The Naked Fisherman
The Lost Fisherman
by Jewel E. Ann
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It's official. I'm eighteen and a young woman with endless possibilities on my way to reunite with my mom in Colorado after five years apart—she had a little weed incident in Nebraska. At the airport, she springs the news on me ... she's leaving for a month of job training. And me? I'm left on my own in the basement she's renting from the fisherman, aka her landlord who lives upstairs. He's ten years older than me. Never wears a shirt. And makes it hard to remember all the things I learned at Christian Academy. Did I mention he’s also my new boss? | It’s been five years since I’ve seen him. An unexpected event takes me back to the place where it all began. But I’m no longer the naive young woman he once knew. And he’s no longer the man who took nearly everything from me. Can this be our time? Or is it too late? Did I find myself only to lose him? |
Spice Level: 2/6 | Story Score: 6.75/10 | Rating: 3.75/5 |
Some time last year, I saw this series everywhere in one of the book groups. I have to completely admit that the title alone had me curious, so I put it on my A-Z Challenge for my "N". Obviously though, I was having trouble committing to it because it was the 54 & 55th book I've read this year. I've read the blurb a million times and kept skipping it before just finally biting the bullet. I have to admit that I had no idea what I was getting into with this book. Not a single part of it was what I expected.
First off, there was no fisherman. There was a man named Fisher Mann. He never fished. She never fished. No one in this book fished. They didn't even eat fish. Not a fish to be found. I am strangely upset about this.
Secondly, the blurb mentions Christian Academy, but I was no prepared for the amount of religious bigotry in this story. This is a "coming of age" story and those are on my top 5 least favorite trope list. I prefer my heroines to already think for themselves. I also spent most of the first book CRINGING at her absolute ignorance of EVERYTHING.
Thirdly, they make the boss thing sound like it's a key component. It isn't, to me. I would not consider this a workplace romance.
Alrighty, plot: At age 13, Reese's mother goes to prison for 5 years for growing pot. Her dad is angry, her parents divorce, her dad dies 2 years later. She moves in with her ultra-conservative grandparents and attends church and Christian Academy. After graduating, she goes to visit her mom, who is newly released. Her mother rents the basement space in Fisher's home. Upon meeting him, she sees him fresh from the shower with just a towel around his waist.
And the utter religious thoughts begin.
It's a romance novel, so obviously, this whole book is her figuring out how to bend her beliefs to be able to mess around and falling in love with Fisher when her mom leaves her there to go to some professional development training.
Also, she is 18 and Fisher is 28. Things are messy. When her mom comes back, things get messier because of the secret. Eventually it's realized that this just isn't the right time for them.
Five years later, much more experienced in the world, Reese gets a call from her mom about Fisher being in an accident. He wakes up with a fiancé and no memory of anyone but his family and Reese's mom and girlfriend.
Yes, fiancé.
While the fiancé is trying to force Fisher to remember, he and Reese fall in love all over again. Some drama ensues.
Obviously I've left any spoilers out of it. Lol.
The overall story, I liked. The details, I didn't. I am from the Midwest Bible Belt. There were more churches in my hometown growing up than any other feature. Reese reminded me of my 13 year old self AND IT WAS APPALLING. I cringed through the whole first book. The amount of religious indoctrination in this story hurt me. Reese didn't curse and she flinched when others did. She prayed for her wayward thoughts about seeing Fisher without a shirt on. She tried to figure out where the line was for allowing her to keep her virginity but still feel good...but touching herself was a sin. Can you get pregnant if cum gets on the outside of your pussy? That...that about had me throwing this thing (however, I e-read on my phone and phones shouldn't be thrown). Being gay was bad but not their fault...you shouldn't date boys that aren't saved... It was just A LOT and I have a real bitter place in my heart for threatening endless torture on girls for being sexually aware. Like I said, she was me at 13. Except she was 18. And a judgmental bitch.
Obviously, she got much, much better in the second book. However, she was still petty and irrational enough that it was frustrating, even if believable.
So I guess I didn't care for Reese much. Even when she got better about some things, I was still really disappointed in her a lot.
Fisher...well, I liked Fisher. There isn't a lot to say about him. I won't go as far as to say he's a book boyfriend, but I did like him. The second book was harder because he was obviously going through a lot since he lost his memory, and I don't even know that he handled it badly, but I'm bad at such angsty stories.
Everyone else in these books sucked. Rory and Rose, her mom and girlfriend, were so fucking unsupportive and irritating. I wanted them both to just shut up. The amount of peer pressure in this book made me want to boot and the inability of the characters to LISTEN to each other and pay attention. Mostly not the main characters, but everyone else.
So, will I recommend these books to people? No. Did I binge read them in less than 24 hours? Yup. The sex? Well the tension worked for me and the certain parts were appropriately clenchy...but a lot of parts made me so uncomfortably awkward that I couldn't enjoy it all. And then the sex scenes were much more fade to black or general reference than I prefer. I felt like I held on for a lot of letdown. Was the writing down well? Yes, I think so. Will I read more by the author? Maybe...but I won't go searching for it.
This book has cheating in it. Loosely, I suppose and maybe not technically, but how technical you wanna be could make it either way.
Overall, this book is a lesson in lack of communication and cowardness. There were, however, a lot of really good quotes and lines to highlight.
-SPOILIERS-
Oddly, I don't have many SPOILERS to rant about. There are several twists in here, even if you see them coming, but meh.
Three Bears (Cheeky Fairytales) Duet | 645 Pages (269 Pages) (376 Pages) | Trope Challenge: -Not on Challenge- Main: Fairytale Retelling |
“I’m going to kiss you. And touch you.” His voice was just a whisper, a warm breath over my lips. “And you’re going to do whatever you need to do to feel … good. And if you get scared, I want you to close your eyes and know that I’ve got you. You’re not too young or too anything. You are you. And I just think that you’re … beautiful.”
- Fisher, The Naked Fisherman by Jewel E. Ann
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