“Mrs. Saint and the Defectives” by Julie Lawson Timmer

Title: “Mrs. Saint and the Defectives”
Author: Julie Lawson Timmer
Publisher:  Lake Union Publishing
Year: 2017
Genre(s): contemporary fiction
Part of a Series: No

Rating: 

Why I read it: Amazon first read option

Summary: After her life falls apart, Markie just wants to be left alone with her teenage son. But her neighbor, Mrs. Saint, refuses to oblige and keeps intruding into Markie’s life. Markie becomes familiar with the other people Mrs. Saint looks after like their own fairy godmother, her so-called “Defectives.” Markie resists becoming one but soon wonders if maybe it’s happened whether she wanted it to or not.

Review: I’m torn about this book. I liked the concept but thought the execution could’ve been better.

Ultimately, this is a story about a found family. And found family stories can be so amazing. It’s a small tribe of people coming together to help make each other better. That happens throughout the story as Markie gets pulled into the lives of Mrs. Saint’s “Defectives” and she makes slow changes to her life because of them. It also shows how she changes some of their lives as well and it’s a really sweet story of friendship. I enjoyed those parts of the story immensely.

My main gripe, really, is the titular “Mrs. Saint.” But it’s hard to completely explain why since I do like to keep this blog spoiler free. And we are given a lot of information about her and her motives in what is essentially a massive info dump at the end of the book with many revelations that certainly weren’t even hinted at during the book. Despite all these, I came out of the book really not liking her and really not liking what Markie decided.

I guess the main problem is that Markie is our narrator and we see everything through her eyes. And from her eyes, Mrs. Saint is a busybody who can’t take a hint. Mrs. Saint makes decisions she feels is best for Markie and her son without consulting Markie, often inconveniencing Markie. While this meddling does start to have some good outcomes, it still doesn’t seem like a kindness. It feels more like Mrs. Saint trying to control everything. And the explanation didn’t make everything better. It made it make a little more sense but in the end, Mrs. Saint was still a busybody who may have had good intentions. But given how much Markie had been through, it was hard not to see Mrs. Saint as just another toxic influence in her life who was trying to control it as well.

(Markie probably isn’t the great protagonist ever but there is no rule that says the main character has to be likeable. I feel I at least understand why she acts the way she does but I also feel that Mrs. Saint’s meddling really prevents her from truly understanding why she acts like it or really correct her behavior on her own).

(Honestly, Markie needed a therapist more than a meddling neighbor).

Bottom line: Good premise with some bright spots but ultimately a poor execution

Sex: None

Moonlight Musing

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