All Comments on 'Let Myself Believe'

Wish I could agree with everyone here but I can't.

The whole family treating him like shit but once daddy dearest is gone, its a fucking lovefest...I always find the "whole family is against me" thing ridiculous to start with but their abrupt change really worked against any realism here.

It was too padded out, by about 3 pages, the end did little to make me stand and cheer. I could get into more issues here but no writer here really cares to hear whats wrong with what they write.

So while your diehard fans are thrilled with this, as a non-biased reader, this gets a 3 at best.

What happened to William? ****

Five stars. Great writing. But one question:

“The father of Natalie's baby? I strongly suspect it would be Rick Blanchard.”

But didn’t he have a vasectomy? One can get them reversed, of course. But he wouldn’t seem like the type to do something like that.

Maybe the subject of another story?

I especially enjoy how you weave characters into subsequent stories. Nothing about it is forced fit into a story line. I've commented in precious stories how you have an immense talent for taking ordinary, flawed, common folks and creating extraordinary stories about them making their way, as best they can, through life.

Really enjoyed it. Thank you

For me to critique your story I would need to be a writer of superior to or at least on par with your talent. Which relinquishes me to the throngs of those inspired and entertained by you abilities. Thank you, Sir.

I also can confirm it was Bob Nelson. Here's a link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0629212/mediaviewer/rm2798246401/ if you want to give it a watch.

Also, as a long time resident of Colorado, it's never a muggy day or evening there. The air is so dry, part of the reason I moved away was waking up with a bloody nose.

The rest of it? Pure JB44 gold. I gave your five stars. I'm glad to see you are writing again.

Loved it 5 stars

I really like how you capture the Louisiana vernacular. As a Midwesterner, I can’t hear dialects like that. It makes your stories unique. I think you did cross over and use the Louisiana cadence for Victoria in a couple of places. There were a couple of cases where your transitions were abrupt. I had trouble with time and place a couple of times. Not your best written story, but you still create engaging characters. I like how you get misfits to claim each other and them become fiercely committed.

Entertaining, fast paced read. Nice job

Love seeing you more active again. Hopefully there plenty more from you to come. This was another 5 start story

Natalies behavior makes no sense at all

First pages declare her as self entitled princess that demeans her brother like everbody else

Fast forward to pg 5 and she´s 180° turned? nah no amount of preggerhormones will do that

and the cow of a mother ...

I have Soul71 Story Rage

Good overall but some Characters are so unbelivable it makes my toe nails curl

Tremendous tale

The Victoria character is fantastic. William was a prick. The best thing Andrew did was lose Candy. Andrew was a hero. He just didn't know it until he left. A little long but excellent.

Five Stars

the story was well written- only noticed one mistake when you referred to rhianna as brianna. only fault i could find was his being able to ride three bulls and not get thrown off before the time limit- pretty amazing for a guy that had no previous experience with bull riding or similar experience that could help him ride- but this is fiction and the author is entitled to give his characters whatever superpowers they need.

Nice story well written

Loved this story, very well written, very entertaining.

Really well done 5 stars

Certainly a complete story, one I enjoyed reading. I think a history on Victoria would have added to the story. Her self abuse and changing methods of abuse was interesting. Somewhat

was the trip with his two friends. I guess it was way to introduce Victoria to the story.

I do get pleasure from your efforts, like Kennedy I can't but; I shore like those who can. (Able to write and tell stories) thanks

It would be hard to find a better story on this site! Thanks!

Good story with real characters. Don't know what happened to his Vegas buddies though.

It was a fun read, but appeared to have repeated some themes from previous stories. Kind of the Pretty Woman schtick. I think the one I'm remembering did the clumsy whore who becomes an incredible business woman once given the chance by a similar man who was cast aside as a loser by his family. Whatever, your version was very entertaining.

But it did beg the question, why did Andrew date such shallow stupid women? I mean, who falls for an asshole like William? And it was Victoria who chose Andrew, so we can't even presume that Andrew wised up to discern a real woman from a posing whore. If it wasn't for Victoria Andrew would still be the dickless poltroon providing new fuck toys to his brother.

