Fragile

by Eve Francis

At twenty-four, college graduate Carly Rogers finds herself still living with her cold and distant mother and her teenage half-sister, Cynthia. As Carly moves from one minimum wage job to another, she reads books alone in her room, reconnects with her best friend, Landon, and takes care of her great aunt Dorothy on the weekends. Her life is quiet and nonthreatening - until she meets Ashley at her new job. Ashley is a fun, energetic, and intelligent woman who has been forced to leave her old life behind due to a medical condition. Through work, and the start of their own book club, each shares her past and her hopes for the future. When change comes, Carly is forced to make a decision. Does she stay where she thought she always belonged, or strive for something better? Is it possible for her and Ashley to build a new life without feeling like the fragile creatures everyone thinks they are?

Genres: LGBT, Fiction, Lesbian

318 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2016

About the author

Eve Francis’s short stories have appeared in Wilde Magazine, The Fieldstone Review, Iris New Fiction, MicroHorror, and The Human Echoes Podcast. Romance and horror are her favourite genres to write in because everyone has felt love or fear in some form or another. She lives in Canada, where she often sleeps late, spends too much time online, and repeatedly watches old horror movies and Orange Is The New Black.

Reviews

[Tiff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished Fragile by Eve Francis yesterday evening. I really had to ponder how I felt about this book, and I think I am going to go with the word "fine". This book was fine, by no means terrible, but it did not ring any bells for me.

Carly Rogers is two years out of college, and just got a part-time job at Marshall's department store. She has no goals in life, she cannot figure out what she wants do do with her B.A. in English. So, with no other choices she settles for a job of tagging discount clothes, and ringing up impatient customers. She hates living at home. Her mother is a career driven lawyer, divorced three times, and is cold to her two children. She wants the best for them, as long as that is a thriving career in the corporate world. So, Carly is stuck, the only bright spots for her are an awesome teenaged sister, a loyal best friend and the new love interest she just met.

Ashley Poindexter is also employed at Marshall's. For Ashley this is a huge step down in life. She had the give up a career as a contractor, her car, her apartment when her health took a nosedive. Ashley suffers from seizures, and has spent months in and out of hospitals and doctor's offices. She has lost her independence.

This book is well written, the author is obviously a very skilled writer. Unfortunately I just didn't connect with the story or it's characters. I just never felt like I really knew what made them tick. The book spends a lot of time with the characters not really doing anything, and the dialogue was somewhat dry in nature. Would I read something else by this author, yes, this just wasn't the book for me.


I was given this book by Ylva Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

[Ameliah Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ordinary People
Carly is a 24 yr old who is going through a quarter life crisis. She moved out of her mom's house to go to college only to find her English degree isn't usable with the economy as it is. She has had to move back in with her mother and get a job at Marshall's. While at her new job she meets Ashley. Ashley loves books almost as much as Carly and the two of them form a book club with just the two of them. This is a story about their relationship with each other and their families.

This book is not flashy or glamorous. Its not mysterious or even erotic. This story is just a story, nothing special or so I thought but I was VERY wrong!! Its like nothing I've read before and I truly enjoyed it a great deal. It is a quiet and genuine and sweet. I had stopped reading it for a few hours and the story snuck up on me. I found myself wondering where the tale would go. What was Ashley's secret, was Carly mature enough to grow and take control of her own life instead of just letting it happen​? Do they have a future together? The characters are so real with their everyday problems that even at twice Carly's age I could relate to what she is going through. My own daughter reminds me so much of Carly's younger sister Cyn and some of her friends face the same challenges as Landon. I grew quite fond of this book and am very, very glad I gave it a go!

[Pin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not my cup of tea, at all. The book is very well written, but for some reason, I just didn't click with any of the characters or with the story in general. The main characters are nice young people with down-to-earth problems, but they and their stories left me unmoved and cold. I don't have any significant objections to the book, but I didn't enjoy it. If I had not taken the obligation to write a review, I would have neither commented on it nor star-rated it.

*ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley*

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was impossibly lovely and honestly the best beach read you can imagine.

Do I read contemporary (or) NA often? Nope. But when I do I want it to be something like this - seemingly light with hidden goodies under the surface, layers to be explored. On the surface, the story is easy - finding love and being happy in love. What I love about this author, though, is that there is always more. A dialogue that is more than small-talk or silly late-night chit-chat, and a message to read if you wish to analyze the text and not just skim it for the fun parts.

