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A review by inkerly
ARE WE DONE YET? III: A REAL MAN by Free Girl
2.0
2.5 stars
Firstly, I adore Free Girl's writing. I've been captivated by the Ethan/Olivia love story for 3+ years now, so when the opportunity to support her in $ and read the last book came, I seized it. But oh, boy. There were a lot of things about this novel that made me feel like this book shouldn't have came to be.
The 1st book in this series was such a refreshing albeit aching read about a sordid love affair that was just never meant to be. Olivia Webb and Ethan Aldridge are from two different worlds, whose worlds collided when she becomes his nanny. I bring up the events of the first book to say that Book 1 could have easily turned into a cheesy Wattpad-like love affair between a "white billionaire playboy and his sexy black nanny", but NO. It scraped--NO, planted a 6 inch ditch in, and then scratched WAY BELOW the surface to tell its tale. There's a car wreck, a scarred body, pill addiction, unbridled feelings, and deeper elements of fidelity, love, and yearning that Free Girl captured BEAUTIFULLY in the 1st Book.
There was substance.
Now I feel like this 3rd Book did more harm than good to the AWDY series, in more ways than not.
That was the just the start. But a large part of the criticism I have to say goes towards the (poorly edited) writing style and the disingenuous plot that was supposed to be the "end all" of this series.
Editing
I don't know if this book was actually proofread by an editor. I'm not sure how NOOK formats books, but the formatting, font size, and spelling/sentence structure in this book was ATROCIOUS. If you are a stickler for grammar and word art, it's best to purchase the paperback (in the hopes that an editor actually DID review that version), or just ignore this book. It was an eyesore to get through just because of the poor excessive use of dialogue with no speaker subtext, indented spaces where spaces didn't need to be, and the like.
Again I want to believe that the $15 paperback version may have better justice, but I don't want to waste my $ to find out.
Writing Style
A lot of the writing is repetitive of the events of the first 2 books, which is actually OK, if it weren't for the fact that the rest of the plot and characters went to complete sh**. I've broken it down by the characters, Ethan and Olivia's relationship, and the message that the book puts out in the end.
Characters
Is it just me or were Olivia, Ethan, and Helen much more shallow and incredibly unlikeable/distasteful in this book. I was honestly shocked. Ethan reads like a broken Christian Grey record, and I'm tired of it. Olivia was annoying, narcissistic, and toxic to the point that I had to circle back and question if all this time she'd been like that and I hadn't noticed. And Helen, oh Helen. The voice of reason! She actually seemed to be the most developed and emotionally mature person amidst the debauchery of Ethan and Olivia, but she actually worsened in the end! She grows to be the bitter and vengeful 1-dimensional ex-wife that Ethan doomed her to be from the beginning. And I hated it. Why couldn't there be more to these characters besides their icky love triangle?
Ethan doesn't even try to redeem himself, he's just plain awful, and content being that way as long as Olivia loves him for it, and she does. While Helen is repeatedly embarrassed and made to be a fool, until she isn't.
Now I will give the author credit where its due, because I appreciate the supporting characters. Jack, Olivia's father, her mother, and Ethan's confidante friend and lawyer Marcus (who quickly goes downhill), were great characters. They were truly meaningful to the plot. And Olivia, I can see where the author tried to carve her redemption arc. But Olivia doesn't try to change for herself, not once in this novel. She tries to change (for the better) for Ethan, than for her family, than when she gets better (debatable) for Ethan again! (More on this later). All of these character just ooze shallowness and wallowing self-pity, unbelievable. And horrible acts are justified by love, or lifelong trauma. But it's hard to sympathize with characters marred by their pasts, who dont see the damage they're doing to others in their present. Which brings me to the next part.
Ethan and Olivia's depraved love
I really could not tell if their love was meant to be glorified or not. So many red flags in the aftermath of their separation, nothing about their fight to hold onto their depraved grotesque love made SENSE. And for Ethan to say to Olivia that he "wants [in their relationship] what Jack and Anna had" was a damn INSULT. Comparing a 40+ year marriage to a salacious affair between selfish lovers that literally ripped apart entire families--don't even.
I could not even feel an ounce of anything for these people. Whenever it seems like Ethan is really trying to commit, or "be the better person" for the sake of Olivia, and his love for her, he takes 10 steps back. Their love is toxic, and never feels like a love that withstand. Their comfortable with the aggressive pimp - prostitute like dynamic that is between them, and in that process, screw over anyone around them that matters. Ethan, especially. I just couldn't root for this relationship.
Now, this would be fine and all if the sex in this book could at least explain it.
