⇜Do you think you could be in love with someone who repeatedly placed you in harm’s way? No? Me either. Imagine being in love with someone who pushed you in front of train tracks only to pull you off, someone who attempted to drown you or even drive with you on a motorcycle at over 100 mph? This seemingly dreadful person I’m speaking of is Travis Becker and his “love-fool” is Ruby McQueen.
⇜This story is about Ruby McQueen, a 16-year-old girl who falls in love with a troubled rich boy named Travis Becker.Their relationship,eventually, takes a turn for the worst due to Travis’ hazardous taste for danger. Eventually, Ruby chooses the right path with the help of the Casserole Queens, a group of old women in her mother’s book club. The book ends with her, her mom,brother, and the Queens stealing their friend Lillian from an old people’s home and taking her to the house of her soul mate. She, unfortunately, died two weeks later.
⇜I honestly regret picking this book up of the shelf. You should hate this book because it barely has real substance or valuable morals it can teach you or that will benefit you in the real world. It’s just all fluff, in my opinion. Secondly, the plot is very poor. For example, the author doesn’t put much time, effort, or detail into the start of the budding romance of the two main characters. In fact, within about 1-2 pages, Ruby “falls in love” with Travis. I understand the concept of love at first sight, however, I just felt it needed more detail and more developing.
⇜A theme in this book is that looks can be deceiving. Ruby thought Travis was a sweet and spontaneous guy and since he was rich he had everything he needed but he actually was crazy. He intentionally put Ruby and himself in harm’s way several times. The author even went out of her way to state that Travis had a “taste for danger”.
⇜The setting has a really big impact on the story. This story is based in the state of Washington during present-day time. The location’s weather a has a big affect on the mood of the characters as well as the events. For example, the night Travis tried to rob the plant Nursery that Ruby worked at, it rained. The rain caused the roads to get wet and caused Travis to have a motorcycle accident. If the setting were opposite, there wouldn’t be so much rain or technology.Therefore, Travis would not have a motorcycle,his only mode of transportation, and his contact with Ruby would be severely reduced. This would probably have a negative effect on the relationship. Also, if the book was in an earlier time period, it’s highly unlikely that her parents would be separated/divorced. So, there would be two parents in Ruby’s household and Ruby probably wouldn’t have been sneaking out to see Travis and putting herself in danger.
⇜Ruby and her mother change the most in this book. Both of their conflicts are moving on from emotionally detrimental men in their lives. For Ruby, the guy happens to be Travis. For her mother, the man is Ruby’s father. At the beginning of the book, both of them are very dependent on the guys in their life but throughout the book they strengthen each other and move on with their loves. Ruby and her mother are important to the plot because they’re the ones who are learning lessons about love and relationships. They are also the ones who come up with the plan of stealing Lilian.
⇜The structure of this book was poor. The author/main character diverged several times from the main point(s) to tell pointless anecdotes that didn’t contribute to the story. Also, she would point out places or people that didn’t contribute to the plot.In the beginning the author used a few flashbacks but it
I failed to understand what those had to do with the story either. For example, Ruby referred to a time in middle school when she put sanitary napkins under her armpits during a presentation in class and they fell out in front of the whole class but she was previously talking about friendship. As you can see the two don't relate.
⇜"If you didn't know better, you'd think those headlights were going to blink at you in some sort of surprised pleasure at being noticed after such patient waiting." -p.127 The effect of this sentence was to get the reader to understand the character's current situation better and draw the reader closer in to the story. "My stomach was dancing to some music I didn't like." -p.202 Ruby's attempting to accurately describe how nervous she is and that feeling most people get in their stomachs. "A person is never as quiet or unread as they seem, or as bad or good, as vulnerable or as strong, as sweet or feisty; we are thickly layered,page lying upon page, behind simple covers."- p.301 This sentence is basically comparing people to books.
⇜The first major event in the book was when Ruby's estranged father showed up at her house. The cause was he wanted to host a band audition at their house. Ruby also stated that that was a dreaded routine of her father's to just show up unannounced. The effect was an emotional breakdown in Ruby's mother. Another major event in the book was when Travis got severely injured. The cause of this was him riding his motorcycle in the rain at night. The effect was Ruby finally seeing Travis for who he really was and dumping him. Lastly, Lilian spent her last weeks with her soul mate. The cause of this was Ruby, her mom, and the Casserole Queens kidnapping her from the old people's home and taking her to her soul mate's house. The effect of this was making Lilian and Charles (her soul mate) unbelievably happy.
⇜“Honey, Baby, Sweetheart” is a funny and poignant look at first love and being a teenager." - Rene Kirkpatrick (Booksense) I do not agree with this at all. There weren't many funny parts in this book. There was nothing funny about Ruby and Travis's relationship either. "I was able to relate to it on several levels. There were times, though, when I felt as if the writing was lagging." -Adrien Merliss (Amazon) I really agree with this. I could relate to the overall message of the story but the writing really does need work."Ruby made me really aggravated. I found myself screaming at her inside my head, which might be what the author wanted, but it was very annoying for me."-CharlotteLS (Amazon) I really agree with this. Ruby really did irritate me. She just kept making stupid choices with Travis over and over again. He would tell her to come him, knowing he was up to no good, and still go with him. Then she would "regret" it when it was too late.
⇜So what? Well, as many faults as I’ve spotted and dislikes I’ve expressed in this book, there are at least one or two decent lessons about love and relationships. It teaches you that you should really get to know people before you get invested in them. Lastly, if someone walks out of your life it’s not the end of the world and you can move on without them.
⇜This story is about Ruby McQueen, a 16-year-old girl who falls in love with a troubled rich boy named Travis Becker.Their relationship,eventually, takes a turn for the worst due to Travis’ hazardous taste for danger. Eventually, Ruby chooses the right path with the help of the Casserole Queens, a group of old women in her mother’s book club. The book ends with her, her mom,brother, and the Queens stealing their friend Lillian from an old people’s home and taking her to the house of her soul mate. She, unfortunately, died two weeks later.
⇜I honestly regret picking this book up of the shelf. You should hate this book because it barely has real substance or valuable morals it can teach you or that will benefit you in the real world. It’s just all fluff, in my opinion. Secondly, the plot is very poor. For example, the author doesn’t put much time, effort, or detail into the start of the budding romance of the two main characters. In fact, within about 1-2 pages, Ruby “falls in love” with Travis. I understand the concept of love at first sight, however, I just felt it needed more detail and more developing.
⇜A theme in this book is that looks can be deceiving. Ruby thought Travis was a sweet and spontaneous guy and since he was rich he had everything he needed but he actually was crazy. He intentionally put Ruby and himself in harm’s way several times. The author even went out of her way to state that Travis had a “taste for danger”.
⇜The setting has a really big impact on the story. This story is based in the state of Washington during present-day time. The location’s weather a has a big affect on the mood of the characters as well as the events. For example, the night Travis tried to rob the plant Nursery that Ruby worked at, it rained. The rain caused the roads to get wet and caused Travis to have a motorcycle accident. If the setting were opposite, there wouldn’t be so much rain or technology.Therefore, Travis would not have a motorcycle,his only mode of transportation, and his contact with Ruby would be severely reduced. This would probably have a negative effect on the relationship. Also, if the book was in an earlier time period, it’s highly unlikely that her parents would be separated/divorced. So, there would be two parents in Ruby’s household and Ruby probably wouldn’t have been sneaking out to see Travis and putting herself in danger.
⇜Ruby and her mother change the most in this book. Both of their conflicts are moving on from emotionally detrimental men in their lives. For Ruby, the guy happens to be Travis. For her mother, the man is Ruby’s father. At the beginning of the book, both of them are very dependent on the guys in their life but throughout the book they strengthen each other and move on with their loves. Ruby and her mother are important to the plot because they’re the ones who are learning lessons about love and relationships. They are also the ones who come up with the plan of stealing Lilian.
⇜The structure of this book was poor. The author/main character diverged several times from the main point(s) to tell pointless anecdotes that didn’t contribute to the story. Also, she would point out places or people that didn’t contribute to the plot.In the beginning the author used a few flashbacks but it
I failed to understand what those had to do with the story either. For example, Ruby referred to a time in middle school when she put sanitary napkins under her armpits during a presentation in class and they fell out in front of the whole class but she was previously talking about friendship. As you can see the two don't relate.
⇜"If you didn't know better, you'd think those headlights were going to blink at you in some sort of surprised pleasure at being noticed after such patient waiting." -p.127 The effect of this sentence was to get the reader to understand the character's current situation better and draw the reader closer in to the story. "My stomach was dancing to some music I didn't like." -p.202 Ruby's attempting to accurately describe how nervous she is and that feeling most people get in their stomachs. "A person is never as quiet or unread as they seem, or as bad or good, as vulnerable or as strong, as sweet or feisty; we are thickly layered,page lying upon page, behind simple covers."- p.301 This sentence is basically comparing people to books.
⇜The first major event in the book was when Ruby's estranged father showed up at her house. The cause was he wanted to host a band audition at their house. Ruby also stated that that was a dreaded routine of her father's to just show up unannounced. The effect was an emotional breakdown in Ruby's mother. Another major event in the book was when Travis got severely injured. The cause of this was him riding his motorcycle in the rain at night. The effect was Ruby finally seeing Travis for who he really was and dumping him. Lastly, Lilian spent her last weeks with her soul mate. The cause of this was Ruby, her mom, and the Casserole Queens kidnapping her from the old people's home and taking her to her soul mate's house. The effect of this was making Lilian and Charles (her soul mate) unbelievably happy.
⇜“Honey, Baby, Sweetheart” is a funny and poignant look at first love and being a teenager." - Rene Kirkpatrick (Booksense) I do not agree with this at all. There weren't many funny parts in this book. There was nothing funny about Ruby and Travis's relationship either. "I was able to relate to it on several levels. There were times, though, when I felt as if the writing was lagging." -Adrien Merliss (Amazon) I really agree with this. I could relate to the overall message of the story but the writing really does need work."Ruby made me really aggravated. I found myself screaming at her inside my head, which might be what the author wanted, but it was very annoying for me."-CharlotteLS (Amazon) I really agree with this. Ruby really did irritate me. She just kept making stupid choices with Travis over and over again. He would tell her to come him, knowing he was up to no good, and still go with him. Then she would "regret" it when it was too late.
⇜So what? Well, as many faults as I’ve spotted and dislikes I’ve expressed in this book, there are at least one or two decent lessons about love and relationships. It teaches you that you should really get to know people before you get invested in them. Lastly, if someone walks out of your life it’s not the end of the world and you can move on without them.
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