Review: Macy's second Daddy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 7, 2012
I feel it's useful to employ the 'good, bad and not-so-great' book review technique in this case. Somehow it just feels right to me. So, here goes:The good. Skillfully crafted, well edited and easy to follow; Ms Anthony clearly has the writing chops to pull off an engaging story.Poor Macy inadvertently gets involved in a jewel theft and her dad Chuck hires his old school friend, Jerrod to defend her. Macy lives in another state and as the judge has ruled she must remain in Portland (where the story takes place) until the trial, Jerrod kindly offers to put her up in his home. Macy is 19, Jerrod 43. He is instantly attracted to the lovely, biracial Macy (& makes much of her 'creamy latte skin' and grey, gold flecked eyes) but sensibly realises that not only is he old enough to be her father, he is also her legal counsel & a trusted family friend. Inevitably of course he gives in to his attraction when he realises Macy fancies him as well. This is truly where the story's strength lies as Macy and Jerrod fight their feelings while trying to maintain a professional relationship plus a friendship of sorts. Ms Anthony is one of the few female authors able to write realistically from a male perspective and I enjoyed reading about Jerrod's struggle to do the 'right thing' while falling for his young client.I have a 'weird' fondness for May-December relationships; perhaps nurtured in my teen years when I spent far more time engrossed in romance novels than my school books:) Those novels inevitably featured attractive older men who knew exactly how to treat their younger(often much younger) women.Caveat: there is a limit to how much younger I prefer her to be which leads me to:The Bad. Maybe getting older and somewhat wiser has a lot to do with it but the massive age gap did not sit as well with me as it might have done 20 years ago. However, it's not so much the 24 year gap, more the 'maturity and experience' gap that was an issue.I do understand this book was also about a young girl's introduction to love and its accompaniments and I do feel the author handled these elements with as much sensitivity as she could; in fact having read a slew of similar books I have not come across many which were dealt with this carefully.Ultimately I would have preferred if Macy was not quite so innocent. Being a virgin is one thing but to be totally clueless about sex was a little hard to understand. 20 years ago, maybe, but much harder to pull off in this internet-mad, 'let it all hang out' era we exist in today.Macy's 'awakening' by Jerrod ended up having exploitatory undertones...not terribly nice, really. I get it was meant to be sweet, charming & sexy but fell a little flat in that regard.The not-so-great. Much was made of her dad Chuck's big, loud coffee-coloured self, complete with line-backer shoulders and the highly probable fact that he would literally annihilate Jerrod should he find out about their affair. Well of course he does at the end but what action did Chuck take? None. He just looked kinda sad, ordered Macy to pack up her things and whisked her away. What, after all that build-up you couldn't throw just ONE punch? Jerrod would have deserved it because he WAS the older, seemingly more responsible party and he DID abuse his friend's trust. So I would have liked to see him suffer the consequences of his actions just a bit. Also Macy eventually gets together with Jerrod under what I imagine would be painful circumstances (for Chuck) but how Chuck dealt with this major event was pretty much glossed over. So he just rolled over and wagged his tail or what? How does a man go from being your trusted old school friend to your son-in-law?Frankly, I would have preferred it had Macy moved on, fallen for a man closer to her age, one more generationally suited to her. She was an intelligent woman so I hoped she would have reflected on the likelihood of playing nursemaid to a...say, 60 year old man when she herself was 36. I also feel it was perfectly realistic for Jerrod to worry a bit that Macy might eventually leave him for a younger man. This is one of the well-known downsides to relationships with huge age differences. Just ask Demi Moore.Overall this was a likeable, fun story and I will probably get other IRR book's the author writes.That is, if she writes another.