Then not too long into the book, we run into a pretty funny scene where Jason tries tequila to revive the same icky response he got from peanut butter only to accidentally get super wastey pants.

Again, another promising indication that this book is going to be heading in a great direction!  But, my train ride stopped here and I should have gotten off at my stop.
Now, this book tends to be a bit confusing (another thing I seem to share in common with some of my fellow reviewers), so before I clarify this, I’m going to explain a scene I reallllly disliked and then I’ll elaborate on the confusing aspect of this.

The cop scene.  Ugh, talk about leaving a bad taste in my mouth.  I don’t care what’s been going around the media these days but most cops aren’t naturally that abusive.  Yes, some are very intense BUT THEY DO A DANGEROUS JOB and should NOT expect a stranger to not harm them.  They need/should be on their guard at all times.  People are nutso nowadays.  On top of how over the top the cops in this book were written out to be, you have a car full of middle school students driving like the little fucking tards that they are at that age and egging on the cop by being COMPLETELY disrespectful to him!  I really can’t stand how cops are being portrayed in this scene!  It’s unrealistic and obnoxious.  I guess the way the middle school kids reacted was normal, they’re all entitled and sooo cool at that age, so that seemed somewhat accurate, but nonetheless, this was a little tasteless.  Yes, it’s a book, but I don’t like over the top reading unless it’s purely made up.  For example: authority of another world.  I don’t want to all of a sudden feel like the author is preaching their personal views on me, which is exactly what I got from this scene and several others from this book.  This isn’t an autobiography so don’t make me feel like I’m reading one.

Now, as I read further into the book, my opinion on the above scene changed a bit.  I went from being pretty agitated to maybe having an understanding of it.  I keep getting hints throughout this book that it’s not based in the U.S. with such terms being used as “kilometers” but there hasn’t been a clear definition that I recall of where they’re located.  I assumed the U.S. without any indication (because being that’s where I’m from that’s obviously my destination of natural choice) as well as the author’s mini bio on the back cover (stating he’s been to Colorado and lives in Cali – CALL ME CRAZY IF THAT’S NOT ANOTHER INDICATION).  Therefore, I don’t know how law enforcement is perceived in other locations around the world.  I would only continue to be upset with said scene if it represented the law upholders I know in the U.S.

So if you hadn’t figured out I was confused on the location of this book, between the police scene and a little further into the book, there was no indication of past, present or future change and when they were in the vehicle in the police scene, it was mentioned that they were in the 10th grade.  Now my question is, why is Jason’s dad letting a bunch of middle schoolers go to a beach house alone and acknowledging and condoning underage drinking?  The back says Jason’s 22 but the pages are saying otherwise.  Whatdafuq?!  I’m so confused!  AND YET, THIS IS ANOTHER CONFUSION I SEEM TO SHARE WITH FELLOW REVIEWERS (not all, but some, chill out).  If this kid is actually 22 and his sister is going to drink as well, who is younger than he mind you, then how old could SHE possibly be?  Also, if they’re of legal drinking age whenever that might be for where they’re located, then why do they need daddy’s permission??

At this point, if you haven’t caught on, I’m getting more and more disinterested and my rating of this book keeps going down.  I started speed reading just to get through this.

Let’s move on to the hurricane scene, shall we?

A hurricane rarely comes on as a surprise.  That’s one of the benefits of hurricanes (if such a thing from a natural disaster) is it forms and you usually get a few days to decide whether or not you’re gonna pack up your shit and leave town or prepare to hopefully not be blown away or carried on by flooding.  The hurricane in this book just shows up out of nowhere and apparently not one person watches the news or checks the weather which I have a hard time believing.  This does not happen!  Hurricanes are not tornadoes!  They don’t just show up and leave in a matter of minutes!  Hurricanes last dayssss!  I live on the East Coast.  I’ve been through several hurricanes.  They have to form and this one just basically blinked itself into existence.  Now you may be thinking I’m a picky reader but I can’t help it and I won’t help it.

How should I conclude this…. hmmm… this book obviously gave me a lot to talk about.  That being said, I might have been harsh but I don’t think this book is awful.  I like the concept, I just think this book needs some fine tuning and different paths to follow.  I would be willing to pass this book on because not everyone reads the same or has the same opinions and I’d be curious to see other views.

But as another all too harsh opinion I am going to share (which this book has influenced but it wasn’t the majority rules vote on this decision) is I am done with self published books – or at least taking a very long needed break.  I think self publishing is the worst thing to happen to books next to ebooks.  Anyone can now write a “book” and “publish” it.  I do feel bad for the very rare books that are self published and are great (such as Galadria: Peter Huddlestone and The Rites of Passage by Miguel Lopez de Leon) and that I might be avoiding now because I have found some.  But they are so few and far between and I’m tired of wasting what little reading time I have on these at the moment.  Not saying that all well known published books are automatically fantastic but at least I know the writing will be put together.

Happy Reading! xo

I wrote this review a little while ago and got caught up in life and wasn’t able to get around to posting it.  Upon editing this, I found some photos on my phone of pages that I wanted to quote/point out.  Instead of trying to squeeze it into the above words, I’m just going to post them down here and give a quick two cents on each one that will back up conversations I had above:

Pg. 177: Okay – I hate rape scenes. I was not a fan of these TWO scenes, but if you’re going to write one…. can we use the word fuck or any other word but do… I can’t imagine a person as disgusting as a rapist choose to use the term “I’m going to do you….”

Pg. 251: Another example of a personal opinion thrown into a fictional book.  I don’t know where this dude’s from, and by dude I’m referring to the author, but he clearly hasn’t lived where I lived aka Chicago or currently in VA.  The people I’ve driven around, including myself, are aggressive as shit.

Pg. 64: Another thing I felt was a personal issue that the author threw into the book… it made me laugh and wonder if he’s had any personal issues in this department.

Pg. 29: Alas, not all is negative!  This last sentence made me laugh!