Look the Part – Jewel E. Ann

There is nothing like a prologue where the man drinks and drives that makes me hate him madly. The main character. Hate. It’s hard for me. It’s something that’s doesn’t sit well for me in any way and any situation, even if it’s a book.

But!

And yes, there is, a but because I kept reading and did not DNF as I expected it to happen.

I kept reading because  :

A – I was really interested in the book, according to his synopsis.

B – I do not know why I continued. Maybe because everyone deserves a second chance.

I had a hard time with Flint at first. I also had a hard time with Ellen.

And it’s funny because usually, if it’s hard for me to like the characters, I automatically DNF. There are so many good books that it’s a shame to waste time on continuing by force. But as I started this review, even in this case, after getting a little upset about them, I continued because apparently, the writer knows how to write in such a way that you get upset about the characters but really want to keep reading about them. Understand them. Forgive them.

I read many books in the genre; some are considered good writing, some are mediocre writing, and I even read “not bad” writing and enjoyed all of these books (except the ones I DNF) to one degree or another. I consciously avoid books with painful depth and complications, but I sometimes need that depth, that pain in the book, and the characters’ coping to continue enjoying all the types of books in the genre.

So this is my author’s first book, and I’m definitely sorry I didn’t know her before. The story itself at its base is remarkable. She did not take a familiar pattern and built a book around it. She did not take a known cliché and put it in here and there. And even those sex scenes that are so important to some of the audience reading the books, she wrote gently, half-implicitly, and half-bluntly, and still excellent on some of the super-detailed scenes I read in other books.

The characters were so flawed and perfect at the same time that it was mesmerizing.

The pain of each of the characters really entered my heart.

The fact that she built a story that could be so realistic was amazing to the point that I could not grasp how such a sensitive, painful, real, broken, and whole story is not about a couple that exists in real life.

The story was full of all the details I love in a book. Every detail received attention, and everything was important in this book.

In this book review, it’s easier for me to describe my feelings than to go over the story or characters.

Like the music therapy that Ellen does, books are also a form of therapy. Reading them can make us look at our lives. For the good that is in our lives. About the lack of something in our lives and the right way to deal with our lives. And such a book is definitely therapy. It is not an easy escape from reality. Still, it is an entry into a world that makes you feel, experience, get angry, cry, get excited, and happy – and connecting to emotions is definitely a form of therapy.

My author’s first book, and I do not think it will be the last. Recommended!

Click here for an interview with narrator Troy Duran