King of My Scars by Abby North; Whoever Romances in Vegas Stays in Vegas

 

King of My Scars by Abby North; Whoever Romances in Vegas Stays in Vegas

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Abby North’s Suspenseful Romance novel, King of My Scars, can be a bit paint by numbers in terms of romance but it doesn't shy away from darker and more disturbing topics like domestic abuse, battered person syndrome, stalking, and self-esteem issues.

Ariana has fled her abusive husband, Aaron. She leaves their swank Los Angeles home for Las Vegas hoping to move on. She is rescued in a tight spot by Denham King, hotelier, who moves her to one of his penthouse suites. He's handsome, charming, helpful, and kind but Ariana is reluctant to pursue a romance with him. She has had two previous bad relationships and isn't sure she is ready for #3. Then again the third time could be the charm.

Ariana is a strong yet vulnerable lead character. North expertly details how her trauma affected many of her actions in the present. Her trauma is realistically described and depicted and despite being put into a new romance. It doesn't shy away from her fear and reluctance to embark on another serious relationship.

That she has had two abusive relationships is a very understandable detail. She fled her first boyfriend Jonny who stalked her so much that she moved cross country and changed her name. When she encountered Aaron, she was susceptible to the love bombing, the manipulation, the controlling masquerading as caring, and the sharp criticisms coming from her latest lover.

While one would expect Ariana to recognize the signs and flee immediately from the scene, that isn't always the case. She was so determined to believe that her prior relationship was a one-time thing that she justified the abuse until it was too late. There is also a part of her that believed that she deserved the abuse that she was given. 

She emerged as someone with low self-esteem, PTSD, and battered person syndrome. She may have been able to physically leave the situation but mentally and emotionally, she's still there.

This perspective helps to understand the context of her struggles so they make sense. She is in danger a few times and is rescued by Denham. While it can be cringy and some would say dated, in this specific situation it works. She has extreme PTSD from both of her bad relationships so of course she would be on edge and feel helpless. These situations probably aren't helping either.

Ariana is naturally cynical and mistrusts Denham. Even though he's handsome, wealthy, charming, and empathetic, she is still living in the mindset of reluctance and caution that were her survival instincts during her previous relationships. After all, if Aaron was able to play the part of a nice guy before revealing his true colors, who’s to say that Denham isn't doing the same?

I don't know if North intended this but there are times when the Reader doubts Denham 's sincerity. There are a few red flags like when he uses his vast wealth to solve problems, hides information from Ariana, or veers towards arrogance. While Denham is written as a better alternative to Ariana's exes, he could become yet another abuser in her life and Ariana might have fallen into familiar and toxic territory. 

Perhaps these are traits that make Denham a multi-layered flawed character, but it could also be a commentary that Ariana’s suspicions are not entirely wrong. At least, Denham is aware of those traits and works on them so Ariana doesn't end up with more of the same.

The Las Vegas setting is also a subtle play on the book's themes of relationships. It is a city of glitz and spectacle where one can't always tell fantasy from reality at first. Someone is drawn to a casino for the atmosphere and the opportunity to win easy money. A few hours later they give away their life savings and have to go to Gambler's Anonymous. 

Ariana’s exes and Denham are like that, good looking, flashy, charming, charismatic and appear like nice guys to her. She is drawn in by the fantasy and then is left battered by the reality of her ex's abusive natures. 

What sets Denham apart from them, is that he is able to transcend the initial illusion that often comes with first meeting someone who creates instant attraction. He is able to show through his actions that he is a good man and has the patience to wait for Ariana to recognize that. 

He is the reality of love that lives within the Vegas illusions and helps Ariana to live in that reality as well. 

Other Lovers (Love, Sex, Poetry, Peace) by Natalia Rachel, Heathcliff Unbound by Robin Robby

 

Other Lovers (Love, Sex, Poetry Peace) by Natalia Rachel 

I mean this in the best way but Natalia Rachel's novel in verse, Other Lovers (Love, Sex, Poetry, Peace) reads like a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

I mean that it is a raw, unfiltered, emotionally realistic book about a woman's struggles with romance, dating, sex, relationships, and her own self-worth.

