What is happening here? No, really. What is happening? The introduction to the heroine and her two friends was pretty good the first time I read it; but when I read it the second time through in order to write this review I was less impressed. Especially when things start to stick out with you more than they did the first time you read them.
And right off the bat we have slut shaming by friends, for friends. And this is how we are introduced to our heroine, Morgan, and her two friends, Rachel and Heidi. And this is how Morgan describes her two companions. Also why is Rachel making the face? Shouldn’t Heidi be making the face?
Why is it that whenever the main character has just two friends they fall into these two categories without the author really doing much to explore the virgin-whore dichotomy. Which makes the friends fall pretty flat in the character department. Morgan is also surprised by the fairly “skimpy” outfit Rachel is wearing, which was a little black dress and heels. But she goes into much more detail on what Hiedi is wearing for some reason.
So instead of simply describing her friend as wearing a sexy, school girl outfit we got a detailed description of it and just to make sure you knew how loose Heidi was Morgan comments on how she would probably do a bunch of bending over. And now I am wondering where these people live that neither Heidi or Rachel are wearing jackets in late October. I am also wondering why Heidi is friends with these girls since they don’t seem to have much respect for her. Morgan goes on to say that she is a “wet blanket” because she is wearing sweatpants and a giant shirt. I’m not sure how her clothes equals her being a “wet blanket”; she’s just saying she doesn’t want to go to the costume party, not making them stay away.
But whatever. Unless Hall is trying to show her to be even more “pure” than Rachel by Morgan’s choice of loungewear. Which is why she paints them in the start as “battling for her soul” thankfully it doesn’t really go anywhere. Come to think of it all you really don’t see much of the virgin-whore complex play out between the friends beyond this scene. Unless you count their interactions with Morgan and her relationship with Leo, the so-called “love interest”.
Which I don’t. Because both women are pretty interested in Morgan’s love life with Heidi being a bit too into it. But Heidi also seems interested in being naked around her friends and seeing them naked, more specifically Morgan. And I can’t tell if this is Heidi trying to lighten the mood, Hall hinting that Heidi is bi (which is a whole nother issue), or her bad attempt at painting her as the “devil on Morgan’s shoulder.
But that's enough of that for now, so let's move on.
Again I doubt Morgan’s friends would consider her a downer for not wanting to go out on the anniversary of her grandmother’s death. But earlier she says she normally wouldn’t have minded going out clubbing with her friends. Then she brings up the bad breakup she had with her ex and how she didn’t feel like pretending anymore. So does that mean she would still go clubbing with her friends on nights that weren’t the anniversary of her grandmother and pretended to have fun? Or is she just dealing with unexamined, bottled-up grief of losing her grandmother combined with the PTSD left over from getting out of an abusive relationship? When she goes clubbing with her friends does she pretend to have fun? Or does she just not want to pretend to have fun at the clubs tonight? I have questions about this and either way it sounds like she needs some counseling. In fact the farther we go on in learning about the bad break up the more it's clear she needs to see a professional.
If she is finding it harder and harder to be alone at night, especially on the anniversary of her grandmother’s death, why not ask them to stay? Especially since they are offering to stay and keep her company and support her. But the way it’s written it almost comes off as Heidi is WAY more interested in dancing around naked with her friends. Which Morgan isn’t jazzed about because the ritual is for peace and happiness. This brings up more questions. Does Morgan think Heidi wouldn’t take things seriously or does it mean Morgan would be too distracted comparing their bodies to do it?
Either way Heidi goes from being supportive of staying home with Morgan to trying to coax Morgan to go out clubbing with them. And Morgan thinks about how Heidi would never understand someone wanting to stay home instead of going clubbing with their friends. I meanwhile just want Heidi to stick with whether or not she is willing to stay and support Morgan or if she is going to try and convince her to go clubbing. Either way Morgan responds that she wants to do it tonight to lay some demons to rest to remove the guilt she feels.
