Shut Up & Read discussion

We will be starting Sunday!

28 chapters (plus prologue/epilogue), so 6 or 7 chapters a day?

Loved that book. Enjoy ladies

That's one of my favorite books, hope you all enjoy it!

I have a busier week next week (birthday plans!), but I should be able to manage 6 or 7.
=D

Let's plan 6 then...give you a little break :)

Happy early birthday!

I think I enjoyed this one more than Beautiful Disaster.

joining

So when I first received this from Netgalley I read two chapters and I HATED them. That is when I stopped reading.
I will be rereading and hopefully this time I will find the whole thing better.
Regardless, I need to read it for review, so I am happy we are reading it. But... disclaimer. I might get grouchy. :)

I'm in!! I'm finishing tonight, but I should be able to manage 6 chapters :)

So, what do you guys think?

There's fun in reading it after reading /Beautiful Disaster/ and seeing how everything matches up.
But I find Travis disgusting now that I am in his head, and I think that readers are being asked to accept a lot of notions, over and over again, that are dangerous.

I'm surprised that the woman writing this book honestly seems to think this way about women.
If I can overlook the NUMEROUS (and I do mean numerous... I started highlighting them all) insults to women, I guess I can enjoy the story. But they are numerous hypocritical, contradictory, and basically all add up to one thing: women, no matter what we do, are worthless and only good for "bagging" unless some guy decides otherwise. Then, suddenly, we are better than all other women, and all other women should show us respect.
wth.

thoughts?

I debated for a long time whether or not to read this because it is basically a retelling, and I thought if an author was going to write and market a new book it should be original, but in the end I wanted to see if Travis's point of view lived up to Abby's telling. So far...I'm on the fence.

I see your point Alyssia, though I hadn't even thought of that. Travis is a jerk and always has been, and his view of women (and their reaction to him) sets women's lib back 20 years...We knew that already from BD, though, even though we didn't really understand the extent of it.

My problem with the story so far is that there is so much just telling of the story rather than actually playing of the story - does that make sense? It's almost like a stream of consciousness rather than an entire 3-dimensional story. The story itself is okay, obviously I liked BD, I just don't like how it is being told I guess.

See, I knew he was a jerk in BD, but what irritates me is the level of justification that it seems like is being built up for him.

I don't really feel like it is a full story; I agree with you there. There's not a whole lot to it. I feel like the author was going "hmm, why did he call her Pidge? Oh, ok. good. that's good." The whole book reads like an exercise.

I know a lot of people complained about the abusive relationship of BD, but this book /feels/ a lot worse to me. I feel like McGuire is trying to justify Travis' actions and in doing so implying that if you aren't "hard to get" (and kind of a bitch) then you don't deserve basic human respect.

Travis says he would give them respect if they had it for themselves. But:
1) he only has sex with "pretty" people
2) he manipulates everyone, even ugly people, and he shudders at the thoughts of their bodies
3) if a girl is whiny or clingy, he gets upset
4) if a girl is bitchy or mean, he gets upset (except "Pidge")
5) if a girl puts out, she deserves to be treated like a slut
6) but even girls who make him wait (there's a few mentioned), he leaves
7) he says that a "good girl" would't put out on even the first ten dates, but he doesn't even 'date' people.
8) Despite the fact that Abby's 'virgin' status has little to do with her (as she tells it, anyway), he seems to think it's some holy grail
9) all women are referred to as conquests and described as body pieces.
10) he's not expected to have any control when it comes to sex or putting out, but any girl can be instantly judged for the tiniest infraction.
11) he claims at alternate points to be both turned on and repulsed by:
a) girls who put out, girls who don't
b) girls who are confident, girls who are fragile/needy
c) girls who say what they think
d) girls who know that sex doesn't equal love and/or commitment, girls who won't give "it" up easy

etc, etc.

i don't know. i'll finish this, but i think this book makes me like the first one less. and it's really not that great as a book either.
I notice the storytelling gets a little better as it progresses, but I agree with you Sheri.

Well Alyssia, You have me curious now. I read the first one and thought it was okay. I think you have some great comments so I am excited to read and see what I think.

I ended up finishing my book later than I thought, so I didn't get to start last night...starting now!! Alyssia has me curious too

Sorry. I didn't mean to be a grumpy feminist.

