After reading a recent thread about Florida Friends, I decided to give it a go. I've read the first 6 stories now.
I really liked Steves stories but I disliked Bare Assets as sex was to much of a main theme in it and the non sexy stuff with those characters were just boring.
Then we have Chucks stories. The latest I've read is Chuck's Forced Vacation. I like most of the stuff in them. I like his deputy work, I like his music interest and I like his interactions with Steve's children. But what makes me really hesitate to keep reading is coming from Chuck's stories, it gets me really frustrated and have me tearing my hair out sometimes.
The problem I have is that Chuck is the biggest doormat I've ever read about when it comes to relationships. First we had his relationship with Bobby, where he went along with things that made him uncomfortable and didn't really want to do, but he just couldn't say no to her.
After that we have the fab five that really made me flip out. Chuck is really starved for a family right? That's part of what made him like Bobby so much, her big family. He's said that that's why he joined the marines, to find a place to belong as a family. He has also flat-out said that he wants to be a dad and a husband. So then these 5 girls tell him that they want children with him, but, they don't want to live with him, and while they'll let the children know their father, they want to raise the children as single or lesbian mothers. At this point he doesn't say anything like "What the fuck? Nancy, how would you like it if we do it this way instead, once the child is born, I will take it from you and raise it over here and we will visit you sometimes. Does this sound reasonable to you?". Nope, instead he's just silently uncomfortable, and unsure about the whole situation.... at the same time as he's just going along with it and has unprotected sex with Nancy.
This thing with how they don't want to raise the children with Chuck, the family starved man, combined with how they have been treating him overall just makes me baffled that he hasn't confronted them yet. I mean, just swap the genders in the story for a moment for a bigger impact. Imagine the woman Chuckie, whos parents and her sibling is dead, and she really want a family of her own. She meet 5 roommates and becomes good friends with them. Eventually they have sex and the tell her they want to make her pregnant. Chuckie gets all happy as she'll finally have a family. Then the guys tell her that they will take the child from her when it's born and raise it without her, but she'll still have part in the childs life, just not in the raising of it. Oh and they will come over and fuck her when they feel like it suits them aswell..
Honestly it's mind-boggling to me how Chuck hasn't confronted them about it. I hoped that he'd leave them after the last story I read, after he'd spent time with Steve's family on the boat. Steve's wives treated Chuck better, and with more care and love than any of the fab five has done. I hoped that he would look at Steve and his wives and see that they are a single family unit that are attentive to each other, where as his relationship with the fab five is that the five of them are a unit and he's an outsider to spice up their bisexual needs and donate sperm. Chuck the Doormat, however, just keeps avoiding thinking about it and merely thinks "I'm sure it'll work out ".
When Serene said that she wanted a baby by Chuck, he told her "Serene, I think that if you and I were to have a child together, I think I would prefer we raise it together." At this point I was thinking "Finally, he actually stood up for what he wants to a woman!". Of course that didn't work out since Chuck the Doormat caved in without argument as soon as she pushed a little. Now she and the two others who managed to have him impregnate them are sailing away with his children, and told Chuck that the children will only ever know Michael as their father. Way to rub it in girls! Chuck of course says nothing, since that would involve confronting a woman about something he wants, and that just isn't done!
Now that I'm kind of done ranting, I was wondering if you all think that it's worth it to keep reading the series?
As you can tell, Chuck's inability to confront women bothers me alot. Is there alot of that in the upcoming stories? Is there enough of the other stuff that I said that I really liked, such as his deputy adventures, his music, his interactions with people who actually treats him considerately etc, to overlook his doormat tendencies? Or does his character development involve growing a pair when it comes to women? I kind of want to know what's in store for Chuck and Steve, but I'll soon be bald out of frustration when he refuses to confront women even when he is disagreeing with them or is uncomfortable with them. I honestly don't know if the frustration is worth the payoff if Chuck doesn't grow a pair anytime soon.
The one time he has actually argued with the women in his life, it was where he was adamant that Lena shouldn't become his lover. The one woman, who while bisexual and leaning toward women isn't about 90% lesbian, who Chuck has described as "She was what I had wanted in Bobby so badly". The one point he chose to argue with them is that he doesn't want his dream-girl who is the only one who isn't about as close to a lesbian you can be while remaining bisexual to become his lover. Way to chose your battles Chuck!
I guess to boil it down, will Chuck be doomed to forever be a doormat? If that is so, is the rest of the plot interesting enough to be worth the frustration of all women in his life running over him without consideration for what he might want?