And I am wondering what demons does she have that would make her feel guilty. Did she not get to her grandmother in time to say goodbye because she was clubbing with her friends? Did her grandmother die in a car wreck on her way to pick Morgan up? Did she give her grandma food poisoning? What? What does she have to feel guilty about? Did Hall bring this up only to forget about it? Because I can think of no other reason for her to bring up demons that make her feel guilty and then never talk about it again. It can’t be the demons that resulted from Craig’s abuse because that ended six months ago. So it’s got to be connected to her grandma somehow. Maybe Morgan feels guilty for not connecting to her grandmother’s religion before now.
Who knows? Not me because once again this is never brought up again.
The girls again try to convince Morgan to let them stay with her after she mentions demons and guilt. Well, Rachel does. Hall tries to present Heidi as someone who once again can’t decide if she wants to go clubbing in order to get drunk and laid or be there for her friend. Of course, friendship wins out in the end and I don’t know if this says something about Heidi’s past actions or Morgan’s opinion on her.
Funny how for all the comments on how much Heidi loves sex and as it often, we never actually hear her talking about her sex life in the book. So I am wondering if she doesn’t actually have that big of a sex life but lets her friends thinks she does for whatever reason. But because her friends say she is a slut we are supposed to believe it. Also, she wants to get naked and be naked with her friends, so apparently that counts as showing her “promiscuity” I guess.
Anyways, Morgan once again urges her friends to leave despite thinking about Heidi’s “inner turmoil” five seconds prior. Morgan doesn’t understand why Rachael would make such a leap. Girl you yourself mentioned having demons you needed to tackle. And even if it was just in your mind have talked about how you want to be alone because of your late grandmother and ex-Craig. If they are indeed your close friends they would probably be able to tell you aren’t in the best of spirits. Especially since you admit without them you would not have been able to handle the post-Craig thing. Which is why Rachel as well as Heidi, when you aren’t trying to convince us she would rather be clubbing, keeps making sure you want them to leave.
Stop being surprised your friends can read you and want to support you.
Rachel starts talking about how Morgan did the right thing and how nothing that happened was her fault. So now I am wondering if Morgan blamed herself for what happened in the past. Because that doesn’t seem to be a thing she is battling with now.
This is probably one of the most irritating things about this book. The number of plot threads brought up/introduced but never actually really getting a lot of time or just being dropped out of the blue.
How does Heidi’s expression change? Does she go from happy to expressionless? Worried too scared? What expressions are changing? Also it says she had to have surgeries. Where? Does she have any scars? Or is this a case of beauty is never tarnished? Or are her scars hidden? Did she not have internal bleeding? Was Morgan beaten? Did she stay silent? What? Is that why Morgan doesn’t want to see Heidi naked? She doesn’t want to be reminded of what her friend went through?
Either way we don’t get these answers, at least not in this book.
Morgan manages to convince them to head out and the moment the door is open a cat runs in and Rachel has to slam the door shut before they are joined by a dog. Now I want to know how no one heard the dog making a racket while he was chasing the cat? Morgan asks Rachel if she saw someone else out there. Dude, she was focused on the dog about to crash the party with the cat. I doubt that was on her list of things to do. Rachel says no but suggests calling the police is animal control part of the police?
Anyways, the ladies turn their attention to the cat that had run into the house to escape and we learn Morgan’s severe Phobia of cats as well, as what I am sure is an over reliance on Disney’s Cinderella, believes they are planning something evil whenever they look at you. We learn her fear of them came from getting cat scratch fever after getting scratched by a stray cat.
I want to know how old she was when this happened, according to the CDC kids between 5 and 9 are more at risk to get it. I would also like to know if she had had interactions with cats before this incident. I am also reminded of a short story a fellow student of mine wrote a book about a cop who loved cats. He promptly tossed them out when his female partner said she didn’t like cats after contracting cat scratch fever, thus ruining his plans to date her. He got rid of his cats because he wanted to date someone who hated cats because one got her sick. Whatever.
Anyways, the further you go on with Morgan and her fear of cats the more I wonder if she was given any therapy for it, if so it isn’t mentioned.