As a reminder, this series started out as an interracial erotica. Meaning there were steamy sex scenes in Book 1 (and maybe Book 2, but I only remember bits and pieces). But I had to skim read many of the sex scenes here. It was REVOLTING. There's one very very GROTESQUE sex scene between Ethan and Olivia where. I just couldn't.
I'm sensitive to rough sex scenes in general, but NONE of the scenes were pleasurable to read, if but in a sickly way. So skip, it'll be.
The Plot & Its Message
So after all that talk, you'd think I'd have nothing positive to say about this book, but I do! I was grossly infatuated with it, and I still don't know why. Maybe because every character was an amusing trainwreck? Or because there were a lot of themes explored in the first 2/3 of the book?
I appreciated some of the wise words and tidbits gained from Jack, and even Olivia, about how fickle love can be, and the complexities of love, of trauma, and of starting anew. Unfortunately somewhere down the road, I must have missed what the ultimate message of the book.
I say this because the book was engaging for the first 2/3 of the book, but then turns into a complete soap opera shi*show in the last 50 or so pages. I kid you not, it uses the cliche plotline where ...Yeah. If that wasn't a disappointing ending.
Which brings me to my most important concern: what was the point of it all? Was it meant to end this way -- to say that Olivia and Ethan were never soulmates and doomed to never work out, and that relationships built on a weak foundation never work? Or was this meant to be a cheap Soap-Opera-ey filler ending for a 4th book? Because I honestly couldn't tell. The last chapter also introduces Stephen and Lana -- Ethan and Marcus's children--and it felt like badly written tv drama. But it fools you because you spend 300+ pages made to believe Ethan and Olivia just HAVE to be together, that in no way do you get to digest the last 40+ pages with any satisfaction.
Why?
I'm glad they don't end up together, and I think because of the way Olivia turned out -- just as hateful and cold as the Ethan Aldridge pre-coma -- that there's some deeper subtext and profound meaning to all this, to why their relationship was as tumultuous and catastrophic as it was, but I felt it got muddled with the flimsy plot, characters, and dullness that the book presents itself with.
So 2.5. A few proofreaders or editors would do this book a SOLID. Plus more time for FREE GIRL to revise, help us understand the incredibly nuanced characters that I tried to like. So much potential.
Firstly, I adore Free Girl's writing. I've been captivated by the Ethan/Olivia love story for 3+ years now, so when the opportunity to support her in $ and read the last book came, I seized it. But oh, boy. There were a lot of things about this novel that made me feel like this book shouldn't have came to be.
The 1st book in this series was such a refreshing albeit aching read about a sordid love affair that was just never meant to be. Olivia Webb and Ethan Aldridge are from two different worlds, whose worlds collided when she becomes his nanny. I bring up the events of the first book to say that Book 1 could have easily turned into a cheesy Wattpad-like love affair between a "white billionaire playboy and his sexy black nanny", but NO. It scraped--NO, planted a 6 inch ditch in, and then scratched WAY BELOW the surface to tell its tale. There's a car wreck, a scarred body, pill addiction, unbridled feelings, and deeper elements of fidelity, love, and yearning that Free Girl captured BEAUTIFULLY in the 1st Book.
There was substance.
Now I feel like this 3rd Book did more harm than good to the AWDY series, in more ways than not.
That was the just the start. But a large part of the criticism I have to say goes towards the (poorly edited) writing style and the disingenuous plot that was supposed to be the "end all" of this series.
Editing
I don't know if this book was actually proofread by an editor. I'm not sure how NOOK formats books, but the formatting, font size, and spelling/sentence structure in this book was ATROCIOUS. If you are a stickler for grammar and word art, it's best to purchase the paperback (in the hopes that an editor actually DID review that version), or just ignore this book. It was an eyesore to get through just because of the poor excessive use of dialogue with no speaker subtext, indented spaces where spaces didn't need to be, and the like.
Again I want to believe that the $15 paperback version may have better justice, but I don't want to waste my $ to find out.
Writing Style
A lot of the writing is repetitive of the events of the first 2 books, which is actually OK, if it weren't for the fact that the rest of the plot and characters went to complete sh**. I've broken it down by the characters, Ethan and Olivia's relationship, and the message that the book puts out in the end.
Characters
Is it just me or were Olivia, Ethan, and Helen much more shallow and incredibly unlikeable/distasteful in this book. I was honestly shocked. Ethan reads like a broken Christian Grey record, and I'm tired of it. Olivia was annoying, narcissistic, and toxic to the point that I had to circle back and question if all this time she'd been like that and I hadn't noticed. And Helen, oh Helen. The voice of reason! She actually seemed to be the most developed and emotionally mature person amidst the debauchery of Ethan and Olivia, but she actually worsened in the end! She grows to be the bitter and vengeful 1-dimensional ex-wife that Ethan doomed her to be from the beginning. And I hated it. Why couldn't there be more to these characters besides their icky love triangle?
