Book Review: Bitter Like Orange Peel by Jessica Bell

Bitter Like Orange Peel by Jessica Bell

Normally I give myself a chance to digest between finishing a book and writing my review for it. But I just finished Bitter Like an Orange Peel a couple of seconds ago and really need to talk about it right now.

I’m so mad at this book. I’m almost having trouble coming up with how to explain to you guys how much I did not like this book. I guess I’ll just start at the beginning…

Something that was very confusing right from the start was where this book took place. I didn’t completely understand where all of the characters lived until about 65% of the way through. You see, there’s a family in this book made up primarily of two sets of a mother and a daughter. One of the daughters, Ivy, lives in Seattle, WA, and the rest of the family live in Australia. But it’s never actually explained that most of these characters live in Australia, so I just assumed that they were all in Seattle until very late into the book when it’s finally explicitly said.

Related to that problem is the author’s problem with language. Literal language — American-style English vs. Australian-style English. It quickly becomes obvious that this book is written by an Australian author who doesn’t totally understand the difference in cultures between the two countries. Because, even though half of the characters do live in Australia and would therefore use words like “Mum” and talk about Vegemite commercials, the other half…wouldn’t. But the author did not distinguish between the two, and there were definitely a couple of times in which both of the two American-born characters (Brian and Ivy’s gay best friend) randomly use weird Australian slang and reference Australian customs, even though those things don’t fit with their characters.

Another problem that I had with the book was the constant switching back and forth between a multitude of different perspectives. I believe that this technique does work…but only if done extremely well. It did not work in this book. I would have much preferred there to be only two perspectives — those of Ivy and Kit. The way the author chose to do it was strange, because often the perspective would switch mid-scene from one person in the room to the other. Why it that necessary? It’s just disconcerting and makes it completely obvious that it’s being used as a ploy to get out of having to actually write your characters well. Yes, it’s hard to make well-rounded, relatable characters when you can’t write from their perspective…but that doesn’t mean that you just write from every single character’s point of view.

I also just thought that the majority of this book was boring. The characters weren’t relatable or likable, making it very hard to get invested in the story. Pretty much all of them were horrible, keeping multiple secrets from their family members and treating their friends and lovers like crap. These people were awful. It was interesting at first, but then the drama just really started to get monotonous.

Last, but certainly not least, is the EXCRUCIATING ending. I wanted to throw my Kindle across the room. This thing just ends. Like, in the middle of the most important and the one actually intriguing and mysterious scene. One of the characters decides to go ahead and drop and huge, confusing, and seriously-in-need-of-an-explanation bomb…and then it’s over. OVER. Absolutely zero resolution or comprehension of what the f*** just happened. I can’t even believe that I stuck through this book until the very end, just to see what would happen in that scene…and then it’s just done. Endings like that only work in very specific, very rare situations. And it completely 100% did not work here.

The only reason that this book is getting two stars instead of one is that most of it was really well written. There were a few awkwardly purple similes and that problem with the perspectives, but I did think that the book’s tone and overall language was good. After having read so many poorly written books, I definitely can appreciate author’s that do have actual talent and potential. It’s just that mix of amazing storytelling and the awesome writing that seems to be lacking in most of the books I’ve given low star ratings to.

**ARC kindly provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

(See this review on Goodreads)

Related Posts:

• Book Review: Gone Wild by Ever McCormick
• Book Review: Fearless by Devon Hartford
• Book Review: Going Underground by Susan Vaught
• Book Review: Ruin by C.J. Scott
• Bout of Books 8.0