But let’s take a break to discuss this woman’s train wreck of a life. Not only does she have missing, probably dead, parents. The only thing we learn about them is that they were atheists in a throwaway line and they are never brought up again. She contracted cat scratch fever. Her grandmother, who I am sure raised her after her parents were kidnapped by a cult or abducted by aliens or whatever, died. Or maybe the stray tabby that gave her cat scratch fever returned in the dead of night and killed them. She also feels guilty but not enough to focus on why she feels guilty and doesn’t want it to last another year. Oh yeah lets not forget she had an abusive, drug dealer boyfriend who held her and Heidi hostage for three days. And now there is a cat in her house.
Hall really should have narrowed down the trauma of her main character or at the very least had her in therapy.
Also apparently because of the dog Rachel and Heidi have to sneak around the back to get to the car. Is there a reason they can’t wait to leave until animal control gets the dog?
Anyways, we learn that Morgan’s late grandmother never practiced her craft around her granddaughter who only learned about this until she was cleaning out the older woman’s attic where she found the stuff. Anyone else getting Charmed vibes here? This spurred her to learn more about the woman’s beliefs. And now I am wondering if Morgan and her grandmother ever had a talk about what they believed if they were as close as Morgan wants us to believe.
Wait. Is that why Morgan feels guilty? They weren’t all that close when her late grandmother, we do not have a name for this woman for some reason, was alive and now that she is dead Morgan regrets not being close to her? Who knows? I don’t because it’s never really discussed. All we learn is that Morgan is doing this to feel close to her grandmother.
But let’s move on. Animal control comes and takes the dog. I am also wondering why she didn’t get them to remove the cat. But whatever. There would be no plot I guess if they did that. Anyways, Morgan goes in search of the cat despite admitting that she would usually give them a wide berth whenever she saw them in the past. I also find it interesting that Morgan has a phobia of cats but Rachel loves them and grew up with them. Yet apparently this is the first time Rachel has talked to Morgan about them. I have a hard time believing Rachel wouldn’t have told Morgan not all cats are mean and out to rip her face before now.
Also, if Morgan is so afraid of cats why didn’t Rachel or Heidi try and get the cat out for her? Oh yeah, where would we get the “tension” and “character development”.
Well the cat refuses to come out from under the bed. Understandable. It also gives a meow that is apparently deep and gravely. Which is hilarious to think about. Obvious foreshadowing is obvious. But also I can see why Morgan would be a bit creeped out about having a cat with that sort of voice. So she leaves it there and begs it not to come out while she gathers some things for the ritual from around the house.
I’m serious.
This grown ass woman, who lives alone, has been hiding ritual tools throughout the house; instead of hiding them in one spot, in one room. Because now I just want to know why she couldn’t stash them in her bedroom or the attic. Or does she have an issue with them going into those rooms without her permission? Like why don’t you just buy a lockable hope chest or something for your room and stash them in there. Or better yet just keep all your supplies in the attic, like your grandmother did. Because this just seems like a lot of work to do for hiding your supplies.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Also just a side note so you can skip this sentence. But I would like to own a hope chest at some point. My late aunt owned a hope chest which we got after she passed away and sadly we lost it in the fire.
Let’s move on. Because Morgan goes from this, which is the truth because once you add humans to the mix the religions become flawed.
To this:
Which no. Nothing is pure religion wise when you add humans to it. Because again we are flawed and thus religion will become flawed. Throw in people using it for their own gains to excuse or justify the horrible things they do and it’s one giant mess.
This is one of the things that annoys me when people say things like because it’s not always the case. Plenty of people tell those suffering with depression, ‘if you just believed better you wouldn’t be so depressed.’ or ‘if you went to my church you’d feel a lot better.’. When the truth is sometimes you need a lot more than religion or faith to help you battle with depression or anxiety, be for a little while to get over a deep funk or if it’s a lifelong thing you have to deal with because of the chemical imbalance in your brain.
Yeah, this is why people generally keep their ritual tools in one place in one room and don’t spread them all throughout the house. They also tend to set it up beforehand so they aren’t running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Having them all in one place and set up earlier in the day would have been much less stressful for her in the long run.
She wants to do it in her bedroom because she doesn’t want to worry about her friends coming by later and seeing her naked and worried that her isolation sent her over edge. Okay so why would they be worried you had gone over the edge when they already knew you planned on doing this? I mean they offered to join you for support. So I don’t get this line of thinking. Also, as we learn later your friends will come to see you and have apparently walked in on you in your room enough to know you don’t lock the door. So why is this even a worry?
