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Apr. 13th, 2020 08:38 pmI like to keep a couple unread thrift-store Barbara Michaels Gothics around the house as emergency paperbacks, but unfortunately I think Here I Stay was the last one I had on tap and it turned out to be my least favorite of all the Barbara Michaels I've read ...
... here is where I have to admit that while I like to talk a big game about appreciating unlikable heroines, the real truth is that this probably only applies when those heroines are unlikable in ways that I, in fact, find likable. I genuinely think Barbara Michaels made a bold choice with Andrea Torgesen of Here I Stay! She's kind of awful in ways that are clearly very much on purpose, and I guess I respect that but I very much did not enjoy reading about her.
So, Andea has subsumed her entire life since teenagerhood into taking care of her now-college-aged younger brother Jim, and as a result is pretty unhealthily possessive in ways that have gotten significantly worse since he lost both his leg and his hopes of a sportsball career in a car accident. She has no time for outside friends or interests, and as a result resents the time that Jim spends with his; she's terrified of allowing him to do anything that's even a little bit dangerous; she knows she ought to respect his privacy but sometimes she's just got to sneak into his room and read his bad teenaged poetry ...
Anyway, the plot of the book is that Andrea and Jim move into an old moderately haunted building and turn it into a successful B&B, after which a political columnist moves in as a long-time lodger and falls in love with Andrea for some inexplicable reason, while constantly recommending that she might want to give Jim more space and freedom and opportunity to envision a life that's not just 'live in this B&B with my older sister, forever.'
I was really hoping that this would turn out to be the kind of book where all this resulted in Andrea developing interests and community and a sense of respect for both herself and her brother as capable, independent people ...
Unfortunately it was not that kind of book. ( Spoilers )
I did like the immortal cat named Satan who lives in the B&B's master bedroom. Also, the very reluctantly psychic local business owner who refuses to admit that she can sense ghosts and also refuses to ever return to any location where she did sense a ghost because she just Does Not Want To Deal With It and has been doing this her entire life, now she'd like to get back to running the town's most popular restaurant, please. I'd read the book about her.
... here is where I have to admit that while I like to talk a big game about appreciating unlikable heroines, the real truth is that this probably only applies when those heroines are unlikable in ways that I, in fact, find likable. I genuinely think Barbara Michaels made a bold choice with Andrea Torgesen of Here I Stay! She's kind of awful in ways that are clearly very much on purpose, and I guess I respect that but I very much did not enjoy reading about her.
So, Andea has subsumed her entire life since teenagerhood into taking care of her now-college-aged younger brother Jim, and as a result is pretty unhealthily possessive in ways that have gotten significantly worse since he lost both his leg and his hopes of a sportsball career in a car accident. She has no time for outside friends or interests, and as a result resents the time that Jim spends with his; she's terrified of allowing him to do anything that's even a little bit dangerous; she knows she ought to respect his privacy but sometimes she's just got to sneak into his room and read his bad teenaged poetry ...
Anyway, the plot of the book is that Andrea and Jim move into an old moderately haunted building and turn it into a successful B&B, after which a political columnist moves in as a long-time lodger and falls in love with Andrea for some inexplicable reason, while constantly recommending that she might want to give Jim more space and freedom and opportunity to envision a life that's not just 'live in this B&B with my older sister, forever.'
I was really hoping that this would turn out to be the kind of book where all this resulted in Andrea developing interests and community and a sense of respect for both herself and her brother as capable, independent people ...
Unfortunately it was not that kind of book. ( Spoilers )
I did like the immortal cat named Satan who lives in the B&B's master bedroom. Also, the very reluctantly psychic local business owner who refuses to admit that she can sense ghosts and also refuses to ever return to any location where she did sense a ghost because she just Does Not Want To Deal With It and has been doing this her entire life, now she'd like to get back to running the town's most popular restaurant, please. I'd read the book about her.
