Book Review: Honey, Baby, Sweetheart

I'm guessing timing and atmosphere can influence a person's reaction to a book. For Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, the timing and atmosphere for my reading experience just didn't mesh. I read it in bits and pieces while sitting in airports and lying in beds, tucked in for the night in foreign cities. I didn't connect with the characters and wasn't compelled by the plot. Having liked Deb Caletti's later novel, The Nature of Jade, I had expected to enjoy this novel more.

Ruby McQueen is a sixteen-year-old who has always thought of herself as "The Quiet One." During the summer of her junior year, she meets and falls for Travis Becker, a reckless bad boy who sucks her into his orbit. Her fascination with him leads her into rocky territory of daring adventures and criminal behavior. With a mother reeling from her own betrayal, Ruby is torn between her interest in the guy and her desire to follow her mother's restrictions. Add in a group of senior citizens who call themselves the "Casserole Queens" and are on a mission to uncover a truth about a stroke victim, and you have some ridiculous exploits indeed.

By the time I got to the bits about the senior citizen caper, I was already fairly disinterested in the plot development. The story just didn't appeal to me. Perhaps I was too preoccupied with my trip. Perhaps it was just not a very engaging novel. For me, it certainly wasn't good timing or a good fit.