Please Love Me

By: Penelope Przekop

Narrated by: Rebecca Roberts

Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

For as long as she can remember, 17-year-old Peyton Bound has struggled to remain strong despite being lost in the whirlwind of her emotionally disturbed mother's life...then she finds Matthew Adler at a frat party. He's the first boy who kisses her with open eyes; Peyton finally sees herself in their sparkling reflection. She's sure that her fairytale moment has finally arrived, the day when everything will magically fall into place, and the burdens of her disturbing childhood will begin to lift. But when everything goes wrong, Peyton can no longer run from the truth about herself. Something is missing, and no one can save her.

Artist and writer Penelope Przekop grew up in Louisiana during the 1970s and 80s. Despite fictional elements, Please Love Me is her memoir; she is Peyton Bound, a character she created as a young adult to understand how she fell into a destructive relationship that led to a suicide attempt, and violent public cry for help. As she wrote the book, she realized it was about much more than first love gone wrong. It was about her dysfunctional childhood, her mentally ill mother, and her desperation to break free.

Please Love Me gives a raw voice to some of the deepest issues contributing to teenage suicide. It is an honest look into the human spirit's need for love and truth in a world full of craziness, and just how far some will go to find it.

©2013 Penelope Przekop (P)2013 Penelope Przekop

Dysfunctional, yet moving

If you could sum up Please Love Me in three words, what would they be?

Please love yourself

What other book might you compare Please Love Me to and why?

I don't think I've ever read anything quite so unsettling before. Maybe Stephen Kings "Carrie", but less extreme, and without the bloody/scary parts.

Have you listened to any of Rebecca Roberts’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, I've listened to several. I think she consistently does a really good job with all of the books she narrates . I don't feel like I have to concentrate, and can just let her voice flow through my brain. When she changes characters, there is no jarring change in her demeanor, she just assumes the voice of the character as if people are rely having a conversation.

If you could take any character from Please Love Me out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Peter. He was the only person I had any affection for.

Any additional comments?

This was a really dark story. Peyton had some really hard psychological issues that a lot of teenage girls face. Low self esteem, lack of social etiquette, and some really dysfunctional family relationships all played a part in this girl's selfish and erratic behavior.

desperate for love

Where does Please Love Me rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book falls somewhere in the middle among all of the audiobooks that I've read. I liked the general storyline but there were times when Peyton's desperation to be loved just became to much.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I thought the end might have turned out differently. I wasn't surprised by it though. It seemed fitting.

Which character – as performed by Rebecca Roberts – was your favorite?

Peyton really came to life. You could really feel her desperation, loneliness and need to be loved. She was almost childlike in her naïveté. Rebecca Roberts performed the part really well. You could feel Peyton's emotions pouring off of her as you listened.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, I don't think I would want to. I enjoy listening to some of a book and then coming back to it after being able to process and think about what I've read or listened to.

Any additional comments?

This is the second book I've listened to by this author and there is a definite theme going on. There is always an undertone of motherly neglect and forced religion along with a yearning to be loved.
This book is about a girl named Peyton in her late teens who is just desperate to be loved and accepted. She has never gotten the unconditional love she needed from her mentally ill, religion obsessed mother and searches for it in other relationships. It's an interesting story of a girl's self destruction in search for a love she will not find in the places that she is looking. Its actually quite sad.
You could feel the desperation within Peyton and her need to be loved. The neglect of her mother paved the way for her feelings of insecurity and search for love in inappropriate places. I felt sorry for Peyton but there was a point when I also felt embarrassed for her. It was sad.

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. It is unbiased and my own opinion.

GOOD READ!

I enjoyed it! This book was emotional for me especially since it was based on true life experiences. The narration was good. The author did a great job with the characters. I previously read the book "Aberrations" by this author and enjoyed that as well! I look forward to reading more books from this author! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This is one book/character you'll never forget

To be frank, this book was really hard to get through, for me. More than once, I wanted to quit but I still came back. It took me a few days to fully digest it but I can now say that I'm glad I finished it.

I understood the character fairly well. I understood her trauma. I, unfortunately, understand being a daughter of a narcissistic mother. What I didn't understand was her desperation. How pathetic she was. The way she throws herself at people who don't even like her, time and again, was hard to sit through. I was humiliated for her. But those situations only got worse and even more humiliating. I've never wanted to grab a character by the shoulders and tell at them to "have some %$×£&\#€ self respect" until this book.

The reason this book gave me such visceral reactions was because I knew going in that this was a memoir. The author says about 80% of the book is true. That is what turned this book from an enjoyable and interesting deep dark tale of a sad twisted soul to a horrifying look into a real and disturbingly broken person's psyche.

We've all met a "Peyton" once or twice in real life. That drunk girl at the party who not so coyly stumbles around flirting with any guy in sight. Making everyone cringe by inappropriately touching guys and basically admitting she'll sleep with him before even knowing his name. That friend of a friend who losses her will to live because her latest boyfriend broke up with her. She feels like she's nothing without a boyfriend. You know the type. When you pretend you have somewhere to be all the sudden when you notice you're now the only one left in the room with her because being around her for a few minutes is so uncomfortable.

Well, now imagine locking yourself in a room alone with her and giving her the key. That's what this book feels like.

It won't be fun. It won't be painless. You will be banging and kicking the door for someone to let you out most of the time. But strangely enough, once you get out and get some air and away from her, you'll understand the Peytons' of the world a bit more and be reluctantly grateful for the experience.


I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.