I was pretty excited to read this novel. I won it at a giveaway over at Shoshanah's blog, and it seemed like it would be right up my alley. I was disappointed. I liked it, but there are some things I wish the author or editor would have been a bit more careful of, and there are a few story lines that I have some issues with.
Weak at The Knees by Jo Kessel starts off by introducing our main character, Danni Lewis. She is in a long-term {like 8 years, long-term} relationship with Hugo, but she's unhappy with how things are going. She doesn't feel a spark or passion-filled love, she says. Then, the unthinkable happens. Her best friend, Amber, dies of an anuerysm. Amber's last words to her are that she thinks it's best if Danni leaves Hugo and finds someone that makes her fall madly and passionately in love with him.
So, she leaves for France to be a youth guide for a ski-resort. She meets some attractive men, sleeps with a few, and then falls in love with a married ski-instructor named Olivier du Pape {he is pretty dreamy, I will admit}. And here's where I really fell off the boat. Danni and Olivier date, discuss ending Olivier's marriage, and she doesn't really feel any guilt about this until something else scary happens toward the end of the novel.
As a side note, you probably know from reading my blog, that I'm sex positive and generally non-judgmental. Some people have open-marriages. Some people have no problem with their husbands or wives having other partners. It's NOT a choice I think I'll ever make, but it's not my business what other people do. On the other side, I also get that sometimes things happen, like you meet someone and you fall head-over-heels in love with them and you're married. I absolutely do not believe in "THE ONE" and can imagine that for a few people, maybe a few "ones" cross paths at the same time.
But, I have a serious problem with cheating. Adults who find themselves in the above situations have options on how to handle these things. And, rather than dealing with that by either not speaking to this woman or honestly evaluating his marriage and being honest, he cheats. And, Danni knowingly dates a married man. More than all of that, though, Danni isn't a particularly likeable character. She's whiny in a "my great life is hard" kind of way, and it definitely feels like she needs to do some growing up.
Now, all of that aside, I did like the theme of taking chances, chasing dreams, etc. If Amber wouldn't have died, Danni would not have decided to work in the Alps and missed a lot of great experiences, man-issues aside. And, I think it's important that we all remember how precious our time is and how important it is to things we want to do.
What about you? What have you read lately?
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| {Source: Goodreads} |
Weak at The Knees by Jo Kessel starts off by introducing our main character, Danni Lewis. She is in a long-term {like 8 years, long-term} relationship with Hugo, but she's unhappy with how things are going. She doesn't feel a spark or passion-filled love, she says. Then, the unthinkable happens. Her best friend, Amber, dies of an anuerysm. Amber's last words to her are that she thinks it's best if Danni leaves Hugo and finds someone that makes her fall madly and passionately in love with him.
So, she leaves for France to be a youth guide for a ski-resort. She meets some attractive men, sleeps with a few, and then falls in love with a married ski-instructor named Olivier du Pape {he is pretty dreamy, I will admit}. And here's where I really fell off the boat. Danni and Olivier date, discuss ending Olivier's marriage, and she doesn't really feel any guilt about this until something else scary happens toward the end of the novel.
As a side note, you probably know from reading my blog, that I'm sex positive and generally non-judgmental. Some people have open-marriages. Some people have no problem with their husbands or wives having other partners. It's NOT a choice I think I'll ever make, but it's not my business what other people do. On the other side, I also get that sometimes things happen, like you meet someone and you fall head-over-heels in love with them and you're married. I absolutely do not believe in "THE ONE" and can imagine that for a few people, maybe a few "ones" cross paths at the same time.
But, I have a serious problem with cheating. Adults who find themselves in the above situations have options on how to handle these things. And, rather than dealing with that by either not speaking to this woman or honestly evaluating his marriage and being honest, he cheats. And, Danni knowingly dates a married man. More than all of that, though, Danni isn't a particularly likeable character. She's whiny in a "my great life is hard" kind of way, and it definitely feels like she needs to do some growing up.
Now, all of that aside, I did like the theme of taking chances, chasing dreams, etc. If Amber wouldn't have died, Danni would not have decided to work in the Alps and missed a lot of great experiences, man-issues aside. And, I think it's important that we all remember how precious our time is and how important it is to things we want to do.
What about you? What have you read lately?
I'm excited to see you blogging about the book you won from me! It's funny, because it hasn't been that long since I read it, but I've forgotten a lot about it, so it didn't leave to much of an impression on me. I do think this book had a lot of potential, and I loved the setting, but I do think it is really hard to understand books like this when infidelity is involved.
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