Title: Waiting on You Series: Blue Heron #3
Author: Kristan Higgins
Published: March 25, 2014
Genre(s): Romance: Contemporary
Page Count: 457
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Colleen O'Rourke is in love with love... just not when it comes to herself. Most nights, she can be found behind the bar at the Manningsport, New York, tavern she owns with her twin brother, doling out romantic advice to the lovelorn, mixing martinis and staying more or less happily single. See, ten years ago, Lucas Campbell, her first love, broke her heart... an experience Colleen doesn't want to have again, thanks. Since then, she's been happy with a fling here and there, some elite-level flirting and playing matchmaker to her friends.
But a family emergency has brought Lucas back to town, handsome as ever and still the only man who's ever been able to crack her defenses. Seems like maybe they've got some unfinished business waiting for them—but to find out, Colleen has to let her guard down, or risk losing a second chance with the only man she's ever loved.
Kristan Higgins’ books continue to be a sort of conflicted opinions. Waiting On You was hilarious and fun, but had its moments of…racial insensitivity, and I didn’t really care for the conclusion. This book could have been a lot better, but I did enjoy it the way it was, and will continue to think of Higgins as a readable romance author.
Like the previous two novels in the series, our story takes place in Manningsport, New York, small town extraordinaire. The protagonist is Colleen O’Rourke, best friend to Faith from The Best Man. Colleen and her twin brother own the local bar, and she’s gorgeous, friendly, and successful. She’s also the modern answer to Austen’s Emma (her current project is very Harriet Smith). And Colleen is heartbroken, after Lucas Campbell broke up with her to marry another woman ten years ago. Not astonishingly, when Lucas comes back to town, they pick up pieces and fall back in love and all that gooshy romance stuff.
As much as I liked Waiting On You, I’m not sure I can say any of that affection comes from Colleen and Lucas’s relationship. I didn’t dislike them together, but I wasn’t struck by their chemistry or the way they gave things a second try. This is a romance novel where the author lets other plot devices steal the show.
And those other, not-romancey plot devices were excellent. Colleen and her brother Connor have this amazing, hilarious bond, and they’re very sweet with their 9-year-old half-sister, Savannah. Colleen’s mom is menopausal, which is entertaining in a variety of ways, and Colleen’s current matchmaking project is also the source of much amusement. Additionally, Waiting On You has a more sentimental side, dealing with Lucas’s uncle, who’s dying of cancer.
Higgins’ novels are never as fluffy as they might appear on the surface, though they’re obviously not depressing or hard to swallow. I think Waiting On You has an appropriate blend of comedy and seriousness (leaning towards the comic side most of the time). Colleen and Lucas and their friends aren’t 100% carefree people, but they’re not auditioning for a part in Les Mis, either. It’s a nice balance.
Probably the only thing that gave me pause was Higgins’ treatment of race in the book. She’s had a history of not being the most…sensitive. For instance, I was quite put off with her handling of Jeremy’s homosexuality in The Best Man, though thankfully, it wasn’t an issue in this book. However, we had a whole other problem in Waiting on You. Lucas is half Puerto Rican. Puerto Rican. As in, he was born in the United States but his mother was from Puerto Rico. Colleen’s nickname for Lucas? “The Spaniard.” Oh boy. The text frequently comments on Lucas’s “Spanish eyes” and “Spanish pirate” appearance, etc. Excuse me?
Being from Spain is NOT the same as being Latino. Spain isn’t the same country as Puerto Rico, okay? (Also, most Spanish people are white, whereas most Latinos are not.) It’s kind of like how people see my best friend, who is Korean, and assume that she eats only Chinese food or has ninja relatives. That’s just culturally insensitive. Spain isn’t the same place as Puerto Rico just like Korea isn’t the same place as China. Is it really that hard?
Also: let’s not describe our characters as “exotic” okay? It says nothing about them as a person and puts them into the category of “other” as opposed to being the same as everyone else. Don’t do it. Just don’t.
See what I mean about having a conflicted opinions? Kristan Higgins always tells a fun, laugh-out-loud kind of story, but then she’s kind of insensitive/unaware when dealing with certain subjects, like homosexuality or ethnicity. I think Waiting On You is well-written and probably re-readable, but certain aspects gave me pause. And it’s frustrating because I know this book could have been fantastic if it had been tweaked a just a little bit.
