Against the Wall (Maverick Montana, #1)

by Rebecca Zanetti

[Angie]

Against the Wall made me very sad. I really enjoyed both main characters, that it was mostly set on a reservation, and the plot was great! Unfortunately, it suffers from two very major problems that seriously hindered my enjoyment of it. Sophie is a landscape designer, specializing in golf courses. Her uncle's company is trying to develop a new course near Mineral Lake, but they've hit a few snags. The local citizen's counsel is against any development in their community at all, and the Kooskia tribe doesn't want anything around the lake to pollute it. So, off to Montana Sophie goes to meet with both groups, but she doesn't expect to fall for the tribe's lawyer.

I loved that Against the Wall was an interracial romance, but that was overshadowed by what felt like a lot of unintentional racism. Sophie meets with the chief about her design, and he tells her that the land doesn't want a golf course. Then tells her she needs to head out to the site to listen to the lands needs. Um...really? I'm sure Native American's are more concerned with the environment than the average person, so I totally understand them not wanting anything in the area that would contribute to pollution. That is enough of a reason, without needing to commune with nature. That really rubbed me the wrong way.

Another aspect of the story that I found racist, and just completely unnecessary, was Sophie's spirit guide. Yes, she magically obtains a spirit guide just by staying on the reservation. His name is Bob and he visits her in her dreams, and has vague yet profound pieces of wisdom for her. Are you serious right now? I immediately thought of Wayne's World 2 ("If you book them, they will come."), because it's just that ridiculous. But not funny, just frustrating.

My second main problem with Against the Wall was with how pregnancy was handled. Both the possibility of becoming pregnant and what would happen if Sophie was. Sophie and Jake have a lot of sex, and one time the condom does break, so they do get worried about the possibility of a pregnancy. But then they have sex unprotected, because hey, she already might be pregnant! But then they go back to using condoms because...I don't know, don't wanna over do it with the sperm? It didn't make sense. Of course, Sophie takes a pregnancy test. A week later! Isn't that a bit soon? Are there at-home tests that can tell that early? If she's really so concerned about it, why not go to a doctor and get a definite answer?

Okay, so after that Sophie starts thinking about her possible baby. Her first thought? Hey, this kid will be part of the tribe and will be eligible for extra scholarships! Seriously! Like, yay my baby is a minority and can get free money! Hooray! I wanted to slap her. Oh, and having taken the test, Sophie is now magically fatigued and fainting and needing lots of sleep because she would be like a week pregnant. And she does finally see a doctor, but for an exam, which did not include a pregnancy test. They're all just working under the assumption that she is indeed knocked up.

On top of all that, there's the issue of where Sophie, Jake, and possible baby will live. Well, Jake straight up refuses to move. There is no way he's uprooting his daughter and moving to San Francisco, so Sophie must move to Montana, since she can do her designs from anywhere. Well, Sophie doesn't want to move to Montana! But Jake refuses to let her leave because he wants to be there for the pregnancy. He even tries to manipulate her into staying by getting a friend to hire her for an art exhibit, and having the tribe buy her golf course design for a different site, meaning she'll need to stay, check out the site, and tweak the design accordingly! Dude! Back the heck off!

To sum things up, Against the Wall totally lost me with its poorly handled possibly pregnancy and its racism. I loved the environmental angle of the side-plot, and I did like Sophie and Jake before the stupid came out. But really, talking to the land and spirit guides? Super accelerated, maybe, maybe not pregnancy, that a doctor didn't even confirm because she fainted and that means she must be pregnant? No.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.