Still, it was fun. Thanks for the effort.

This is a great story, your stories always make me smile

Real enjoyed the story. Enjoyed Willian getting his dues. I gave it a 5.

What’s with the Ellie May Clampett accent on Ria? Even Andrew sounds like Jethro. Who is the daughters fatherland what is Ria’s back story? What happened to William in the end? Who knocked up Andrew’s sister? Needs a second chapter where Both Andrew and Ria learn how to speak without sounding like the just arrived from Hooterville and Ria ditches some of the piercings and goes back to school to learn to help run the business. 🖖

"Write the way people speak?" - So you'd rather read, "H-h-he sp-sp-spoke l-l-li-li-like th-th-this," than, "He spoke like this," he stuttered.

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I wrote a story that took place in Boston. ONCE, for comedic effect I had a character refer to the Boston Garden as the "Gahden." It would have been tedious to write, and more tedious to read, if I wrote all the dialect with a Boston accent.

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I read, and enjoyed, JB's earlier work, but found wading through the Cajun dialect difficult. I could deal with it for 2, 3, even 4 pages, but not even gonna try for a story this long.

Absolutely loved it! Great characters and a fun plot!

Well done!

It was great to have another JB44 story to read. This one was an absolute delight from start to finish. Thank you so much for this one.

Great story! And thanks for bringing back memories of Bob Nelson.

I gave it 3 stars rather than 5 simply because of the atrocious grammar used. While it may have been intended to convey the Louisiana brogue, it failed miserably. A simple statement early on that the individuals spoke with a Southern brogue or drawl would have conveyed the idea much more effectively. The writer could then have used more normal grammar and thus made the whole story much more readable.

Hello JimBob

The comedian is Bob Nelson. He was on a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special back in the day.

Fantastic as usual. Couldn’t stop reading once I started. Five big stars!

Excellent, as usual! Loved it for 5 BIG STARS. Thank you again.

Good to see you're writing again.

You're work is always entertaining.

Thank you!

Its a little hard to know where you are sometimes.

keep on posting - I look forward to your next offering.fhf

I don’t often comment, mainly because I cannot justify criticism of someone who can do what I can’t. Spin words together to create something enjoyable for others! Reading your other comment I realise you are a master. I am currently alone at home in COVID lock down and your little yarn made for quite a pleasant afternoon. Thank you

I was well pleased with this story. I have read some of the reviews and I am somewhat taken aback with some of the criticisms I read. It makes me wonder if these folks actually read the same story that I did. Oh well, but ya know you just gotta LOVE Victoria, what a hoot!

I for one thoroughly enjoyed the story, as I do with most of your stories

keep up the good work

Robert Klein

Is probably the comedian you're talking about.

@russ603 - Yes, I obviously agree with you!

Enjoyed the story. I am not a fan of the hillbilly/cajun dialect use, as it gets confusing. Still, you did convey the essence of their conversations pretty effectively. Looking forward to reading a few more of your stories.

You put me in a dilemma I would like to read the story but I don't like to find mistakes cause always bI'm not able to find them😏

Just kidding. I'm not a native English speaker but I had the impression something was different in this Story. Doesn't matter wonderful story about love, past love more past love and future love.

Can I now take a turn on Candy? She's free now I believe

The evening after reading this story I walked by a young woman (late teens to early 20s), Cute in a pixie way. Short, very pale skin, lots of tattoos, and bright green hair. Normally, if I walked by someone like that I would’ve either not thought of her, or wondered slightly what kind of childhood trauma she had that she was trying to alter who she is so drastically. She is very much not the kind of person I have normally associated with.

After reading your story I still wondered what kind of trauma she has had in her life; however, this time I saw her much more as an individual. I looked at her face and eyes and saw a vulnerability there. She seemed a bit shy. Bottom line I saw her much more as a complete human. Probably with more issues than most, but a complete human and not a caricature of a human being. If I had come across her at a coffee shop I would’ve loved to get to know her better, and her history.

