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A review by silenciadelumbrae
Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts
2.0
I tend to like Nora Roberts's work, not least because I always know what I'm in for. When life is hard, sometimes it's nice to have a series to read where you know exactly what to expect. I expect to be amused by how perfect the romance is, to respect the heroine even if she's a little too perfect at everything, get lots of neat details about jobs I've never thought about, and for there to be a few sweet female-friendship scenes. So why am I rating this one so low? Because it threw me a curveball by devoting the last 10% of the book to making its heroine...honestly kind of creepy.
The first one I did enjoy, so I had reasonably high hopes for this one. Most of the way through, this book was what I expected. I was sure that Jack's commitment-phobia was going to come up as a problem sooner or later; it wasn't exactly subtle that his fear of commitment vs her desire for forever was going to be the last-minute problem in the way of the HEA. What I didn't expect was for that last-minute problem to turn into something that soured me on the whole book.
Many, many spoilers and a furious rant ahead!
Maybe it's because I identify with Jack heavily in this scenario: I also prefer my personal space. I would be fucking horrified if someone I'd dated three months just showed up in my house--IN MY HOUSE--when I had neither given them a key nor invited them over (which, by the way, is her breaking into his house!!!! I don't care if she was given a key, it wasn't HIM giving her the key!!!! he didn't know she was coming and didn't give her permission to be there!!!!! she broke into his house!!!!!!!), when they hadn't even had the courtesy to tell me they were coming. That's rude, that's creepy, that's a huge NO THANKS from me. I don't care if they've known each other forever; some people need their quiet and their space, and to ignore that is rude no matter how long you've known each other. I have a best friend I've known since I was two, and she would never even dream of doing this to me, because she respects the fact that I am not that sort of person.
And I think that's the crux of my problem with the book: Emma talks a good game about respecting Jack's boundaries and respecting him as a person, and for most of the book she does, but in the end she just runs roughshod over them and it's by disrespecting those boundaries that she gets what she wants. She even says so herself! "Maybe it was a test," she says, like that's not fucking gross to say about another human being. If she feels the need to test him this way, instead of sitting down like an adult to tell him that she feels uncomfortable and unwelcome in his space and ask what they can do about that, maybe this relationship is not a great idea!
I lost a lot of respect for the other characters in the book at that point too, because at no point did even one of them say any of the following:
"Hey Emma, that's fucking gross."
"Hey Emma, maybe you should have asked for a key instead of BREAKING INTO HIS HOUSE." (I'm sorry, I can't get over this. It really needs the all-caps.)
"Hey Emma, maybe you are also in the wrong here for deliberately doing a thing you knew he'd hate because you'd like it if it was done for you."
(She did know he'd hate it. Multiple times she refers to the fact that she ought to stop, that it's a bad idea. SHE KNEW HE WOULD HATE IT.)
"Hey Emma, have you considered perhaps using your people words and telling him that you feel like he's shutting you out instead of making up weird tests where you BREAK INTO HIS HOUSE to see if he loves you?"
But no, instead she BREAKS INTO HIS HOUSE, and when he reacts badly to her BREAKING INTO HIS HOUSE, she spews a bunch of shit about how he's mean and unappreciative and doesn't love her enough and I love you but clearly you don't care about meeeee so I must leave forever GOODBYE and storms out while he's still trying to catch his breath. I should note here that this is the first he's heard of any of this. She has never told him that she feels uncomfortable in his home; she has never told him she loves him; she has never told him that her feelings are hurt because he hesitates for half a second when she asks if she can sleep over or he maybe looks nervous when he sees her makeup on the counter. No, I am not kidding, this is all it takes to bruise Emmaline's Tender Heart (TM). Does she ever ask if it's okay if she leaves a toothbrush or some mascara? Of course not, as that would require that she use her words. This is particularly infuriating because whenever she DOES ask him for something, he says yes! He does it! So what is her problem?
And then no one, not a single person, seems to even consider that The Most Perfect Emmaline could possibly have done anything wrong in this scenario--including Jack! When she apologizes later, he tells her not to! No, she should apologize! She should be the only one apologizing for BREAKING! INTO! HIS! HOUSE!!!!
None of her friends are like "...girl, I love you, but you BROKE INTO HIS HOUSE." None of HIS friends are like "...dude, why are YOU the one who needs to apologize? she BROKE INTO YOUR HOUSE." Her housekeeper/secondary-mother-figure isn't like "...honey, he didn't react well because (sing it if you know the words!!!) you Broke Into His House!!!!!!! and then Flipped Your Shit that he wasn't thrilled that you were there!!!!!!!!!!!"
