For My Good

Yay, I finally got to read a Sarah Holman book! It was a fun read, too. Janet definitely wasn't expecting an encounter with the FBI when she went out for a bit of Christmas shopping.

Mainly I didn't score it higher because there was just so much shoved into a few pages, which is very common with my general short story ratings: it needed a bit of space to breathe. Janet is an interesting character, but we really only get to see two sides of her, mostly just the grieving present.

For her reasons for grief (which is from the second or third page, so it isn't exactly a spoiler)—no matter how wrong your parents might be, if they are sane adults and not abusive, it felt really wrong that all their kids walked away from them for one decision (granted, a large one) that was made. We are to honor our parents despite their flaws, and even if a parent over the edge makes it a necessity to treat them a bit differently, it was worrisome that five kids would rebel against their parents all at the same time without some sort of strong reason. So I'd have liked to have seen that reason, or in its absence to see the kids be a bit more balanced in the whole situation, which obviously just tore the family further apart. Just an example of something that bugged me and that wasn't fleshed out in the story much at all.

I also had a bit of a personal gripe; Janet mumbles to herself about how much better off she would be with a college degree, but in one year of work she has the budget to buy new clothes and have her own private apartment in Dallas (where housing's not the cheapest). Nope—at least she doesn't have debt. Also I found it pretty odd that a single young woman wouldn't have her car door locked while Christmas shopping in Dallas.

Otherwise, it was great and I especially loved Janet's reaction to the strange man popping up and felt the ending was simply too sweet! I'll definitely be reading more of Sarah's books.