The characters are relatable - I can say that because I did relate a whole lot. I personally enjoyed all the pop culture references and the beautiful, unashamed lesbian love. Dumb things happened, yes, but it was happy all the same. It isn't just the f/f relationship, either - there are wonderful friendships in this book as well - complicated but so worth it. So beautiful underneath it all. There's sadness as well, of course, nostalgia and the feeling of being lost, but this book tells you that that isn't the end of the world. You can open up and let others open up to you and it can be amazing, no matter how down you feel about other things.

Everything is so very carefully set up and every loose end gets resolved in the ending - and the ending feels so smooth and good it's incredible.

Absolutely enjoyed all of this.

[Loek Krancher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story with unique characters.

It took me a little time to really get into the story but once I was attached, there was no putting down. I loved all the elements of the story such as the gender identity, the vulnerability, the cue cards with the poetry, Dorothy, the real-life issues and the not so glamorous jobs. I absolutely loved the characters and I had pretty soon a connection with them. A real good storyline with a love story you can't help but root for. A great story with unique characters.

[Amber]

DNF at 20%.
I picked this one up from NetGalley because I saw a review that there was a grey-ace character. Unfortunately, I felt really disconnected from the characters, and was bored with what I read. Nothing much happened in the first 20% of the book. The main character started a new retail job, and I found her constant references to classic literature to be borderline pretentious. Her mother was awful, and I'm tired of awful parents in LGBTQIA books. This one just wasn't for me.

[Ban · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is something about this story that makes it incredibly hard for me to just move on to the next book. I can't exactly describe what it is that made me connect to these characters so much. I loved how it wasn't just stuff happening but how they talked things through. There wasn't this big trope of "what if" or underlying hate or something that always felt like something was off. They were honest about what they were looking for and what they wanted in life and in their relationship. I also absolutely adored the fact that it was no endless story of "oh maybe she likes me back, maybe she doesn't" but that Carly actually walked up to Ashley and asked. I don't know. This story felt special and I keep missing everything about these characters the moment I pick up another book. I might just have to read this one again.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't an easy read, it wasn't one of those books you sit down to read and can't leave until you're​ finished, BUT, and that's the reason I give it 4 stars instead of 3, I liked the premise, the "adult" who can't find a job on her field but isn't looking for it either, the "adult" that doesn't know who she is without all the expectations of her family and it's incapable to make decisions about her life because she thinks she owes her family something for everything they've done for her. So even though I find the book long and not readable on one sit and I kind of hated the ending I loved the things it took to long to convey and the realistic tale about "adults" that are not real adults

[Meh · Rating 2 out of 5]

** I was given a copy from Ylva Publishing for an honest review.**

This book really didn't do it for me.

The story seemed a bit too much aimless. Like it has many threads that doesn't seem to lead anywhere. And just the narrative of a series of daily events don't exactly make for an interesting plot. There must be some structure to connect them all and make the final result remotely appealing.

It felt like I almost could grasp what the writer was attempting to do with the story, and I saw many elements that could make for a compelling story. The main protagonist inner issues, the controlling mom, the transgender best friend, the general theme of overcoming our own inertia and adversities. I get it. It's all kind of there. But not really. These are just elements of a great story that I simply could not find in this book.

Also, the narrative of the story is interrupted all the freaking time to add flashbacks events of the main protagonist. I get it that there is need for some of her past information in order to use it as context for her present situation, just don't do it all the time with chunks of text. It's just not very subtle and it disrupts the entire pace of the narrative.

I'm not a writer, but I am an avid reader, and if there is one think I know by my own experience is that the prologue of a story must always be carefully crafted as a promise of all the good things to come if you keep on reading. It can be intriguing, mysterious, shocking, hilarious, it doesn't matter, as long as it is anything but boring. I kept on reading this story to see when it would finally start, and suddenly I was almost 2/3 into it and still felt there was no purpose to the plot.

The most exciting thing that had happened in this book involved learning how to drive or looking for someone who could drive... I mean, really? Not even my life is that boring. And that's saying something.

So I lost interest.

