Review: What happened to Frankie and Benny's story??
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 07 11, 2014
Sorry, you guys but I'm bummed. My expectations for Frankie and Benny's story were sky-high, and that's on me. I'm very disappointed.I wanted to like this book. I really do. And had this been any other KA book, I would have given this a four but this was Frankie and Benny! I've been waiting for their story ever since At Peace. I thought their story was going to be epic, so I was disheartened when I actually started skimming around 48%.***The Story***After taking the blame for the death of their son and Frankie's boyfriend, Vinnie Jr., Frankie decided she has had enough of the Bianchi family and planned to move to Indiana. For seven long years, the Bianchi family treated her horribly and as penance, Frankie went as far as to take a bullet meant for one of their own. The situation gets even more complicated with the lingering attraction that Frankie felt towards Vinnie's brother Benny.Benny, along with the rest of his family, hated Frankie. They thought she was the reason why Vinnie went to work for his mob boss uncle, Sal. They had cut her out and wanted nothing to do with her. They were downright cruel to her. This was especially hurtful because they were the only normal family that Frankie has ever known. Frankie's own biological family are a bunch of selfish people who were out for themselves. So when the Bianchi family cut her out, she was devastated.***My Thoughts***Before I picked up the book, I re-read parts of At Peace where it was explained why the Bianchi's hated Frankie. That was very clear in At Peace. In fact, Benny called her a bitch to her face in that book. He even thought of her as a 'greedy slut.' The names he called her were horrible. So I was looking forward to how that part was going to be dealt with.Umm, well, it wasn't really dealt with at all. I may have read some 'I'm sorry' in there but after that, nada. Seven years of Frankie taking all those hate from the Bianchi's and not even 20% into the book all are forgiven? Benny basically railroaded her into forgiving him and his family. And Frankie just rolled over and let them walk all over her. Again.She did this with Benny's family and with her own family. The girl has no backbone whatsoever. I felt sorry for her. I wasn't mad at her, I just felt sorry for her. Basically, the whole book was about Frankie bending over backwards to accommodate these people in her life. I'm sorry but I don't want to read about a heroine like that. She was a totally different person from the one we met in At Peace. The only people who really stood up for her were Sal and Gina, and even then she had to let them go because Frankie having a relationship with them would upset Benny and his family.Another part which I didn't like about this book was the long distance thing they had going. It was boring. I could have understood if this part happened before they got together and Benny was doing everything in his power to make her his. But nope. Instead, I have to read about them doing the long distance thing 70% of the book. The thought behind it was great but again, it was boring to read.Benny was okay. I kinda expected him to be like any other KA alpha male.He had his sweet moments but because he didn't really had a chance to fight for Frankie his declarations sounded woefully insincere and inadequate to me.I did like the glimpses we have of Joe, Vi and the girls along with Luke Stark!!  I enjoyed that. Safe to say, I enjoyed the cameos more than the story itself, which pretty much says it all.So I'm really disappointed. I had such high expectations that Frankie and Benny's story will be epic but I was wrong. There was nothing epic about this. Just lots of filler drama and same old dialogue. Sad.