JulieHasMoved

I am a girl who grew up with the Disney Princesses, who has two daughters and who has seen nearly every Princess themed movie.  Needless to say, I am a fan.  Yes, there are a few princesses who I’d like to kick in the shins…*cough cough...Snow White* but for the most part I love them all.  So I am not at all opposed to a book with a Disney feel.  With references to beloved characters, scenes and yes the quintessential true love’s first kiss.  Who doesn’t want their happily ever after??

Kelly is charming and lovely and while at times can be a little childish, I get him.  He is young and set in his ideals and wants true love. 

Walter is the “bad boy” of sorts but like most bad boys, they have a good heart and are completely misunderstood.

The relationship itself is quite beautiful and at times I swooned.  And the club scenes were easily some of my favorite moments...I wanted more of them...imagine that!!!  This in particular was a favorite of mine.

Kelly took his hand and pulled Walter from his stool, toward the corner where they’d left their jackets. Walter followed Kelly all the way outside, where Kelly led him to a snug alcove against the side of the building, pressed him against the brick and hugged him tight.

Kelly’s head tucked in on Walter’s shoulder, his face against Walter’s neck in the same place it had been that night at Luna’s, and everything inside Walter went still and quiet, desperate to keep Kelly right there. Forever. For a long time they stood there, embracing and breathing slowly. Eventually Kelly spoke. “I don’t want to screw this up either. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. You…you’re everything.”

Unfortunately this book was filled with very little of this and is the reason for my twisted undergarments…so here we go…spoilers likely...I have no idea...maybe I should call them snooze warnings??

<spoiler></spoiler>

Yeah, I am certainly in a mood so let me first apologize to Heidi Cullinan for this review.  Heidi is a brilliant writer and I am fortunate that this was NOT my first book of hers.  “Nowhere Ranch” and “Carry the Ocean” are easily in my top 10 books of all time. Both amazingly written, beautiful well developed characters and stories that flow seamlessly from page to page.  Simply amazing.

This was not that book.  This snoozer went on entirely too long to the point I so wanted to quit.  The old adage “less is more” certainly would apply here.  I mean…my gawd do we really need…

…30 Minutes of a Philosophy Club Meeting told in painstaking detail of which I was like Kelly and made to feel like a complete idiot. 

…20 Pages of agonizing detail of Walter buying, wrapping and gifting presents to nearly everyone in the book.  BUT…unless I dozed off and missed it, we never got to see him give his gifts to Kelly.  Shame.

…Easily 8 movies recapped for the readers in exhaustive detail.  I had seen all but one of these movies and could relate to the point of boredom. 

…A campaign to save a teacher which went on WAAAAAYYYY too long.

…A best friend who gets so consumed in her wedding non-sense that I question anyone who believes this chick could really be a friend. 

…Family drama-rama to the extreme and yet while we get entirely too much of this, nothing really ever got discussed or worked out properly…everyone just took their happy pills at the end and went on their merry way…or maybe they were put under a spell.



…The first kiss.  I get it.  We need to draw these things out but this was agonizing.  Months of attraction and NO KISS.  I mean even our Disney characters kiss for goodness sakes and sometimes these kisses come before either has hardly uttered a word to the other!!

…The sex was fine.  But at a certain point it just became unimportant.  For me, their relationship was lost amongst the pages. 

…and finally...the epilogue….yeah, I am not even going there.

I clearly did not enjoy this book the way I had hoped and will not be continuing at this point with the series.  Perhaps one day.

"Okay, Mr. Lucas, I need to finish this syllabus. Really sorry about your apartment. Just tell me they snuck you into the Manors and I’ll sleep easy.”
“I’m doubling in a single in Porter with an allergy-ridden freshman.”
“Wonderful.” Williams raised his mug in a mock toast. “Saturday night, Opie’s, back room, pitcher of beer. I’ll bring my wife so nobody thinks I’m seducing you.” He frowned. “Fuck, I’ll have to get a sitter, and Cara’s gone. Jesus, I hate it when people graduate.”
*giggles*

10%



24%

“No. I shouldn’t have said that. You’re not a prude, but I think you’re going to have a hell of a time, being a shy, virginal, gay man wanting a 1950s-movie kind of courtship.”

34%

“Seriously. What happened?”
"What happened? What happened? I sat there like a moron, that’s what happened. I had no idea what anybody was talking about.”
Happy to be a moron with Kelly. Good grief.

39%



47%

They FINALLY kissed!!!!

Now, if they can just lose the pants. :D

52%


I do love this movie. :D

68%


This couple is so wonderful but all the other mess in this book is a mood killer. I just want them!!!

73%



78%

Kelly was in his line of sight, bed-rumpled, wearing a pair of sweats and nothing else, morning sun filtering through the window over the sink and streaming through the whole of the dining room. It lit up Kelly’s hair, his bare skin, his face, his eyes. Something Dick said made Kelly smile, that shy, head-ducking one that usually came with a blush, and it caught at the corner of Walter’s heart.
It held him and turned something in his gut, like a key that opened a door to a subbasement, a door Walter hadn’t even known was there. The lock clicked, the door opened, and longing, soul-deep longing poured out.
He tried to slam it shut, but it wouldn’t go— Walter wanted to hold on to the wall, but he leaned into it instead, trying to control his breathing as he desperately fought the emotions inside him. It was futile. The longing burned at him, making his arms ache, but that wasn’t even the worst. Wanting. Behind the longing was wanting, craving— like a parched plant facing a lake. Yearning that burned in his blood, that made him heavy.
Need. It was need.
I want Kelly.
I need Kelly.
His heart beat so hard it felt like he was going to have an attack. It wasn’t anything, though, next to the pain of what he realized that fervent beating meant.
I love Kelly.

92%

“Don’t you think it’s time someone gave up everything for you?”

94%

94% and this one's FINISHED!!!