Fuck patriarchy. Just plain fuck it; I need that hammer! I would smash it until the pieces were nothing. This book has lots of patriarchy in it; you better prepare for my rant. My bitch powers are on high! As Elton John said: The bitch is back (and in full swing).
In the beginning Calla is a sex toy; it's what her mother is making her become to make Ren want to fuck her (I'm serious). Calla has never been allowed to date or make out or do any horny teenage shit because of her arranged marriage with a bastard who has balls for brains named Ren. Ren is a chauvinist pig who happily fucks cheerleaders (and I'm fine with guys having consensual sex with cheerleaders), ignoring Calla. Thus Calla has to wear a short skirt to be noticed. by him. I felt nothing at all between them. Then she meets Shay and it's insta-love (sick). Shay "changes" her. And her "love" with him is forbidden and evil and sick and blah, blah, blah. And Shay holds some extremely predictable secrets.
My problems with this book:
1. "Purity". Virginity is not real! It's true people; your hymen is just this ugly little thing a bike can break! I was sickened at how deeply imbedded purity was in this book. Anyone who doesn't fit into it is a slut. Honestly it was so insane I'm wondering why Calla was allowed to run or do other exercise but that can break your hymen and lose your "purity". Was she allowed to ride a bike as a kid? It was so insane I was wondering that. You know in that one episode of season four of The Big Bang Theory? It was when Howard and Bernadette were having their first date and began to talk about their overbearing mothers and Bernadette said something along the lines of "My mother wouldn't let me ride a bicycle because she was afraid I'd hit a bump and lose my virginity." I really suspect something like that happened to Calla. And what about rape? I seriously wondered why she wasn't given an abstinence belt. OK, maybe that wouldn't have stopped a bike (I consent to sex with my bike, but I'm such a slut I don't put on rubbers when we "bump"), but a guy or girl it probably would. It also would have prevented masturbation, which probably would have been evil, too. And Calla really seemed to have a dire need to fuck, seriously. She either needed hormone pills or a long, long real-life porno where she is the star.
And she was arranged to marry Ren for breeding. What about infertility?
Kissing was also a way of breaking "purity" along with dating. I'm surprised she didn't at least spin the bottle at twelve or so. Really this kind of purity gives me at least a headache and a desire to go grab a hammer and just smash away. That or go read Margaret Atwood. Really purity was such a big thing in the book and of course Calla wasn't a slut. Girls who fuck or dress sexually are total sluts (this happened in the book). Man this virgin/slut shit is horrible and Andrea Cremer gets away with it with werewolves.
2. "Alternate Lifestyles". This is actually what was said about the relationship between the two gay werewolves. I have a bunch of LGBT friends and they hate those two words. You don't say that to gays, even when you aren't a homophobe. I don't think Andrea Cremer knows any LGBT folks whatsoever and wanted to appear "tolerant". And the gay werewolves seriously could have been a way better storyline than this shit was but teenage girls don't care about gays, they want PG-13 steamy sexual attraction that makes me want to rip my hair out and watch Bent or read Margaret Atwood or Judy Blume instead. And on the gay thing again, I think I'll just go read David Levithan.
3. Actual Wolves. Alpha females lead the pack, the alpha male is just the main brain but usually doesn't live long because all the other male wolves want to fuck alpha females. But Cremer didn't bother with research, she wanted to look like she cared about women. Ren would never be the smartest wolf because as I said before, he thinks through his genitals. And Calla really has no power, she may as well be called the useless woman. She has no power so she shouldn't be "Alpha". And even before Ren and Calla get married, Ren bosses around Calla's pack and he shouldn't be able to do that. And then Calla's pack stops listening to her which should be wrong, but no, just no. Calla is useless when she should be leading the entire pack.
4. Come on, these are Teenagers for Crying Out Loud. Today's teenagers will probably become as Stephen King said in his short story "1922", sweetheart bandits before they accept an arranged marriage without a fight. It was even better explained in Bestest. Ramadan. Ever. (great book, by the way) because the heroine, Almira, wanted a boyfriend super bad even though she was a Muslim and her parents won't let her date due to her religion. Hell, even Dimple Lala potrayed it better in Born Confused. But Cremer seems too crazy, far-off.
5. The Characters. I could barely remember their names, much less anything about them. Really all I remembered about those gay werewolves was that they were gay, nothing great like maybe they play with their mashed potatoes, or they like to listen to old time jazz. Nothing memorable other than their sexuality (gays are more than just, I don't know, gay).
6. Sexual Harassment. Calla is sexually harassed by male wolves higher ranking than her. It made me sad, but I know it happens.
Fuck. Calla showed no signs that sexually abused people do and she promptly forgot all about it (just like everything else, she's a total airhead and all it takes is a kiss for her to lose all her thoughts. I could shake her up like an Etcha Sketch.). She showed no stress; it was the exact opposite of all the stress that goes through people because of it. If a man forcibly gropes you it's not something you can just forget without stress. People may feel violent or blame themselves, but Calla has it just blow out of her head. Mrs. Cremer clearly knows no one who has gone through this and it was falsely represented.
I find this book offensive to women (and men because if someone forcibly gropes you I just can't see that blowing out of a man's head) everywhere who have to go through that shit. In her world change just doesn't happen at all, the makers of the law either weren't female or gay because they're anti-female and anti-gay, and of course she's fine with it. Calla is nothing more than a sex object. I can prove it with the cover of the next book:
That is not innocent teenage sexuality, that looks like the cover of a porno. Here's innocent teenage sexuality:
For all you know the guy and girl could be leafing through a magazine on that bed. The book may be about sex and the cover may be a little "racy", but the cover isn't all about sex.
Still innocent. For all you know a person could have just woken up and didn't make their bed. The cover may allude to sex but it really may not be about sex. Yes the book itself is about sex but the cover isn't really about sex because it could just be about a person who doesn't make their bed. This is innocent sexuality without all the gross details.
Cremer glorified the purity myth, that you should blame yourself for sexual harassment, love is an instant thing, being gay is an "alternative lifestyle", wolves aren't actually led by females, and women are sex objects. Great read, Mrs. Cremer (excuse me while I go read Judy Blume for a long, long time)!
1 stupid star.
Fuck. Calla showed no signs that sexually abused people do and she promptly forgot all about it (just like everything else, she's a total airhead and all it takes is a kiss for her to lose all her thoughts. I could shake her up like an Etcha Sketch.). She showed no stress; it was the exact opposite of all the stress that goes through people because of it. If a man forcibly gropes you it's not something you can just forget without stress. People may feel violent or blame themselves, but Calla has it just blow out of her head. Mrs. Cremer clearly knows no one who has gone through this and it was falsely represented.
I find this book offensive to women (and men because if someone forcibly gropes you I just can't see that blowing out of a man's head) everywhere who have to go through that shit. In her world change just doesn't happen at all, the makers of the law either weren't female or gay because they're anti-female and anti-gay, and of course she's fine with it. Calla is nothing more than a sex object. I can prove it with the cover of the next book:
Cremer glorified the purity myth, that you should blame yourself for sexual harassment, love is an instant thing, being gay is an "alternative lifestyle", wolves aren't actually led by females, and women are sex objects. Great read, Mrs. Cremer (excuse me while I go read Judy Blume for a long, long time)!
1 stupid star.
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