So she's very dramatic and cries a lot about how Her Life Is Over because he wasn't super thrilled that she broke into his house, there's some talk of moving to Jamaica, and the whole time I'm sitting there like "this gift of freedom is a glorious thing, run while you can, RUN JACK RUN." The HEA a few pages later is super ruined for me, because I'm thinking: what happens the first time they both have a bad day at work and snap at each other? What happens when they have a baby and disagree about baby names? What happens if he, god forbid, doesn't like the paint color she chooses for the living room? Is she going to freak out about how he doesn't APPRECIATE HER and LOVE HER ENOUGH and run crying to the other girls? Is Parker going to write out divorce papers because Emma's poor heart is broken over paint chips? (I mostly liked Parker before now. This last 10% really soured me on her, too. Go upstairs and tell Emma to act like a goddamn adult, this is ridiculous.)
Like, I know that NR's commitment-phobic male leads tend to have at least one scene where that trait almost screws up the HEA, but I think this is the most poorly-done version of the scene I've ever read in her books. This scene placed my sympathies squarely with the hero, which I don't think has ever occurred for me in an NR book before.
If I were to rewrite that scene so that I could sympathize with Emmaline, it would go as follows:
Emma sticks to the date-night plan. Over that date, she lays out the facts: she feels unwelcome in his space, she doesn't even feel like she can leave a toothbrush over there, but (since she'd said she wanted to tell him about it) she's getting more serious about this relationship and thinks she might be falling in love with him. She's telling him this because she wants to find out if he sees this going anywhere, because if he doesn't, she would like to put the brakes on it now. (She doesn't need to verbalize this last bit; she can just have said it to her friends beforehand.)
He, in classic commitment-phobe NR hero fashion, fumbles the ball. Has a bit of a freakout. Trips over his tongue and says something stupid, hurts her feelings. She leaves and goes to her friends for comfort. From there, it could go exactly as it did in the book: though I'd still roll my eyes a little at the dramatics, I'd be on her side because in my little fantasy version, she used her words! She told him what she wanted! She was honest about the fact that him keeping her out was upsetting her, instead of hurling it at him like a weapon when he doesn't react the way she wants! She's very romantic so naturally she's heartbroken that (she thinks) he doesn't feel the same! She would, in short, be in the right to be dramatic and sad if that's what she wants!
But that is not what happens.
Instead, I end the book disgusted, uncomfortable, and giving this marriage 2 years tops if it were to occur in the real world. I'm not even sure I want to read the next two now, because I'll have to see them being a couple and no one ever addressing the major problem of this book's last chapters. (I mean, I finish what I start. I'm gonna read them. But...ugh.)
Two stars for the first 90% of the novel; it would have been four if that last chunk had been different.
The first one I did enjoy, so I had reasonably high hopes for this one. Most of the way through, this book was what I expected. I was sure that Jack's commitment-phobia was going to come up as a problem sooner or later; it wasn't exactly subtle that his fear of commitment vs her desire for forever was going to be the last-minute problem in the way of the HEA. What I didn't expect was for that last-minute problem to turn into something that soured me on the whole book.
Many, many spoilers and a furious rant ahead!
Spoiler
Reading through other reviews, I see that I'm not the only one who feels this way, which is nice. But even if I was alone in this opinion, I'd stand by it: Jack did nothing wrong and Emma was being ridiculous.Maybe it's because I identify with Jack heavily in this scenario: I also prefer my personal space. I would be fucking horrified if someone I'd dated three months just showed up in my house--IN MY HOUSE--when I had neither given them a key nor invited them over (which, by the way, is her breaking into his house!!!! I don't care if she was given a key, it wasn't HIM giving her the key!!!! he didn't know she was coming and didn't give her permission to be there!!!!! she broke into his house!!!!!!!), when they hadn't even had the courtesy to tell me they were coming. That's rude, that's creepy, that's a huge NO THANKS from me. I don't care if they've known each other forever; some people need their quiet and their space, and to ignore that is rude no matter how long you've known each other. I have a best friend I've known since I was two, and she would never even dream of doing this to me, because she respects the fact that I am not that sort of person.
And I think that's the crux of my problem with the book: Emma talks a good game about respecting Jack's boundaries and respecting him as a person, and for most of the book she does, but in the end she just runs roughshod over them and it's by disrespecting those boundaries that she gets what she wants. She even says so herself! "Maybe it was a test," she says, like that's not fucking gross to say about another human being. If she feels the need to test him this way, instead of sitting down like an adult to tell him that she feels uncomfortable and unwelcome in his space and ask what they can do about that, maybe this relationship is not a great idea!
I lost a lot of respect for the other characters in the book at that point too, because at no point did even one of them say any of the following:
"Hey Emma, that's fucking gross."
"Hey Emma, maybe you should have asked for a key instead of BREAKING INTO HIS HOUSE." (I'm sorry, I can't get over this. It really needs the all-caps.)
