Playing Patience (The Blow Hole Boys)

I've spent a while thinking about this review, and there are a lot of strong feelings attached to it. I feel burnt by the author for several things that went down before I even finished reading the book, but this review is not of the author; only her work, and I'll remain both subjective and polite in writing this. Also, this review will contain spoilers. Consider yourself warned. :)

Playing Patience is labeled new adult, though I can't understand why since both the main characters are young adults still in high school. Patience is a governor's daughter, playing the ultimate good girl while suffering intense sexual abuse at the hand of her father (and even though her father's been raping her since she was thirteen, the author never tells us how Patience avoids getting pregnant. She never mentions any contraceptives or past abortions, and I think it's illogical for a teenager to be exposed to sex for that long without obvious consequences).

At the start of the story, Patience's mother is dying of breast cancer. Zeke is a "bad boy" from the other side of town; raised by his alcoholic, abusive father in a run-down trailer park. His mother died when he was younger of... you guessed it; cancer. I was shocked by the similarities between the two character's backgrounds were. Abusive father. Cancer victim mother. I wasn't really convinced by Zeke's father either. He was an alcoholic, but this man would beat the crap out of Zeke without the slightest provocation. He'd actually go looking for a fight. And we never saw a different side to him. It would've been nice to see at least one scene where he was mildly sober or decent. I've had experience with mean drunks, and there's more to the story than: Drink beer. Beat people senseless... just cuz. People like that aren't ALL evil ALL the time.

Anyway, what upset me most about this book was the misogyny and sexual objectification of women. For a huge portion of the book Zeke stereotyped and slut-shammed; he often referred to women as "females", like they were some sort of dog or subspecies. If he'd been hurt by women in his life this would be easier to understand, but there was literally no excuse for such chauvinism. If anything, men had hurt him worse. From the memories he shows us, his mother was extremely good to him. Below is just a small sampling of what I'm referring to. All of these are directly from Zeke's POV.

PAGE 22: "Nice tits." I grinned down at her as I ran a finger across her bulging cleavage. There was a jagged tattoo just under her lacy bra line that I wanted to have a look at. "Meet me beside the stage later." I wasn't asking. I was telling. (to a complete stranger)

PAGE 147: "If you want a one night stand to leave, all you have to do is pull out your wallet and ask how much you owe her."

PAGE 177: Usually, I steered clear of girls like her since there was always a chance of an inexperienced female sprouting feelings...

PAGE 181: I'd never denied myself a woman when I wanted her...

PAGE 222: I knew her name, but it wasn't necessary. Redhead was a good enough name for me. (when taking a woman he plans on sleeping with out of a club)

PAGE 258: I wasn't sure why I asked. I'd never asked a female permission for anything in my life...

The peak of my anger towards him was when he made a joke about date-rape.

PAGE 80: "Please. That chick's as straight as they come. I'd have to drug her, too, to get her to put out." We laughed.

Women deserve better than Zeke Mitchell. I think he's a horrible person. And Zeke's friends Flinn and Chet were even worse. Flinn always complained about "bitches" being clingy and constantly made degrading comments. I wish I could say Patience was better, but she constantly referred to women around Zeke as "half-naked skanks" or "slutty". When Zeke showed up at a friend's after Patience thought he was messing around with another woman, she had this to say...

"I see you took the trash out and dumped her somewhere," I said, referring to the redhead. (not cool)

I felt sick at the amount of degrading sex talk. At one point Zeke literally makes this statement "...dip my stick in a chick that reminded me of her", and I had to take a break from reading because of the nausea it induced. And after reading this, people are still fan-girling over this guy. I don't understand it at all. The men in this novel saw women as sex objects. They had no respect for them at all. And it doesn't change. Yes, Zeke's opinion of Patience changes with his character development, but his opinion towards women in general stays the same. In fact, he spent the whole second half of the book elevating Patience above those "other women". He'd think something positive about Patience, and then would add in a "not like those other women" sort of line. And the author is a woman herself. She should've known better. If he had developed a better respect for woman as a whole by the time this novel was through, it may have redeemed this book from a one-star rating.

