Right
off the bat, I have to admit that I went into reading the first book/novella in
the Calendar Girl series, January, with very low expectations for
both this book/novella, and the series as a whole. After actually reading January, I have to say that January is definitely a book that
utterly baffles me, because there are definitely a lot of things about Carlan’s
writing for January that come across
as being bad or problematic writing. Sometimes I would describe Carlan’s
writing as being both bad and problematic at the same time; that being said,
there are also times throughout January
where Carlan does come across as being a decent writer. For that reason, I’m
very hesitant to say that I think that Audrey Carlan is a truly bad writer.
One
thing that really bothered me about this book is that it was very difficult for
me to get good read on the protagonist of the series, Mia Sanders, in terms of
her personality. When Mia is talking about the four guys that she had dated and
thought that she had fallen in love with at the beginning of the book, she
comes across as having a very bitter and jaded attitude towards men. She also comes
across as really giving off a bit of a tough girl vibe at times throughout the
book, and yet when she was talking about the first guy that she thought had
found true love with, whose name was Taylor, she mentions that he had a small
penis, but she referred to his penis as being a “winky the size of a circus
peanut”. Mia saying that really made her come across as being immature, and if
you ask me, Mia referring to a guy’s penis as a “winky” really contradicts the
idea that she’s supposed to be a tough girl; which seems to be what Carlan was going
for at times throughout the book. To be fair, it’s kind of understandable that Mia
has a very bitter and jaded attitude towards men at the beginning of the book, given
her history with the men she has dated prior to the events that take place in January; but it didn’t make her seem
very likable in the first chapter.
Even
though I didn’t think that Mia was a very likable character in the first
chapter, and I thought that she was kind of annoying at times throughout the
book, she never got to the point where I thought that she was an extremely
unlikable and annoying character. While Mia can be annoying at times, she’s
definitely not the most annoying and unlikable character that I’ve ever
encountered in a book. (The award for the most annoying character that I’ve
ever encountered in a book would definitely go to Ana Steele from E.L. James’ Fifty Shades trilogy.) However, as the
plot of January progressed, I feel
like Mia came across as being a fairly likable person for the most part, who
enjoys giving people advice and helping them with their problems. I thought
that was especially the case whenever she was talking to Jen, who was the wife
of a guy that Wes works with.
That
being said, I definitely have to question Mia’s advice to Jen, suggesting that
she and her husband think about having a baby. After all, having a baby is a
major life-altering decision, and she had just met Jen and her husband. Mia
knows next nothing about Jen, her husband, or their marriage; so I don’t think
that suggesting that Jen and her husband have a baby, at least partly because
Jen has apparently been feeling bored spending so much time by herself, is very
good advice for Mia to give Jen. That just seemed rather stupid of Mia to
suggest that idea to Jen.
Another
problem that I have with January is
that aside from the information that we’re given at the beginning of the book
about the four guys that Mia had thought that she had found true love with, her
backstory remains fairly underdeveloped throughout the entire book. Sure, it’s
established that the reason Mia is going to be working for her Aunt Millie’s,
who goes by the name “Ms. Milan”, escort business is because her dad has a lot
of gambling debt that he owes Mia’s ex-boyfriend, Blaine. Apparently, Blaine
had some of his goons attack Mia’s dad, and her dad is currently in a coma. We’re
told about Mia’s sister, Madison, A.K.A, Maddie, but she doesn’t actually
appear in the book; and one of Mia’s friends, Ginelle, is briefly featured in
the book. However, aside from it being briefly mentioned that Mia has been
trying to pursue a career in acting, but she now has to put her acting career
on hold in order to spend a year working as an escort; we aren’t given very
much information about things like what her goals and ambitions in life are. Ultimately,
Mia just didn’t come across as a truly fleshed out and clearly defined
character, due to Carlan’s writing for her not being completely consistent. In
my opinion, that’s a major problem considering the fact that Mia is the
protagonist of the series.
