Changing Course by Aly Martinez

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Title: Changing Course
Author: Aly Martinez
Series: Wrecked and Ruined #1
Published by: Indie
Release Date: January 23, 2014
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 259
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »suicide, verbal abuse, physical abuse (female on male) « Hide Spoiler
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ IndieBound
My rating:

Blurb:

I met Sarah Kate Erickson when I was twenty-one years old. I was lucky enough to keep her for seven years before a tragic accident stole her from me. She didn’t die, but sometimes I think it would have been easier if she had.

I lived in a haze for those four years after the accident. Catering to her every need, even though she hated the very sight of my face. I tried to hold on to her and the future that we were supposed to build together. But you can’t hold on to someone who doesn’t exist anymore.

It wasn’t until I met Jesse Addison, a barista at the local coffee shop, that I realized I didn’t just lose Sarah that tragic night, I lost myself as well. Jesse taught me how to let go of the past and learn to love again. But what happens when your past haunts your present, and the woman you used to love refuses to accept the woman you can’t live without?

*Intended for readers 18+. Each book in this series can be read as a standalone.*

DNF @54% — I was actually really excited about this book, b/c I’d read a short story by Ms. Martinez in an anthology (F*cking Awkward), and it featured characters who were secondary characters from this series…and I LOVED that short story.  It was hilarious and fun and witty.  So I figured I couldn’t go wrong with this book popping my Aly Martinez cherry…even though I totally understood that this book was likely to have a different, more serious feel.  But that might have been a mistake.  Perhaps I should have started with one of her more well-known and recommended books.  I can honestly say that I was intrigued at the beginning, but also heard some warning bells…but as the book went on, it got more and more “not for Lenore”-esque.  And finally I just couldn’t handle the drama any longer.

I definitely saw some shades of what I had enjoyed from that short story — witty characters and sassy interactions.  But there was a lot more that just wasn’t to my taste.  I think Ms. Martinez’s writing style has likely improved over the years, because occasionally the dialogue and interactions didn’t feel authentic to me…but maybe that was just me.  I was having a hard time with the lightning quick changes in emotions with our characters, particularly with Brett.  It’s funny, b/c our heroine, Jesse, pointed this out, but it felt a bit like lampshading.  Perhaps later we would find out what was behind his drastic mood changes, but it isn’t something I appreciate in characters.

There were also just a lot of teeny tiny little issues that I’m sensitive to.  I’m really not making a judgement call on people who enjoy these things, I’m just trying to note where it failed for me.  Over the years I’ve become a lot more sensitive to how men and women are portrayed, and so I’m super sensitive to certain issues.  Like, I’m not sure if I’m not supposed to like Sarah from the beginning, but we start the book with him explaining how he first met her, and he talks about how she and her girlfriends were drunk and loudly rating guys and judging women’s outfits.  That’s a turn off.  But apparently it wasn’t for Brett.  It’s not…slut shaming per say, but it’s just the kind of catty girl stuff that I don’t like.  Later on Jesse talks about her roommate’s “whorish” clothing choices, and how the dress that Kara let her borrow makes her look like a slut.  See?  It’s not like outright slut shaming, and I know lots of women use these words in this manner all the time and it’s not necessarily judgey, but it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.  And speaking of Jesse, the whole not swearing thing felt kind of judgey…was it?  I mean, unless I’m mixing it up with something else I read, didn’t she write something about how she was taught that people who swear were unintelligent??  I’d try to find it, but I’m lazy, so take that with a grain of salt…I might be misremembering.  But regardless, I swear like a fucking sailor, and I consider myself quite intelligent, so it rubbed me the wrong way…perhaps inadvertently.

Then we get to Brett.  Part of the problem is that this book is on the angsty side of things, and so the plot elements were meant to take you to the edge of issues…  I didn’t appreciate the way the reader gets dragged along with only hints at the beginning about what is going on with Sarah.  There is NOTHING wrong with this, it’s just something that this particular reader does not prefer.  As such, and being that cheating is a button issue for me, I got tummy aches with what was going on in the present.  And even before that whole situation got ramped up to crazy, I was a bit…unnerved by Brett’s mood swings.  And then the drama got set to soap opera, and I was like WTF????  I stopped understanding anyone’s motivations, I started getting annoyed with everyone’s reactions, and I started to get concerned with the way Brett was with Jesse.  I don’t have any experience with any kind of abuse, but am I the only one that was concerned with the way that relationship was playing out?  It felt ridiculously unhealthy, and the way he accused her and Caleb of cheating felt…wrong.  That kind of behavior screams toxic to me.  But maybe I’m overthinking it.  Regardless, there was far too much screaming and shouting by characters at one another, and the volatility finally told me I needed to get out.

So that’s a lot of babbling, but the TL;DR is that certain aspects of the story made me uncomfortable, I’m not an angsty book reader (it’s not something I enjoy), and so I figured I was better off not continuing.  I’ll likely give Ms. Martinez another try, but probably not for a bit.  I’m wondering if perhaps we’re just not a match.