Review of Deceptive Calm
Posted: 05 Jul 2025, 17:19
[Following is a volunteer review of "Deceptive Calm" by Patricia Skipper.]
Deceptive Calm is a fairly fun romp through history through the eyes of Trisha and her best friend Vanessa Condon. We open in the racially charged atmosphere of Charleston, South Carolina in the 1960s following our two intrepid heroines as they go to school. Through their eyes, we explore the highly charged racist history of the Deep South during the 1960s and watch them learn and grow as women. We experience them exploring their sexuality and learning how to stand up for themselves in a deeply patriarchal world that is only beginning to open up to women. I appreciate the choice to have one of the friends be more sexually free while the other is more reserved in nature, and the implication that differences should be treasured, not reviled.
One criticism I have is the numerous characters who all seem to have the same impulse to over-share American history, specifically of the Civil War era, at the drop of a hat. Once was a character trait, twice and I start to suspect that the author is the one who has that interest and wants to share the tidbits they find fascinating with their readers. There also were several instances where I had to reread sections in order to figure out who said what due to the lack of ‘said [character]’ tags. While I understand that some authors fear sounding redundant when including such things, I tend to notice them more when they are missing, especially when I am floundering in the midst of a rapid-fire exchange.
I also found a few of the leaps of logic that the antagonist ML and the father of said antagonist confusing. I was not aware of the “One drop black” rule prior to reading this book, so that was an eye opening moment when I googled that to find out why Vanessa having a baby with sickle cell anemia would cause them to believe she was Black. Plus, I would have thought they would jump to “She must have slept with the pool boy” in addition to them thinking that she was black, since both father and mother must have the same cell defects in order for sickle cell anemia to appear.
Overall, while I would have loved to have another few chapters at the end of the book, just so that we had a bit longer to revel in the happy ending, I found the book a satisfying read. With all that in mind, I feel a fair rating would be 4 out of 5 stars.
******
Deceptive Calm
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Deceptive Calm is a fairly fun romp through history through the eyes of Trisha and her best friend Vanessa Condon. We open in the racially charged atmosphere of Charleston, South Carolina in the 1960s following our two intrepid heroines as they go to school. Through their eyes, we explore the highly charged racist history of the Deep South during the 1960s and watch them learn and grow as women. We experience them exploring their sexuality and learning how to stand up for themselves in a deeply patriarchal world that is only beginning to open up to women. I appreciate the choice to have one of the friends be more sexually free while the other is more reserved in nature, and the implication that differences should be treasured, not reviled.
One criticism I have is the numerous characters who all seem to have the same impulse to over-share American history, specifically of the Civil War era, at the drop of a hat. Once was a character trait, twice and I start to suspect that the author is the one who has that interest and wants to share the tidbits they find fascinating with their readers. There also were several instances where I had to reread sections in order to figure out who said what due to the lack of ‘said [character]’ tags. While I understand that some authors fear sounding redundant when including such things, I tend to notice them more when they are missing, especially when I am floundering in the midst of a rapid-fire exchange.
I also found a few of the leaps of logic that the antagonist ML and the father of said antagonist confusing. I was not aware of the “One drop black” rule prior to reading this book, so that was an eye opening moment when I googled that to find out why Vanessa having a baby with sickle cell anemia would cause them to believe she was Black. Plus, I would have thought they would jump to “She must have slept with the pool boy” in addition to them thinking that she was black, since both father and mother must have the same cell defects in order for sickle cell anemia to appear.
Overall, while I would have loved to have another few chapters at the end of the book, just so that we had a bit longer to revel in the happy ending, I found the book a satisfying read. With all that in mind, I feel a fair rating would be 4 out of 5 stars.
******
Deceptive Calm
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon