This critic is just as bad as the book
Why does this book exist?
The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window written by Kirsty Moseley. I really don't know where to start. I dived into this book as it was going to be a teen romance maybe with a dash of drama. Who doesn't like that, right? The girl falls in love with the boy who seems to be out of reach and this love is going to be only one-sided. Boy, I was wrong.
Let's start at the beginning, shall we? We meet Amber a sixteen years old high school student who is abused – not jot physically but sexually as well – by her father (and abuses the mother as well, but it isn’t relevant to the story). Her older brother, Jake (a popular hockey player in the school), tries to save her from the beatings but doesn’t know about his father’s sexually filled dream including his sister.
A dark plot to unfold, right? You might think, Eszter why do you – potentially – hate this story then? Let me tell you. After the first few pages, I had very high expectations from the book. Family abuse is an important topic to discuss even if it's about an imaginary family. According to Abuse Law, it could be: "… everything from domestic violence to sexual exploitation taking place within a family home." Now then, we have a character that is overruled and used by her father. In the story at one point, he is about to rape her (she is aged thirteen) when her brother interrupts him, beat the life out of the father and save the girl. From that point, the father is out of the picture because the brother (who is sixteen or fifteen at that time) threatens the father with calling the police if he doesn’t get the heck out of the house, leaving them alone. Father leaves, they are happy. From now on the story is going downhill. I know, how you ask.
Amber and Jake do not tell everyone about the incident, even their mother is kept in the dark. Like why? You are thirteen, you were constantly abused, almost raped by your father and you are telling me you don’t need any therapy for that?
Moseley fasts forward to eight years later when Amber is sixteen and has some problems. She doesn't like to be touched by a stranger, only lets her friends and brother hug her, etc…
Are you surprised? I am certainly not. But who needs therapy right?
Now then, after accepting that this story is going to make no sense, let us dive into the romantic part of it.
Amber, like every normal teenager, thinks love is important… or at least having a boyfriend in high school. There is a boy, named Liam who is the most popular student; he is hot, athletic and girls drool over him like crazy. Although Amber pays little attention to him, he annoys her all the time. Like boys did in kindergarten when they liked someone. It's cute, isn't it? But there's a twist, which is pretty obvious from the beginning but I purposely missed out on it.
So Amber and Liam sleep together. No, not the way you think. They share a bed. Why, since, what? In the first chapter, we learn everything about the abuse and violence also we got to know that Liam – who is Jakes best friend, also play hockey – live next door and sees six-year-old Amber crying in her bedroom after a rough dinner with her father. He sneaks into the room and comforts her. They fall asleep together and since then they sleep together. (Liam leaves before anyone could notice.)
How come then, the boy-next-door is possibly a rock to Amber without any feelings? First, she seems pretty uninterested in Liam and the boy changes one-night-stands like I change underwear….Yeah, every night… So there is no way they get together. But wait, here's a plot twist! Liam confesses his love towards the girl on a party – hold in Amber's house – and they hit it off. Okay, they just have a hot make-out session, but here's my problem. If Amber says she has a problem with being touched (and I am aware of the fact that Liam slept with her several times) how come that kissing a boy who is clearly hormone-driven is fine? Although Amber stops him from taking the lead and potentially going too far and Liam saying he waited years for this, he could wait for eternity too I still did not believe him. And a healthy – or not that healthy mind – after this statement would think about being too prude about sex, right? Or it is just me and my anxiety, who knows.
So they got together but keeping it secret because Amber's brother wouldn't approve it. (Here I have to mention Jake is also a hormone-driven bunny having fun with girls, just you know he isn't the perfect and protective brother.) But it isn't easy. Girls linger around Liam like flies around….you know what and it makes Amber quite jealous. So Liam tells everyone that he has a girlfriend to which the people react that she must be a good company in bed. Liam's answer to that is simple: he tells them that he hasn't had sex with the girl. This, in a normal universe, is totally fine. But in this high school, the most popular girl starts a bet: everybody who participates has to give in twenty bucks and the winner who sleeps with Liam gets the money. Simple as that. So when Amber hears about it she decides to join in the party and to keep up the image of trying to win Liam's dick…I mean heart she starts seducing him in front of everyone. Does it work? Of course, the boy is head over heels. Does it make sense? No. Let's not forget that Amber was sexually abused and mentally damaged. Or at least she should be. But no, she is playing the succubus (google it) while not giving any to Liam. No, my problem is not with the whole sex pact-bet thing. But the fact that she stepped out of her comfort zone so suddenly, makes me think that Moseley has no idea how an abused person gets through the experienced trauma.
So this goes on for a week; playing with Liam's head and pissing off all the girls who try to do the same. They eventually got together and sleep with each other. This time, properly. Do I have a problem with that? No. However, I didn't forget that Amber gave herself to Liam even though she mentions the experience with her dad has never left her. Now…is three years enough for a kid without a psychologist to process the experience? In my opinion; no! No one should go through something like domestic and sexual abuse and certainly not to keep it to oneself. The trauma should be treated with the help of professional and not with dark Tumblr quotes. Prove me wrong, but this is a major plot hole. Moseley doesn’t pay enough attention to Amber’s mental health in this situation. Even if Liam was a great guy and cared about her…She was still alone with her untreated trauma. It should not have been that easy.
