Calendar Girl (October) Chapter 5:
In a twist I’ll bet you never saw coming, Wes isn’t cheating on Mia! He’s just comforting a friend who he survived a nightmarish experience with. You just never know what this series is going to throw at you next.
What really seems to calm Mia down is the moment she realizes that Gina is no longer her usual sexy self:
Taking in everything that was Gina DeLuca from the top of her now flat brown hair, the locks no longer showing the luster and sheen that rivaled any Pantene commercial, to her toes. This was not the same woman I’d met back in January.
Mia is like, “Wow! You ugly now. Come over any time to talk to Wes.”
Gina explains that this is part of her recovery:
“My therapy,” she finished. “I’m surprised you didn’t tell her, Weston.” Her eyes were sad, lifeless, almost hollow.
For some reason, I enjoyed that she called him by his full name versus the nick name I used.
Mia is treating “Wes” like it’s some sort of special, thoughtful nickname that only she could have dreamed up. It’s even stranger because a few lines later, Gina says, “Wes was just comforting me,” and Mia doesn’t react to it at all.
After realising that there’s no threat here now that Gina is clearly a broken woman, Mia tells her she’s welcome to come by any time and apologises for suspected them of having an affair. It’s kind of nice, but the whole thing feels very odd. Like why does Mia say this:
“Take your time. The green-eyed monster popped out for a second, but I trust Wes, and I believe in our love. He’d never be unfaithful.”
Gina could probably give zero fucks about whether Mia believes in their love! She’s hanging on by a thread! Stay away from this woman during your recovery, Gina. Alas, Gina joins the Mia fanclub and praises her for being such an amazing person.
Mia heads off to call Ginelle. We’ve complained about this before, but it’s very frustrating that we have Gina and Gin in the same chapter! WHY DO THIS THING TO ME, CARLAN? DIDN’T YOU KNOW SOMEONE OUT THERE WOULD BE PAINSTAKINGLY BLOGGING THIS CHAPTER BY CHAPTER?
Gin is depressed, and it actually makes her far less obnoxious. She’s also still traumatised about her recent kidnapping experience. However, that’s all forgotten when Mia announces that Wes has gotten her a job in L.A. and that she’s invited to move into their guesthouse. So…I guess that problem’s solved? Now Gin is back to her old self, making jokes about fucking Mia’s brother:
“Damn right, oh brother. Only if it were me, I’d be screaming, ‘fuck yeah, Max. Harder, Max. Give it to me, Max!’”
One weird thing I also wanted to mention from Mia and Gin’s conversation, is that apparently Gin was considering becoming a call-girl herself, but Mia thinks it’s a bad idea:
I’d been lucky with the type of people I’d been paired with, but the circumstances were unique. Those opportunities would not be available for another another girl. Millie had already made that clear. It would be the standard go out with an old fogie or rich bastard who expected a little slap and tickle at the end of the night.
Has it ever been properly explained why Mia was paired with these special clients every chapter? I have no recollection of this happening. It always just sounded like they picked her, and it was all dumb-luck, but was it more Millie’s doing since she’s Mia’s aunt? This is the one thing I actually want explained more!
Suddenly, Mia remembers to ask Gin about how her father is doing. He’s still in a coma, but stable. Wow. Mia couldn’t leave his side during the last book, but now she’s almost completely forgotten about him!
We also get an update on Maddie who is pretty sure she’s going to move to Texas after graduation and work for Max. I know you’re probably thinking, but what about that nice boy she’s engaged to? What about him and his family? Well, fear not, because his parents have agreed to move to Texas too!
Max told Matt that he’d hire his dad on, his mom even. Something about family staying together or some bullshit.”
Yay nepotism?
Gin declares she’s going to start packing to move to L.A. in two weeks. Damn it, does this mean that Gin and Gina are going to show up in the same chapter more often? I can’t.
“It is awesome that you suffer, Gina, it just means that Wes’ and my love is so much better.”
Heavens >< To think that at the start of this whole mess, I actually liked Mia in some she’s-a-funny-ditz way … when did ist start to go downhill? Senator McRape? Or was this weird foreigner-fetishization with Alec already the first step?
I’m with you 100%. At the start of this series I thought that this might be a fun story to read on my own in a campy, brain candy kind of way but somewhere along the way Mia became completely aweful. I’d rather follow Gina’s story at this point. To paraphrase an earlier post on the blog, Gina as a survivor of something awful who not only survives it but helps others survive and begins her road to recovery with a self absorbed jealous girlfriend blocking her support…that sounds like a much more interesting viewpoint.
I guess this is proof that Mia’s character has developed over the course of the story, since we’ve slowly realized how awful she is.
As long as Mia is allowed to be the prettiest one in the room, she will graciously allow a trauma victim grappling with hellacious PTSD to spend time with one of the few people on the planet who completely understands and empathizes with her ordeal.
RIGHT?! How is the author not seeing this?! Her eyes are sad and lifeless, which means that she has clearly suffered enough for having the nerve to be attracted to Wes. It upsets me that there’s a fan base for this series.
“For some reason, I enjoyed that she called him by his full name versus the nick name I used.”
Yes Mia, how dare other women call him “Wes”, right? It’s weird Mia can calls her friend “my sexy Samoan” but Gin can’t say “Wes”
Mia vs Zoey Redbird: Who’s the worst protagonist?
I just can’t. Ugh. Mia, and all of her love interests are so disgusting. Mia though is the lead, which is why I find it less forgivable. She’s the one readers are supposed to be rooting for, admiring her sexual openness and her “cool girl” attitude, but then she displays some of the most toxic behavior you can find among women and it’s portrayed like it’s not a problem. That’s sickening. Many women ARE like this, mostly because of learned behavior. They’re pitted against each other and have some of the most petty feelings for the most petty reasons because they feel they have to compete. What Mia is feeling about Gina is something that really does happen, but the issue is that it’s not even addressed as problematic. This is, as you and others have mentioned, a very clear sense of revenge against Gina for daring to have ever been with Wes at any point. And how much more disgusting is it that this trauma makes Gina completely undesirable? Like she’s not worth anybody’s attention now? She’s “used goods” and therefore can’t compete? And then MIA and Wes are “good people” for “accepting her”? There are so many levels of wrong here I just can’t. It’s maddening. This isn’t a harmless fantasy thing, this is portraying behavior that is extremely toxic to human relationships and human society. This kind of competition helps nothing.
But of course, this is all okay because Mia will likely address this and have two sentences in later chapters where she thinks, maybe, she’s an awful person for being so dismissive. Then it will be solved in the following sentence with Wes and his dick as he assures her she’s beautiful inside and out and the sweetest thing to ever exist both figuratively and, of course, literally, lest we forget how Mia tastes.
Gina IS too good for this story. She needs to exist in a different book.
On a side note, can you imagine how horrifying a companion book of Calendar Girl would be from Wes’ P.O.V the way Christian Grey’s was done? Maybe Grey was just too long ago, but I feel Wes would be a thousand times worse. This guy makes me want to gag.
P.S: Not a newcomer, just don’t remember the name I used before at all. Last time I commented was when FSoG was being reviewed, so it’s been awhile! This just made me mad enough to comment again.