Review: Funny & Sweet
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 5, 2013
I am not a big television watcher and I really don't care for the majority of reality shows that are on. It was my husband who actually introduced me to Hoarders and it was like a car wreck, we couldn't look away. Granted, we only watched maybe a dozen shows total, but it was enough to get the meaning. Some of them were truly sad and the people had an honest to goodness mental illness involved. Others were just too lazy to clean up their crap and the ones that had dead animals hiding under their piles of stuff just made me furious. Anyway, when I read the description of 'Junk' I knew I had to read it. I adore Josephine Myles and knew I was in for an excellent read.Jasper is, hands down, adorable. The fact that his hoarding involves books, magazines, and newspapers instead of trash endeared me immediately. I mean, hey, "There but for the grace of God go I." Really. Jasper finally makes the call to Wonderland Clutter Clearing when he loses another room in his home to a giant book collapse and he can't open the door. Jasper truly has a problem, the good thing being he knows it and is seeking help, the bad thing being he doesn't like to see anything go to waste. That's an attitude that is quite difficult to deal with. Jasper meets Lewis and Carroll for an initial consult and he does like how nonjudgmental they both are and how Lewis helps to put him at ease.Lewis and his twin sister Carroll are behind the Wonderland Clutter Clearing company. Before you ask, their mother is a professor of Victorian children's literature, so hence the names. In an aside, Lewis's parents are wonderfully liberal and hysterically funny. Lewis has a degree in psychology and he's a very calming influence on their customers. His personal life, though, seems to be a little up in the air. He moved back home to his parents' house when he broke up with his boyfriend as Lewis couldn't afford anything by himself at the time. According to his sister, Lewis has a bad habit of moving in with all his boyfriends and then being out on the street when it doesn't work out. Huh.I found it completely and utterly fascinating watching Lewis work with Jasper about his hoarding. The whys of it all, and how Lewis encouraged Jasper to look at the emotional response his hoarding brought to him. Of course, watching Lewis begin to peel back layers of the intriguing personality that was Jasper was delightful, as was Jasper beginning to learn what made Lewis tick. Slowly their professional relationship begins to include more personal conversations and revelations, no matter how much Lewis tells himself it is a violation of his therapist-client rules. After advice from family and friends, Lewis and Jasper agree to a friends-with-benefits relationship. Jasper would like more, but Lewis is afraid that when the therapy is all done, Jasper won't want him anymore.I really enjoyed this story, very much! Jasper was so easy to care about and Lewis was a lot less calm and in control than he came across which simply made him endearing. The writing was wonderfully fast-paced with very strong characters, some drama but not overwhelming, and a lot of laughter. Typical of this author. Thank you, Josephine, for another great read that I will cherish.NOTE: This book was provided by Samhain Publishing for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews