Book Blog #317: It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

 

Title: It Ends with Us

Author: Colleen Hoover

# of Pages: 386 (ebook)

Genre: Adult, Romance, Chick-lit

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up — she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true. Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place. As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

Review: Why am I crying? 

This was supposed to be some silly, brainless romance I could enjoy. Even the synopsis reads like some cliche love triangle. To be fair, it took me forever (aka me reading a chapter or so every couple of weeks) to get through the first 30-40%. It read exactly like I expected - woman meets man and they have immediate sexual chemistry without much depth to their relationship otherwise.

The progression of the main relationship happens in such a short span of time, it was hard for me to take it even half seriously. I was bashing Hoover in my head for creating such an unrealistic relationship that I couldn't root for. The character building in general was especially weak - a handsome neurosurgeon who seems to have it all? A main character who seems to have it made career-wise? What superficial struggles could Hoover possibly have in store for the reader? 

I was all ready to give this book 2 stars. I'm a huge sucker for cheesy romance, so at some high points I was considering giving it 3 if I felt at least neutral about it by the end. Nothing could be worse than that terrible chick lit I read that wouldn't stop talking about the main character loving chicken tikka masala, but Lily using whether or not someone donated to charity as a metric on whether they're a good person (ask any billionaire if they've donated to charity; they'll probably say yes) was getting really close. 

But then Hoover introduces the topic of domestic abuse. I'm surprised there isn't noted somewhere in the synopsis because as it is now, it's not doing the book justice. While the fluffy parts of this book are 2-3 star range, the way Hoover writes about domestic abuse is completely heart wrenching. I couldn't believe I was reading the same book; while all other parts of unrealistic, the depiction of domestic abuse was almost TOO real. 

Even one of the cliche lines Hoover threw in early on, "We're all just people who sometimes do bad things," this line rang more true after reading through her complex depiction of both the victim and the perpetuator of domestic abuse. While some people's abuse might be more cut and dry, some can take the form where those involved have a mix of good and bad within them.  

After learning from the author's note that Hoover was basing the domestic abuse off of her parents' relationship, everything made sense. The more fiction the story was, the more Hoover's writing struggled. But once it was based off of real events, Hoover was really able to pull through and send a message through her chick-lit reminiscent of Jodi Picoult. 

If you don't mind slogging through the cheesy beginning, and you're into chick-lit, I would actually recommend this book to you. As far as chick-lit goes, this is definitely one of the better ones.  

Book Blog #316: I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

 

Title: I'm Glad My Mom Died

Author: Jennette McCurdy

# of Pages: 320 (ebook)

Genre: Nonfiction, Autobiography

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.

Review: This book got me out of my reading slump. It's been a while since I craved to read a book, and once I got some time to get around to reading this one, I could not put it down.

Like many others, I only knew McCurdy from her role as Sam in iCarly. I didn't know any of her other work (nor did I ever watch her spin off series Sam & Cat). When it was announced that she would not be part of the iCarly reboot, I was more surprised that most of the cast was returning than her not being in and not being an active actor. So many of these young stars seem to disappear from the public eye as they grow up - I didn't think there would be anything special about Jennette's story. 

And yet I started seeing promotional material related to her book - interviews were she talks about her past that I never expected from a Nickelodeon starlet. That being said, everyone celebrity (or self-proclaimed celebrity) seems to be writing books these days, so her writing a book didn't particularly stand out to me. But then, despite her being out of pop culture for so long, her books started doing well and receiving positive reviews, I decided that I might as well check it out. 

McCurdy's writing is pretty easy to read (this matched with what I expected from an actor with a career pivot toward writing). This was the exact type of read I was looking for to get me out of my reading slump. Unlike other celebrity autobiographies I've tried to pick up, McCurdy doesn't over romanticize her hardships - her writing reads like a genuine recollection of her past, and she's just stating it as it is. 

That being said, I wish she presented her childhood with more of the perspective that she had as a child. Her recognition of her mother's abuse only came in retrospect, and I would've found it more impactful if I learned about her mother through the same idolizing point of view she had as a child and learn with Jennette about how these "loving" motherly gestures were actually negatively impacting her habits in adulthood. Instead, McCurdy recollection of her childhood highlights many negative memories (e.g. her mother throwing a tantrum, her mother encouraging her eating disorders) that make the reader cringe with the obvious abuse (regardless if her mother considered her influence to be abusive or not). When she later states in adulthood (before coming to terms with her abuse) that she thought her mother was the perfect mother and refused to let others disrupt this narrative of her mother, it is hard to relate with her because of the way she presented her childhood. 

Despite all of this, I thought that she overall did a good job at telling her story. Although few can say that they had experiences just like McCurdy, many reader with overbearing parents can relate to McCurdy's childhood - loving their parents while still recognizing their faults and the impact they have on their lives for better or, especially in this case, for worse. 

A very quick read about a very complex, codependent mother-daughter relationship. I would recommend this book!