Ship It

This book did not sit well with me. I kept having to push myself to finish it. There were a few good moments here and there but overall this just felt very immature and toxic. And this is coming from a former avid shipper. I don't “do” fan-fiction but many SHIPS have sailed from my end. So no mystery in why I decided to pick it up. But what a disappointment. I didn't see cuteness in this. I saw very unhealthy relationships and behaviors. I didn't “ship” Claire and Tess. They did inexcusable hurtful things to each other. I generally wouldn't ship Claire with anyone because she was awful. She had no consideration for anyone's feelings but hers. Forest is in the book just to make Claire look good. Which is nearly impossible because she's an obsessive, entitled teenager that is unrelenting about pushing her own fantasies on other people. You know things are going terribly wrong when the homophobic actor looks more of a victim than the queer mega fan of his TV show. The ending wrapped up in a nice bow did little to redeem any of the things that happened up until that point.

I'm really amazed on how people can find endearing such a mean-spirited book. Claire comes off as if she's on a moral high-ground because she advocates for queer relationships on TV, while talking about country people as of they're all inept hicks, brushing aside several instances where racism comes into question and generally just being awful to the people around her. There was one point where I actually sympathized with her, what Tess did to her at that point was horrible, they should have never gotten back together.

Honorable mentions: Cathy - the unhinged social media manager. What a peach that one, huh?