Just checking in to tell you about this book I just finished reading. I have a hard time choosing good books at the library on the fly given that the forty or so seconds I am allowed to browse the stacks when children are in tow. Yes, yes, I know; sometimes I DO choose a book ahead of time and know what I’m looking for, but usually I just have just take a chance on what I happen to find. This is how I ended up with Wedding Season by Katie Fforde; I wanted something fluffy and quick, so I grabbed it.
And fluffy and quick it was. Of course it was. It was called Wedding Season, for crying out loud, in scrolly, swirly font no less, and there was a big piece of wedding cake on the shiny turquoise cover. That’s why I grabbed it in the first place. And for the most part, it was fine. Not the finest example of writing out there or anything, but diverting enough. Until, that is, the end, when one of the main women characters, Bron, finally got together with her love interest, James. They were working a big fancy wedding and Bron was looking for a place to take a quick nap. She opened the door to the caravan* and who should she find but James, sound asleep. Since they were friends and she was so tired, she lay down next to him. And all of that is fine. I have no problem with it. I even have no problem with her gazing longingly at his sleeping form.
You know what I do have a problem with? I have a problem with how she unbuttoned his shirt. She stopped herself before she undid his pants, but it was close. She almost undid his pants. And then she laid her head down on his bare chest and went to sleep.
He caught her, of course, and there was a lot of feigned indignation, but naturally he actually loved it. It was written as an amusing way to consummate one of the novel’s three relationships. Because oh ho ho! How droll! The cute little woman undressed a man without his knowledge or consent in order to leer at and touch his naked body! Ha ha ha!
Raise your hands if you think this cute little scene would have made it passed the editors had James’s and Bron’s roles been reversed.
*This book is English, so I actually have no idea what a “caravan” is. Is it a cabin? A minivan? A long train of vehicles? The wedding was at a huge country estate, so it’s maybe the servants’ quarters? Or something? Anyway, James was sleeping in it.
2 comments:
I know the answer to "caravan" - it's a trailer - like an RV that is towed.
Not raising my hand - definitely wouldn't fly if it were the other way around.
Here's a link to show you what a caravan is (the bane of my father's life, actually - boy, how he hated getting stuck behind one on a country road!):
http://www.freefoto.com/images/21/48/21_48_2---Caravan_web.jpg
As for the "unbuttoning the shirt" thing, yeah, I guess it might get booed and hissed if it were the other way round, but I'm more intrigued by the fact that Bron (albeit a fictional character, I know) had the guts to do something like that - I'm waaaaay too much of a wimp, even with my (very soon to be ex-) husband-though-we're-not-married...
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