On
the more positive side of things, Wes, whose full name is Weston Charles
Channing III, was pretty much instantly a much more clearly defined character
compared to Mia, so I know that Carlan is capable of doing a decent job of
establishing characterization for her characters. It just baffles me that she
didn’t do a very good job of doing that with Mia. It was established at one
point in the book that it was actually Wes’ mother who suggested that he hire
Mia out of all the women who work for Aunt Millie/Ms. Milan’s escort service.
Personally, I think it’s rather odd and kind of messed up that Wes’ mother was
the one who apparently suggested that he hire an escort to act as a buffer and
keep other women away from him while he works on his latest movie. That just
seems like a rather messed up and odd mother/son relationship for a mother to
pick out an escort for her son to hire; but at the same time, I kind of wish
that Carlan had explored and developed Wes’ relationship with his parents a
little bit more than she did.
I
definitely enjoyed the progression of Mia and Wes’ relationship throughout the
book, and I felt like they had great chemistry with each other. That being
said, I feel like the whole emotional conflict between Mia and Wes about how
Wes eventually didn’t want her to leave at the end of the month lacked the
element of surprise, or a great deal of emotional weight. It was pretty obvious
that Mia wasn’t going to stay with Wes once the month was over, because she
needs to continue working as an escort in order to make enough money to pay off
her dad’s debt. Plus, this is the first book in a series. If Carlan had simply
resolved the issue of Mia needing to get the money to pay off her dad’s debt by
having Wes give Mia the money that she needed, which he offered to do, then
there would be no reason for this to be a series, and it would just be a
standalone.
That
being said, while I feel like January
lacked the element of surprise regarding whether or not Mia would take Wes’
money to pay off her dad’s debt, I really like and respect Mia’s reasons for
not taking his money. Wes solving Mia’s problems by simply giving her the money
that she needed would probably hang over their relationship, and quite possibly
drive them apart in the end. While I did like the explanation that Mia gave to
Wes in the letter that she wrote to him as to why she couldn’t take his money; her
letter also came across as a rather sloppy way of conveying to the reader what
Mia had learned from the things that had happened throughout the book. I just
feel like Carlan was breaking the “show, don’t tell” rule of writing when it
came to expressing the character development that Mia had undergone throughout
the book by having Mia tell Wes what she had learned from their time together
in her letter.
All
things considered, while January is
far from being a masterpiece, I still enjoyed it, and I’m definitely planning
to continue reading the series. The concept of the Calendar Girl series being a series of twelve books/novellas that
are all fairly short; with each novella covering one of the months that Mia
works as an escort for an entire year is pretty neat. The biggest problem that
I have with January is that the
writing and characterization for Mia is rather inconsistent and underdeveloped.
I’m really baffled by that, because Wes immediately came across as a very
clearly defined character right from his introduction in chapter two. The
writing for Wes also remained pretty consistent throughout the entire book, so
I know that Audrey Carlan is perfectly capable of writing clearly defined
characters, and having the writing for a character remain consistent. It just
confuses and surprises me that she didn’t do a very good job of that when it came
to writing the character Mia; since she’s the protagonist of the series, and
the book is written from her point of view.
Despite
the flaws in the writing for Mia, she’s still a fairly likable character for
the most part. However, there were a few times throughout the book where I thought
that she was kind of annoying. I really enjoyed the progression of Mia and Wes’
relationship throughout the book, and I’m really glad that Carlan left the door
open for Wes’ return in future books. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing
how Wes will come back into the picture as the series continues. I’ve been
reading Bad Books, Good Times’ chapter by chapter recap/commentary of
each book in the Calendar Girl series,
and at this particular point in time that I’m posting this review, they’re
about halfway done with recapping the seventh book in series (July). Because I’ve been reading a lot
of their recaps of the series, I already know some of the things that are going
to happen throughout the series. However, I’m still excited to see what each of
the other guys that Mia is going to be spending a month with is going to be
like, and what Carlan does to make each guy their own unique character.
Ultimately,
January is definitely far from
perfect, but it’s still a fun, guilty pleasure read.
That
being said, my final score for January is
5 out of 10.
