Ok, the basic premise of the book is problematic. A girl gets a stolen kiss during a blackout. Its mentioned as problematic and then never spoken of again.
There are SO many lovelines taking place in this book. But, two main triangles.
Macy is the main character. Macy has a crush on Joel–new kid in school, star football player.
Meredith is Macy’s best friend. She has a crush on Ben. She thinks that shes too good for Ben, but she likes him anyway.
Ben DID like Meredith. But, as hes spending more and more time with Macy he’s finding that his feelings are shifting.
At first Ben is just the boy who lives near Meredith. But over the course of the book Macy finds herself having more and more conversations with Ben without Meredith there and then without Meredith being mentioned. Ben is coming to Macys house however many times a week to teach her brother the guitar. Macy and Ben both have siblings on the same soccer team and go to their games. Bens job is the hangout spot–Macy goes there early to reserve good seats. It would never occur to Macy to go after a guy that Meredith likes. That doesnt stop Ben from falling for the girl right in front of him.
Triangle 2
Macy has instalove for Joel.
Joel asks Macy to homecoming. He knows when he meets her that he wants her to be someone special in his life.
Noah asks Macy to homecoming (the year after Joel) to f with Joel.
Turns out theres more to this love triangle.
Over the course of the book Joel alludes a few times to a friend who wasn’t a good friend and became obsessed with him to the point that his parents thought it was a good idea for him to go to a different school his junior and senior years. They thought about getting a restraining order.
Turns out, the friend is Noah and friend is too light a word.
Noah is bi, Joel is gay. They had been secretly dating. Noah wants Joel to come out of the closet and date in the open. Joel is not about that life. Noah decides to transfer schools his senior year, seduce and date Macy because he thinks that Joel is dating her and he wants to steal her from Joel because Joel can never fall for her and he wants to rub this in Joels face. Joel got so jealous over Macy that in a drunken fit he sets fire to a float in Merediths garage and nearly burns Merediths house down. Yeah that isnt explained–why its Meredith he hurts instead of Macy.
Macy learns that Joel and Noah are involved when she follows them one day, watches them get in a physical fight and then start making out.
My issue with this book is the Noah/Joel relationship. It. Is. INSANE. Not in typical ya novel romance is crazy insane, but in HE NEARLY BURNED MEREDITHS HOUSE DOWN insane. Theres only one other not straight couple in the book. And they are never introduced. We see a picture of them, and they walk by while pervy boys make pervy comments. Noah/Joel are the only examples of a not-hetero couple in the book and this is the story given to them.
In comparison, lets look at the first love tri
triangle. After months of getting to know one another, Ben’s crush moves from Meredith to Macy. He doesn’t know how to tell either girl without jeopardizing his friendship with either. Meredith’s spider senses are tingly as she gets jealous and mean whenever she sees them together. Joel cancels with Macy on the day of the homecoming dance, all of her friends–including Meredith (who is there with Ben)–convince her to come to the dance anyway. Macy is too sad and upset to stay and tries to sneak off while everyone is dancing. Ben notices her leaving and tries to stop her. They have a slow dance in the parking lot and Macy kisses Ben cheek for being so kind. Meredith comes outside at just that moment, decides that Ben has been unfaithful and Macy is a horrible friend. At that exact moment they notice that theres a fire and it looks like its in Merediths neighborhood. Turns out its Merediths house. Noah (whom no one knows yet as he doesnt turn up until senior year) has set the float that the cheerleaders were making on fire. Even though this is obviously not the work of either Macy or Ben Meredith has decided that they are SOMEHOW to blame and she now hates them both.
She immediately forgives Ben. She immediately forgives Joel (whom she assumes did it). But because Ben, the boy Meredith likes dares to like Macy instead, she deep freezes her best friend and gets all of their friends to turn against her.
I think that the Macy-Ben-Meredith triangle is pretty standard ya fare. But the Macy-Noah-Joel triangle is problematic. If this is the only representation of a LGBTQIA+ couple, especially if the other couple is presented as normal—it just feels irresponsible. I did like the conversation about how hard it is to come out and how some people think that being gay is ok “as long as it doesnt come in their house” and pointing out how homophobic and not ok that is.
Im not even sure this rant made sense but I had to say it.
isa: I'm not a serial killer I'm just really passionate about things
January 19, 2020 at 12:46 AM
I just wrote a book rant that was like 4 comments long. It didnt deserve 4 comments! Im going to try again. A Kiss in the Dark. Take 2.
isa: I'm not a serial killer I'm just really passionate about things
January 19, 2020 at 1:00 AM
Ok, the basic premise of the book is problematic. A girl gets a stolen kiss during a blackout. Its mentioned as problematic and then never spoken of again.
