Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

From the Barnes and Noble Synopsis:

Readers fell in love with Cannie Shapiro, the smart, sharp-tongued, bighearted heroine of Good in Bed who found her happy ending after her mother came out of the closet, her father fell out of her life, and her ex-boyfriend started chronicling their ex-sex life in the pages of a national magazine.

Now Cannie's back. After her debut novel -- a fictionalized (and highly sexualized) version of her life -- became an overnight bestseller, she dropped out of the public eye and turned to writing science fiction under a pseudonym. She's happily married to the tall, charming diet doctor Peter Krushelevansky and has settled into a life that she finds wonderfully predictable -- knitting in the front row of her daughter Joy's drama rehearsals, volunteering at the library, and taking over-forty yoga classes with her best friend Samantha.

As preparations for Joy's bat mitzvah begin, everything seems right in Cannie's world. Then Joy discovers the novel Cannie wrote years before and suddenly finds herself faced with what she thinks is the truth about her own conception -- the story her mother hid from her all her life. When Peter surprises his wife by saying he wants to have a baby, the family is forced to reconsider its history, its future, and what it means to be truly happy.

*sigh*

I've looked forward with great anticipation to this book for months. Possibly a year--even before I knew what the title was or when it would be out, merely because I was hungry for anything new this author had to offer. I've talked almost non-stop about it for the past several weeks. I even went so far as to re-read Good In Bed, it's successor, to catch me up to speed.

And it was a perfectly wonderful book. Seeing where Cannie, Joy and Peter landed and everything between then and "now" was a wonderful thing. I loved how the chapters were split equally between Cannie and Joy and how their opposing views on subjects were displayed. It read like a real life mother and teenage daughter might read. I fell in love with Peter all over again and in my silly little heart dreamed of one day finding my own Peter. I blissfully put aside two nights devoted to reading and loved every moment of it.

That is, right up until page 344 when things went all Nicholas Sparks on my unsuspecting butt. From there on, not only was this novel ruined for me but Good In Bed was ruined, too. So disgusted, heartbroken and angry am I that I may never read another Jennifer Weiner book again. And even if this major disappointment fades, and I do decide to give her another try I will never again look forward to one of her novels with such anticipation as I have with novels past. And that, in itself, breaks my book lover's heart because she's one of the handful of authors I truly adore and actually shell out $20 for hardcover. But I don't know that I can trust her anymore.

If I could, I'd rip out and burn those last few chapters and pretend that they never existed. I can't bring myself do that though because a) I can't imagine desecrating a book that way--I don't even dog-ear anymore! and b) it'd still be imprinted on my brain. I mean, I was so heartbroken, angry and disgusted that I didn't sleep well last night. (I finished it before I went to bed, stupid me!)

By no means is the novel awful. The ending isn't even what I'd call awful. Certainly not poorly written. I'm just disappointed and heartbroken at the turn it took when I saw no reason why it necessarily had to end that way other than that perhaps she couldn't figure out a way to end it. Perhaps she meant for it to be more meaningful. A life lesson. But if that were the case, it was completely lost on me. I ended up just skimming the rest of it after the Nick Sparks turn (and a couple of tissues) and angrily threw it on the floor.

This morning, I was still so worked up about it that I refused to shelve it with my other Jennifer Weiner novels and instead shelved it spine backwards on the bottom shelf of another bookcase in another room so I won't even have to look at it.

*sigh*

I know I likely sound like a loser, getting so worked up about a book. But I had a lot of emotional investment in those characters. Anyone who is a true book lover will understand, I'm sure. And weird (and slightly stalkerish) as it might sound, I had an emotional investment in the author. I read her blog, I've read all of her books, even the collection of short stories and I don't even really LIKE short stories. And now, I don't know. I just feel like, if this is the direction her writing is taking I want off this ride. I have enough emotional upheaval in my life as it is without my escapism tool dumping on me. That's why I quit reading Nicholas Sparks.

But by all means. Go. Read it. Someone less passionate about the characters and their history will probably enjoy it in it's entirety. Maybe even find it brilliant and poignant.

I just think the ending stinks monkey butt.

Edited to add: I was just on Jen's MySpace to see if anyone else who'd read it shared my feelings. Everyone else thought it was beautiful. I guess I'm just a big fat baby, then. Or maybe they're dead inside. Or too nice to tell her it stinks. I'm certainly not going to leave a comment and start a flame war against me. lol

Jana's Off-site blog