3 Star
Molly has arrived home from Vassar to reveal that she has an important announcement to make. Her mother, Suzanne, is convinced that Molly’s news is history repeating herself — and that she’s about to become a thirty-six-year-old grandmother. Suzanne’s mother, Ava, develops a case of impending great-grandmother fever—that is, when she’s not spying on the new next-door neighbor, Buddy McKinley, who turns out to be a blast from her past.
Decades earlier, Buddy was the business partner of Ava’s late husband, as well as his best friend during the Vietnam War. Ava feels she has good reasons for hating Buddy—she blames him for the fall of their business, an Irish pub that was a staple of the community. The loss not only destroyed her husband but also pushed her headfirst into the vodka bottle.
Suzanne eventually finds out that Buddy and Ava’s past goes back much further than either has admitted. She begins to wonder whether Ava truly hates Buddy, or whether her feelings are much more complicated, as are her own when Molly announces that she’s not pregnant, but gay.
Sabrina-Kate - 3 Star
She Effin Hates Me sounded like the exact type of book I love reading when I read the blurb on it yet it truly didn't end up being that at all. From the beginning I struggled with the pacing and the characters. If I had to pick just one word to describe it, I would probably pick 'plodding' because I just felt like I was plodding along, slogging my way through some slushy weather. You know what I mean; it felt like my feet were dragging (or at least someone's were!)
The characters were interesting, don't get me wrong. It is just that it felt to me like there was a lot of unnecessary detail that made certain parts just drag out and feel interminable. I usually race through books pretty quickly but it took me the better part of three weeks, off and on, to make it through this book which for me was not a great sign at all.
I know that this book was based on a play that the author wrote and I can't help but wonder why they wanted to develop it into a book. If it worked as a play, couldn't the age old adage, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' apply?
I couldn't find many other reviews about She Effin Hates Me to see if I was just off about the way I felt about it so I guess it is truly up to the reader to decide whether they want to venture further and see if this book thrills them in a way in certainly didn't me.
Thank you to Skyhorse Publishing for our review copy. All opinions are our own.
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