Ethan doesn't even try to redeem himself, he's just plain awful, and content being that way as long as Olivia loves him for it, and she does. While Helen is repeatedly embarrassed and made to be a fool, until she isn't.
Now I will give the author credit where its due, because I appreciate the supporting characters. Jack, Olivia's father, her mother, and Ethan's confidante friend and lawyer Marcus (who quickly goes downhill), were great characters. They were truly meaningful to the plot. And Olivia, I can see where the author tried to carve her redemption arc. But Olivia doesn't try to change for herself, not once in this novel. She tries to change (for the better) for Ethan, than for her family, than when she gets better (debatable) for Ethan again! (More on this later). All of these character just ooze shallowness and wallowing self-pity, unbelievable. And horrible acts are justified by love, or lifelong trauma. But it's hard to sympathize with characters marred by their pasts, who dont see the damage they're doing to others in their present. Which brings me to the next part.
Ethan and Olivia's depraved love
I really could not tell if their love was meant to be glorified or not. So many red flags in the aftermath of their separation, nothing about their fight to hold onto their depraved grotesque love made SENSE. And for Ethan to say to Olivia that he "wants [in their relationship] what Jack and Anna had" was a damn INSULT. Comparing a 40+ year marriage to a salacious affair between selfish lovers that literally ripped apart entire families--don't even.
I could not even feel an ounce of anything for these people. Whenever it seems like Ethan is really trying to commit, or "be the better person" for the sake of Olivia, and his love for her, he takes 10 steps back. Their love is toxic, and never feels like a love that withstand. Their comfortable with the aggressive pimp - prostitute like dynamic that is between them, and in that process, screw over anyone around them that matters. Ethan, especially. I just couldn't root for this relationship.
Now, this would be fine and all if the sex in this book could at least explain it.
As a reminder, this series started out as an interracial erotica. Meaning there were steamy sex scenes in Book 1 (and maybe Book 2, but I only remember bits and pieces). But I had to skim read many of the sex scenes here. It was REVOLTING. There's one very very GROTESQUE sex scene between Ethan and Olivia where
Spoiler
Ethan proposes to Olivia, then when she's rightfully hesitant about it, has brutal sex with her by electrifying/shocking her, knowing full well she is a BURN VICTIM and the electricity on her burns will HURTI'm sensitive to rough sex scenes in general, but NONE of the scenes were pleasurable to read, if but in a sickly way. So skip, it'll be.
The Plot & Its Message
So after all that talk, you'd think I'd have nothing positive to say about this book, but I do! I was grossly infatuated with it, and I still don't know why. Maybe because every character was an amusing trainwreck? Or because there were a lot of themes explored in the first 2/3 of the book?
I appreciated some of the wise words and tidbits gained from Jack, and even Olivia, about how fickle love can be, and the complexities of love, of trauma, and of starting anew. Unfortunately somewhere down the road, I must have missed what the ultimate message of the book.
I say this because the book was engaging for the first 2/3 of the book, but then turns into a complete soap opera shi*show in the last 50 or so pages. I kid you not, it uses the
Spoiler
died, but was secretly hiding out in [insert foreign country] and discovered to be alive with new lifeSpoiler
Ethan recovers from a plane plash with complete memory loss and no memory of Olivia or Helen, but wants to start a new life with his new Spanish speaking wife and unborn baby, while Olivia rules the Aldridge empire and makes it her mission to make Ethan hers forever...thereby turning into the old EthanWhich brings me to my most important concern: what was the point of it all? Was it meant to end this way -- to say that Olivia and Ethan were never soulmates and doomed to never work out, and that relationships built on a weak foundation never work? Or was this meant to be a cheap Soap-Opera-ey filler ending for a 4th book? Because I honestly couldn't tell. The last chapter also introduces Stephen and Lana -- Ethan and Marcus's children--and it felt like badly written tv drama. But it fools you because you spend 300+ pages made to believe Ethan and Olivia just HAVE to be together, that in no way do you get to digest the last 40+ pages with any satisfaction.
Why?
I'm glad they don't end up together, and I think because of the way Olivia turned out -- just as hateful and cold as the Ethan Aldridge pre-coma -- that there's some deeper subtext and profound meaning to all this, to why their relationship was as tumultuous and catastrophic as it was, but I felt it got muddled with the flimsy plot, characters, and dullness that the book presents itself with.
So 2.5. A few proofreaders or editors would do this book a SOLID. Plus more time for FREE GIRL to revise, help us understand the incredibly nuanced characters that I tried to like. So much potential.