Review: Hush by Carey Baldwin

(NOTE: Between writing this review and posting it the author has corrected the Amazon page to reflect that it is a reissued work. However in the weeks between this review posting on LITM and being transferred here, no further changes have been made. What I originally pointed out at Amazon remains the case on her webpage, Kobo, B&N and iTunes. Make of that what you will.)

I DNF'd Carey Baldwin's Hush for reasons that didn't have much to do with the story. One of my absolute hottest buttons is a rewritten work issued without disclosure. When George Lucas takes his fiftieth pass at Star Wars you generally know going in that he's swapped some stuff up. There's an implicit consent involved. While Baldwin has extensively reworked her limited release anthology tale Solomon's Wisdom, there is enough of the prior story left that I went from "This seems weirdly familiar" to "I've read this before". At that point I didn't want to continue. My consent for that experience had not been solicited.

I get that Solomon's Wisdom had a very limited audience. Most readers are not going to hit the same wall. I also understand the choice to market Hush as new material given the additional work put into it. I simply disagree. So, if you've read Solomon's Wisdom and give your consent to checking out Hush, let me know how it goes. (I stopped at the point where her brother-in-law bursts through the door.)

Hush is a romantic suspense dealing lightly with domestic violence. Anna is the girl next door, the quiet librarian with a spine of steel. Charlie is the former soldier turned medic haunted by their shared childhood. A death from the past and a death from the present intertwine, potentially placing Anna and her elder sister in danger. There was a lot I liked about Solomon's Wisdom that I still liked in Hush. While I found both Anna and Charlie to have cases of arrested development, I appreciated their honest communication. Both want to understand how their past created their present. Anna is proactive in her sexuality and her boundaries. Baldwin has a straightforward style that will work for a reader or it won't. I felt the same way about Charlie and Anna halfway through Hush as I did at the end of Solomon's Wisdom. Neither of them became more than pieces on the game board. If they won or lost was less important than turning the page and seeing where they went next.

Hush was supposed to be my second swing at Baldwin's work but I think I'm out. I like her working class settings (even with the advanced degrees) and everyday problems, but she didn't fully capture me with either version of Anna and Charlie's reunion. Baldwin is worth checking out but not an author I'm planning to follow.

* This review originally appeared at Love In The Margins.

Review: Bounce by K.M. Jackson

In keeping with my 2014 policy of reviewing more DNF's, I'm going to talk about the first few chapters of K.M. Jackson's Bounce. At it's heart, Bounce is about a woman rediscovering herself. We meet Sabrina struggling to emotionally connect to her husband after learning of his infidelity. Sabrina's pain and conflict is realistic. She is presented in a different way than a woman in her position usually is. Meeting the primary couple during resentful sex was a unique way to open the book. Hats off.

Bounce is written in the first person. First person is like being trapped at a party with a stranger you just met. If you like the person, it's a wonderfully intimate evening. While Sabrina was talking I was trying to make eye contact with anyone else in the book. Because of the daring opening, we're asked to approve as Sabrina tries to force herself into willing consent.  A few pages later we flash back to the night Sean revealed his affair. While I understood Sabrina better after that, I liked her less. Sabrina and I, we won't be friends.

Sean has been failing her emotionally, then he reveals he was meeting up with a coworker. There's no understanding of what led to this affair, or how long it lasted, or any of the details that would make his position a sympathetic one. Dude can't keep it at home. Ok. Sabrina kicks him out. I've got her back. We'll find out later why she let him come home and… Sabrina calls him home before he's had time to find a place to sleep that night. She decides, with a complete lack of data, that her marriage is worth saving and they need to move forward. She shuts it all down and soldiers on. Look, I get that she's operating from a place of fear and wishful thinking, but I'm not. While Sabrina wonders if the new nanny is too sexy to be around her man I wonder what the hell is wrong with this girl? Does she have a doormat kink?

We follow Sabrina to work, another refreshing change from the normal Lunch With The Girls post infidelity tradition. Here we find that she has a secretary who routinely fails her. Sabrina is stressed about the woman's inability to perform simple tasks but gives her a pass because she's too emotionally overwhelmed to do otherwise. By the end of the first few chapters it's clear that Sabrina's man is a cheater, her secretary is inept, her boss is a sexist racist, and her children are deeply disappointed in her as a parent. Sabrina immediately blames herself for everything. Hey, me too!