The book is told partly through poetry and partly through first person prose about Lena, a woman who goes through various moments in her love life. She discusses bad romances, sexual desires, emotional openness, fixations and obsessions, emotional compatibility, partner violence, heartbreak, and embarking on new relationships. All with a deft, witty, and insightful hand.

The free verse poetry is structured and confessional. It captures the confusion, sadness, anger, and hope of modern romance. “Kiss of Death” details an abusive relationship. Lena tells her former lover “I let you/Kiss me/Into some kind of/Slow soul death.” He enchants her with love bombing and physical affection. She is captivated though her older self knows that she is in for heartbreak.

Later the picture becomes clear when Lena learns that his kisses come with a price tag. “But also with/Incredible demand/Claiming my body/And banishing/My spirit.” The price of this toxic relationship is the banishment of her free will.

She looks for a man to soothe the abused girl that she once was but instead he adds to her trauma. By the end, Lena has no choice but to end her relationship before she loses herself.

Rachel's prose provides immediacy, raw vulnerability, sardonic insight, and a world weary survivor's instinct. 

“Bad Bitch Good Girl” for example is about Lena feeling caught between the two extremes of being a bitch or a good girl. It's similar to the “Madonna-Whore” Complex where women are objectified into various categories either the sweet nurturing virgin or the passionate sexual nymph and the twain are not supposed to meet. Lena questions these roles wondering why men don't see the whole complex woman instead of what they want to see.

This chapter also discusses Lena’s relationship with Leonardo after an unhappy marriage and divorce. Rediscovering her passions, her relationship with Leonardo is strictly erotic, sexual, and without long term commitment. 

It is a relationship that is not bound to last. When Lena has a flashback of abuse, Leonardo says a few platitudes but lets her suffer through them alone. When Leonardo reveals that he has to leave because of a family emergency, Lena just lets him go. A relationship built solely on sex is not one that allows for emotional complications like PTSD and family strife.

Besides relationships and love, Other Lovers also reveals that Lena is on a journey of personal discovery. One of the final chapters, ”Little Gifts in the Sand,” reveals her resilience. 

Even though she had a long string of bad relationships, Lena realized that she emerged stronger through them. She says, "I rise up/Eventually/Glorious/A phoenix returned.” Like a phoenix she emerged from the flames of unhappiness and became a more centered person with a richer heart, wiser bones, a more humbled heart, and sharper wit. She may not have found love, but she is aware of who she is, what she wants, and she is determined to get it.

Lena learned that being in a relationship is fine but the best and strongest relationship one can have is with themselves.

Heathcliff Unbound by Robin Robby 

I admit that I love to read and write fanfiction. I am always curious about the other aspects of my favorite characters. Where they came from, what is in their future, and what goes on when we're not looking. Fanfiction satisfies my curiosity that wants to fill in those unspoken blanks. 

Robin Robby appears to like fanfiction as well. 

After writing two books that focus on Jane Austen as a lead character, Jane Austen’s Totally Unexpected New York Adventure and Dear Emperor, Yours Jane, Robby switched gears to focus on another giant from English Literature. He focused on the world of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and the brooding, arrogant, passionate Heathcliff.

In Heathcliff Unbound Robby focuses on Heathcliff’s missing years from when he was exiled from Wuthering Heights and his beloved Catherine Earnshaw to when he returned to the Heights, wealthy, domineering, and seeking revenge on those who wronged him.

This novelette takes Heathcliff to the United States where he works for a shipping merchant named Mercer and catches the eye of his independent intelligent daughter, Victoria. However this location is a mere stepping stone to eventually return to Wuthering Heights and Catherine. 

This gives a more modern analytical look at Heathcliff. He is every bit the brooding toxic Byronic anti-hero that Bronte describes him, which makes him detestable in my eyes but romantic in many others’. 

Most of Heathcliff's time is spent moping about the Heights while working for Mercer. He develops a head for business and is able to earn a decent living. A living which will ultimately fund his return to gloat at the scoffers who called him “a foundling G&_$y brat” and made his early years miserable.

