So I dithered about a star rating before deciding on a 3.5. There was a lot that bugged me about this book. Considering that it is only 196 pages it got draggy in a lot of places. It also didn't help that the book's message shifted more than halfway through to a conclusion that did feel right to me, but it came completely out of left field.

The main character Lucy Tuttle is a puzzle to me. She's almost 30 when this story begins and is knocked for a loop when her Aunt Maren dies in an accident. Losing Maren suddenly has Lucy questioning everything that she thought she wanted out of life which is a home and 2.5 kids with her boyfriend Oliver.

I initially thought this book was about grief, about how to accept it when you lose someone you love and how you manage to put yourself back together. Well it seemed to me as a reader that Lucy never really gets there. I felt like the character was way too dull and passive and it drove me crazy that even though several other characters remarked about how she was depressed that no one did more than that.

It also became readily apparent that Lucy had a lot of other issues that the author does not take time to explore besides having Lucy remark upon them. And it became apparent to me based on how Lucy relieved tension by counting things, slats in tables, number of steps, that she could possibly be OCD. It was a an odd characteristic to give her since that wasn't addressed by the author either. Heck I wanted someone somewhere to say that Lucy needed to see someone, because she didn't sound great and it sounded like she also lost a ton of weight.

Suddenly towards the end the book shifts its focus to Lucy deciding whether she is ready to take that next step with her boyfriend Oliver (next step being marriage and kids) and there were a lot of messages being thrown Lucy's way in this book. It's an interesting discussion to have to remain child free in this book because as Lucy found in this book you are made to feel not normal and or selfish if you choose to not have kids. So that part worked for me. I guess it didn't feel organic to me because you just have Lucy all of a sudden switch to a possible game changer in her life and not discussing it with her boyfriend.

Speaking of Lucy's boyfriend I really didn't get much of a sense of him in this book. He was younger than Lucy and apparently very into everything green/organic.

In fact, I didn't get much of a sense of anyone. Lucy has a quirky best friend that shows up randomly, but who she doesn't seem to interact with beyond that.

The writing I found to be a bit repetitive after a while. I think that's because we keep hearing how Lucy misses Maren and how she's about to fall apart and isn't sleeping for pages and pages. And as much as I love books that deal with a character renovating a house, this one bored me to tears. There was no real description of the house and how it got changed up at all.

The flow was not great either. I really couldn't figure out seasons/months except for a few written cues here and there (they had a party in September on a pagan holiday, it was October but they were doing Secret Santa at her office). I needed some more descriptions of the weather, how hot she felt, how sweaty, how nice a breeze felt, anything. The book just felt very static to me.

The setting of this book really takes place at Maren's home that she leaves Lucy. Besides everyone saying she was leaving Manhattan for Queens I could not tell you beyond that this book tells place in New York. Once again the lack of description drove me crazy. We hear later about how Lucy's commute is okay, but it would have been nice to read about it. One gets tired of reading about her and her valium she was taking, or that she had to count the number of slats in tables, or steps up the stairs.

The ending was a surprise, I thought the book would go one way, but went another. That is the main reason why I gave it a 3.5 stars. ( )

The Sock Wars by Maia Sepp
Source: Purchase
My Rating: 3/5 stars
My Review:

Lucy Tuttle’s life is neat, ordered and, perfectly aligned. She has a perfectly arranged desk, her apartment is ultra-modern, sleek and tidy and, as a financial planner, she has secured her future. The only real messiness in Lucy’s life is her über-hippy boyfriend, Oliver and her delightfully crazy aunt, Maren. The day crazy aunt Maren dies is the day Lucy Tuttle’s life turns ass over tea kettle and her neat and orderly life will never, ever be the same.

As if the loss of her aunt weren’t enough Lucy also finds out that her crazy aunt has left her house, a house that is in no way neat or tidy. In fact, the house is not in the city and it is not in good condition but, it the last place on Earth that Lucy feels close to her aunt. Though she is reluctant to leave her sleek and ultra-modern apartment in the city, Oliver convinces Lucy that with a make-over, Maren’s house could not only be livable but a place where they can have a real future together. With little to hold on to now that Maren is gone, Lucy agrees to the make-over and the move. Before long, Lucy has also agreed to Oliver moving in and the make-over being eco-friendly. Like her life, Lucy’s home is turned ass over tea kettle and the days and months wear on and on, Lucy isn’t quite sure she will ever be able to come out the other side of her grief.

The Bottom Line: I really wanted this read to be so much more than it is. With a name like The Sock Wars, I thought I was in for at least a little bit of humor but what I got was a read full of sorrow with only the tiniest bit of happiness and little to no humor. Lucy is mired in grief and while that grief is well-deserved, it also bogs down and slows down the read. By the time Lucy finally begins to pull out of her grief and accept the immense changes in her life, it is a bit too late to really salvage the overall read. To be fair, once she does begin to accept the changes Lucy also dives in and starts making some more changes to help herself find her center once again and pursue a happy future, one her crazy aunt Maren would have approved of. In all, I found myself to be completely underwhelmed by the plot of The Sock Wars but because of the strong writing style (no problems with flow, grammar, errors, etc.) and complete commitment to character development (even though I only really liked the crazy, deceased aunt), I find myself unable to go below a three star rating. ( )