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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

My Thoughts: Naked by Megan Hart


Usually I try to think of something witty to name my posts but this time at 1:15 in the morning I have nothing. Maybe because it's so late, or maybe it's because of what I just read and how truly beautiful it was.

I was in Montreal when Naked by Megan Hart came out and I knew I wanted to get it, like right away. But being on vacation in a city where I knew not where the closest bookstore was I was in a bit of a panic. I finally found one and thought that maybe my panic was over; yeah right. Montreal, Quebec a predominantly French speaking city, therefore a predominantly French reading city... Yeah. I was defeated and ready to head back to the hostel. When Voila, an Indigo Books (Which I was sure was going to be an English book store) I was right and promptly went inside to see if they had what I was looking for. I walked out of that store empty handed. Sold out is what I was told. I bawled like a baby on rue Sainte Catherine. So there was no Naked on my vacation.

I got home Sunday and Monday morning I was out the door really fast. I left my local bookstore with Naked and two others. I was a happy girl.

It took me about 30 hours to finish this book, 10 were spent sleeping, and another 4 in a meeting. so really maybe 16. I had a wonderful time reading this book even though sometimes it made me panic.

I have read every book by Hart since Dirty and some I have liked more then others. What I love about her writing is that none of her characters are perfect, nor do they have perfect lives. They have issues, real issues. And through out most of her stories readers get to see how their issues shape the characters and how those personalties make the story what it is. What I also love about her stories are nothing is ever "perfect" in the end. You may get a HEA but it's a real life HEA, with broken people an all.

Take Olivia for instance, the Heroine in Naked. A black woman in her late twenties who comes from a broken home, her mother an Observant Jew and her father a devout Catholic. Crazy eh? On top of that she's also adopted, has been in a relationship with a man who was Gay, and is now inlove with another man who likes both men and women. But don't feel sorry for her, because that's not what this is about, it's about relating to her. Maybe not to her situation, but most definetly to her feelings.

That's what I get from reading Hart's books. Real people, real emotions, and wonderfully beautiful stories. There is such beauty in this woman's writing. It's breath taking. I kid you not, if you are 18 or over (this is a must for this genre) pick up one of her books, you will fall in love.
"So, please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install, a lovely bookcase on the wall."
— Roald Dahl