I also, unfortunately, found most of the dialogues too pretentious and unnatural. Somewhat preachy and way too self-aware of how 'smart' it was trying to be. And don't get me wrong, I love witty dialogues, just as long as it's done casually, with a fluidity that doesn't interrupt the pacing of the story to almost congratulate itself on a job well done.

Now, all book reviews are subjective since they are just merely opinions. So maybe I had problems with this book because of my own previous reading experiences and preferences hindered my ability to understand the structure of this book or enjoy the story it was attempting to tell. Nonetheless it was a bit of a disappointment as I was really looking forward to the opportunity of reading this story. It was definitely not what I expected and it saddens me when that happens for the wrong reasons.

[Michelle Teichman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book told a beautiful story. I am giving it 5-stars because I read it in one sitting and I loved it. It was not your typical really any kind of book, and it was a little slow to get into, but I pity those who didn't stick it out to the end or understand it. I think people put too much expectation on a book of what they wanted it to be rather than appreciating it for what it was. Fragile was a well-written novel for those who love to read. If you've read all or most of the books referenced or alluded to, then the book will be that much more enjoyable for you. Truly, if you don't love classic literature and cannot make the connections, then you are going to try to force this book into a box, and it should not be. It's not about the romance. It's not about the mundanity of minimum wage shift work. It's not about dealing with old wounds. It's not about LGBT rights and laws. It's about all of that and none of it at the same time. It is so much more. People say there's no plot, but was there really supposed to be a follow the arrows pace and conclusion? I don't think so. The plot is in the passages. The story is in the sentences. If you didn't feel anything when reading this book, then I think you missed the point. I have two bookshelves. One full of classics and one with modern books that I consider worthy of sitting next to them, as the ones that even though they may not go down as changing history, they changed me, even if for a moment, and I will be happy to set this book into that library. Thank you, Eve Francis, for making me smile on an otherwise dreary, rainy afternoon. I loved this book, and if you love books, truly love literature, then you will love this one too. Books aren't supposed to be perfect or the reader's idea of perfection, they are meant to be loved and enjoyed, and for doing that, this gets 5-stars.

[Cab · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is the authors first full length novel. in 2015 I read one of her short stories that was in an anthology and I really loved it. As a result, I was pretty excited about the prospect of a longer story.
So I started reading Fragile with somewhat high hopes, and in the 1st couple of chapters we're introduced to some potentially interesting and very diverse characters: Landon is a Transgender man and best friends with the main character Carly. Then there's Carly's younger sister, who wants to be a roller derby star, Ashley her love interest, her bigoted mother Jillian, and her great aunt Dorothy.
Needless to say the story feels really character driven with the reader being taken for the somewhat slow and painstaking process of Carly getting a grip on her life. It's weird because I almost feel like the story was hurt by the fact that (a) The main character was not very interesting and (b) the secondary characters had the potential to add so much more to the story but the author only scratched the surface.
I'd go so far as to say that Landon was in the story for the sole purpose of driving home Jillian's closed mindedness, and other than showing that Carly had responsibilities Cynthia was a throw away character as well because when you remove the need for Landon, you also remove the need for Cynthia. At about the 60% mark the story got more interesting because we finally started to get more glimpses into what was going on with Ashley and we saw Carly's relationship with her Great Aunt Dorothy. Ultimately, I'd say this book was just ok, but I would give this author another shot if she came out with something else.

[Jaie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, by the end, this book got only a "meh" from me. I loved the first 25%, trudged through the middle half and by the last 25% it took effort to finish.

At the beginning I was excited to meet the characters. Carly lives with anxiety. Ashley is learning to live with a disability. Carly's best friend, Landon, is a trans man. Carly's high-school aged sister, Cynthia, wants to be a roller derby skater.

I liked the characters themselves. I loved the exposure and education about trans, mental health and disability issues. But often, the dialogue was very dry or even worse read like sample conversations out of a psychology textbook.

There wasn't much story, no real obstacles to overcome. The book was too long for how little happened. Yet, the ending seemed like too much too soon. They moved in together after just a few weeks, or maybe it was months. And they were calling each other partner after just a few dates.

In summary, the writing was fine, the characters were interesting, but the story itself needed much tighter editing to actually engage and then hold my attention.