Please have better faith in your friends.
Morgan, the cat is not going to attack you. I promise. It is not out to get you. Well, at least not in the way you are thinking he is out to get you. And even if he was a regular cat, he is not going to jump you and rip out your throat. This cat, ordinary or magical, still got chased by some strange dog into some random house filled with unknown people. He is not gonna come out from hiding because he’s gonna need a minute. Because he has had a day and doesn’t need you poking your head at him every time he turns around asking him to come out.
So, the sound of it purring leads her to run into the bathroom and for some reason, this catphobic woman doesn’t shut the door. Guess the cat wouldn’t have been able to get in without staring creepily at her. Also, she describes herself as someone who is thinner than thy used to be but her boobs are still generously full with nicely curved hips. And I am reminded of some entries into the twitter page of Men Write Women. Anyways, the cat comes into the bathroom and watches her bathe which leads to a minor freak out about being attacked. She decides to let the cat stay the night before calling Rachel to come get him. Again why not ask Rachel to get the cat before she left and take it home before hitting the clubs?
Later she is reading when she sees a naked man in her house. And instead of freaking out she admires his form. This is explained away because she thinks she is dreaming. Sure why not.They wind up sleeping together.
Anyways, she wakes up the next morning with the cat in her bed. She makes them both breakfast and decides he isn’t so frightening in the light of day. Is she’s getting over her phobia now?
So why is she going in there now? It’s also never explained why she decided to tackle the room where she and Heidi were held hostage for 3 days. And she starts cleaning instead of hiring someone to do it for her or calling her friends and asking them for help. The cat joins her and she decides to call him Leo. Meanwhile, her friends show up and I am wondering if they live together since they always seem to show up at her doorstep at the same time. Even they seem surprised over the fact that she is cleaning up, without them. And she claims she decided it was time but again there is nothing telling us why it was time.
So, she can’t go to therapy but she can clean the room where something terrible happened without prompting and after one ritual. And while she and her friends are discussing the ex the cat is already acting protective of Morgan even towards her friends. That was fast and we don’t really find out why the cat-guy is so protective over her. Like did he know someone who was in an abusive relationship? Is he just naturally protective of people he just met? Why?
Anyways, she moves back to her bedroom to clean up her ritual items and this time she stows them under her bed. Which she could have done the first time she brought them. She goes shopping and comes back to a box on the front porch. When she opens it the cat goes ballistic sending her running to the safety of the bedroom to call Rachel because demon cat. Rachel comes and calls the police because whatever was in the box was dead. The police leave and Morgan’s friends decide to stay with her for the night to keep her company and in case something else happens. And we learn they don’t live together, but I guess they live close to each other if they are car pooling all the time.
Once again they discuss Rachel taking Leo but Heidi wants Morgan to keep him because he is helping her overcome her fear. Again I ask how is he doing this after such a short time. Anyways they go to bed and Morgan decides it’s time she got over her phobia of cats when she sees Leo at the foot of her bed. I am wondering why no one got her therapy for her phobia of them.
Later on the girls go for a date night with each other and return to find another brown box on the front porch. Cops come and gives her some suggestions on how to stay safe. Heidi once again offers to say with Morgan who declines. Rachel says her brother Matt, a lawyer, will know someone who can do it. I don’t know why unless he’s had some lighting done recently. Anyways Morgan sends the girls home and she decides to do a protection spell.
This time Leo in human form, interrupts her. Which is just rude.
Once again he is naked and she for once freaks out about this and demands to know what he is doing. Leo admits he is her familiar and is disappointed she is coming around. They argue, both still naked about whether or not she is a witch and magic is real. He disappears and Leo the cat is back and once Morgan doesn’t make the connection. But once again she is distracted by the fact that a dead animal is dumped at her house, this time a deer on the roof. Police do their police stuff and her friends show up with Heidi getting Morgan to stay at her place. And Morgan thinks she was abandoned by Leo for someone else.
And that is where I will leave you until part 2
Comments