Book Review: Her Turn by Allison Jones

Her Turn by Allison Jones is a contemporary romance. Addie Snyder’s first novel is becoming an overnight sensation. Unprepared for being thrust in the limelight, she is desperate to shelter her brother, Owen, who has Down syndrome. After her father abandoned them when Owen was just a baby, she is his sole guardian after her mother passed away. She must protect him from the harsh world, but how can she do that with public events coming up? An unlikely ally in her cold and emotionless publicist, Jameson Ford. As a former Navy Seal, Jameson has his own demons, but there is something about Addie that defrosts his icy wall. Together, they navigate the twists and turns as her book becomes a world-wide phenomenon. Her life becomes even more complicated when her long-lost father arrives threatening to take Owen away from her and her distant relatives trying to hoard in on Addie’s success. But, through the drama, Addie maintains her humor while popping chocolate kisses as if they were Xanax and seeking solace behind her computer creating stories that fill her soul. Even though all of her dreams are coming true, no one can prepare her for what lies ahead. It’s true when they say, be careful what you wish for.

Her Turn is a book that started with great potential, lost me, and then almost brought me back. I thought that the emotional drama and stakes that the story began with had me wondering what was going to happen, curious about family secrets, and eager to know more. The marketing as a bookish romantic comedy did not really fit with that opening, or most of the book either. Once the story got moving along I almost put it away. I am not an author, certainly not a published novelist. However, I have worked in libraries with two, and talk to several online regularly. A debut novel- unless by a already famous individual- does not get the fanfare, interviews, and publicist even if your agent is a friend. Yes, an independently wealthy author could very well make some of these things happen, but a debut author that would happily dodge the spotlight would not get this treatment. I know authors on their second or third series, already established and popular in their genre, that do not come close to getting this kind of attention. This disconnect made it really hard for more to get lost in the story and empathize with Addie in many situations. Maybe that is why I could not really connect with the characters. There are regular comments about Jameson's PTSD and Addie's emotional issues- but most of the time it felt like a reminder to readers that so and so has these issues, but rarely did they have any role to play in the actual story. The majority of actual use of Addie's issues were found in her internal monologues, which I guess were what were supposed to make this a comedy. While some of it was funny, it felt unnecessary most of the time. I did like that readers got to see a bit of the thought process for the secondary character- it made their actions and interactions more believable in the context of the story. There were some good character moments, some good twists, but I felt like maybe the author tried to put too much into one book. 

Her Turn is a romance that I had some issues with, but think other readers might enjoy more.