Let's face it, bad reviews are going to happen. Even fricken Colleen Hoover has bad reviews (I know, I can't believe it either). With that said, they're still difficult to stomach, especially when you believe in your story and your characters so much. I normally ignore them, but they hurt. So bad. But I hate when people who've never been in a situation similar to what the characters experience say how unrealistic it is.
First of all, let me make something clear, LIZ NEVER OFFERED TO PAY FOR JULES'S COLLEGE EDUCATION! Don't ask me where the hell that even came from, but someone read my book and drew the conclusion that Liz offered to pay for Jules to go to college, which never happened. Liz merely mentioned in a joking manner that she had connections, and could help pull strings to get her in, but if you read NPLH, you'd know that Jules was completely capable of getting into college on her own.
Is it possible to believe you've found your best friend after one day? Sure. As a matter of fact, I have. Plenty of times. My best friend has been my best friend since middle school after just one conversation. She was at lunch and had forgotten her lunch money at home. I offered her my tots and we've been inseparable ever since.
Can two people feel an instant attraction? Absolutely!!!!!! I experienced this, and I can confirm that it does happen, and when it does its beautiful and unexplainable. If someone were to ask me what was so special about him at the time, I don't think I could give a single definitive answer. I just know that it was something I felt. That pull is so real and so intense and sometimes it's hard to make sense of it, but it does happen.
Can someone with a traumatic past let people in easily? Of course. It happens everyday. Sometimes, and again I'm speaking from experience, all it really takes is for someone to make an effort. People who have past traumas are not necessarily completely jaded. I wish I was brave enough to share my high school diary because although letting people in was a struggle at times, the real issue was that it seemed like no one made a real effort. And when the right people came along, they willingly made that effort.
I'm so tired of people saying that Jules' story is unrealistic. This was not some story I just put together in my mind. I had a wonderful girl who was brave enough to tell me about her past, and her struggles with moving on from it. I was so moved by it I knew I wanted it to be the premise of my story. She was kind enough to offer advice along the way, and candidly let me into the darkness of her past. She let me use specific events in her life (ie moving in with her social worker secretly and quickly befriending one of the neighbor's kids) that I had to incorporate in this book. I don't understand why some people are so negative and are so convinced that they are experts on everything to the point that they know when something is realistic or not. And let's say that you have been in a situation similar to Jules. Is every situation the same? Is every person's response to such situations the same? No and no, and that's what I think these "experts" forget.
So after bashing my book, please don't think that I'd ever give you the privilege of reading another for free, much less be a part of my creative process. Thanks, but no thanks. Go find someone else to release your pent up aggression on.
-B.
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