 In fact he is so successful at the business that if it weren't for Heathcliff's preordained fate foretold by Bronte, one would wonder why he doesn't just use his business acumen to become an American tycoon and move on with his life. But he wouldn't be Heathcliff otherwise. 

Victoria is a unique presence because she is the exact opposite from Catherine. Steady to Catherine's vulnerable. Intelligent to Catherine's passion. Sharp wit to Catherine's outbursts and withdrawals. Independent to Catherine's neediness. She entertains a relationship with this newcomer and even though she is attracted to Heathcliff, this relationship is not the be all and end all for either of them.

Victoria is merely transitory, a temporary release of buried passions, flickered briefly and ends just as briefly. Victoria thinks that Heathcliff is unlike anyone she has ever met before. Heathcliff thinks that Victoria is a means to an end. He is saving his strongest and deepest feelings for the girl that he left behind.

This novelette is not meant to change anyone's feelings for Heathcliff. It's more of an additional couple of chapters to a larger story to fill in the blanks until his fated return. It's fanfiction but it's interesting fanfiction.

New Author Alert: A Good Girl by Janice Magerman; Debut YA Novel Is A Brilliantly Characterized Look At High School Cliques, Teen Suicide, and Pregnancy By Julie Sara Porter

Weekly Reader: A Good Girl by Janice Magerman; Debut YA Novel Is A Brilliantly Characterized Look At High School Cliques, Teen Suicide, and Pregnancy

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: YA Novels are difficult sometimes for adults to read the way the teen years were difficult to experience. It's hard to recall those times of raging hormones, romances that changed every other day, and the constant questioning of their roles and how to live up to them.

Janice Magerman's debut novel, A Good Girl captures those feelings of teenage insecurity and emotions by writing brilliant characters that deal with the pressures of high school cliques, suicide, and developing hormones.




Aaron, a bullied teen is driven to suicide after being pushed around one too many times by the wealthy school clique, The Elite. Aaron is a member of The Losers, a clique made up of poorer outcast students. Shortly after Aaron's suicide, his chief tormentor, Wade dies in a car accident. The two deaths send many of their friends reeling particularly Charlotte, a girl who was an Elite and Wade's friend but was growing tired of the Elite’s bullying.




Charlotte is the best character in the book because she is able to transcend the role dictated to her by her peer group. Even though socially she hung around with Wade and knew him as her boyfriend's best friend, she was not blind to his bullying ways and grieves more for Aaron. This realization affects the passages between her and Aaron's friend, Justin as she goes from offering casual sympathies to becoming a friend.




Justin and Charlotte befriend each other as he takes her around “Loserville,” the poor side of town. Justin is a very sweet character who helps Charlotte through her grief over Aaron and Wade's deaths, and is able to talk one on one with Charlotte as friends instead of members of opposing peer groups. The two share dreams, childhood memories, and the Reader prepares for a romance between the two.




Unfortunately, in the books only weak spot, Charlotte gets involved in a romance with Dillon, the requisite bad boy. Dillon is a potential juvenile delinquent who at first behaves obnoxious and misogynistic towards Charlotte. He is prejudiced against Charlotte because of her Elite status because he too has been a victim of their bullying. While he becomes a more likable character later on, the romance between Charlotte and Dillon seems more forced than anything else. It could have been just as effective for Dillon to accept Charlotte as a friend and who is happy with the relationship between his buddy, Justin and Justin's new girlfriend. Unfortunately, once Charlotte and Dillon starts to develop feelings for each other, Justin gets pushed aside and a more interesting and likeable character becomes Friend Zoned in favor of the classic Rich Good Girl/Poor Bad Boy pairing.




Some revelations get revealed in the book that changes the book's course and Charlotte's behavior. Some of the revelations appear abrupt and out of the blue but are subtly foreshadowed and lead to stronger character developments.They also allow Charlotte to challenge the hypocrisy of the Elites as people who display a wealthy successful facade while inside the homes are not successful or particularly happy.




A Good Girl is one of those novels that takes us inside the roles that teens play in cliques and shows how teens limit themselves when they join a clique. But when they confront those cliques and stereotypes, they can instead grow into better people.