Despite sending him letters ever since she was thirteen, Taliah Abdallat never thought she’d ever really meet Julian Oliver. But one day, while her mother is out of the country, the famed rock star from Staring Into the Abyss shows up on her doorstep. This makes sense – kinda – because Julian Oliver is Taliah’s father, even though her mother would never admit it to her.
Julian asks if Taliah if she will drop everything and go with him to his hometown of Oak Falls, Indiana, to meet his father – her grandfather – who is nearing the end of his life. Taliah, torn between betraying her mother’s trust and meeting the family she has never known, goes.
With her best friend Harlow by her side, Taliah embarks on a three-day journey to find out everything about her ‘father’ and her family. But Julian isn’t the father Taliah always hoped for, and revelations about her mother’s past are seriously shaking her foundation. Through all these new experiences, Taliah will have to find new ways to be true to herself, honoring her past and her future.
Source: GoodReads
This one was a bit of a disappointment. It had a nice set up, but it sort of fell flat on its face when it came to its resolution. The good thing was it was a quick read.
Wow, just realized I sort of summarized this review in two sentences. So if you’re on a rush for time, I guess you can stop reading now. However, if you like reading my diatribes (and if you’re reading this blog you probably do or at least get quasi amused reading my diatribes) please continue on.
I’ll be honest, I probably would’ve ignored this book had it been for it’s cover alone (it’s sort of blah) but the long lost successful daddy trope is a favorite of mine and I sort of had to read it based on that. I mean, What a Girl Wants is one of my all time favorite movies and it exploits this trope to the fullest, so what could go wrong with this book…
It’s not that it has a bad set up. I thought the set up was fairly decent for the most part. Although, I’ll admit it was sort of clunky for this famous rock star to appear out of nowhere and take his daughter to middle of nowhere Ohio, BUT I’ll let some things stretch. The character development seemed like it was good at first. We had a fractured friendship, the MC’s relationship with her estranged long lost father and mother, a dying grandfather, the MC becoming confident in her own talents, and a potential love interest for the MC. But honestly, none of those plots were ever fully dissolved.
A part of me gets it. In real life, nothing would be tied up in a bow, but there were some pretty horrible plot twists here that made me find the MC’s parents to pretty much be horrible shitheads all around.
For most of the book, the relationship between Tal and her long lost family had me intrigued. I liked the relationship that was developing between her and Julian, and I thought that there were some nice scenes between her and her long lost grandmother. However, that was quickly swept against the rug with that stupid twist.
Look, I get people aren’t perfect and I think that Warga probably included that twist to make the mother character more sympathetic, but it just seemed cheap to me. It completely destroyed what I thought about Julian’s character and motivations throughout the novel. It also didn’t absolve Lena of anything. She is still pretty much a terrible person. Sure, Julian might’ve acted like an ass, but Tal at the very least should’ve known. Or at the very, very, least Julian should’ve been held accountable enough to pay child support or something.
Okay, I know that little last tidbit is from me handling too many family law cases, BUT still…you get what I mean. I also could care less for Tal’s relationship with her b.f.f. who she’s grown distant with. B.F.F. (whose name I want to say is Harley or something-I forgot and am too lazy to get the book out of my suitcase) is a jerk. She pretty much disses Tal because she has a girlfriend and makes demands of her about calling her mom-Tal should’ve told her to stuff it.
I’m sorry Harley was shitty. I’m sure she’ll grow out of it eventually, but the book makes it seem likes its all Tal’s fault. But it’s really not. Talk, you need to make friends with some decent people.
The romance or squint of it was okay, but after finishing the book I really wondered why it was included. It’s clear Tal is leaving Ohio and probably won’t see this guy again. And they only knew each other for three day so…pointless.
The flashbacks, while nice, and gave some introspection again were useless. There was all this build up between Julian and his father, and Julian and Lena and the payoff was just pathetic. It just really annoyed me all together.
In all, this book had so much promise, but totally flopped upon execution. If you like the long lost father trope or books that explore relationships, I don’t recommend this one. Rather, pop in What a Girl Wants again or read The Wrong Side of Right. Seriously, this isn’t worth it.
Overall Rating: I was originally going to give it a C+ but upon reflection I’m thinking a C- might be more accurate. It’s not half bad, but it is very poorly executed.
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