"I do believe, Miss Grayson, you've put a spell on me."...
Written: Oct 15 '04 (Updated Oct 15 '04)
Product Rating:
Pros: Nellie's good, beautiful, giving, and we cheer for her.
Cons: Troubling context, rushed romance, author's handling of weight and eating disorders, lack of sex.
The Bottom Line: It's an unusual romance, because of an overweight heroine. But it doesn't deal with weight healthfully, it's rushed, the sex is nonexistent, and Nellie doesn't learn to love herself.
"It's the beans," she said brightly, not wanting him to be sad. "They're enchanted beans. Same ones Jack used to grow his beanstalk." (Title, quotation pp. 28-29)
If the whole book had read like that, I'd have loved it. But I am troubled writing this review. Part of me wants to give a good review, and part of me wants to give a scathing review. But such is the nature of this book. It's not great. It's not awful. It has great and awful parts, to be sure. I just don't know how I'll rate...
I knew the context of the book, "Wishes," by Jude Deveraux. Nellie Grayson is a sweet, if plump, "old maid" living in Chandler, Colorado. She gives everything to her sister and father - all her time, all her effort, all her love, all her self-worth. She lives to see them happy.
When the widowed Jace Montgomery comes to town, Nellie knows he will fall in love with her beautiful sister, Terel, just as every other man has done. When he sees Nellie, he seems to want her, not Terel. Nellie cannot wrap her mind around that. Jace spends most of the novel trying to convince Nellie it is her he wants, not her sister.
But when I began the book, I was convinced the publishers had inserted the wrong novel between the covers. The book begins with the story of modern-day Berni, a 50 year old, cosmetically enhanced socialite. She has died, and goes to a purgatory of sorts, called the Kitchen. It's for women only, but women who are not bad enough for Hell, and not good enough for Heaven.
I couldn't understand what Berni would have to do with Nellie, who exists in 1896. But I quickly realized this is meant to be a Cinderella story, and Berni is the would-be fairy godmother.
Berni does not appreciate the "fatty" Nellie, but finds herself forced to help the girl. She grants Nellie three wishes, which Nellie will use to help others, not herself. Berni makes Nellie's life even more miserable, though she doesn't mean to. Berni knows she's to help Nellie and Jace fall in love and live happily ever after, but Nellie's sister, Terel, keeps throwing up road blocks.
Terel is the villain in this story, and that is apparent from the first pages of the novel. Terel is the pretty one, the thin one, the one men court. She wants - and gets - everything. Nellie has always given her what she wants. So when Nellie discovers Jace first, Terel believes Nellie has somehow "stolen" her man.
The novel evolves into a quagmire in which Terel thwarts Nellie and Jace, tears down Nellie's self-esteem, feeds Nellie's inner demon, and causes as much trouble as possible. Even Nellie's and Terel's father, Charles, gets in the way. Everyone - Jace, the townspeople, and Berni - can see the true nature of Terel and Charles, but not Nellie. She loves them. She won't leave them.
So how can Berni bring Nellie and Jace together? How will she honor Nellie's wishes? Can this fairy godmother make Nellie's dreams come true?
At this point I will struggle. In order to critique the book, I kind of have to give away a few things. Nothing critical to the enjoyment of the book, but some disturbing elements. First, Deveraux makes it clear that Nellie is a binge eater. She doesn't really deal with it, or help Nellie understand her own behavior. Nellie becomes "magically" thin, but she never learns how to cope with her eating patterns.
Second, the way everyone treats Nellie makes me irate. I resent that Nellie never figures out when someone is trying to set her up for failure. She never stands up to her tormentors. She never embraces her own beauty. She basks in Jace's loving words, but she never comes to believe that she IS beautiful. In his eyes, yes, but not in HER eyes.
I wish Deveraux would have given the couple more time to fall in love, as well. It seems to be a rather one sided love-at-first-sight, and the one who falls in love doesn't seem to have any reason to do so, other than seeing a kind smile. The book is so thin, too, that I know Deveraux could have dwelled on the budding love between Jace and Nellie. She chose not to.
This is my second book from Deveraux in which I was torn between likes and dislikes. The first was A Knight in Shining Armor. She does not seem capable of writing a perfect novel.
Worse, this book wasn't even saved by a torrid, scorching, eyebrow-curling love scene, which helped A Knight in Shining Armor. The one love scene, the only one, that did occur was so tepid, I had to reread the section and ask, "THAT was a climax?" Let's just say it was very one-sided and Deveraux gave no thought at all to the other person's sexual experience. Ever. Come to think of it, that burns me up!
But...the ending was very sweet, very heartwearming, and made me smile. So...I don't know what I'll rate this. It's a light read, nothing I would care to read again, and lacking on sex. But it's got a great leading lady, whose weight does not deter the love of Jace Montgomery. That in itself is so rare, I wish I could give the book a thumb's up.
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