Sassapphras

First I want to say that I love the author's writing style (I know that probably sounds like the beginning of another bad breakup line). It's so easy to get into and keep going. It feels like more often than not I'm putting books down because the writing is terrible. Which sucks, because there's a lot of great ideas out there without proper writing to back it up.

With this book, I had sort of a reverse issue. I did consider putting it down in the beginning, but it picked up in the middle and I was okay to keep going. However, although the story did get a little better, it kind of had me cringing towards the end.

I cannot stand people (fictional, or otherwise) with no backbone. I know that's harsh, as some people are just not fighters. But I've always been a fighter, and I've never had much sympathy. And I could not stand how much Bailey allowed her entire family to run roughshod over her. I hated them all, even her grandfather and sister. And I loathed Bailey for allowing it and making excuses for them. Grow a pair, pack up your bags and start your own fricken life! No sympathy. Only disgust. So, of course, the ending didn't do it for me. And after all the shit we went through in the book, we didn't even get a complete happy ending. It was all still about Bailey's sister. We were drug through the mud with Bailey, so the least we should get is the actual beginning of a professional career; a guarantee, if you will.

And Sam. Geez, dude, I know you have issues, but after the shit you pulled, no way. Bye bye. He started losing his appeal when he wouldn't even kiss Bailey in front of Charlotte. Like she was a dirty little secret. By the time they did the deed and he pulled that crap on Bailey... that is the nail in the coffin. You walk away and make him crawl his ass back to you. And if he doesn't, then oh fricken well. I swear Bailey is damn masochist. She refuses to leave the people who seemingly don't give a shit about her.

Overall, though, there were parts of Bailey's personality I liked. Probably the parts that didn't actually make sense, considering the other parts [that I hated]. Maybe she's bipolar? I wouldn't rule it out. However, I loved when she had confidence in herself and I did like that she never seemed to dislike her physical self (I'm fat, I'm ugly, nobody likes me, blah blah blah). And the thing that really kept me going was the musical aspect. I love when a heroine excels, and Bailey played the fiddle with flying colors (or so I assume, according to what was written).

Unfortunately, the things I hated about the story had such an affect to cement how I actually felt about it. Writing style, great. Characters, not so much.

*Warning: Undoubtedly contains typos and grammatical errors. I read into the wee hours of the morning, and although my eyes are blurry, I decided to soldier through and get this shit out of my head. Otherwise, I'll lie in bed for the two hours of sleep I have left thinking about it all instead of sleeping. Errors may or may not get fixed at a future time.