** spoiler alert ** I finished this last night, sooner than I expected actually. Hobbs did a great job with this in my opinion.
When I first started reading it I got the impression it might be a little slow and that wasn't the case at all I'm happy to say. I also thought it might be too detail oriented back in the beginning which is wasn't.
Hobbs gives a decently detailed look into what it's like to be a woman working a "normal" job, raising a son by herself, having her dreams crushed by someo...more I finished this last night, sooner than I expected actually. Hobbs did a great job with this in my opinion.
When I first started reading it I got the impression it might be a little slow and that wasn't the case at all I'm happy to say. I also thought it might be too detail oriented back in the beginning which is wasn't.
Hobbs gives a decently detailed look into what it's like to be a woman working a "normal" job, raising a son by herself, having her dreams crushed by someone else, and then having to do things she'd never dreamed of doing. Victoria is the main character and she is/does the things I mentioned above. She also is about to get evicted and needs money asap. She finds a ad in the paper for a "full-service" massage parlor and despite her misgiving, applies and gets hired.
Most of the book deals with the day to day goings-on in the parlor, the other women, the tricks, etc. It gives the air of being brutally honest and quite realistic for being fiction.
The reasons I didn't give this four stars have to due with the ending. It was a little too happily tied up for my taste. It was one of those books where you already know, right from the beginning, that there will be a happily ever after. With a book that's so realistic in every other aspect, that doesn't sit well with me. Another thing was a side story sort of thing that happened at the end. A girl that worked at Pandora's Box opened her own shop, although it was somewhat different than Pandora's. She, of course, meets and does a session with a lunatic and ends up murdered. That's another thing I felt sure was going to happen eventually- I just didn't know to who.
I do have to admit this- as much as I didn't like those two aspects of the book, Hobbs did handle them well still. She couldn't have made the book any better, in my opinion, without taking those situations out or drastically altering them.
Overall, I'd love to give this more than a 3 star rating but the two complaints I have keep me from giving it 4 stars. Definitely 3.5 though!
When I first started reading it I got the impression it might be a little slow and that wasn't the case at all I'm happy to say. I also thought it might be too detail oriented back in the beginning which is wasn't.
Hobbs gives a decently detailed look into what it's like to be a woman working a "normal" job, raising a son by herself, having her dreams crushed by someo...more I finished this last night, sooner than I expected actually. Hobbs did a great job with this in my opinion.
When I first started reading it I got the impression it might be a little slow and that wasn't the case at all I'm happy to say. I also thought it might be too detail oriented back in the beginning which is wasn't.
Hobbs gives a decently detailed look into what it's like to be a woman working a "normal" job, raising a son by herself, having her dreams crushed by someone else, and then having to do things she'd never dreamed of doing. Victoria is the main character and she is/does the things I mentioned above. She also is about to get evicted and needs money asap. She finds a ad in the paper for a "full-service" massage parlor and despite her misgiving, applies and gets hired.
Most of the book deals with the day to day goings-on in the parlor, the other women, the tricks, etc. It gives the air of being brutally honest and quite realistic for being fiction.
The reasons I didn't give this four stars have to due with the ending. It was a little too happily tied up for my taste. It was one of those books where you already know, right from the beginning, that there will be a happily ever after. With a book that's so realistic in every other aspect, that doesn't sit well with me. Another thing was a side story sort of thing that happened at the end. A girl that worked at Pandora's Box opened her own shop, although it was somewhat different than Pandora's. She, of course, meets and does a session with a lunatic and ends up murdered. That's another thing I felt sure was going to happen eventually- I just didn't know to who.
I do have to admit this- as much as I didn't like those two aspects of the book, Hobbs did handle them well still. She couldn't have made the book any better, in my opinion, without taking those situations out or drastically altering them.
Overall, I'd love to give this more than a 3 star rating but the two complaints I have keep me from giving it 4 stars. Definitely 3.5 though!
