Ain't Misbehaving
By
Grade : C

This is one of those rare C grades that is not graded as such because it’s mediocre, or boring, or just “blah.” I gave Ain’t Misbehaving a C because some of it was good, and some of it wasn’t. As a debut, it isn’t particularly stellar, but the author’s voice and writing style have potential.

Living in a small Texas town, Marla Jean Bandy is divorced and ready to have fun. Her husband left her for a librarian 20 years her senior, and given that it’s a small town, gossip is merciless. When her brother’s friend Abel “Jake” Jacobson pulls her out of a guy’s car, it’s certainly fodder for gossip.

Jake has been charged to watch out for Marla Jean, since she’s apparently going crazy by wanting to date (and have sex) casually. To be honest, she knows she’s not really cut out for no-strings-attached relationships, but neither is she ready to date seriously. Jake, for the first time, is beginning to see her as more than his friend’s little sister, and Marla Jean is trying not to become attached, given Jake’s love-’em-and-leave-’em reputation.

Thus ensues some highly unlikely and ridiculous antics, including: breaking several toes after kicking a tire in cowboy boots, awkward public dates and flower arrangements at local football games, a shockingly well-behaved stray puppy, and an absurd number of cutesy southern metaphors and similes.

Now, I live in the Deep South, and I appreciate a good metaphor or simile. One of my favorites is “crazier than a run-over dog.” I don’t get it, but it is certainly evocative. But this book goes above and beyond anything I’ve ever heard. In the first chapter alone is, “dustier than a ghost town in an old Western movie,” “fighting over her like a prize piece of salt water taffy,” and “ran out the door like a kid who’d just heard the ice cream truck whenever it turned the corner onto their street,” and they only get more colorful from there.

That said, if the author were to tone down the cutesy-ness, she has the potential to be a strong contemporary voice, one with humor and a smart wit. Unfortunately, this book is just too much -- too much farce, too much Texan charm, too much silliness, and not enough depth to Jake and Marla Jean’s relationship. They had chemistry, yes, and toward the end of the novel I began to believe that they loved each other; but there wasn’t enough development early in the novel, aside from the sexual component of their attraction.

Like I said, though, this book did not discount Molly Cannon as a writer, or make me decide never to read her again. I think she fell into a trap of the “go big or go home” writing style, while a more sedate version of her voice would be similar to that of Kristan Higgins: a bit goofy and silly, but with real heart and depth. In that respect, I have hopes for Molly Cannon. They just aren’t realized in this book.

Reviewed by Jane Granville
Grade : C

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : June 25, 2012

Publication Date: 2012/07

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