The writing itself, while not bad, wasn't the strongest. Secondary characters were barely described apart from the color of their hair/eyes. The author had a habit of backtracking each time the POV switched. I got to the point where I'd skip the first few paragraphs of a new chapter just to catch up to the plot. At first, I didn't mind it, but around the middle of the book it started to wear me out. We'd read a scene, then it would switch to a different POV and we'd have to read a summary of that exact scene from their perspective. It wasn't even reliving the scene, it was a summary of it. That was another thing that frustrated me. The author had a habit of summarizing things instead of writing them out. It was like "This, this and this happened. And then it blew over and that happened." Patience and Zeke sat down to play a game of rummy, and instead of writing the game out, delving into dialogue and character reaction, it was this...

"Rummy?" he asked as he straddled a chair next to the table. I noticed the beer in this hand.
"Okay." I sat across from him.
He won the first hand, and then I won the second.

Well.... that was anticlimactic. And this happened all over the place.

Plot was probably the only thing in this novel deserving of a star. The relationship between Patience and Zeke was slow(no insta-love)and developed (though I hated both their characters so much I almost didn't care). There were several small twist that I didn't predict, and two big twists that I totally did predict. For one thing, the biggest climax of the book, when her father is shot down, was given away right in the prologue. We saw it coming because the author showed it to us right from the start. The second plot twist, aka Zeke cheats on her (big surprise), was easy to see coming, because for some reason every book that features a bad-boy/good-girl relationship has to have the man cheating on her. To me it felt like contrived drama, and I think the book would have done better without it. And Patience's reaction to catching him cheating was appalling. She was like a timid church mouse; apologizing, and running away like she'd done something wrong. I really hated that about her. She never really stood up for herself. Almost ever. Even when she pulled the gun on her father she wasn't standing up for herself, she was standing up for her sister.

And I was really upset by the first sex scene between Patience and Zeke. Patience is a victim of serious sexual abuse, and she fit the profile for about half the book then as the romance interfered, she did a sudden flip to suit the relationship with Zeke. I expected her first time with any other man to be tender and careful, but instead I got this...

"A tiny growl escaped his throat and he grabbed under my ass and lifted me onto Finn's dresser. The back of the mirror slammed into the wall behind it. He pushed my skirt up, gapped my legs more, and pushed himself against me."

And they proceeded to have very rough sex... (this happens two freakin weeks after Patience catches Zeke having sex with another woman)

So, I've come to the conclusion that this book serves no purpose other than to be a romance. For a novel that's almost completely centered around physical and sexual abuse, I expected there to be a strong message for overcoming and rising above that abuse, but in the end all we got was Zeke beating the living daylights out of his dad while Patience kills hers. Neither father was held accountable in a court of law, so there was no real sense of victory or resolution. Most of the abuse just seemed like plot tools used to bring the characters together, which makes me feel sorry for anyone who reads this and has actually experienced this sort of violence. I also felt like the mother's character was created for the sole purpose of dying and taking the blame, and thus Patience's final conflict (facing possible charges or prison time) with her to the grave.

I think Tabatha has tremendous potential as a writer. I just think this manuscript needed WAY more revision and attention than it got, and I think Tabatha needed to be more respectful when dealing with such sensitive subjects. Ironically enough, I don't think she had the "patience" to do this book up properly.

I let this book marinate within for a couple days. I need to do this sometimes when I feel the need to think about a book. Playing Patience wasn't what I thought it was going to be, but not in a bad way. This story had parts in it mostly everyone can relate to. This is a story about two people who were served pretty shitty hands in life, and they were just trying to make the best and get by.

Patience: A good girl who comes from a family, who on the outside looks like they are perfect. Its like a chocolate covered piece of poo. It looks good on the outside then when you actually get into the middle, where all the nastiness lingers. That's when you get to shit filled middle. Patience is getting by on love alone, love for her sister and mother. She is an athlete and a good student. No one would guess the secrets she holds.

Zeke: Oh Zeke-- He takes bad boys to a new level! This is what a bad boy is too me. He oozes sex appeal and confidence--which he delivers. He also is from a broken home, with secrets of his own. The boy from the wrong side of the tracks and the girl next door come together to find what they are missing in their lives, and help each other find themselves in the process.