Moving on; Liam and she go public, Amber gets the money (which is over four thousand dollars, don’t even get me started) and they are all over each other. Happy end, like in every teen romance. Well, not exactly. Amber’s dad shows up in town with his new family: a new wife, a step-son and a baby boy of his own. You might think, great, here comes the drama part. Oh, it’s more and deeper than you think. Daddy (don’t!) told everything about his ex-family except the fact that he almost raped Amber and missed out on all the abuse. His step-son Johnny gets to know Amber and even though they get on pretty well neither of them wants to talk about their father. Wonder why? As the story "progresses" we find out that Daddy hasn't changed, still loves Amber (she visits Johnny when Daddy doesn't suppose to be there and he confesses that she looks like a great snack…) and beats the hell out of both his new wife and step-son.
Amber has switched on the danger button and the party train does not stop here. She finds out she is pregnant but she was on the pill. How then? Well let me tell you, this was the most WTF part of the whole book. Her gynaecologist misinformed her about the contraceptive and Amber started to take the pills on a wrong day. My question is how can a doctor, a professional make such a huge mistake. And, no I don't think to have a baby – even if you are in high school – is a mistake, since creating life is amazing but the doctor should know how each kind of pills work.
So Amber is pregnant, circa five weeks into it and she is freaking out. Her abusive father is back in town, she’s having a baby and still in high school. Life could not be more complicated.
But here’s more. After Amber visited Johnny and met her father, Jake was pretty angry. He told off Amber even though it wasn’t her fault that Daddy unexpectedly showed up. After this, they find out the whole Dad-is-still-abusive situation and while Amber is at school Jake and Liam help Johnny and his family to pack their things and move them into Amber's home while Daddy is out of town. The saving expedition goes well, well, sort of. Daddy (okay, his name is Stephen but it's such a lame name) arrives at an empty home. Somehow he knows that Jake has something to do with it and goes to their house in a very drunk and angry state. Before he could arrive Liam takes Amber into his house and makes her promise that she doesn’t move until Daddy leaves.
What do you think? A) Amber stays patient or B) Tries to save the day. If you chose B) it’s your lucky day because Amber is the heroine who thinks she is capable of anything. For this heroic act, she gets few bruises and a big hit into her stomach.
Yeah, right there.
You can guess what happens next. Liam breaks Daddy's nose, Amber loses her baby and Daddy files a report against Liam, he's in custody and against the doctor's advice, Amber leaves the hospital to talk with her father. He has a condition: Amber leaves with him and they live together. First of all, gross, how dare you. Second, Amber records the conversation about her father confessing all the abuse and raping attempt so it's time for her to threaten Daddy with sending it to the police it doesn't leave for good. During this heated situation Jake shows up, takes Amber home and they live happily ever after.
Moseley jumps to five years later when Amber graduates from college; she is still with Liam who became a superstar hockey player. We find out that Daddy is in jail for fraud and attempted rape, so he gets what he deserves.
Let's see how this book fails to live up to any expectations:[
- The writer pays so little attention to Amber's mental health, she doesn't even attempt to give a girl a chance to process the trauma. It might be for the tension, I know it is hard to deal with these things alone is pretty hard but Amber was a kid when it happened to her. A thirteen-year-old has such little knowledge about sex and sexuality (at least I wasn't very aware of these things back then).
- Keeping secrets; like the attempted rape. No! Do not deal with it alone! Get help! I am serious.
- The characters: they have the depths of a dried out river. Jake is overprotective and the only emotion that I could detect was a millisecond of jealousy when Amber’s friend flirted with someone else. Liam is like a puppy in love and he is said to be the perfect boyfriend (like that exists). Amber…well, I think you get it.
- Though Amber stated that physical interaction is hard for her she slept with Liam after a week. If you are really messed up, no one, I repeat no one could get so close to you that all the wall that you built up to protect yourself fall down like it was made out of feathers. And more: she said she feels like a slut after giving in so early. Girl…girl! Even if you have sex with your partner after the first date you are not a slut. If it’s a one-time thing that doesn’t make you a whore either. This statement felt like Amber thinks really little about herself. In the twenty-first century, why would someone popularize such thought?
All in all, I think I should have never read this book. The title suggests an easy reading about teen love and maybe a hint of drama but with the first chapter it surprises you with the dark past of the main character and gives you hope that it's going to be a great story about fighting demons and getting over the trauma. Even though, it presented you a strong base of a story which could shine some light on an important topic but Moseley takes a turn into the woods of clichés and creates a cheesy tale of the girl whose problematic past is only mentioned a few times up until the moment that it catches up with her and almost buries her as a tsunami.
My advice is, read it if you want your mind to catch on fire. Other than that, it would be a great fanfiction.
xxx
Eszter // InkedCrystal
PS: I have no hatred towards Moseley. I think she has to improve, that’s all.