Interestingly, it’s very likely she stereotypes someone like me too. Stories like yours that show characters from varied backgrounds are so great. It’s unfortunate that we have some great black authors on Lit like Blackrandl and Javmor, but they don’t make their main characters black. I get why, so that’s larger audience can identity with their MC’s. The problem is though that when blacks are typically introduced on Lit they are not in a good light (dumb bbc with one attribute in life). We need more srories where we see the shared humanity of more marginalized people.

Always love any chance to visit Degarde. 5 stars.

Great story! Five stars! Welcome back!

Another great read! Enjoy your slices of Cajun life.

The comedian is Bob Nelson. You can watch this but on YouTube under 9th Annual Young Comedians Awards, done at Dangerfields. Not also has a bit about a punch-drunk fighter, Joey Jeff. Classic humor, but definitely not PC. As Bob says, "A mind is a terrible thing."

sir,some of the best writing come you on this site.thank you for your time in writing your stories.

Great to have you back writing in this genre. Thanks for your efforts and more please!!!

Good story. But I would have appreciated it if you could have informed the readers as to what happened to Andrew's friends, Freddie and Ryan. Why did they just disappear without telling Andrew they were leaving, or where they were going? I gathered that their wives somehow found out that they had cheated, but how? And if they decided to go home to try to smooth things over with their wives, why wouldn't Freddie and Ryan take Andrew with them?

Thanks for writing good stories.

Very enjoyable

Welcome Back! Once again, you have an excellent story for the DeGarde universe you have created. I think this, and "Righting a Wrong", are two of the best stories on the site and would make excellent movies. "On Channel 12" would not only make a great movie, but an awesome series for a cooking show! :) Seriously... your stories strung together are an absolutely wonderful experience. Thanks.

Have to disagree with those who compliment this story.

As someone from outside of U.S, the dialogues made it very hard to read. There must be other way to convey that the speakers are from a specific area. I rarely read African-American dialogue written in American Ebonics. And when it did, it's just as hard to read.

_

There's a hole between the bad treatment by Natalie and her joy when Andrew returns. No explanation.

Why did father treat him like that?

Why does he care for his father's last word? Inheritance?

_

The story spent so much time showing Williams as a scumbag but when it's time for his comeuppance, the story ended. You can't build up your antagonist like that and end it at his arrest. That's lazy. We want to know what the punishment is.

-JuanC.

Really good story.5*

I really look forward to having you post a new story. More! More!

Love you stuff. Entertaining as always, made me laugh and choked me up. Happy to see your still writing. Thanks for taking the time to do so.

Bravo, a very good story told effectively. The characters matched. I liked that very much. Thank you for sharing!

Almost every time I begin one of your stories , the outrageous nature of your MCs and the dialogue ALMOST get me to quit reading. I always continue and I am never disappointed. Thank you for sharing your stories.

Ed

Dain bramage, heh that takes me back. I haven't thought about that in years! Thanks for another great story, and for bringing back a few memories from younger days.

I'm new to this author and enjoyed the story. But I didn't see where his family ever apologized for their treatment of him. Or even gave an explanation. He just returns and they go on as if everything's alright? For example, Natalie enjoyed his pain from being cheated on the last time he saw her. Now she's overjoyed at his return? With no remorse or apology? The mother is incredibly rude also. I know she may be coming around in the end but come on. We also never learn why his father mistreated him.

Moreover, I'd have enjoyed learning that all of his ex-girlfriends who dropped him for William ended up regretting it, in sad lives, and apologizing as well. Especially Candy! Yeah, she has some tears when she sees him, but they were talking engagement, then she betrays him and just never tries to make things right?

Finally, William was painted as one of the most horrible people I've read on Literotica. He should have gotten a lot worse! Yes, they'll be charges for hitting Victoria but after ALL he's done, he deserves much more! Legally, physically, psychologically, he needs to be put in his place definitively! For instance, it'd have been great to see all of the women he stole turn on him and let him know he's not God's gift.

I enjoyed this as a love story. Two lost souls found each other. That was beautiful. And little Rhiann was the cutest. So I did like the story but wish those who did wrong would have been brought to task more. Or at all in most cases.