This book touched my heart and really pulled me into the story. I felt what the characters were feeling, and I was crying big, fat, ugly tears. I gave this book the highest rating I could, but if there were more stars I would give it.

"Playing Patience" by Tabatha Vargo

ZEKE MITCHELL! Oooh, how I love you! And Patience, you are just fabulous! I absolutely love these two characters from "Playing Patience." From the outside, Zeke and Patience look like they live two completely different lives...but on the inside, their lives are a lot more similar than anyone wants to admit.

Tabatha Vargo tells a beautiful and amazing 5 STAR story about two people who have been abused for years of their life, and end up finding love with each other. I loved reading this story and watching Zeke and Patience's connection grow. From the very beginning, there was a special spark that could not be ignored between them. They both went out of their comfort zone for each other, until they found a comfortable place together. It was truly beautiful. Even with trying to fight the attraction and connection tooth and nail, they couldn't. There was just something strong and special that wasn't going away easily. It was fabulous when they finally let their hearts lead the way, instead of what they thought was right for one another. Zeke thought he wasn't good enough for Patience, and she felt the same way. But, they really brought out the best in each other.

I love reading a book about a bad boy rockstar, that really is a good guy on the inside. Zeke fits this description completely. He was dealt a crappy hand in life: losing his mother, being a punching bag to his drunk father, and live on the bad side of town. Zeke went through life with drugs, booze, sex, and his guitar. Patience faked her way through life with smiles, good grades, and crazy soccer skills - because of the abuse that she deals with in her own home, and her own loss she is preparing to deal with. Together, after building solid trust, they were finally able to be themselves - at least around each other.

I just loved everything about Tabatha Vargo's "Playing Patience." It was just great from beginning to end. The flirting, the trouble, the friendship, the unease, the fights, the trust, and the love. All of it - every word, and every line. I cannot wait to read more from Tabatha Vargo, and I wouldn't mind reading a short story or prequel - something! - to get more of Zeke and Patience...or should I say, Snowflake?

Brianna Lee Book Reviews

4.5 stars

If you didn't know by now I have a soft spot for the bad boy in stories and this has another example of the perfect bad boy. Zeke is total hotness, he uses girls and tosses them away just as soon as they satisfy his urges. But beneath the surface are a lot of secrets that he hides from everyone, including his best friends. He does everything that I expect in a bad boy, drinks, smokes pot, plays in a band and bangs girls. He is from the wrong side of the tracks and lives in a trailer park with his father. But if you took the time to get past the front you can see there is more to him than what meets the eye.

Patience is a good girl from the high end of town. From the outside she looks like the perfect girl and daughter, but looks are pretty deceiving as we find out very early. She is a severely damaged girl and is able to lock her emotions and insecurities away. Her home life is not a real happy one and her mother is very sick. She is soon out of her comfort zone when she goes to a bar to see a band with her best friend and she is saved by a handsome stranger.

These two broken characters don't get along too well to begin with but soon their connection starts to grow and they can't deny that there is a spark between them. The more time they spend together, the stronger the pull. Zeke doesn't understand why a girl like Patience likes him and soon he tries to repel her with his smart ass comments and avoids her where possible. But somehow she has already crawled under his skin. He knows that she has her secrets as well but has no idea as to how bad things are for her.

Playing Patience touches on some very dark aspects of life and at times I was tearing up along with the characters. It is sad to know that the things that both of these characters have had to deal with occur in real life and to read about these characters going through it makes the story so believable. The way the author told the story from both POV's gave great depth to the story and she some of the same moments were retold be both characters. I enjoyed the story from cover to cover and felt that I knew the characters personally. They learn so much about each other and they grow into better people themselves. Not everything goes to plan and they have to get over a lot of hurdles and face their worst fears before they can even think of being with one another. There are some nice romance scenes and even some fast hard loving between the characters as well. I was totally blown away by this story and I am looking forward to more from this author!

