Entry tags:

books, let's get literate! 2009

Hello, gentle reader and possible heterosexual romance fan! Are you aware that Elizabeth Scott writes some of the best romance available in conveniently sized packages that do not exceed 350 words? I have been a convert since Perfect You arrived in my mailbox, complete with its totally irresistible cover and smoking hot make outs that left the protagonist writhing in confusion but also arousal! Elizabeth Scott does hot and bothered with the best of them.

This story features Hannah, a loner who works at a dead-end fast food job taking orders for overpriced hamburgers while lusting after too-cool Josh and trying to deter the attentions of annoying Finn—it's a nice story even with the "Gee, I wonder who Hannah is going to choose?" rhetorical, but what sold me on it was the parental issues. Hannah's mother, Candy Madison, a former girlfriend of the sex magnate Jackson James, works from home selling herself (the book seriously almost lost me at this point; the mother was characterized so horribly! Why sure, let's define this character by the men she's been involved with! Awesome!) and she and Hannah get along fairly well but it was Hannah's relationship with her estranged father that had me seeing stars. Hannah struggles with wanting Jackson to treat her like something other than a mistake he made with Candy when Candy happened to be one of his "special girls" and something more than fonder for his reality show and wanting him to leave her alone. Much like Perfect You, the father issues were bittersweet—the part of this novel that felt the most real. I might have some Daddy Issues.

I like them, okay. DON'T JUDGE ME.

First, let's be clear: this is not breaking new ground or anything, and the Hugh Hefner/playmate thing is a little pasted on and could someone, anyone, explain to me why there is a sudden surge of books featuring characters who "name stars" after another character for romantic/sentimental reasons? I am curious because I've seen it happen several times, and every time I want to take the character and shake them violently. Yes, it can be construed as romantic, but it can also be construed as buying something with no value. They are basically charging for star maps with a star that is "named" for someone except, you know, ha ha, not really! Is this a silly criteria to judge the book on? Am I cynical and jaded and prone to believing ideas that are romantic to everyone else constitute a failure to think critically about a person (as well as the logic of actually naming a star)? Why do people default to easy things, like buying appreciation with cold hard cash? What happened to star gazing, just for the fun of it? Perhaps with a picnic lunch? Our sky is pretty awesome! Does it become more awesome if your name is somehow financially associated with it? I say no!

I am just out to kill all hope and joy about this buy a star idea.

The romance was predictable at best, but I love how Scott twisted it at the end as Hannah comes face-to-face with her mother's own problems—idolizing a man for what she thinks he is instead of appreciating him for what is actually is and learning that her mother is more than what she portrays to the world. It was a simple story with a simple plot that was a nice break from the heavy science fiction I've been reading. YA is pretty good about passing the Bechdel Test, but this novel skirted the edge, man. The precipice loomed.