by Nikki Godwin
rating:☆
published: 21st February 2014
spoilers? yes
Goodreads
“And what do you want, McCoy?” Terrence asks. “Really and truly?” “For this summer to never end.”
Hold on, folks, this could be a bumpy (and sarcastic and slightly angry because I wasted 2 1/2 hours on this book) ride.
First of all, it's always a bad sign when you get kind of leery about a book within the first chapter of that book. I mean, it doesn't help that one of the first comments made about the Native American character is
He nods. "I'm Micah. Youngblood." I was expecting something cooler. Like Blackfeather. Or Wolfcry. Something more Native American than Youngblood.
At which point, I was like, do I really want to be reading this book? But I continued, and came across this gem
"I'm guessing you're Ridge," he says to me. He tosses a gym bag onto the only empty bed. I seriously thought I lucked up just having Terrence as a roommate. I should've known better. "And I'd assume you're Terrence? I've never met a white guy named Terrence," he says.
I guess it's an effective way to mark out the arsehole, and make a point that Terrence is not white (which is pretty vague, but I'm being a little harsh. It does mention later that he is black). Anyway, having welcomed the douchecanoe, I figured I might as well get a bit further before deciding whether or not to continue the book.
Next up, Douchecanoe(TM) confesses that he can't possibly live without sex for the length of time the camp runs but, given that his girlfriend is back home, he's obviously going to have to find some girl nearby who will give him what he wants. And here I was thinking that they were at some elite, invitation-only, basketball camp and so would be serious about the sport. Clearly, I was mistaken.
Also at this point, I was getting increasingly doubtful of the portrayal of the Native American characters in this book. I don't know how much research the author did, but I felt like it was kind of leaning towards playing on stereotypes. I haven't been able to find any reviews which verify that though.
Then comes this (other) gem of a quote
"Okay. You asked for it," he warns. "The thing is, I hate labels. All labels. Race, gender, sexuality, all of it. I don't see color or gender or gay, straight, bi, whatever."
Which leads me to wonder, how much of this is the (white) author putting words into their Native American character's mouth in an attempt to be 'progressive'. I would hazard a guess that it's quite a bit. But then she has the white character say that he couldn't do the same, ie that he doesn't "not see colour". And once again I'm kind of leery. What's the author playing at? Is she wanting the white dude to seem more progressive than the Native American dude? Because, if so, that's gross.
Anyway. Moving on from that, there's then this lovely quote
Micah assumes the 'guy role' and says it's just one ticket. I should totally be the guy. Micah is such a girl. Of course I can't tell him that - ever - because he hates stereotypical gay relationships where one of the guys is 'the girl of the relationship'.
Because you can't go anywhere with a relationship of any sort without imposing some lovely het values on proceedings.
By this point, Micah and Ridge are 'together'. But wait!! Ridge has a girlfriend back home (who he keeps damn mentioning, only to complain about in the same sentence. Damnit, Ridge. Just break up already. I am not here for your teenage angst bullshit). And who he's currently cheating on, making him no better than Aaron, right?
But no! It's ok, because Micah's a boy. I'm not kidding, there was this semi-justification of it
But then I remember that I'm not into guys, and I have a girlfriend, and this technically makes me a cheater. I wonder if this is like prison, how a lot of inmates are "gay for the stay" because they need some form of affection.
Putting aside the fact that he repeatedly claims he's not into guys (sidenote; you'd think he hasn't heard of bisexuality the way he's going on... Hmm....), which simultaneously cheating on his girlfriend with a guy, this 'gay for the stay' idea is gross. Get this shit away from me.
There are also huge gaps in the development of their relationship. Like, one moment, they're kissing and Ridge is leaping away and having a gay/I-have-a-girlfriend freakout and then 5 pages (and an hour or so) later he's perfectly happy letting Micah kiss him. I don't understand.
And to top it off, would you believe it, Samantha's a bitch. She has no personality, all she likes to do is shop, and she's horrible to Ridge when he (finally) breaks up with her. But it turns out she was also cheating on him! So Ridge cheating on her with Micah is obviously now doubly ok. Because logic.
One last point, Micah is actually kind of manipulative. He puts Ridge in these coupley situations when he knows Ridge isn't entirely comfortable all the time with them, without checking whether Ridge wants to be in those situations and just lets him deal with it. It doesn't feel like particularly healthy relationship behaviour to me.
Actual last point: Terrence was easily the best character in this book, even if he did seem to be there just to have the role of relationship guru.
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