal lust for her, how he thinks she's his best friend, and the only woman he won't fuck because he doesn't want to lose her. But at no point was I shown a best friend relationship. He helps her move. The end. Therefore, he has always loved her. I was unconvinced he'd changed at all, and I hope she's still happy that she threw herself at him when he leaves her in a year, as is his wont, or flips out when she tries to prove to him that she's not his property, as he so charmingly put it.
Wow, I'm angrier about this than I thought.
Last really super irritating point: Quinn's best friend decides her marriage needs spark, since Quinn is out seeking spark. So BF goes to her husband Max's work, and tries to seduce him. He says maybe when they get home, after the kids are in bed. She tells him to go to hell. Next plan: she answers the door naked. He's brought company home. She goes upstairs and cries, he watches football. Next plan: she wears sexy lingerie, he falls asleep while she's changing, next morning he notices and she almost punches him. Next plan: she wears different sexy lingerie, he accuses her of thinking he's cheated on her and flipping out, she gets so angry she leaves him. FINE. Except when did the stupid stupid STUPID woman TELL HIM WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS? NEVER! She just kept behaving weirdly and then freaking out when he didn't catch the snap.
(In her defense, when she finally does tell him, 3/4 of the way through the book, his reaction is "We don't need to change anything! You're crazy!" and after that he deserves to be told to fuck off. But up until that point, he was basically blameless and she was crazy. Seriously.)
That was longer and angrier than I expected. It's a cute, fluffy book, which totally engrossed me for hours yesterday. I have to go read something else by Crusie and see if it's just a "romance novels are misogynistic" thing, a "this author is not my thing" thing, or a "Harriet is way oversensitive" thing. Then we shall see what's really what.
Originally posted 2006 -- waaaay before I started reading romance novels regularly. Not the greatest introduction to them, clearly.
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