A review by stephaniemarie
Come to Me Quietly by A.L. Jackson

1.0

Oy. This was not for me.

Angst City. The self-pity throughout this book was suffocating. If you're looking for hundreds of pages of whining, here you go. I don't deserve any happiness, I ruin everything, I don't get to have this, I'm so fucked up, I destroy and I take, blah, blah, BLAH. Oh my god it was insufferable. What made it worse was the fact that we never find out WHY Jared is so self-loathing until the very end. By that point I was so sick of him, I could hardly find any sympathy for him. What happened was tragic, yes. He is completely screwed up, yes. But he needs THERAPY. He's an unstable, violent addict. He needs professional help for a LONG time before he should be anywhere near Aly or any other woman-- or human being, for that matter. But, no, of course her love is enough heal him. This is so unhealthy.

Then there's Aly. I could not tell you one thing about her except that she's obsessively in love with Jared. And she likes to draw Jared's face. She has some filler friends who are there so she can talk about how much she loves Jared. That's about all I got. She doesn't seem to have any life outside of Jared-worship. After they had sex the first time, she says the act "completed" her. Sex does not complete you. This is so unhealthy



There were several occasions where I was just dumbfounded by the stupidity.
What kind of IDIOT rides a motorcycle without a helmet?!?! Every time he rode there was some comment about the wind in his hair. I mean, how fucking stupid are you? I know you have a death wish and all but, god. I almost died when he makes some remark about how he's "in so deep" with Aly because he bought her a helmet to wear on his bike. So you've stumbled on common sense and would like to avoid painting the asphalt with her brains. Yes, how deep you are.
At one point she does get hurt. Her asshole brother throws her across the room where she audibly cracks her head on a shelf and bleeds. You do not fuck around with head injuries! You go to the hospital. Did anyone take her to get checked out? Did anyone even ask if she was all right? NOPE!



All ranting aside (and I have plenty more but I'm going to stop), I can see why this book is so highly rated. I know this kind of relationship is appealing to a lot of people. He's wounded and needy and smoking hot and they have history, a forever-love kind of connection, etc. It's something that would appeal to me, too. It did when I read the summary. But I can't get on board with this. Jared was emotionally abusive to Aly. She was way too dependent on him for happiness and fulfillment. It was all so unhealthy.

Unhealthy and disappointing.