"Hey Emma, maybe you are also in the wrong here for deliberately doing a thing you knew he'd hate because you'd like it if it was done for you."
(She did know he'd hate it. Multiple times she refers to the fact that she ought to stop, that it's a bad idea. SHE KNEW HE WOULD HATE IT.)
"Hey Emma, have you considered perhaps using your people words and telling him that you feel like he's shutting you out instead of making up weird tests where you BREAK INTO HIS HOUSE to see if he loves you?"
But no, instead she BREAKS INTO HIS HOUSE, and when he reacts badly to her BREAKING INTO HIS HOUSE, she spews a bunch of shit about how he's mean and unappreciative and doesn't love her enough and I love you but clearly you don't care about meeeee so I must leave forever GOODBYE and storms out while he's still trying to catch his breath. I should note here that this is the first he's heard of any of this. She has never told him that she feels uncomfortable in his home; she has never told him she loves him; she has never told him that her feelings are hurt because he hesitates for half a second when she asks if she can sleep over or he maybe looks nervous when he sees her makeup on the counter. No, I am not kidding, this is all it takes to bruise Emmaline's Tender Heart (TM). Does she ever ask if it's okay if she leaves a toothbrush or some mascara? Of course not, as that would require that she use her words. This is particularly infuriating because whenever she DOES ask him for something, he says yes! He does it! So what is her problem?
And then no one, not a single person, seems to even consider that The Most Perfect Emmaline could possibly have done anything wrong in this scenario--including Jack! When she apologizes later, he tells her not to! No, she should apologize! She should be the only one apologizing for BREAKING! INTO! HIS! HOUSE!!!!
None of her friends are like "...girl, I love you, but you BROKE INTO HIS HOUSE." None of HIS friends are like "...dude, why are YOU the one who needs to apologize? she BROKE INTO YOUR HOUSE." Her housekeeper/secondary-mother-figure isn't like "...honey, he didn't react well because (sing it if you know the words!!!) you Broke Into His House!!!!!!! and then Flipped Your Shit that he wasn't thrilled that you were there!!!!!!!!!!!"
So she's very dramatic and cries a lot about how Her Life Is Over because he wasn't super thrilled that she broke into his house, there's some talk of moving to Jamaica, and the whole time I'm sitting there like "this gift of freedom is a glorious thing, run while you can, RUN JACK RUN." The HEA a few pages later is super ruined for me, because I'm thinking: what happens the first time they both have a bad day at work and snap at each other? What happens when they have a baby and disagree about baby names? What happens if he, god forbid, doesn't like the paint color she chooses for the living room? Is she going to freak out about how he doesn't APPRECIATE HER and LOVE HER ENOUGH and run crying to the other girls? Is Parker going to write out divorce papers because Emma's poor heart is broken over paint chips? (I mostly liked Parker before now. This last 10% really soured me on her, too. Go upstairs and tell Emma to act like a goddamn adult, this is ridiculous.)
Like, I know that NR's commitment-phobic male leads tend to have at least one scene where that trait almost screws up the HEA, but I think this is the most poorly-done version of the scene I've ever read in her books. This scene placed my sympathies squarely with the hero, which I don't think has ever occurred for me in an NR book before.
If I were to rewrite that scene so that I could sympathize with Emmaline, it would go as follows:
Emma sticks to the date-night plan. Over that date, she lays out the facts: she feels unwelcome in his space, she doesn't even feel like she can leave a toothbrush over there, but (since she'd said she wanted to tell him about it) she's getting more serious about this relationship and thinks she might be falling in love with him. She's telling him this because she wants to find out if he sees this going anywhere, because if he doesn't, she would like to put the brakes on it now. (She doesn't need to verbalize this last bit; she can just have said it to her friends beforehand.)
He, in classic commitment-phobe NR hero fashion, fumbles the ball. Has a bit of a freakout. Trips over his tongue and says something stupid, hurts her feelings. She leaves and goes to her friends for comfort. From there, it could go exactly as it did in the book: though I'd still roll my eyes a little at the dramatics, I'd be on her side because in my little fantasy version, she used her words! She told him what she wanted! She was honest about the fact that him keeping her out was upsetting her, instead of hurling it at him like a weapon when he doesn't react the way she wants! She's very romantic so naturally she's heartbroken that (she thinks) he doesn't feel the same! She would, in short, be in the right to be dramatic and sad if that's what she wants!
But that is not what happens.
Instead, I end the book disgusted, uncomfortable, and giving this marriage 2 years tops if it were to occur in the real world. I'm not even sure I want to read the next two now, because I'll have to see them being a couple and no one ever addressing the major problem of this book's last chapters. (I mean, I finish what I start. I'm gonna read them. But...ugh.)
Two stars for the first 90% of the novel; it would have been four if that last chunk had been different.