Trailer Park Heart
Another week, another book review. I'm hoping my reading can keep up like this all year long. If so, you all are in for a lot of reviews, which is basically the plan! I know life will catch up, and reading will get harder to do, but for now i'll take all the time i'm able to!
Trailer Park Heart by Rachel Higginson
This book basically caught my attention within the first couple paragraphs. Ruby was cynical, but she was funny. She seemed relatable, and her sassy attitude really made it easy to want to get to know her more, and find out her story.
"I didn't choose the trailer trash life, the trailer trash life definitely chose me."
Rachel Higginson is a new author to me, but I've never been one to shy away from trying out someone brand new. I enjoyed her writing, the story was interesting, and the romance was definitely slow burning. (Often felt almost a little TOO slow burning.)
I liked Ruby at first. I wanted to know her story, I wanted to know what made her the way she was. She seemed tough as nails, and she told you what she thought without even thinking about how it might make you feel. You find out from the start that Ruby's mom works at the local strip club, they live in the trailer park, and she describes them as trailer trash. She was pretty hard on herself, she seemed to be really concerned about what people thought about her.
Ruby is obviously meant to be with Levi, I could tell that right from the start, but she was heard headed. It was obvious to me, and pretty much the whole town that he held a candle for her, and spent his entire high school years pining after her. I'm not really sure she could have been as dense as the author made her out to be. Without giving a HUGE piece of the plot away, Ruby and Levi kiss at the end of the year graduation party, she runs off because he has a girlfriend, and she ends up pregnant that night. (How that happened and by who is up to you to find out when you pick up the book and read, but trust me when I say it's juicy.)
In present day, Ruby is still living in her small town, in the trailer park, with her mom, and her now 7 year old son, Max. She is working at the local diner, and she actually seems pretty content with her life and how it has ended up. Nobody knows who the father of Max is, besides Ruby. She has every intention of making sure no one ever finds out. Her reasoning behind all that is pretty childish, but I guess if I were 18 in her shoes I may have done the same thing. She was a young mother, and she only did what she felt like was best for her baby.
"Attraction doesn't need common ground, sugar. In fact, I think it thrives the best when everything's against it."
Levi comes back to town, after being gone for 7 years. This stirs up some trouble for Ruby. She is still oblivious to the fact that this guy has held a candle for her since high school, and I was still kind of irritated that someone could be that dense. I mean, seriously? He is relentless in his pursuit of her, and she does everything she can to keep him away. She has walls upon walls built up to keep anyone out.
Ruby seems to have a huge issue with people that have money. She is very judgy. I didn't like that about her. It's like I get it your from the trailer park, but that doesn't mean the rest of the town is full of a bunch of stuck up people, she has a really hard time giving people a chance. I also wasn't a fan of how she let literally everyone walk all over her. Her mom let her live with her, but made her pay almost all the bills, buy all the groceries, and even pay her if she watched Max. I just thought the whole time there was no way they lived in such a small town, but she still couldn't afford to get her and Max somewhere else to stay. She had a "friend" that she basically slept with, and she was pretty much at his beck and call. Even when it was obvious she didn't want anything to do with him, she still pretty much let him parade her around and talk to her however he wanted.
"What I really should have been chasing was joy. Joy didn't come and go. Joy didn't disappear or reappear depending on my circumstances. Joy was a rock-solid foundation with which to build my life."
The romance in this book was very VERY slow burning. By the time they FINALLY got their shit together the book was 90% finished, and I didn't even get to really enjoy them being together. I did enjoy that Ruby finally learned how to love herself, and how to not feel ashamed about where she came from and who she was. It felt like after that she finally let down all those walls she had built up. I can understand why the author felt their romance needed time to build, and why they were unsure whether to even pursue their romance, I guess I just wanted things to move along a little faster than they did.
"I love you, Ruby Dawson. I can't remember not loving you. I don't know how to live this life without loving you. You're it for me, Ruby. Beginning, middle, end. I want to be so much more than your friend. I want to be your everything."
Overall, I'm struggling with what to rate this book. I enjoyed it, I liked the story line, it was something fresh that I hadn't really read before. But, Ruby was so aggravating. It took forever for them to finally get their shit together, and then the book was over. I'm going to go with 3.5 STARS. I really did enjoy the story, and I will definitely read more from the author.
