ARC, Books, Reading Events

Book 146: Where Nerves End (Tucker Springs #1) – L.A. Witt

I decided to read L.A. Witt’s Where Nerves End after I found myself thoroughly enjoying Tucker Springs #2, Second Hand and although I enjoyed the first one I read, this one was a disappointment even though it wasn’t bad.

I honestly don’t think the writing of this novel is bad. I read it in a day and would not have been able to do so if it was badly written. I think the major issues I had with it come from the storyline. Why introduce what could be a fascinating facet to a relationship just to ignore it for most of the book?

I felt the story was pertinent and relevant to current events, the housing market crash and everyone struggling to make ends meat, and I’m assuming was well researched (the acupuncture portion), but what really bothered me was that one of the main characters, Michael, had a son and the son was just absent for large portions of the story.

I believe this is because the son stayed with Michael’s ex-wife for two weeks at a time, but I found it very strange that the only two scenes in which the kid was present were when Michael and his kid moved into the house and when Michael and Jason shared their relationship with him. From my understanding this story takes place over a period of weeks (maybe months, but that’s pushing it) and sure I guess that would explain why the kid was gone for so long, but really that is moving FAST in a relationship. I mean there were minimal reactions between the kid and Jason, and I’m just supposed to believe that he’s okay with a partner that has a kid. I mean it was just a bit too much on a limb.

The Literary Others Synthesis
Whereas with Second Hand there was something I wanted to talk about, there’s really not with this novel. The more I think about the story and its lack of depth the more I’m just like meh. I did once again find the female perspective of a male-male romance to be interesting. I feel that even if I didn’t know Witt was a woman I would’ve guessed she was because of the way the character’s desires and the sex scenes occurred. This isn’t a bad thing – I think everyone should be open for some exploration, but the idea of the active and passive and the mixture of the two felt really emphasized in these two novels. And apparently that’s one of the reasons a lot of women read and write this type of fiction. I really wish I had access to my school notes because I cannot remember the research articles for the life of me.

Recommendation: Pass – Second Hand was better and more exciting, although this wasn’t horrible and I plan on continuing to read the series.

Opening Line: “One night without waking up in pain didn’t seem like too much to ask.”

Closing Line: “Maybe my fucked-up shoulder hadn’t ruined my life after all.” (Whited out.)

6 thoughts on “Book 146: Where Nerves End (Tucker Springs #1) – L.A. Witt”

  1. Not sure I’ll add this one to my list. I have a feeling I would be like meh myself. Oh well, there are plenty of other fish in the sea. I hope all is well!

Leave a Reply to Geoff WCancel reply