Afbeelding auteur

Ernessa T. Carter

Auteur van 32 Candles

3 Werken 224 Leden 16 Besprekingen

Werken van Ernessa T. Carter

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Algemene kennis

Geslacht
female
Nationaliteit
USA
Woonplaatsen
Los Angeles, California, USA
Opleiding
Carnegie Mellon University

Leden

Besprekingen

The connections to Sixteen Candles are cute and funny but for the most part this book was just way too much "tell me" instead of "show me".

Davie is a great character but some (most?) of the people she is surrounded by are cartoons.
 
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hmonkeyreads | 14 andere besprekingen | Jan 25, 2024 |
I loved this book. It took a bit to get me into it since it started off so slow, but then it picked up and I could not put it down. I loved reading about the four friends (Sharita, Thursday, Risa, and Tammy). All four women want to find love and are dealing with living in Los Angeles with the added parts of one of the women's relatives comments about finding love with an extraordinary man.

The book follows them through the year preceding their 30s and I would say the year afterwards. All of the women end up in different places than they though.

I think out of the women my favorite is Sharita. That is not to say she does not have some issues. She's a successful black women trying her best to become a Vice President at her bank. Only problem is that Sharita's picker is broken as hell. She keeps trying for men who she gives everything to and don't appreciate it. There is one scene with Sharita's latest that I wanted to slap the dude who had the nerve to tell her she should just be happy with the bare minimum he's giving since he is not married/divorced with multiple kids and has a job. I wanted to reach through the book and ring his neck. Due to Sharita dropping everything for a dude (that has never been me) she ends up falling out with long-time friend Thursday.

Thursday is still dealing with the suicide of her mother a decade earlier. Thursday is the daughter of a well known rapper that she is estranged from. Trying to do stand-up talking about how dating black men are the worst, Thursday only dates white men. Yeah, Thursday has some straight up daddy issues. I did find her to be the best at seeing her friends faults clearly. She has some definite blind-spots though.

Risa is a mess. A happy mess, but a mess still. She met Sharita and Thursday at Smith college and mourns the fact that one day she will lose her friends to marriage and babies. Risa still is in love with a woman she calls "The One" who would not come out to her family or marry Risa. Risa is now focused on being a rock star. She is truly ride or die for her friends, but does not have much time for their nonsense. When she stages an intervention for Sharita due to her posting too much about Jesus on Facebook and going to church three times a week I was laughing so hard I started to cry.

The weak spot in this book was Tammy though. Although this book is about four supposed best friends, Tammy was barely in it. You find out why later on though, but for most of the book I was wondering.

The secondary characters are very good in this one. We have Sharita's lame ass boyfriend, Thursday's lame ass boyfriend, Risa seducing people to get a chance to go on tour, etc. Everyone felt very well drawn.

The writing had me cracking up in parts. The dialogue reminded me of how it sounds when my friends and I get together.

The ending I found a little too pat though. Still very enjoyable!
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Gemarkeerd
ObsidianBlue | Jul 1, 2020 |
2/2/2019: saw this marked down to 1.99 today if anyone's interested.

4 stars..

I'm no fan of John Hughes movies, never really was, but I can also understand the fairy tale endings and romantic appeal in a big way. And Davidia Jones just thinks she deserves her Molly Ringwald ending. 16 Candles is her favorite movie, and her movies are essential for her. She quickly finds her Jake Ryan in James, a new boy at school who is as sweet as he is beautiful.

This book had far more layers than that (this review won't even scratch the surface), though, from concepts of beauty in an all-black town , self-loathing, abuse, and class divides, finally to choosing your own family and making your own way against all odds. It even features easy-to-fall-into relationships that are, at their core, complacent, and how to heal and move on with someone you care deeply about. (This is one book where centralizing the story on Davie, as she's later known, and her relationships wasn't distracting--it was just her book) The beginning of this book is not gentle, much in the same way her idol's life is at the beginning of 16 candles, Davidia's is in shambles. Far worse off than Sam, though, Davidia chooses not to speak due to prior trauma with her abusive mother. James is extraordinarily warm and kind but Davie's life are quickly set about a different path through necessity, heartbreak, and desperation.

But we don't see all of the 16 years between 15-31 as clearly--and warning here--Davie edits for us too. We learn that Davie has made some terrible, awful, hurtful choices herself. I wondered if I would ever come around on her again.

I need to mention though, because I see others reviews say this isn't romance, I believe it is at its core. James eventual pursuit of Davie is clearly entitled, won't take no for an answer (see where he reminds me of Hardy Cates), but in a much less threatening way. However, this bit is a pretty big hang up for me--it was a little too persistent for me to love their courtship at the beginning. The meat of that romance is where this wonderfully grounded novel shine, along with its humor and sneaky social observations. I also have to say another highlight is the end, where we begin to see Davie as a protagonist making her own way and dealing with her choices-maybe in a miraculous way, but I love good endings.

There's an awful lot of growth. James isn't as fully fleshed as he is 'perfect' but the surrounding secondary characters with all their flaws, love, mistakes, loyalty, along with Davie's absolutely stunning journey more than make up for it.

I do warn, if it's not clear, this book isn't always easy to stomach. It didn't have me weeping, but it is certainly not fluff. It is a novel that is centrally about redemption, surviving,thriving in hostile environments through loyalty, luck, and love-and yep that romance too.
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samnreader | 14 andere besprekingen | Jun 27, 2020 |
First of all, I am glad that I didn't read the book summary here on goodreads before I bought this book. Whoever wrote the summary, I assume not the author, basically posted an opinionated review instead of just a summary, and along with giving out too much information it gives misinformation! I feel like the editor or random person that was allowed to write the summary on GR skimmed parts of the book. Same with the blurbs on Amazon that made it seem like JUST a rom-com; 32 Candles is so much more than a lighthearted comedy.

This novel was not what I expected, but I loved it so much. My heart broke so many times for Davie as she suffered through most of her childhood and adolescence in silence. The story continues as she finally finds her voice and moves forward with her life. Then she gets a second chance at her "Molly Ringwald Ending" but you know, as does Davie, that it can't possibly turn out the way it does in the movies. Ultimately the novel is redemptive for many of the characters and at last heartwarming.
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twileteyes | 14 andere besprekingen | Aug 6, 2019 |

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Statistieken

Werken
3
Leden
224
Populariteit
#100,172
Waardering
4.2
Besprekingen
16
ISBNs
11

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