Ordinary World (Faking It)

I had heard that Faking It was great so was eager to try this book. First of all, it is very depressing for the lion's share of the novel and yes, I get it that grief does cause people to do silly things, but Andi is wooden on the one hand and unprofessional, self-indulgent and abusive to her students on the other. The whole novel hinges on coincidence as well, with her with Devin/David running into each other in a bathroom in Italy one day, and taking things way too fast from there.
Their past `friends with benefits' weird relationship suggested as flashbacks from Faking It were really off-putting for me and I can't really imagine the two of them living happily ever after. I think the author chose this ending because readers wanted and Devin to live happily ever after, but this is way too soap opera for me.
I never liked Andi in this novel, and feel David could have done a lot better and the end is too good to be true. This was trite, dull and quite ordinary, and the most ridiculous thing is that the author keeps having Andi say that is all she wants, an ordinary life after having such an incredible love with Sam. If I were David and heard that, I would run a mile.
And if it was really so great with Sam, then why rebound with David. I would have been far more interested to see a novel where the heroine wallowed a lot less in grief and got up off her lazy duff to build a real new and amazing, not ordinary, world for herself despite her grief.

STORY BRIEF:
This is the sequel to Faking It. They need to be read in order. In Faking It Andi became close friends with Devin a male escort who helped her get over her sexual inhibitions. She then met Sam and fell in love. She and Sam married. Five years later Sam is killed by a drunk driver which is where this story begins. For almost the entire book Andi is grieving the loss of Sam. Because of grief she lashes out at her students and takes a leave of absence from her teaching job. Throughout the book she is selfish, critical, and mean to people who care about her. She takes a trip to Italy and accidentally runs into Devin again. He still cares for her and helps her while she grieves.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
Someone experiencing personal grief might like this more than I did. I want to be entertained with books. This was no fun. It was depressing. I wanted it to be over. Devin was so likeable. He treated her so well. I didn't like her, and I felt she didn't deserve him. Yes I know she was grieving, but she was so mean. For example, one time she got mad at him and left just because he called her sweetheart which was something Sam used to do. My feeling was why is he putting up with her? After reading both books, I could never understand why he liked or loved her. What did he see in her? I never knew. The books are told in first person by Andi, which was part of the problem. We never saw Devin's point of view.

The author states the song "Ordinary World" by Duran, Duran was her inspiration for this book. Returning to the "ordinary world" was Andi's goal - to come out of her depression. So when you hear her saying that life with Sam was fabulous and life with Devin was ordinary, ordinary is a good thing, not an inferior thing.

I did like the thoughts on page 292. Andi is quoting "Man's Search for Meaning" by Victor Frankl. "Frankl says that between stimulus and response, one is free to choose. Do you know what that means? It means I can choose the way I respond to Sam's death, to my mother's behavior, to my students' writing... In the face of powerlessness, that was my ticket to freedom. I could choose to be eaten alive by grief, to spend the rest of my life living in fear of that powerlessness and the unknowable; or, I could respond differently. Not react - respond. I could either keep Sam alive in me and others, or bury him along with his physical body."

DATA:
Story length: 310 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: 2 (told not shown). Total number of sex scene pages: 2. Setting: current day Massachusetts, New York, Italy, and Peru (with some traveling to other places). Copyright: 2010 (first published in 2009). Genre: women's relationship fiction, chick lit.

DISCLOSURE:
This book was provided to me free of charge through the Amazon Vine Program in return for my writing a review.

Dr. Andi Vanzant is living a perfect life. She's a tenured professor at Northampton University and married to Sam, another professor and the love of Andi's life. Her world shatters on their fifth anniversary when Sam is killed by a drunk driver, plunging Andi into a lonely and bleak existence. She tries as hard as she can to bounce back and find her balance, but just can't seem to pull it off. Going back to work doesn't help, and she nearly winds up destroying her reputation and losing her career in the doing. Finally, after finding tickets to Rome that Sam had hidden away as an anniversary present, she decides to take the trip on her own. And there, she quite literally bumps into Devin/David, a former escort with whom she once had a relationship before Sam came along.

