Warning: Spoilers Ahoy!
Gabby Medina had just realized her dream of being named sous chef at one of LA's hottest restaurants when her Mom got sick. Gabby quits her job, gives up her apartment, and she and Mom move in with one of Mom's oldest friends. The cancer takes more than her Mom's life, the family finances (such as they are) also take a hit. There's no income rolling in and after Mom dies Gabby learns that her mother filled out pre-approved credit card applications that showed up in the mail addressed to Gabby. Yes, Dear Old Mom, departed her Earthly body leaving her only child, her only unemployed child, mired in debt.
Then the day of her Mom's funeral, the biological father Gabby never knew shows up - offering her a solution to her problems. His grandmother passed away over a year ago and she left him her house in Sonrisa, New Mexico. He'll give her the house. She can live there or fix it up, put it on the market, reaping all the profits. Selling a house would solve her debt issues, but Gabby has her pride and this guy - THIS GUY - just shows up out of the blue when her grief is fresh, looking to play Daddy Hero. After abandoning her and her Mom all those years ago. No thanks.
We all know what happens next - Gabby does go to New Mexico...eventually. But how does she land on that decision after telling Bio Dad to take a hike? She goes back to the restaurant to beg for her job back, but of course the chef is a Grade A Asshole. He thinks she should be grateful that he's taking her back and tries to rape her after the dinner service is over as payment. Gabby gets away before he can rape her, but not before he leaves behind bruises. Gabby, of course, doesn't report it. He's a big deal, she's a nobody. He could ruin her chances of working anywhere in LA ever again. So she runs off to New Mexico to take Bio Dad up on his offer. She'll get the house ready for market, sell it, pay off her debts, and then figure out what to do after that.
This book was a struggle for me at first because there were two very key plot points that flat-out didn't work for me. The first was Gabby's lack of anger towards her mother for racking up debt in Gabby's name and then leaving her daughter holding the bag. And when I mean lack of anger - I mean, none. Certainly the relationship was complicated - Gabby not always being the "type" of daughter her mom expected, but that's a long way from credit card fraud. If my own mother is reading this rest assured I would dig you up with my bare hands so I could strangle your corpse.
Then there's the attempted rape. Let me count the ways this was completely traumatic and unnecessary. The Bio Dad you never knew shows up out of the blue - yes, he's obviously an asshole for abandoning you and walking out of your life without a backward glance - but being curious about the man would only make you human. AND, the guy is offering a solution to the debt your mother, who you're not pissed off with for some reason, saddled you with. Yes, yes - you have your pride - but selling a house is going to get you out of debt WAY FASTER than working for a dismal salary for a rapist chef in LA, with the fantastic (yes, that's sarcasm) cost of living the city affords it's residents.
Issues, I had them.
But then the story shifts to New Mexico and things get better. Gabby is grieving, finding a way to navigate a "relationship" of sorts with her Bio Dad, starts verbally sparring (and flirting) with the Town Mayor / Local Contractor/Handyman, and strikes up a friendship with her neighbor who is rumored to be a witch. There's plenty of small town color and flavor. There's even a local real estate agent who you think will be set up to be the Evil Other Woman but the author ends up spinning that in a very refreshing way (after the almost rape "trope" the fact that the Evil Other Woman didn't spin out like I thought it would was rather refreshing).
Where does that leave us? Calling the first 1/3 a slog is too harsh - but I really did not care for some of the authorial choices laid out there. But once I landed in New Mexico? I was ALL in. It's definitely Gabby's story, but the romantic arc is very strong, and the secondary characters add a lot of flavor to the story. Not perfect, but it ended up being a solid read for me in the end.
Final Grade = B-
3 comments:
This is one of those reviews where I am amazed you kept reading long enough to get past the first third of the story (and it reinforces why I struggle to toss out/give up entirely on books that don't quite work for me on the first try--maybe the author pulls a good one later on, after all, and how could I know if I don't read on? but I digress...)
I don't think I could get past the lack of anger--especially if Gabby's relationship with her mother was "complicated". I get that she could be in shock if her mother's death was quick/horrible, but even then, being plunged into financial disaster would jolt me out of that quick.
AL: My reading this did coincide with my Head Cold From Hell, which did contribute to stalled out reading mojo - but the early chapters in this story also played a role. It's a testament to how much I LOVED Big Chicas Don't Cry that I kept going. I recoiled at the attempted rape (which I think was the point - but I couldn't get over how unnecessary that plot device was. There were other ways to get our heroine to New Mexico) and that lack of anger with Mom just BOTHERED me. Like you say, she's obviously grieving and in shock - but credit card debt you knew nothing about would jolt you out of that REAL quick. At least it would for me...
Ah, see, I didn't realize you were familiar with the author's work already; that definitely helps get over the hump of a humdrum start.
Beyond the financial issue--seriously, she's unemployed and already in debt due to medical bills, getting hit with what is basically fraudulent credit card debt? oh my anger would be volcanic, mother or no mother, dead or not.
But beyond that, yeah, a rape attempt that leads nowhere would probably put me off the author entirely. (Sometimes I wonder, when a rape plot line is introduced and then dropped by an author I generally like, if some editorial intervention screwed up the author's plans for it, and then no one picks it up, or by the time someone does, it's end of revisions and it's left in there almost as an afterthought--if that makes sense?)
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