When I read the description of "Still Crazy" I thought this was going to be a story about a woman who stands up for herself, trusts in herself, and eventually finds happiness by standing up for herself. That was not this...
Over a decade before Dan and Julie are married Julie suspects that he was cheating on her. Yet she stays and eventually marries him. Throughout their three decades together Dan has numerous affairs and Julie does not assert herself and give an ultimatum or walk away. She doesn't have the self respect, confidence, or love of self to do so. She doesn't trust in those around her enough to confide in them as to what she is going through and then allows them to make excuses for her husband when they learn of her suspicions. Julie could've told them of the several women in the past and the evidence proving Dan was cheating, but she didn't do any of that. It says she installed cameras throughout their home and garages yet also said she had seen all of the calls on the phone bill. If she looked back at the footage from the times when those calls were made wouldn't she have had all the evidence needed to prove Dan was having an affair? Instead she allowed him to paint her as a paranoid crazy woman to his best friend and tried to convince her of the same with his gaslighting. That is not true love or being a strong woman. If pushed to get help and he refused then walking away decades before or not marrying him to begin with would've been the choice made by a strong woman. Obviously everyone handles heartbreak disloyalty differently, but given that this was touted as one thing I thought it would reflect that and it didn't. Julie, understandably was suffering from the trauma of her toxic marriage even after leaving and that was portrayed with the trembling and vomiting. Yet in the end nearly three years has passed and Julie has still not healed from or attempted to overcome that trauma and devastation. Instead she engrossed herself in one project after another as a means of distraction. Then, Chad comes along and they only minimally interact yet he remains at the Inn for ... a year, longer? (It didn't specify.) And claims to be in love with Julie despite almost no interaction. This seemed more stalkerish than romantic. Everyone pushing Julie towards him- and saying he was in love with her - despite her repeatedly telling them she wasn't interested AND almost no interaction between them felt so off. I wasn't at all surprised when the truth came out about why he was there to begin with. After all that... the ending was just another "Uhm... WHAT?!" moment. Dan may have sought help - FINALLY - yet Julie had not. To just jump back in without having healed herself or waited to see proof of Dan being a changed man? Again, no. This felt so codependent. He's a narcissist and most don't really ever "get better". Julie worked hard to make her dream of running a successful inn a reality and in the blink of an eye welcomes Dan back with open legs no less to share in all that she has built. Sure, maybe Frank's wife made a mistake and they were able to move past it, but we don't know the depth of that because it wasn't explained. So to compare the two and assume Dan and Julie would have a happily ever after ending after decades of toxicity just felt disheartening. I was rooting for Julie to become confident in herself, get some help, find happiness and fulfillment in her success and the people around her. Closing herself off, keeping the past a secret from her friends, getting sick if not keeping busy is not coping and healing. My heart broke for Julie time after time because she didn't love herself enough to heal.
I'm not religious and the endless faith really bothered me because that too is a band aid, a distraction from putting in the work to heal herself.
Additionally, this book was absolutely chock full of typos and bits that didn't make sense, or seemed to be thrown in for some inexplicable reason. There were countless times where the story jumped from one month to a few or several months ahead from one sentence or paragraph to the next. This made for a story that just didn't flow well. In an advanced copy it's completely understandable that there are going to be a few missed typos or grammatical errors; however, this felt more like a draft rather than print copy. I'm sorry to say that for me I felt that this story has so much potential but it's just not there yet. I truly appreciated the opportunity to read "Still Crazy" and I thank BookishFirst, and the author for a free copy of the book as well as the bookmark and tea. I know this is a debut and I honestly look forward to reading more from Judy in the future because there is definite potential there!
Over a decade before Dan and Julie are married Julie suspects that he was cheating on her. Yet she stays and eventually marries him. Throughout their three decades together Dan has numerous affairs and Julie does not assert herself and give an ultimatum or walk away. She doesn't have the self respect, confidence, or love of self to do so. She doesn't trust in those around her enough to confide in them as to what she is going through and then allows them to make excuses for her husband when they learn of her suspicions. Julie could've told them of the several women in the past and the evidence proving Dan was cheating, but she didn't do any of that. It says she installed cameras throughout their home and garages yet also said she had seen all of the calls on the phone bill. If she looked back at the footage from the times when those calls were made wouldn't she have had all the evidence needed to prove Dan was having an affair? Instead she allowed him to paint her as a paranoid crazy woman to his best friend and tried to convince her of the same with his gaslighting. That is not true love or being a strong woman. If pushed to get help and he refused then walking away decades before or not marrying him to begin with would've been the choice made by a strong woman. Obviously everyone handles heartbreak disloyalty differently, but given that this was touted as one thing I thought it would reflect that and it didn't. Julie, understandably was suffering from the trauma of her toxic marriage even after leaving and that was portrayed with the trembling and vomiting. Yet in the end nearly three years has passed and Julie has still not healed from or attempted to overcome that trauma and devastation. Instead she engrossed herself in one project after another as a means of distraction. Then, Chad comes along and they only minimally interact yet he remains at the Inn for ... a year, longer? (It didn't specify.) And claims to be in love with Julie despite almost no interaction. This seemed more stalkerish than romantic. Everyone pushing Julie towards him- and saying he was in love with her - despite her repeatedly telling them she wasn't interested AND almost no interaction between them felt so off. I wasn't at all surprised when the truth came out about why he was there to begin with. After all that... the ending was just another "Uhm... WHAT?!" moment. Dan may have sought help - FINALLY - yet Julie had not. To just jump back in without having healed herself or waited to see proof of Dan being a changed man? Again, no. This felt so codependent. He's a narcissist and most don't really ever "get better". Julie worked hard to make her dream of running a successful inn a reality and in the blink of an eye welcomes Dan back with open legs no less to share in all that she has built. Sure, maybe Frank's wife made a mistake and they were able to move past it, but we don't know the depth of that because it wasn't explained. So to compare the two and assume Dan and Julie would have a happily ever after ending after decades of toxicity just felt disheartening. I was rooting for Julie to become confident in herself, get some help, find happiness and fulfillment in her success and the people around her. Closing herself off, keeping the past a secret from her friends, getting sick if not keeping busy is not coping and healing. My heart broke for Julie time after time because she didn't love herself enough to heal.
I'm not religious and the endless faith really bothered me because that too is a band aid, a distraction from putting in the work to heal herself.
Additionally, this book was absolutely chock full of typos and bits that didn't make sense, or seemed to be thrown in for some inexplicable reason. There were countless times where the story jumped from one month to a few or several months ahead from one sentence or paragraph to the next. This made for a story that just didn't flow well. In an advanced copy it's completely understandable that there are going to be a few missed typos or grammatical errors; however, this felt more like a draft rather than print copy. I'm sorry to say that for me I felt that this story has so much potential but it's just not there yet. I truly appreciated the opportunity to read "Still Crazy" and I thank BookishFirst, and the author for a free copy of the book as well as the bookmark and tea. I know this is a debut and I honestly look forward to reading more from Judy in the future because there is definite potential there!