At the chance of being accused of being the author, the publisher, a relative or friend of the author, I have to say that although I agree with one reviewer that there should have been a stronger warning about the topic of incest, abuse and drugs. However, those feelings aside, I found that although I could not finish it at this time I found Playing Patience to be extremely well written. The reader is instantly drawn into the characters and the story. Whether you love it or hate it, it makes you feel strongly. That in my opinion makes for a great book and I will definitely come back to it when I'm in a different mindset. I have read other books by Ms. Vargo and she's never steered me wrong and I doubt she will when I do finish reading this one.

Yet another one day read for me from this author. I can never put her books down till they are done and then I am left wanting more. The ending feels a little rushed but Tabatha has already announced plans to do a sequel to fill in the gaps and give us the rest of Patience and Zeke's story in Perfecting Patience. You have to love any author that listens to her fans as much as this woman does. What I love most about her books is her characters are not perfect. They have real flaws (not the superficial ones most authors serve up)and she shows their pain along with the good.
Tabatha covers very heavy subjects in this book and does it perfectly. As a survivor of sexual abuse I can completely relate to Patience and what she went thru, her coping mechanisms and reactions. I was lucky enough not to have it as bad as she did but this story hit me in the gut as I read it. Her characters are real and have real reactions..she does not sugar coat it and I would have been disappointed if she did. Even though the subject matter is dark it shows you can survive abuse of all types and come out stronger in the end. The journey Patience and Zeke go on is one WAY too many kids have to deal with.
Enough of the pain.... the sex scenes between the two main characters are HOT!!!!!! I do not know how she was able to cover the subject she did and still have the sex steaming hot but Tabatha Vargo has the skills needed to pull it off. Tabatha can write sex scenes that will have you searching for your special someone before you are done ;). In the end this is a love story about two very flawed, damaged people who find each other under less (WAY LESS) than perfect conditions. I love how she switches between characters to show what each one is thinking as things are happening. More authors need to do this otherwise you are left with gaps...what is the other person thinking, why did they react like that.
I highly recommend this book to anyone that has survived abuse it shows that it does get better and you can heal with the right people in your life.

Zeke is the town's bad boy. Covered in tattoo's and plagued by an abusive, alcoholic father he spends his time smoking weed, drinking beyond coherence, and treating women as though they were made for his convenience. One night while his band is playing at a local bar called The Pit he stumbles upon a girl with naturally platinum hair and clothes that scream she doesn't belong in this part of town. Assuming she is the typical girl sneaking out of her parent's house to be a rebel, he disregards her and her apparent drug-induced state. Until she reaches for him and then he realizes she's a possible victim of a date-rate drug. Checking her pulse he finds she is in desperate need of medical attention so he ushers her out of the bar and to the nearest hospital. But not before becoming completely annoyed by the entire situation. Who was this girl and why in the world did he care about her in any way? Couldn't someone else have dealt with the drama?

Patience is a girl with an outer shell capable of fooling everyone around her. Living with her father, who is also the Governor, her mother and her younger sister, everyone beyond the walls of their home can see she's living the dream. But, if they really broke down even the outer walls of Patience's existence they would understand she isn't the golden girl she plays the part of. With the dark secret of never knowing the next time her father will enter her bedroom at night and throw himself onto her, she focuses her time and energy on keeping her younger sister safe and kicking some major butt at soccer. When Zeke enters her world, instead of being revolted by him, she's drawn to him because the one person in the world she should trust is destroying her soul while a boy she's just met has saved it.

Playing Patience will definitely play your heart strings. It will make you angry and will make you gasp at the horror of what some people call real life. I found Patience to be a likable character and I was proud of her for being strong and not whining about her situation. She had the typical signs of someone who's been broken down time and time again but she did her best to put on a good show.

Zeke....what to say about this young man. He's revolting. But, people like him do exist. I even believe before he lost his mother to cancer he was probably not the same person. I believe the thing that bothers me most about Zeke is the fact he can refer to females as skanks, yet he doesn't see himself this way? Or, perhaps he does because once he realizes he has feelings for Patience he shuts them down and admits he isn't good enough for someone like her. This, to me, is like him allowing people to see he's not proud of his behavior and yes for most of the book he doesn't want to change it because he's convinced that is who he is and he can't change. The thing about Zeke is you can see his inner turmoil even if he doesn't reveal it to the other characters, especially Patience. You can see how foreign falling for Patience is to him and how he doesn't think he is deserving of someone as innocent as Patience.