I was given this book by Ylva Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

[Maddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fragile by Eve Francis is a very well-written book. This being said, I found it very hard to connect with the characters and become truly invested in the story. For the first third of the book or so, the protagonist, Carly, and her love interest, Ashley, really intrigued me. They were relatable and somewhat unique, and I enjoyed their dynamic together. Unfortunately, even though initially I was interested in the characters and original idea, somewhere along the line I just lost that interest and felt disconnected with the characters somehow.

There are some really intriguing characters in this book, particularly Cynthia (Carly's sister) and Landon (Carly's childhood friend). I would've liked the book to focus a bit more on them, as they were both really lively, colourful characters.

Overall, Fragile was a good book. It was worth reading, even though it felt a bit unfocused at the time, Francis writes the book well and in a way that made me keep reading. I'd be interested in reading some of her other books some day, since the writing itself is actually pretty good.

Thanks to Ylva Publishing for the copy!

[Ela The Queer Bookish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to work a little to get into this story, but afterwards? I really liked it. Especially because I could see myself in a lot of characters. It was a little bit clichéd and a little bit lecturing at times, too, but I still enjoyed it very much.

I liked how important the side characters were. All have their own little back stories and I don’t know which one I liked the most.

I especially liked how cute the building romance is and how slow. But romance is not the only thing about Fragile. It’s about being and becoming who you are and how not everyone has the same idea about a happy life.

Disclaimer: I was provided by the publisher with a free copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was completely lovely. That's how I'd describe it. The characters made the story, because it obviously is character-driven. The relationship in this book is one of the most realistic relationships I ever read about. There is also a an accurate depiction of a transgender male in this which I did not expect, but was pleasantly surprised by. I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes new adult with meaningful sex, lgbtq+ elements and contemporary stories.

Full review is up on my channel: https://youtu.be/vuZmDA2H-TU

[Mariah Lebron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an OK book for me. It was good but could of been better.

I'm a total romance reader and when characters say "I Love You" it's about the best part ever for me, but this didn't have that 'spark' between the characters you usually find with romance.
There was character growth and I think this is the reason you didn't get more of the characters together. One of them was realizing what's important and growing as the book continued.
However, I did enjoy the book. There were some really good points I could relate to and made me think about as well.

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

I rec'd a copy from Ylva Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first book I'm reading by Ms. Francis. Although the leads of Carly and Ashley were nicely fleshed out and supporting characters and their issues fairly covered, the overall storyline just didn't do anything for me. Nevertheless, I will give her books consideration in the future. 2.5 stars

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just finished this book last night and it was not a book that will make me think about the characters for days. It was not terrible but I just couldn't get into it and feel for the characters. I felt Ashly was kind of annoying and to possessive of Carly.

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Takes a while to finally get to the romance. Lots of hinting and mixed signals in the first half. Once it gets there it seems like an ending but you have an entire half left to go.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Note: I was provided with a free copy of the book by Ylva Publishing in exchange for a fair review

To be completely honest, I almost gave up on reading “Fragile” by Eve Francis. The first chapter has clumsy prose and stilted dialogue, but at the very end of the chapter it makes an allusion to Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot.” So I decided to power through and finish it, and I’m glad I did. While its writing style is less sophisticated than I would prefer, “Fragile” engages with themes that are relevant to both the LGBTQIA community and millennials.

What do you do when you’re twenty-four, a college graduate, and have moved back in with your mom and little sister? That’s what Carly Rogers is trying to figure out. It’s a common story for millennials, and Francis seems to be intimately acquainted with it. The intriguing part of this novel is not necessarily the plot, but the interactions between characters. Carly has a close relationship with a trans man, a teenage sister with a rebellious streak, a young woman with a seizure disorder, and an older woman who is perhaps asexual. Each person brings something valuable to Carly’s life and helps her in their own way (and vice versa). I particularly enjoyed the fact that Carly’s best friend is a trans man and that issues of the trans community are introduced, as I haven’t read a lesbian novel before that’s done that.

Overall, the representation “Fragile” presents is important, not just of millennials and lesbians, but of trans people and asexuals as well. However, I probably won’t read it again due to its lack of polish.

[Bitterblue]

Three and a half chapters in, it's so boring I can't.