The storm of the century is about to hit Little Bridge Island, Florida—and it’s sending waves crashing through Sabrina “Bree” Beckham’s love life…
NO JUDGEMENTS by MEG CABOT
Publication date: September 24, 2019
Published by: Harper Collins
Series: Standalone
Genre: chick-lit, romance
Synopsis
When a massive hurricane severs all power and cell service to Little Bridge Island—as well as its connection to the mainland—twenty-five-year-old Bree Beckham isn’t worried . . . at first. She’s already escaped one storm—her emotionally abusive ex—so a hurricane seems like it will be a piece of cake.
But animal-loving Bree does become alarmed when she realizes how many islanders have been cut off from their beloved pets. Now it’s up to her to save as many of Little Bridge’s cats and dogs as she can . . . but to do so, she’s going to need help—help she has no choice but to accept from her boss’s sexy nephew, Drew Hartwell, the Mermaid Café’s most notorious heartbreaker.
But when Bree starts falling for Drew, just as Little Bridge’s power is restored and her penitent ex shows up, she has to ask herself if her island fling was only a result of the stormy weather, or if it could last during clear skies too.
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About Meg Cabot
She is now the author of nearly fifty books for both adults and teens, selling fifteen million copies worldwide, many of which have been #1 New York Times bestsellers, most notably The Princess Diaries series, which is currently being published in over 38 countries, and was made into two hit movies by Disney. In addition, Meg wrote the Mediator and 1-800-Where-R-You? series (on which the television series, Missing, was based), two All-American Girl books, Teen Idol, Avalon High, How to Be Popular, Pants on Fire, Jinx, a series of novels written entirely in email format (Boy Next Door, Boy Meets Girl, and Every Boy's Got One), a mystery series (Size 12 Is Not Fat/ Size 14 Is Not Fat Either/Big Boned), and a chick-lit series called Queen of Babble.
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No Judgements by Meg CabotMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
I can't believe this book ended up being such a disappointment. I genuinely expected it to be a guaranteed hit based on the synopsis. Here's a little bit of quick background information about me: I'm a Florida resident who has been here the majority of my life. I've lived through tons of hurricane scares, and recently went through the uncertainty of Hurricane Irma which luckily ended up being only a category one as it passed by my city. The point being, this book seemed extremely relatable. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything relatable about the main character Bree, and by the end I struggled to even finish it. For me, this was just one huge mess.
Bree Beckham is a three month resident of Little Bridge Island, Florida where she has moved after several recent events in her life have left her feeling unmoored and more than a little lost. The island was her happy place as a child, a place where she spent many vacations with her parents so it makes sense she would return at a time when she needs comfort. Though she's from a wealthy family, she's self-supporting and is currently working as a waitress to make ends meet. She seemed okay at first, but the first sign of trouble was chapter one. The news is reporting that there's a potentially catastrophic hurricane heading their way and when her ex and mother start calling to urge her to take a flight out, she responds petulantly as if they are over reacting. She bluntly refuses all offers of transportation and goes radio silent on everyone. Even after the storm when her mother was afraid for her life, she callously disregarded her and procrastinated in calling to let her know that she was safe.
I understand that she's angry at both of them, and rightly so based on what's revealed later. However, this screams of foolish pride when it comes to your own personal safety. There are so many people that are financially unable to evacuate and forced to stay in unsafe conditions and she's acting like a defiant kid. During every encounter with her friends and various town members, she realizes that they are ALL evacuating. They all offer her an opportunity to catch a ride with them to a safer spot. She turns every one of them down with the excuse that she can't leave her cat. I'm sorry, but she has the support and funds to find a pet friendly hotel room somewhere. This is such a flimsy excuse.
Not only does she decline help time after time, but she knows nothing about preparing for a hurricane and would have been in deep trouble had the storm hit them at projected strength. She turned off weather reports because she didn't want to see the warnings, she didn't realize that she could be without water, and she had zero plans or precautionary measures in place in case of an emergency. She had been planning to stay at her apartment in a flood zone without even bothering to sandbag outside for protection. I guess what it boils down to is that perhaps I'm too knowledgable about the topic for all of this nonsensical behavior to not bother me.
Luckily for her, her bosses offer their mansion as a shelter with a generator and an endless supply of food. She reluctantly agrees despite not wanting to "impose" on them. Drew is her bosses' nephew, and apparent resident womanizer. He has a reputation around town, and Bree is not his biggest fan. They quickly fall into bickering at every opportunity, mainly because he likes to tease her about being a "Fresh Water" (a newbie in town who is ignorant about life on the island). For her to claim that she's some expert in living there is beyond laughable, so her anger and protests make no sense. I didn't feel as if these two had an ounce of chemistry or relationship development between them. The majority of the book she's snapping at him for breathing and then you literally turn the page and she's imagining herself in love with him. Possibly since the first time she saw him, she ponders. Who knew? After that point I really struggled to continue.
It seemed like everything out of Bree's head or mouth annoyed or frustrated me in the last half. Things like:
Believing he was "mansplaining" to her about the Milky way when she admittedly knew nothing about it. I call that a conversation where you learn things. That's not an insult to her womanhood.
Thinking that you weren't supposed to fall in love with guys you slept with. They're supposed to be just for "fun." Meaningless sex is the only sex...okay then.
Thinking "fireworks went off in her shorts" while making out.
Acting like an ungrateful know it all when Drew gives her advice or help.
“I could tell you needed rescuing, is all.”
I glared at him. “I did not need rescuing. I never need rescuing.”
Then there's the ending. The heroine has three different unresolved issues from her past, and each and every one of them are instantly solved when the four other people involved show to confront her. (view spoiler) All of this was rushed and inserted at the last minute without much of any soul searching or thought on Bree's part. In the last chapter, Bree is wondering where she stands with Drew. Do they have a chance at something more than temporary? Does she even want that? We're not shown any conversation between the two of them. We simply jump into the epilogue where everything is perfect.
I wish I could say that I enjoyed some aspects of this book, but now sitting here writing this I'm really struggling to come up with an example of something that hit the mark. When the female lead character behaves in a way that makes you question her intelligence almost on every page, that doesn't give you a very enjoyable reading experience. That was the biggest issue that I couldn't get past which there was no coming back from. Unfortunately this one was a big miss for me and not one that I would recommend. However, maybe others will find this a light chick-lit offering they could enjoy.
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