David is still very much in love with Andi, and the two of them immediately enter an intimate relationship, even though Andi does not feel emotionally ready. She blows hot and cold, whines incessantly about missing Sam, and generally treats David like crap. Even though he's gorgeous and has glamorous women drooling over him at his job as an art buyer, he is more than willing to play second fiddle to a dead man, and tells Andi he doesn't care if Sam is a part of their relationship, as long as he can be with her her. It stretched the believability factor a little far.

I tried very hard to have sympathy for Andi because she had endured a devastating loss, but I found myself losing patience with her selfishness and David's willingness to be her doormat. As she continued to whine about the unfairness of having her fabulous life ripped away, her feelings of entitlement began to wear, as many are never granted such happiness at all, much less a second chance, and realistic adults realize how fleeting "perfect" moments are. I can't even count how many women I know who would kill for an opportunity to be with a guy like David, but Andi never really appreciates him, even in the end, because he's not Sam. Wah! I never liked Sam all that much in the first place, and by the end of this book, I started to want to off him myself.

I was thrilled to see that there was a sequel to Faking It, particularly since I had been rooting for Devin/David all along. But, in the end, this book just underscored my belief that sometimes women's fiction is just a poorly plotted romance novel, and, after a long and arduous process to get there, the happily ever after was less than satisfying.

Elisa Lorello has an unusual gift in her ability to make her characters and their situations real, sometimes painfully so. She introduced us to Andi Cutrone, and eventually, her husband Sam Vanzant, in her novel "Faking It." We met Sam toward the end, when Andi was finally ready to have a real relationship after recovering from the shock of her cheating fiancé dumping her for the other woman, and discovering herself as a sexy, self-confident woman, thanks to the "lessons" she received from the gorgeous escort Devin.

Whereas "Faking It" was about Andi becoming the person she was meant to be, "Ordinary World" is about her inability to rediscover that woman following the sudden death of her husband on their 5th anniversary. He'd run out at the last minute to get something for their special dinner and was killed by a drunk driver. The novel begins with the funeral. I learned the hard way not to start reading a book like this while my own husband was out of town for work! I ended up putting it down after an hour and waiting until he got home before picking it up again. It's brutally sad for quite some time.

And from what I can see from other reviews, that's what a lot of people didn't like about it. Yes, it's a downer for much of the book. And just when you think Andi's finally getting it together, after rediscovering Devin and a bit of herself while on a trip, she keeps taking one step forward, three steps back in her recovery. It's easy to get impatient with her: Why is she holding on so tightly to Sam, especially when there's someone else who adores her too? Why can't she let go of guilt for even trying to move on? Why isn't her therapy really working?

But unless you've been through something as devastating as the loss of your husband, especially one who finally made you feel complete and as loved as you'd always craved, you really can't say you wouldn't react the same way. I am very fortunate not to have gone through such a thing, but even as I got frustrated with her lack of progress, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd deal with it any better if my own husband died, and so suddenly. It strikes me that, just like with everything else Lorello writes, Andi's inability to deal with this loss is very much authentic and is probably based on experiences someone she is close to has had, because of how in-depth the insights are into Andi's psyche. It's very real, and that's probably what upset many readers: "Is this how I would feel? I don't want to think about it."

This is not one of those books you'll put down after finishing it and say, "Phew! I feel great!" It does rip a hole in you, and even though it ends on a positive note with Andi finally going in the right direction (I won't say if it's with Devin/David or not), you're still going to be aware of what it took to get there and you'll still feel a bit raw for several days after you put it down. It will affect you all the more if you went through personal struggles with happiness, self-image or self-confidence before finding true happiness with your own spouse, without a doubt. And if you've gone through something like this already, reading this could either help you resolve some of your own feelings, or it could rip your heart out and bring up those feelings again, especially if you haven't moved on sufficiently.

I would still recommend it, especially if you enjoy solid character development, emotional growth, and Lorello's writing in general. I have now read all three books in the Andi Cutrone series (the newest one is called "She Has Your Eyes") and remain a huge fan of Lorello's gift for creating authentic, relatable characters and situations. I follow her on Facebook and look forward to reading many more of her novels. (But please, can we have some less brutal story lines in the future, Ms. Lorello?!).