I get that Jackson is (probably) setting the stage for Sabrina to realize the problem isn't her ass or her time management or any of the other things she's stressing on. The problem with Sabrina is her inability to emotionally connect with her own desires and insist they be met. She's fetishizing external approvals and needs above her own. She's relying on a secretary to ensure promises to her children are kept instead of keeping them. She's placing the concept of her marriage above her actual one. Sabrina probably gets her head straight over the course of Bounce and lays down some laws for everyone, herself included. I couldn't stick around to find out. The more Sabrina focused on how inadequate she was the more I wanted to get away from her.

Bounce had strong word of mouth. With a broader point of view than Sabrina's I might have really loved it. As it was I gave up after a month and moved it from the TBR to the DNF.

* This review originally appeared at Love In The Margins.

Review: I'll Catch You by Farrah Rochon

Rameau's take on Farrah Rochon lined up with a free promo for I'll Catch You. Kimani's haven't worked for me in the past, but this was a wonderful book. Payton is a former attorney looking to build a new career in sports management. Cedric is an NFL player with an image problem. Rochon quickly establishes both their personalities with a light and easy humor. Take this moment where Cedric calls out her aggressive courting of him as a client.

Payton felt her face heating. Listening to a detailing of her activities over the past few weeks, she thought she did sound a little stalkerish. He leaned in closer and read her press pass. “And now you’re pretending to be a reporter. Where’s Susan Renee Sutphen? Locked up in the trunk of your car?”

Rochon, Farrah (2013-12-01). I'll Catch You (Kimani Romance) (p. 11). Kimani Press. Kindle Edition.

Payton loves the NFL. If she were a man, she'd be playing the game. This isn't something that makes her bitter. She's caught up in the romance of it all. The crowds, the money, the plays, everything about American football captivates her. Cedric enjoys his sport, but he's more about paying his bills than worshipping the stadium. Having made some PR mistakes, he's in a precarious professional situation. An untried female agent seems like a mistake to top of all his earlier mistakes, but Cedric is out of options.

I'm not a fan of the NFL. My game is futbol, so I was expecting to feel disconnected from the sports centric sections of the book. Rochon brought me into Payton's love for the game in such a way that I began to wonder if I've been selling the NFL short. I enjoyed the tight focus on her central couple and the career choices Payton makes. At one point her professional ambitions are incompatible with her personal desires. Where most authors would have Payton concede her goals, Rochon allows her to value her career as much as Cedric does his own. I closed the book wanting to hang out with both characters longer. If they lived in my town I'd be bringing them baked goods and party invites.

All of my fawning aside, a major element of I'll Catch You disappointed me. Cedric has a twin brother with cerebral palsy. Derek is nothing but a prop. He is used to show Cedric as a sacrificing hero instead of a selfish athlete. Although Cedric casually buys tickets for others, he never brings Derek to his own games. Keeping his brother hidden, Cedric makes career choices based on Derek's medical needs. Although the author describes Derek as having cerebral palsy, there must be mental impairment or the following scene is unexplainable.

“I... have a... girlfriend,” Derek proclaimed. “You do?” “Yes. I’m... gonna... gonna marry her.” “That right?” Cedric chuckled. He leaned over and lifted his brother’s other leg up.

Rochon, Farrah (2013-12-01). I'll Catch You (Kimani Romance) (pp. 211-212). Kimani Press. Kindle Edition.

Cedric's humor at the concept of his brother being emotionally involved with another person infantilizes Derek. His twin brother is not just disabled, he is something to care for and care about but not consider. Rochon has established Derek as NFL obsessed.

And his brother’s love for football had no bounds. When he’d been drafted into the NFL, Cedric knew he was playing for both of them.

Rochon, Farrah (2013-12-01). I'll Catch You (Kimani Romance) (p. 31). Kimani Press. Kindle Edition.

The care center says watching Cedric play is the highlight of Derek's life. Why has Derek never experienced the game in person? If Derek is the most important person in Cedric's life, why is he hidden from Cedric's friends? Payton is touched when Cedric reveals his secret to her, that he has a twin, that the twin is disabled, that Cedric's NFL career is to fund his care. What is Derek if not a burden in this scenario?  Payton never calls out Cedric for treating Derek as less than a fully present person in his life. She, like Cedric, sees only Cedric's guilt and love. Derek is there to make Cedric a hero, not to be his brother. Derek doesn't counsel Cedric, nor does Cedric share his concerns with Derek. I wanted to give I'll Catch You a perfect grade, but it's treatment of disability held me back.

* This review originally appeared at Love In the Margins.