I've recently been given a couple ARC's so those books will be up next..be on the look out for the next review!
This book basically caught my attention within the first couple paragraphs. Ruby was cynical, but she was funny. She seemed relatable, and her sassy attitude really made it easy to want to get to know her more, and find out her story.
"I didn't choose the trailer trash life, the trailer trash life definitely chose me."
Rachel Higginson is a new author to me, but I've never been one to shy away from trying out someone brand new. I enjoyed her writing, the story was interesting, and the romance was definitely slow burning. (Often felt almost a little TOO slow burning.)
I liked Ruby at first. I wanted to know her story, I wanted to know what made her the way she was. She seemed tough as nails, and she told you what she thought without even thinking about how it might make you feel. You find out from the start that Ruby's mom works at the local strip club, they live in the trailer park, and she describes them as trailer trash. She was pretty hard on herself, she seemed to be really concerned about what people thought about her.
Ruby is obviously meant to be with Levi, I could tell that right from the start, but she was heard headed. It was obvious to me, and pretty much the whole town that he held a candle for her, and spent his entire high school years pining after her. I'm not really sure she could have been as dense as the author made her out to be. Without giving a HUGE piece of the plot away, Ruby and Levi kiss at the end of the year graduation party, she runs off because he has a girlfriend, and she ends up pregnant that night. (How that happened and by who is up to you to find out when you pick up the book and read, but trust me when I say it's juicy.)
In present day, Ruby is still living in her small town, in the trailer park, with her mom, and her now 7 year old son, Max. She is working at the local diner, and she actually seems pretty content with her life and how it has ended up. Nobody knows who the father of Max is, besides Ruby. She has every intention of making sure no one ever finds out. Her reasoning behind all that is pretty childish, but I guess if I were 18 in her shoes I may have done the same thing. She was a young mother, and she only did what she felt like was best for her baby.
"Attraction doesn't need common ground, sugar. In fact, I think it thrives the best when everything's against it."
Levi comes back to town, after being gone for 7 years. This stirs up some trouble for Ruby. She is still oblivious to the fact that this guy has held a candle for her since high school, and I was still kind of irritated that someone could be that dense. I mean, seriously? He is relentless in his pursuit of her, and she does everything she can to keep him away. She has walls upon walls built up to keep anyone out.
Ruby seems to have a huge issue with people that have money. She is very judgy. I didn't like that about her. It's like I get it your from the trailer park, but that doesn't mean the rest of the town is full of a bunch of stuck up people, she has a really hard time giving people a chance. I also wasn't a fan of how she let literally everyone walk all over her. Her mom let her live with her, but made her pay almost all the bills, buy all the groceries, and even pay her if she watched Max. I just thought the whole time there was no way they lived in such a small town, but she still couldn't afford to get her and Max somewhere else to stay. She had a "friend" that she basically slept with, and she was pretty much at his beck and call. Even when it was obvious she didn't want anything to do with him, she still pretty much let him parade her around and talk to her however he wanted.
"What I really should have been chasing was joy. Joy didn't come and go. Joy didn't disappear or reappear depending on my circumstances. Joy was a rock-solid foundation with which to build my life."
The romance in this book was very VERY slow burning. By the time they FINALLY got their shit together the book was 90% finished, and I didn't even get to really enjoy them being together. I did enjoy that Ruby finally learned how to love herself, and how to not feel ashamed about where she came from and who she was. It felt like after that she finally let down all those walls she had built up. I can understand why the author felt their romance needed time to build, and why they were unsure whether to even pursue their romance, I guess I just wanted things to move along a little faster than they did.
"I love you, Ruby Dawson. I can't remember not loving you. I don't know how to live this life without loving you. You're it for me, Ruby. Beginning, middle, end. I want to be so much more than your friend. I want to be your everything."
Overall, I'm struggling with what to rate this book. I enjoyed it, I liked the story line, it was something fresh that I hadn't really read before. But, Ruby was so aggravating. It took forever for them to finally get their shit together, and then the book was over. I'm going to go with 3.5 STARS. I really did enjoy the story, and I will definitely read more from the author.
I've recently been given a couple ARC's so those books will be up next..be on the look out for the next review!
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