Falls Short: No Judgments by Meg Cabot
Posted by Rashika • 2 Comments
I received this book for free from William Morrow in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
No Judgments by Meg CabotSeries: Little Bridge Island #1
Published by William Morrow Paperbacks on September 24th, 2019
Genres: Adult, Chick Lit, Romance
Source: William Morrow
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The storm of the century is about to hit Little Bridge Island, Florida—and it’s sending waves crashing through Sabrina “Bree” Beckham’s love life…
When a massive hurricane severs all power and cell service to Little Bridge Island—as well as its connection to the mainland—twenty-five-year-old Bree Beckham isn’t worried . . . at first. She’s already escaped one storm—her emotionally abusive ex—so a hurricane seems like it will be a piece of cake.
But animal-loving Bree does become alarmed when she realizes how many islanders have been cut off from their beloved pets. Now it’s up to her to save as many of Little Bridge’s cats and dogs as she can . . . but to do so, she’s going to need help—help she has no choice but to accept from her boss’s sexy nephew, Drew Hartwell, the Mermaid Café’s most notorious heartbreaker.
But when Bree starts falling for Drew, just as Little Bridge’s power is restored and her penitent ex shows up, she has to ask herself if her island fling was only a result of the stormy weather, or if it could last during clear skies too.
Ummm, I don’t know about this one frankly. No Judgments has Cabot’s signature humor and promises a good time and yet, I feel like it falls short of being a truly good book?? There are certain plot points that are sort of swooped over and things like sexual assault, which I feel, aren’t handled with care.
We were introduced to Little Bridge in Bridal Boot Camp and while Bridal Boot Camp wasn’t my fav, I was still very excited to read more about this town and meet new characters. When I dove into No Judgments I found myself sucked into this town and immediately enthralled. The threat of a hurricane made things slightly more exciting (plot-wise) and I was really excited to see Drew and Bree pushed together under such tense circumstances.
Here is the thing though, for all the hype about a hurricane, we really didn’t actually see the hurricane hit?? Which was what I had been expecting? We got the before and after but not the during and that was also never explained? So we never got a scene where the hurricane actually hits and people are frightened. We go from people being nervous to clean-up & aftermath and that was such a weird transition.
Bree was sexually assaulted before she gets to the island and the way the book deals with that seems sort of insensitive? At one point, Bree is basically cornered into telling Drew what happened and that was so uncomfortable to read. At another, Bree is basically forced to confront her assaulter with no warning. Not only is that awful, but the confrontation itself was really poorly written and serves as a ‘solution.’ I am sorry but that’s not how trauma works?? Confronting your assaulter doesn’t erase it???
These two things definitely dampened most of my excitement about No Judgments. Bree and Drew may be cute, and their budding romance is definitely swoony but it doesn’t truly make up for these other issues I had. So while I did genuinely enjoy No Judgments at first and don’t really regret reading it, it was definitely not what I wanted or expected. I personally feel that Cabot has written way better and can do better.
Having said that, had I not gone into No Judgments with such high expectations perhaps I might have been more forgiving. There is still fun to be had but after a lifetime of reading Cabot, I know she can do better than just ‘fun.’ If No Judgments seems like your kind of book, you should definitely read it but just keep this stuff in mind if it could potentially bother you.
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