There are some things I want to address that I've read in some other reviews. I didn't expect reviews to ever contain something that was false in them. I expect them to be opinions from the readers and was frankly appalled by what some people have said happened in this book. I'm not saying their reviews aren't valid but when I read someone say Zeke cheated on Patience in this book. Nope. Didn't happen. Want to know why? Zeke and Patience were not together at the time this 'cheating' took place. Zeke was trying to decipher his feelings for Patience and neither one of them believed they were in a relationship at the time this happened. Patience even says, "The messed up part was I couldn't be mad. He wasn't mine and as badly as I wanted to be the one having carefree sex with him, I couldn't."

Patience walks in on Zeke even though she hears the noises of him having sex in his bedroom. No, actually, Patience heard loud music and upon entering Zeke's home she heard a noise and assumed it was him packing the rest of his belongings. She also starts fantasizing about him wearing low-cut jeans and how hot he looks without his shirt off. Pretty sure if she 'knew' what was going on in the bedroom she wouldn't be fantasizing about him moments before.

I liked the writing, the overall story, and Patience. I don't even remember Patience's friends name at all. That's pretty sad but she was just sort of there. I didn't like Zeke at all. Had I met a guy like him in real life I would turn my head the other way. The only reason I could even stand Zeke was the fact I knew what was going on in his head and I knew he had heartache all around him. His reference to females was appalling because he wasn't any different than they were. They were looking for the same thing he was obviously. It seems like the only types of females (other than Patience) that we got to see were women just looking for sex. I don't remember any of them actually wanting to get to know him and yes girls out there exist....it's his fault for surrounding himself with women like that. He stumbled on Patience by accident and the whole ordeal annoyed him to no end until he realized she reacted differently to sex than most women. Her whole demeanor intrigued him and yet he still saw her as a sex object. I know Zeke had feelings for Patience but it was covered up by his 'second' brain thinking for him all the time.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. Zeke wasn't my kind of guy but heck, I'm not the one he saved from a date-rape drug. I believe this was the only thing that drew Patience to Zeke. She saw something in him that was different than the actions he provided so she based who she thought he was on his actions, not his words. She saw good in him even if I couldn't. I loved this story. It was raw. It was intense. And it worked somehow. :)

I give this 3.5 stars, and I would have given more but the ending was a bit flat. However I did enjoy this book right from the start. Patience is a 17 year old that lives a horrible life with a horrible secret. And the book doesnt draw that aspect out, your hit with it right away. So through the whole book you feel for Patience, and at the same time realize how amazingly strong and brave she is. The first time Patience meets Zeke, not under the best of circumstances, and when he sees her he thinks " She stuck out like an angel in hell". Zeke is also a person whos had a crappy life, and also still trying to survive. See, both of them are still going through their "troubles", its not something that happend and they are trying to heal, they are still living in their own hell. Patience is drawn to Zeke, but the emotions are so conflicting. " You want to know what I am? Im shattered thats what i am. There are tiny peices of Patience scattered all over", " I dont know if I can give you a piece, Because I dont know where they are" This was a HUGE sign of how she feels about herself. Zeke tries to hide within hisself too, to survive. But she sees him clearly. "You can hide in there all you want, but I can still see you"... Zeke knows shes hiding something, and she knows he is too. And as the reader you know their secrets and your just waiting and wondering how they will be exposed and what will happen. When she see's what his life is like, shes not scared, she feels protective. These two have lived completely different lives, shes not wanted for anything, and hes never had anything. To me, they are puzzle pieces that fit together. Yin to her yang. All that cliche stuff. Anyway, when stuff hits the fan for her and her stuff is exposed, the story starts unfolding. Zeke had an idea of what she was suffering, but when he finds out, he never expected THAT. I cant really say anyting else after that, I wont ruin the story for someone who hasnt read it. The ending like i said fell flat for me. I wanted more, there should have been more. After ALL THAT at the end, I still wanted to keep reading just a bit longer, but the story wrapped up. This story will have your heart thumping at times, it was really hard to put down because i had to know these two were gonna survive. Definitley a book worth reading.