Sex, Lies, and Sensibility

I decided to expand my horizons and take a dip into the Romance genre. I'm glad I did. This book is a follow-up by author Nikki Payne after her other Jane Austen homage, Pride and Protest.

On this venture, which roughly follows the outline of Sense and Sensibility, our heroine is Nora, an athletic African American twenty-something who recently went through a number of setbacks, most notably the fact that her recently-deceased father had a whole other, legitimate(!) family. To add insult to injury, his other family is now holding the estate's purse strings, which causes her and her sister Yanne to be effectively broke. The scion of her half-family, Nora's half-sister Rachel, dangles the promise of riches if she and her sister can repair show more an abandoned, dilapidated house in far-off Maine. Nora and Yanne reluctantly agree to live there for a year and turn the house into a Bed and Breakfast. Along the way she meets and, later, falls in love with Bear, a Native American tour operator who is also going through his share of troubles.

While I did find some of the subplots kind of overdone and somewhat unnecessary, the main plot follows closely to that of the original novel. The author captures through 21st-century imagery the social commentary that Jane Austen was famous for, particularly the theme of women who suffer social and financial hardships through little to no fault of their own.

A note on the audiobook version: I chose to listen to this book as I was already familiar with the tale, having read the Austen novel a number of years ago. The audiobook features two lead readers, Kacie Rogers, who does an excellent job of capturing the female characters, and Phil Ava, who does mostly the male characters (although they also do both). show less

I really wanted to like this more, but the narrative voice just felt too heavy-handed. If you can't take strong second-hand embarrassment or impending doom, you may have to sit this one out.

The chemistry between Nora and Bear was entirely physical. Everyone can just tell they're in heat, for some reason LOL??? Like, if Nora stepped outside 'Ehmmh girl, that's why that coochie throbbing.' Or, if Bear breathed "Whoa, you really want to crack her back, huh?" How do y'all know this? Are they giving off pheromones or something? Let me feel the sexual chemistry, don't just tell me.

Pet peeve: why this man can't ever take her to an actual bedroom? out in the woods? dingy supply closets? in the backroom of a charity function? what is going on show more lol? also, why was Bear's skin always turning purple? Bear didn't seem to care that Nora was viewed as a jumpoff in front of his community. every time your people see her, it's because you're bringing her into a closet.

I thought Nora mothered Bear way too much, and the majority of Bear's thoughts were just about how horny he was for Nora, which may be realistic for most men, but it left their connection feeling flat.
I'm sorry, but throughout most of this I was like Bear doesn't have his life together. Clean your house before you bring another woman into this.

Yanne (at times, Nora) in particular is cringeworthy, and I understand this is probably a vehicle to introduce Abenaki/Native American cultural elements. But no one talks like this in real life. The dialogue was bloated. You're just left feeling like this is a very "special" episode. I feel this could have been weaved in more naturally.

I get Lu's plight, but she started irking me something awful. She's the type of chick you want to physically fight, but she made valid points. Lu was ruthless and about her ends. While she did make me want to itch, I liked her too in a way. Also...

Ending spoiler the last hookup scene. Nora, self-respect now. How are you letting him fondle you this easily while you still think he's GETTING MARRIED to someone else? She should've been dried up, and he should've been begging on the floor.

also, they kept saying Bear was this sex god, and it didn't really seem like it. i promise I'm not trying to be overly critical, but stuff wasn't computing

On the positive, I found Yanne funny at times. Her whimsical nature and love-hard personality were fun. Nora was obviously the more straight-laced one. I felt deeply for her being on the brunt of "slut-shaming" and raggedy boyfriend. When women's sex tapes are exposed without/with their consent, society judges them ruthlessly while their male partners go unscathed. I also felt the amount of responsibility and family conflict on Bear's shoulders and liked that he was so understanding. And the hair braiding scene was nice.

Also, I liked Yanne and Brandon way more than Nora/Bear. Come on, stuffy-but accountant with the carefree wildchild? Too fun.

Overall, this story left me stressed, so I didn't enjoy it or the love scenes. But the conflict was masterful. Like, it all starts brimming up in a volcanic mess of interpersonal relationships and anxiety toward the end. I preferred the drama over the romance. show less