By Becca

It’s a me, it’s a my, it’s a tasty soap pie that I love! There’s been so much fun, mixed in with absolute silly and a bit of true terror this week. Faison revealed himself, Connie decided she had an itch only Sonny could scratch, and AJ proved himself handy with a cellphone. Let’s start with some silly: how fast AJ was cleared of all charges!

I think I’m at the point in my soap-watching career that I’m more than embracing convenient plot contrivances, I’m reveling in them. AJ just so happening to have a photo of Cesar Faison on his phone cracked me up.

I loved it! Truly worthy of being released of kidnapping charges, if I close one eye and squint. And when AJ slid on into the boxing gym afterward, looking slick and confident, I may have swooned. Please don’t let AJ 3.0 became a punching bag. Please? I really need to come up with something more enticing to offer than a cherry on top.

While Shawn’s chest is always enticing, I’m rather upset he’s working with Sonny again. I had been willing to forget all about his time as a mob goon as long as he kept being a good father figure to TJ and seemed to enjoy manning the tills at Kelly’s. But no, he had to go and get himself involved with Sonny again. I hate when characters I enjoy sully themselves like that.

Which brings me to my next request, Show. There’s a character I am in sore need of convincing to like again. He need’s character rehab, if you will.

Yeah, I’m talking about that guy. Sonny, the reigning overlord of the Eastern Seaboard who left behind his conscience back when he returned to town after Brenda’s “death.” By my count, it’s been over a decade since he’s done anything to protect another person from himself, since he’s shown that the people he loves can be more important to him than the power he wields. I need to believe that’s possible for Sonny again, or I fear I will never get my past love for him back. And I’ll keep thinking that anyone voluntarily involved with him is probably not worth my attention.

Connie certainly fits that bill. I already thought Kate was crazy for going back to him, and well, she was. Connie, in all her sheer obnoxiousness, at least had the good sense to find Sonny repulsive. So now that one redeeming quality is gone and I have absolutely no idea why it’s floating her fancy to steal Molly’s book. She already has a magazine to rescue! Why does she need that, too? And let me assure you, Show, the more you have people say the book is amazing, the more likely I am not to believe you.

To expose my hypocrisy, I will admit to enjoying Johnny again. His continued insistence that no one cares about Connie, least of all him, is something I can empathize with strongly. I, too, wish to be spared an existence with her in it. See, selling me on Sonny won’t be that hard—all it takes is a little shared misery for me to overlook a mobster’s deeds. I couldn’t care less that he killed Starr’s family at this point. No act deserves this sentence.

I somewhat follow Faison’s logic to establish himself and “Duke” as two different people, but it’s a pretty risky plan. Because now Anna knows Faison is alive.

And his hygiene continues to terrify me.

It would be a lot easier to keep her unsuspicious if she didn’t know a living, breathing Faison were even a possibility. And her already wondering detective eye is just going to get more and more focused on the clues around her. Like whisking her to Switzerland in the first place, or her missing battery, or how different in demeanor tied-up Duke was than walking, talking “Duke.” She better figure it out soon, or I’ll be disappointed in her smarts. Eh, who am I kidding? I’ll just blame it on the grief.

Prescription for Better Soap: Make sure Anna figures out Faison’s plot before she looks too gullible (but not before she’s in mortal danger, of course), find a way to make Sonny rootable again (good luck with that), and keep making those plot contrivances entertaining (Lucy Coe’s new Coe Co. lipstick empire!).

Becca

Buy my romance novella, Maya’s Vacation, at Astraea Press,  Amazon, or Barnes and Nobles. Follow me on Twitter @thegourmez or on Facebook at my author page!