(67)No Judgments by Meg Cabot

Twenty-five-year-old Bree Breckham hasn't been on Little Bridge Island for that long, she is not about to let a little hurricane chase her away.  Especially since she doesn't feel like she has a "safe" place to land.  Everybody on the little island is telling her differently, though. Her roommate, her mother, her ex-boyfriend.  Not to mention most of the island's residents and the local officials are telling everybody to get out.  But Bree still refuses to evacuate.  She thinks that she will just hole up in her little apartment with her cat, Gary.  She heads off to the local market to stock up on supplies and her boss's wife invites her to their home that night for a pre-storm party.  Bree is hesitant to go because she just knows that their hot nephew, Drew Hartwell, will be there.  Still smarting from a bad relationship, Bree just does not want to deal with the unspoken attraction between the two of them.  The party leads to Bree taking refuge at the Hartwell's with her cat, but when she learns that many of those who evacuated the island left their critters behind, Bree enlists the help of Drew to rescue the most helpless creatures on the island.   Will Bree finally be able to deal with her past and accept that Drew Hartwell may be her future?

I have always been fond of Meg Cabot's books.  They are like a "brain candy" for me.  I was excited to read No Judgements because it was a book about a natural disaster, which is also a favorite subject of mine.  Bree Breckham is a little bit quirky but steadfast in her decision to not leave the island.  I think her refusal to leave had more to do with her mother and ex-boyfriend, both demanded that she leave.   As a pet lover, it was tough to read about all of those people who left their pets behind.  It makes me angry and yes, I am going to judge. They should not be pet owners if they can't take care of them.  Of course, No Judgements glosses over the realities of what happens during in a Cat 5 hurricane.  The damage is minimal, nobody dies, the pets all survive, and the girl gets her guy.  I shouldn't be surprised, because the "brain candy" is generally one of my favorite things about Meg Cabot's books, but this timed it almost seemed irresponsible.

Bottom Line - Maybe No Judgements is proof that I am past the age where I find brain candy novels cute and entertaining.  I know that there was a time in my life where I  would have loved Bree and swooned at Drew, but this time I just was discouraged by the cavalier attitudes surrounding a Category 5 hurricane.

Details: 

• No Judgements by Meg Cabot
• On Instagram
• Pages: 384
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication Date: 9/24/2019
• Buy it Here!
• Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.