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Brian Yatman asked this question about No One Else Can Have You (No One Else Can Have You, #1):
The comments seem a mite unbalanced. Have you guys actually read the Guardian article? Did the behaviour of the reviewer not strike you as a little "off"? Sure, Kathleen Hale shouldn't have let all this get to her like she did, but there's a real Salem witch-trial vibe to all this that I find disturbing. I found her article thought-provoking and not without self-awareness and a sense of compassion towards her subject.
Anne Martin yes, Brian. I think the whole story got out of hands and KH reacted childishly and stupidly -she is only 25 or 26, while BH had a nasty side. I wish o…moreyes, Brian. I think the whole story got out of hands and KH reacted childishly and stupidly -she is only 25 or 26, while BH had a nasty side. I wish one of them would had stopped months ago. Or that they would have had their dialog with YA. Anyway, no subject is so serious that you cannot joke about it, and BH does not seem to have a big sense of humor. How can it be that 18 persons answered your question, and 17 are saying KH is totally at fault?
About some comments made by BH, who does not like books about rape, and many other things, does she (or any of the people who condemn KH totally) know that KH has been abused when she was 18?
About the girl she assaulted and stalked - why don't you write what the girl did? how she pretended, with graphic details to have been sexually assaulted (I think raped) by KH's mother? that certainly gave her a reason to be mad at the other girl, no?
And no, I don't condone stalking, but I don't care much for swearing, and making a review about a DNF book just saying "fuck this" is kind of weird. And stalking... well, if I understood what happened, KH went to BH's address, and called her at work once or twice. If that is stalking, it does not go very far. Add that objectively, some reviews are rather unpleasant. I surprise myself when I don't like a book by criticizing widely. When I read what I wrote a couple of days later, I feel a lot more indulgent. Still, authors are condemned by many if they (ab)use of swearing or insults in their books. Why would bloggers be allowed to, without any consequences?
I don't know if she is connected to James Frey. I believe Frey is quite smart, not totally honest, and uses methods a lot of other writers use -from Caroline Keene to James Patterson. But I don't get the link with Hale.
What I know... yes, KH is lucky, she is published, has money or will after her wedding, she is young, not bad looking, educated -enough to make anyone a bit jealous,but that is no reason to blacklist her. Think of McCarthy (the senator, in the 50s) and realize how easy it is to destroy someone.
I tried to find her book online, could only get 4 chapters. They are not too bad, they are not the greatest. If the rest of the book is the same, it would be 3 stars, probably, or 2 if it gets worse.
Another thing I realize is that I spent several hours trying to understand what this mess was about. Until 3 days ago, I had never heard of Hale or of the problem with BH. I knew, though, like everybody about the scandal on Amazon 2 years ago, and on Goodreads too, even if it was less obvious. You know as well as I do that you still have reviews bought by one side or the other. You know the Kindle non fiction books on Amazon are written by a few persons, always the same ones. That should be changed.
What I do not understand is why authors and bloggers get into those fights which hurt everyone. They need each other. If no books are written, nothing to blog about. If no book reviews, less book sales, therefore less books published.
So, it's a lose-lose situation.(less)
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No One Else Can Have You
by Kathleen Hale
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