The Wrong Woman by Cass LennoxMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
*I received this book from NetGalley, and Riptide Publishing in return for a fair review.*
Book stars Katie Cherry, the angry director from Finding Your Feet, as an angry film-maker and Zay Fayed-Smith, bartender who is also a law student. Both are somewhere in their mid twenties (an indication occurred that Zay might be slightly older than the 24 year old Katie).
Book opens with Katie working as a director/camera operator at a bar filming an all queer punk band, while Zay works as a bartender there. The reader quickly learns that Katie hasn’t exactly gotten laid in months, and feels to be in a weird ‘lucky’ situation when she gets hit on by two rather attractive women – Zay, and Ana (guitarist in the band). For readers thinking ‘oh god, a love triangle’, or for readers thinking ‘yay a love triangle!’, quicker than the thought can occur, that specific aspect is removed (though flirty Ana lingers). Mostly by events that quickly unfold. Including the part where Zay and Katie head to Katie’s place that same day they meet each other and have an awkward cab ride, but mind-blowing sex (or at least both felt that way). Is it a one night stand? Will they see each other again?
Fairly early on, abusive, horribly, disgusting Parry reenters Zay’s life. An important element because Parry is Zay’s ex, the woman who she had thought she had finally gotten over. Also the woman who was a massive junkie who stole Zay’s stuff to get money for more drugs. But that’s the past and Parry is back now and wants to talk. Zay, despite knowing her friends and family will give her grief over her decision (they do), agrees to meet Parry. Parry gives every indication that she wants to get back together with Zay throughout the book, even bluntly stating that a few times, though it takes Zay a really long time to realize that that is what Parry means/wants/whatever and keeps telling people that no she doesn’t want that (that Parry doesn’t want that; there’s no question Zay doesn’t want that). To try to blunt any kind of feelings on either behave, Zay indicates that she currently has a girlfriend (ah, see, that’s what I get for writing after I finish reading. Zay had already told Parry, when she spotted her the morning after the hook-up with Katie that she had a girlfriend; she was supposed to be ‘clearing the air’ but failed to do so and somewhat doubled down on the girlfriend thing).
Almost at the exact same time, that Zay and Parry had coffee, Katie was having lunch with her mother. Katie seems the kind to be a bitch to everyone around her (what, see as evidence: this book; plus her appearance in 'Finding Your Feet'), so obviously Katie’s life goal is to see how much she can piss off her mother, especially in public. So after the seemingly umpteenth time it appears mother isn’t ‘getting’ the fact that Katie is a lesbian, Katie reminds her mother that she is, and not only that but she has a girlfriend.
So – the book then proceeds from there. Zay, who has had relationships in the past, is friends with some of the exes (who do not appear in this book), and had at least one massively abusive relationship (and she being the victim of it) decided to move a potential relationship match from the haze of ‘one night stand or more’ into ‘fake girlfriend zone’ for reasons involving Parry. Meanwhile, Katie, who has never actually had a relationship (‘dated’ a lot, was with someone for two months in college but never introduced that person to any friends or family as a girlfriend) also agrees to this ‘fake relationship’ for her own reasons. Both, it should be pointed out, have lustful feelings and ‘maybe something more could occur?’ thoughts, but these thoughts and feelings have been short-circuited by this ‘arrangement’.
Slightly further information about Zay and Katie: Katie is pale-white with red hair (daughter of people who have money - so, naturally, she herself disdains money, etc.; has anger/bitchy issues); Zay is ‘olive skinned’ and is a native of Canada (like, I think, Katie) – one or three generations native, though either her parents or her grandparents came over from Lebanon and she still is technically Muslim but for reasons, including religious ideas about homosexuality, Zay isn’t as devout as she might otherwise have been (though notes that others of her generation, as in native of Canada, are also less than devout).
For most of the book my thinking was that I’d be rating this somewhere between three and four stars. I mean, while the story was interesting, I’m not sure that there was a single character that I could actually like in the book (though, oddly, Justine started to grow on me, and she’s the barely seen mother of Katie (who also was in ‘Finding Your Feet’ . . . as a bitch)). Not so much as disliked as more not sure I liked. But the characters kind of grew on me . . . a little. Though it was the books final section that raised the book to something nearish 3.8 and then the epilogue (which I entered with a ‘oh god, probably something super annoying is going to occur now, sappy, or something to annoy me’) occurred. And that pushed everything up to 4 stars. So, unexpectedly, this got up to 4 stars. I might readjust as I think about things, but at the moment that’s where I’m rating this book. A solid (as in, nothing below, nothing above 4 solid stars).
One last little bit before I depart this review: this currently four book series of ‘stand-alones’ includes several things in common: LGBT people, Toronto people, some of the people reappear. Vaughn Hargrave and Jonah Sondern appear in the first book (which I haven’t read). Vaughn also appears in ‘Finding Your Feet’ (I know because I read that one, though I didn’t know until this book that Vaughn was a visitor from another book) and is mentioned in ‘The Wrong Woman’ (haven’t read ‘Growing Pains’ so I only know the stars of that one) but not seen. Jonah, though, is mentioned and seen (barely) in ‘Finding Your Feet’, and seen in ‘The Wrong Woman’ as a friend of Zay’s and a school friend of Katie’s (if I’m getting that right). Evie Whitmore and Tyler Davis starred in ‘Finding Your Feet’ and neither have much of an appearance in ‘The Wrong Woman’, though are mentioned, and Tyler was briefly ‘seen’. Also from ‘Finding Your Feet’ who appear in ‘The Wrong Woman’: beyond those already mentioned: Justine Cherry, mother of Katie Cherry, Gigi Rosenberg, and Brock Stubbs (Brock is a friend/sometime employee of Katie). Gigi Rosenberg and Brock Stubbs star in ‘Growing Pains’, appear in ‘Finding Your Feet’, and have largish roles in ‘The Wrong Woman’.
Rating: 4.0
May 24 2017
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