Lol, I love your grumpy feminism. I was kind of thinking the same things as you when I read each of those lines you posted, but I didn't put as much thought into it as you. Mostly I would just think "what a jerk." :D

I agree Sheri.

For me this book is just okay so far (through chapter 18). I think my biggest issue is the fact that it just doesn't feel like a whole story (see my posts above). We are getting Travis's POV, but we don't get much else in the story. Granted, we've already read BD, but this book is missing a lot of the things I loved about that book...like Abby. This book basically makes her look like a weak pushover because we don't get all of her reasoning behind sticking around. From what this book says, she just takes Travis's shit and doesn't care about anything. That's not how she is, though. She has her reasons for sticking around - and I understand Travis doesn't know what they are, but this story just doesn't give her any backbone or personality. It doesn't show why he falls in love with her, just that he does.

My favorite parts of the book are when Travis and Shep are together.

I do agree with you Alyssia that it gets better as you go on. There is a lot more dialogue further into the story.

I've read up to ch. 14 and I have to say, I'm not really enjoying this book nearly as much as I thought I would. I loved the first book. I didn't think the relationship was healthy but I couldn't stop reading about it. While reading this book, I find that I don't care.

I like the parts with Travis and Shep too. But I feel even those times aren't as great as they could be. I think we should have gotten a real "bromance." The relationships just aren't a developed as they should be....I hope that makes as much sense as it does in my head :)

Tammy, that's exactly what I've been thinking. It just doesn't feel like a complete story. And there are so many important things just skimmed over or skipped altogether. Maybe they were important to Abby but not to Travis, but they are still important to the story - like the tattoo of her name. It is mentioned, but barely. I think there should have been more to that.

So what are you all thinking? I just have to say I was disappointed. I've read through some of the other reviews (many, many 5 stars) and just don't see it. I think for me, I was expecting so much more. I loved Travis and was hoping this book would shed some light on his character, but I didn't really feel we got anything new out of this book. We knew he was a jerk turned obsessive with Abby, but none of his personality really shone through - at least not for me. Maybe my standards were too high.

How are you liking it Rebecca?

Agreed, agreed and agreed.

Its been a while since I read the first book but I do remember thinking it was OK. I really like Travis I guess, his smart mouth kind is a turn on for me. I agree with many that the book felt nothing new.

Abby annoys me in ways too. She seems to wait alot for Merek to do things, She kind of floats between Travis and Merek, its kind of annoying. I think I am up to chapter 9 but I am reading tonight.

What are we reading next week?

Are you going to be reading with us again? Yay! How about continuing the Psy series then?

Hey Sheri, I haven't read it for many of the reasons you mentioned. Also, can't wait to see what you think of the Psy series. I didn't like it much.

Personally I would say don't bother with this one.

I liked the first Psy book, so I hope the rest are good, too. They've gotten a lot of hype.

Sheri wrote: "Are you going to be reading with us again? Yay! How about continuing the Psy series then?"

Yes, I will be reading with y'all. My Dr. said I can start working my arm slowly. Computer work was on the list of things I can do so I am back. My arm fatigues quick but I am ready to start doing things. YAY!

Leigh wrote: "Sheri wrote: "Are you going to be reading with us again? Yay! How about continuing the Psy series then?"

Yes, I will be reading with y'all. My Dr. said I can start working my arm slowly. Compute..."

Yay! So happy that you are back with us Leigh.

I am going out ot town today to visit my grandparents (best place to spend a birthday), but I will be back and ready to start on Monday.

So happy to see you in the threads again Leigh (although you did rob me of my pick. :P j/k)

Oh Alyssia, if you want to pick something else first you can. I'd hate to rob you of your pick...especially on your birthday!! :D

Alyssia wrote: "Leigh wrote: "Sheri wrote: "Are you going to be reading with us again? Yay! How about continuing the Psy series then?"

Yes, I will be reading with y'all. My Dr. said I can start working my arm s..."

Yes, you need to have your birthday pick.

Grandparents are wonderful! Enjoy your time with them!

hah. I was just kidding guys! the Singh book sound great.
thank you Sheri for the birthday books - you guys are so nice to me! If you want to buddy read the find you, let me know. I'm really looking forward to the limits book. thank you so much :)

I'll chat with you guys more on Monday. :)

Have a great weekend Alyssia!

Here is my review of WD:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm hoping to finish this one up tonight, and I'll back with my final thoughts!

I've read the first few books in the Psy series, I thought they were pretty good :)