Book Review: My Daughter's Boyfriend

Title: My Daughter's Boyfriend
Author: Cydney Rax

Review: Wook. OK. First, I want to acknowledge that the author of this book has a BS from grad school University, and for that I feel a sense of kinship, perhaps, that mitigates the force of this review. Now, with that dealt with, I can move on. For the sake of clarity while I was reading, I assigned nicknames to the 3 main characters to keep their attributes straight in my mind. Lauren, 18 years old, is "Belligerent, Irritating, Troubling, Cold 'Heifer'" (that last bit is something that Lauren’s friends call her, apparently an African American thing that I’m not getting at all, a reminder that this was so not written for me.) Tracey, her mother, is "Confused, Un-motherly, Narcissistic Tart." Lauren’s boyfriend, Aaron, is "Poorly-drawn, Lying, Arrogant Yet [oddly] Attractive Homey."
    The plot, in a nutshell: Lauren and Aaron are dating. Aaron, who’s in his 20s, wants to "take their relationship to the next level." Lauren’s not ready, in part because Tracey’s constantly harping on her that she shouldn’t turn out like she (Tracey) did, having a child while she was a teenager. So Lauren’s going to wait. Well, Tracey’s boyfriend, "Mr. Steve," dumps her. And she’s feeling low. And Aaron’s always been kind of attentive and friendly. So when he makes the moves, she reciprocates. Yeah, she does her daughter’s boyfriend. Lauren’s father (with whom Tracey hasn’t had a relationship in several years) catches them together in a hotel and forces Aaron to break things off with Lauren, which he’s been planning to do anyway. A few weeks later, Lauren catches the two together at the apartment that she shares with her mother.
    The rest of the book is people chuckin' accusations at each other, suffering recriminations, and generally feeling bad about everyone around them and themselves. I’m not sure what the point was, to tell the truth. It seemed like what Lauren and Aaron had was a childish relationship, and what Tracey and Aaron had was somewhat closer to an adult-type relationship, albeit extremely poorly-chosen and badly carried-out. But their affection for each other was presented as real for ¾ of the book and then suddenly it was yanked away as justification for what they’d done—it was all colored with the 'Dirty' pen. And the hapless reader was left feeling somewhat ill-used by the whole experience. Why did I invest 3 days' time in reading this book, if it was going to turn on me like this?
    Ugh. Too much introspection. The book's not worth it.
    It's a 6, and I think I'm being generous in that. Maybe that's the titillation factor, even. Unless you're wowed by the idea, don't bother.