When Life Happened - Book Review

I've honestly been sitting here staring at my screen for a good five minutes not knowing how to begin. When Life Happened by Jewel E. Ann. *sighs* Now, how to talk about this book ... let me see ... let's go back to how and why this book fell into my lap. First of all, I judged by the cover - *hides her face* - I know, not a good enough reason, but I did. Judging by the cover I instantly had a girly romantic vibe going. Then I read the synopsis. It was a romance book, yes. It sounded fun the way it was worded. Also, it left me thinking what on earth Parker Cruse, the main character, would have done about her life. Lastly, I took a quick look at the reviews which were mixed like they always are. However, the good reviews were over the top awesome and readers suggested I should dive into this book blindly, not trying to check too much. It sounded interesting and here I was picking this up as my first read of 2021. Little did I know that this book would leave me utterly confused.

The book revolves around Parker Cruse who feels she has wasted her time over a perfidious boyfriend who ends up cheating on her with her own twin sister. Cringe! Her love life has gone down the hill and relations with her family, especially her twin sister, have been consequentially jeopardized. Now, Parker desperately wants to move out of her parents' house, get a job, get a life, and move on. Parker herself is this bubbly person with a spark of a personality and it shows how hurt she is deep down inside thanks to her family and ex boyfriend. The book begins with Parker moving out, just down the street from her parents' house, only to find a new neighbor whom she feels attracted to. The neighbor, Gus, is a handsome man with the perfect manners and all, who by the way is also equally, if not more, attracted to Parker's sparky personality. The only issue is that he happens to be married and Parker happens to hate cheaters thanks to her own unfortunate experiences. Then, life takes an unexpected turn for Parker and we're left to see where destiny takes her 'when life happened'.

When I say the book left me confused I do not mean anything about the story or the plot. The story was clear and so was the writing. This book left me flustered because I did not know how to feel about it. I have, in the past, felt that way about certain movies or actors. I have never felt this way about a book though. In all honesty when I began reading I was talking to my sister over breakfast and Chai and telling her I was considering quitting a book right at the beginning. However, I wasn't able to and I found myself wanting to read all the way just to see what happens. By the time I reached the ending, I was still just as confused about whether I should have read the book or not as I had been on the first page.

The book is full of intense emotions and emotions are my thing. In fact, I am an emotion junkie when it comes to selecting movies, tv shows, and books. So that was the actual reason why I couldn't quit and kept going; I wanted to feel the emotional build up and relate with the characters and like them. BUT ... and there is a reason it is written in uppercase letters ... the language was HORRIBLE. All that emotion should have meant the book would become my instant favorite but the language ruined it all. A good love story and a happily ever after should have meant I would be all 'awwwww!' and in love with it but that language! *smacks her forehead*

The author created beautiful characters who were otherwise perfect. Especially the guys in the book, all of whom didn't just look good but had impressive personalities to match as well. Yet, these characters hardly spoke a dialogue without using a foul word! She wrote out the most perfect men with the most perfect timing and the most perfect one-liners ("Today's my favorite day") to give you that swoony feeling. But that language killed the whole mood! The same men who would have sounded perfect to me, instead sounded cheap and perverted and foul because they abused and cursed so much. I would usually have loved a person like Parker. A beautiful, girly, jolly, free spirited woman, Parker should have been my favorite. Her language though made her seem very questionable. Characters were happy, they’d use a foul word. Characters were sad, they’d use a foul word. Characters were overwhelmed with feelings, they’d use a foul word. Foul words in every dialogue. Tch tch! I found the building up of emotions and beautifully thought out scenarios would make me happy one second and then an unnecessary foul word would deflate it all in the next like a balloon!

I really wished I had clicked on the 'look inside' feature on Amazon before getting into this book. I would have definitely not bought it in the first place. I decided to go by the reviewers who suggested going into this story blindly and not knowing what to expect. Clearly, Jewel E. Ann's books are not for me for as far as I checked online it seems this is her style of writing. For me love stories should not be crocheted with foul language all over its pages. It takes away from the ethos and kills the emotions. Imagine if Edward Cullen abused Bella with F words just to announce his love for her. Then she did the same in return to tell him she loved him back. How romantic would Twilight have seemed then? For my liking, foul words should only be used if they are situationally appropriate, like for anger or hatred. Otherwise, they ruined what could have been a very good book for me. I wanted to let 'When Life Happened' break my heart and make me cry but the language made me cringe instead. I was definitely disappointed and if anyone dislikes the use of foul language in books like I do, please stay away from this book! You'll hate yourself for not loving what should have been a loveable book!

Overall: I would not recommend this book if language bothers somebody. If it doesn't, this would be a good sweet happily-ever-after kind of book!

*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***

Some points I wanted to mention about how I felt about the story!

• I found it horrible that Parker's parents were okay with what her twin sister did. What kind of a terrible family does that?! It wasn't acceptable at all. They should have kicked her out.
• I found it even more horrible that her own sister cheated on her!!! Sisters just can not do this!
• Then I found it the worse ever that their mother forced Parker to let her twin live in her house, in her bedroom, with her ex boyfriend, while pregnant, before they bought their own house. That was just insane!
• No matter how much the author tried justifying it, cheating is unacceptable. Whether it was Parker's boyfriend cheating on her or Parker being with Gus. Unacceptable!
• I was disappointed in Parker when she decided to leave with a guy she'd met a week ago on an unknown journey. Paired with the foul language Parker's character just kept becoming more and more iffy for me. What kind of a decent woman would do that?
• I also found it weird how in about a week the characters could claim they had fallen so much in love they could go to any limits. Does that kind of love happen in a week's time? Maybe.