[Review]The Bloodletter's Daughter

The Bloodletter's Daughter by Linda Lafferty
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Oh bejeesus, where to start?
Sometimes there's a reason you don't get published for 30 years and it's not because you have unrecognized/unappreciated genius. Sometimes it's just because you're not a terribly good writer.

1. We get it. It's historical fiction set in the overwhelmingly beautiful land of Bohemia. You don't need to keep driving the point into our heads with a mallet.

2. Some people may consider this anti female coming from a female, but I find the "spunky in entirely historically inaccurate ways" heroine to be exhausting to read about. One more page of her virtue and curiosity being repeatedly pointed out and I would have wanted to murder her as well.

3. The characters were all very one dimensional however. She is the virtuous bathmaid. He is the mad bastard prince. So on and so forth. There is not a single surprising aspect to ANY of these characters. Not one.

4. I hate pointless side stories that contribute nothing to the main story. Marketa's best friend's romance with the butcher's son. Why is it even there? Just to give the excuse for the butcher's son to cut Don Julius? Because if so, really, what a waste of words.

I could go on, but I won't.
Suffice it to say that if I wasn't the kind of person who had to compulsively finish books, this one would have never been finished.

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Parenting [aka Emotional Rollercoaster 101]

There comes a moment in (hopefully) every parent's life, where they realize they may not really like their own kid that much. Not every moment of every day. Not in a wish physical harm on them kind of way. Not in a ever stop loving them kind of way. But in a their behavior starts overshadowing all the positives kind of way. If there isn't this moment in every parents life, then maybe I'm a shitty mom, because, at this point, I don't think I would choose to spend time around my son if I had the choice.

There are great moments, don't get me wrong. Waking up to being snuggled with by him and talking for twenty minutes about silly things kind of moments. Watching him unselfishly play My Little Ponies with his sister to make her happy kind of moments. Helping me make breakfast kind of moments. Hugs and kisses and I love you kinds of moments.

Then five minutes later there are the moments where I'm getting screamed at about how he hates me and hates Sera and he wishes she had never been born. All over him hitting her. All over him screaming in my face for getting in trouble and put on time out for hitting her. Seriously, I spend about as many hours a day lately with him screaming in my face as I do him giving me hugs and pictures.

On a detached level, I understand this is him acting out because of unresolved issues from the fire combined with the huge life change of moving across the country. I get it. But on an emotional level I am just so fucking exhausted all the time. I don't throw it in his face, but I'm struggling to adjust to the move just as much as he is. Feeling like I'm constantly under attack by someone half my size is just making it so emotionally I can't cope anymore. I'm unhealthily happy when it's time for him to go to school, because I know it's hours that I won't have to deal with him or his bullshit.

I don't know what to do anymore. I would love for someone to hand me that magic wand that makes this one easy to deal with, because the up and down is exhausting as all hell.