Have lots of tissues ready, and read it when you have a private moment or place to do so, and then hug your spouse!!!

I enjoyed "Faking It" but found the sequel depressing and tedious. Her husband's death right at the beginning simply put a bummer on the rest of the story.

Elisa Lorello is now officially one of my favorite authors! I loved this book even more than "Faking It", and I thought that was fabulous. Buy both of these books and read them...you won't regret it.

This book is all about life - a life that falls apart, and then comes back together again. It is all about the process, beginning with Andi Vanzant's husband being killed by a drunk driver on their fifth anniversary, just blocks from home. Her perfect life - lovely home, adoring husband, tenure at Northampton University, being a published author - crashes and burns.

She wears a black cocktail dress to her husband's funeral, insists on reading a poorly written eulogy (written by her), and proceeds to plunge headfirst into an extended time of grief. She pushes aside all offers of help, and insists on going back to her classes to teach. Walking in on a conversation where students are talking about have gotten drunk the night before, she loses all sense of reality. She tells the students off, in a very disrespectful manner.

This incident leads to Andi taking an extended period of time off from the university. She is going nowhere, doing nothing, not taking care of herself, her house, or her life. Finally one of her friends talks her into seeing a therapist. Even with the help of the therapist, Andi stays in denial, and will not face her issues, or make any attempt to help herself.

She eventually finds tickets to Italy that were to have been her husband Sam's anniversary gift to her. Her friend Maggie helps her reschedule the plane and hotel reservations, and she is off to Italy. Through a quirk of fate, she runs into an old friend - the man that she was seeing before she met her husband Sam.

Will she be able to sustain this relationship once they return to the states? Will she be able to build a relationship with herself that will allow her to continue on with her life in a meaningful manner?

This book is not just about being widowed, grieving, and moving back into the mainstream of life. It is about life, the shadows that we all carry, and how they have to be integrated before we can become whole, and lead useful lives. It is about establishing priorities, forgiving, and loving unconditionally.

I found the characters well developed, and the scenes legitimately set. Don't look to find Andi gentle with herself, or with anyone in her life. If you can get past that, this is a good summer read.

book was for our granddaughter.she liked it.

ORDINARY WOLRD is the second in the series, so I will start with my impression of FAKING IT.

No sugar coating it - The first volume in this series, FAKING IT, crushed me. NEVER before
or after has a book had this affect on me. I was seething at the end of FAKING IT, troubled that that was the end of their story.

ORDINARY WORLD picks up where its predecessor left off. You feel her journey from a loss so deep that you can't imagine. She eventually pulls herself through with work, friendship and mental triumph.
Finding love in a man from her past they both begin to put the pieces back together. This book is definitely a journey

Ms. Lorello doesn't write the happy-go-lucky romance that is common, she writes the ORDINARY WORLD, where s***ty stuff happens

Someday I will read this series again, but I need time..........I'm a fan.

I just finished Ordinary World and had read Faking it right before it. I have mixed feelings about Andi. In some ways I really admire her because of her strength in finally finding herself after overcoming so many insecurities and such tragedy and grief. In other ways I got frustrated with her because I feel like she was "jerking" David/Devin around at times. I can't even imagine the grief of losing someone you love in the way she lost Sam, but felt she shouldn't have taken so much of it out on David. I do wish we could have had more of David's point of view in the book. He was such a wonderful man and I hated that he was constantly put in a "back seat" because of Andi's past relationship with Sam. I do wish the ending would have been different. I did not like the last line of the book about Sam being fabulous and David being ordinary. In many ways, it did seem that David settled with Andi. I would have like to see a little more HEA, instead of a "let down" ending. Although I am really glad that David and Andi "finally" got together. I could appreciate a lot of the things Andi went through in "finding herself", but felt she was too selfish along the way. (Not sure if that makes sense). Overall I feel a sense of being let down now that I finshed both books and don't feel it ever really ended. Still feel it was a good book and worth the read, because it does cause you to think, feel and learn about yourself.