There are SO many lovelines taking place in this book. But, two main triangles.
Macy is the main character. Macy has a crush on Joel–new kid in school, star football player.
Meredith is Macy’s best friend. She has a crush on Ben. She thinks that shes too good for Ben, but she likes him anyway.
Ben DID like Meredith. But, as hes spending more and more time with Macy he’s finding that his feelings are shifting.
At first Ben is just the boy who lives near Meredith. But over the course of the book Macy finds herself having more and more conversations with Ben without Meredith there and then without Meredith being mentioned. Ben is coming to Macys house however many times a week to teach her brother the guitar. Macy and Ben both have siblings on the same soccer team and go to their games. Bens job is the hangout spot–Macy goes there early to reserve good seats. It would never occur to Macy to go after a guy that Meredith likes. That doesnt stop Ben from falling for the girl right in front of him.
Triangle 2
Macy has instalove for Joel.
Joel asks Macy to homecoming. He knows when he meets her that he wants her to be someone special in his life.
Noah asks Macy to homecoming (the year after Joel) to f with Joel.
Turns out theres more to this love triangle.
Over the course of the book Joel alludes a few times to a friend who wasn’t a good friend and became obsessed with him to the point that his parents thought it was a good idea for him to go to a different school his junior and senior years. They thought about getting a restraining order.
Turns out, the friend is Noah and friend is too light a word.
Noah is bi, Joel is gay. They had been secretly dating. Noah wants Joel to come out of the closet and date in the open. Joel is not about that life. Noah decides to transfer schools his senior year, seduce and date Macy because he thinks that Joel is dating her and he wants to steal her from Joel because Joel can never fall for her and he wants to rub this in Joels face. Joel got so jealous over Macy that in a drunken fit he sets fire to a float in Merediths garage and nearly burns Merediths house down. Yeah that isnt explained–why its Meredith he hurts instead of Macy.
Macy learns that Joel and Noah are involved when she follows them one day, watches them get in a physical fight and then start making out.
My issue with this book is the Noah/Joel relationship. It. Is. INSANE. Not in typical ya novel romance is crazy insane, but in HE NEARLY BURNED MEREDITHS HOUSE DOWN insane. Theres only one other not straight couple in the book. And they are never introduced. We see a picture of them, and they walk by while pervy boys make pervy comments. Noah/Joel are the only examples of a not-hetero couple in the book and this is the story given to them.
In comparison, lets look at the first love tri
isa: I'm not a serial killer I'm just really passionate about things
January 19, 2020 at 1:09 AM
triangle. After months of getting to know one another, Ben’s crush moves from Meredith to Macy. He doesn’t know how to tell either girl without jeopardizing his friendship with either. Meredith’s spider senses are tingly as she gets jealous and mean whenever she sees them together. Joel cancels with Macy on the day of the homecoming dance, all of her friends–including Meredith (who is there with Ben)–convince her to come to the dance anyway. Macy is too sad and upset to stay and tries to sneak off while everyone is dancing. Ben notices her leaving and tries to stop her. They have a slow dance in the parking lot and Macy kisses Ben cheek for being so kind. Meredith comes outside at just that moment, decides that Ben has been unfaithful and Macy is a horrible friend. At that exact moment they notice that theres a fire and it looks like its in Merediths neighborhood. Turns out its Merediths house. Noah (whom no one knows yet as he doesnt turn up until senior year) has set the float that the cheerleaders were making on fire. Even though this is obviously not the work of either Macy or Ben Meredith has decided that they are SOMEHOW to blame and she now hates them both.
She immediately forgives Ben. She immediately forgives Joel (whom she assumes did it). But because Ben, the boy Meredith likes dares to like Macy instead, she deep freezes her best friend and gets all of their friends to turn against her.
I think that the Macy-Ben-Meredith triangle is pretty standard ya fare. But the Macy-Noah-Joel triangle is problematic. If this is the only representation of a LGBTQIA+ couple, especially if the other couple is presented as normal—it just feels irresponsible. I did like the conversation about how hard it is to come out and how some people think that being gay is ok “as long as it doesnt come in their house” and pointing out how homophobic and not ok that is.
Im not even sure this rant made sense but I had to say it.
On to the next book of the weekend!
isa: I'm not a serial killer I'm just really passionate about things
January 19, 2020 at 6:15 AM
Rereading this I want to take back my use of the word normal when comparing the relationships. Poor word choice. I do apologize.