I keep dithering about whether or not to buy Sweetness in the Belly by this author. You know how it is when you hear such good hype about something and then you're disappointed because it didn't measure up to what you thought it should be.

So when I found this book (this author's second novel), I figured I'd give Gibb a go because while I've heard of the book, I don't remember the hype.

I've read the first twenty pages or so and, so far, it's delightful!

Sigh...

I think our relationship is over. You know how it is when those very things you thought were so charming in the beginning, turn out to be so tedious and annoying? Well that's how it was with this book.

Blue and Emma, brother and sister, grow up in a dysfunctional family. So sure, if your parents decide to move and rather than take you in the car with them they stand you on the side of the highway with signs around your neck presumably counting on some kindly folks to pick you up and deliver you to your new home, you're going to have issues. If your mother doesn't seem to care whether you exist or not and all your father can do is heap criticism on you and then has the nerve to abandon you entirely, you're going to have issues. No wonder then that Emma and Blue are a bit weird and, because they can't rely on their parents, learn to rely on each other and are unusually protective of each other.

I admit, given that I read fiction for pleasure, if the characters are going to have horribly wretched lives, I'd rather read a humourous presentation than something depressing. And it was the author's somewhat twisted sense of humour that first allowed me to relate to Emma and Blue. But it became too much. Halfway through the book I had to put it down. I just wanted the characters to grow up already and if they weren't going to then it wasn't funny any more.

After a couple of weeks I picked the book up again, curious as to how things would resolve. Perhaps the other relatively "normal" characters in the book would help save Emma and Blue from themselves?

I wanted to like them. I think the author wanted me to. In the end I didn't.

This is my 11th book by a female Canadian author read for the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge, Eh, my nineteenth overall.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I'll offer this one up at our November BookCrossers' meeting. If no takers, I'll leave it on the shelf.

Released for week #45 of the Never Judge a Book by its Cover release challenge. This week's theme is rooftops, doors and windows and the cover of this book features a photograph of a boy and a girl staring through a window.

This book is currently sitting on the Winnipeg Official Bookcrossing Zone bookshelf in the loft of The Park Theatre & Movie Café, 698 Osborne Street, Winnipeg MB.

It is waiting there for a new reader to take home, read, and release back into the wild!

Winnipeg bookcrossers meet at my location on the second Tuesday of every month at 7pm to chat about books, swap great reads, and release on the OBCZ shelves. Please join us! We love to see new faces! You will enjoy the comfy atmosphere, the fabulous coffees and teas, and the yummy treats!

This book has anonymously left and come back to the shelf for round two!

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I took this book home from the last bookcrossing meeting at the Park to send on a new adventure. There's a new statue in front of MTC that I've wanted to release at, and I'll be walking by today on my travels.

This book will be released there today as part of gypsysmom's Canada Day Release Challenge to celebrate Canadian literature!