Jimbob stunning story i loved it and i like the way you write well done

Re: 'dain bramage'

I remember the bit and the comedian is Bob Nelson. There's a clip of this routine on YouTube. It's from the 80s so it's decidedly not politically correct, but it's funny as hell.

That was a very entertaining , easy reading story, thanks for sharing your gift with us

love it, simple and plain, well written, good story, thank you keep em coming please

Reading your stories is a bizarre experience.

It's as if you forgot to upload whole chapters, it randomly jumps all over the place with no warning or context.

Makes them very hard to read

The difference between a girls track team and a pygmy tribe? A pygmy tribe is a cunning bunch of runts. (RIP Redd Foxx). Another great one. Thanks for sharing.

Nice piece to f reading

...was in fact the mother, and not a grandmother, another sibling or cousin or aunt.

5-stars

Complicated. No, it is not complicated, it is predictable, boring, too long, and coupled with repeating paragraphs. The first half that needs to carry some plot is redundant, juvenile, and sounds like some trailer park story without any suspense whatsoever.

I guess this is attractive to pinkneck BTB crowd which is how you can get high rating in LW. But in either case it is piss poor story.

I love me some JimBob44. One of the very best. Thank you, sir, may we have another?

You wrote Brianna a few times instead of Rianna.

Also the thing with Natalie's pregnancy was never explored, I was kinda expecting some kind of revelation about William being enough of a creepy douchebag to knock up his sister.

Is there, or will there be any story about Natalie or Rick aside from Don't Poke The Sleeping Bear?

Always an experience in elocution reading your stories. I enjoyed this one very much but wish Victoria could have taken care of the dickhead brother. She probably could have kicked his back to one of their oil rigs in the gulf.

Glad you're writing again.

enjoyable. glad you are writing again

Jimbob 44 still the top writer. hope for more

5* love these "rags to riches" stories, there seem to be a clique of loving wives authors on lit who are revered by each other and do appear to have one or two decent stories to their name but non of them can hold a candle to jb44, i'd pay to read his stuff.

solid story, enjoyed it a lot. Ria is a great character, lived a hard life and looks questionable but faces up to the challenge with integrity. love story like these. Still, I cannot imagine someone wearing a bikini bottom full time hah.

well done.

I think I want to visit DeGarde, LA…

What happened to Ryan and Freddie,they just vanished?.Did the author forget about them?.

Interesting but too many open ends...

/

What happen to Ryan/Freddie and their marriages or STD's? What happen to Little Willy - did he get jail time and loose his Tri VP position? Natalia didn't play much of a role in the story, yet, she is knocked up? Did Andrew pull Tri out of bankruptcy? Did a wife finally start dumping her facial piercing's? Did Andrew get a lil Drew?

/

4*, Hooyah, due to all the open ends....

JimBob brings us more of life in Degarde, just another snippet. It is fun to see the Degarde universe unfold as each new episode is released. Thanks, JB44.

.

Now, for those who expect each Lit SHORT Story to be tightly wrapped and so complete that no questions remain regarding future events? - get serious! Life, both real life and Degarde life, is a continuum with past, present and future. Complaints about nits like "then, who did what, to whom, when?" is like asking for all future chapters in one short story - Pretty silly, actually.

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Keep 'em comin'.

Another 5-star slam dunk my friend! Great characters, storyline, settings, and emotional treatment. I love the hominess of your dialog. Once again, very well done.

Loved the little girl.

Loved this story, JimBob! Absolutely brilliant!

I think this is your best story.

Great story, love the new characters and the references to the familiar ones!

I usually don't comment on stories but I had to comment on this one. I think it was a great story but some what unbelievable - bull riding by a novice (?). However my main gripe is the treatment of Natalie. In the end she was introduced somewhat gratuistly as pregnant - hoe, where, what. There was no reason for it unless it was William's. With that said it was a good read !

Andrew should have just shot William in the face and put him out of everyone’s misery. Very nice story, JimBob.

William is a real POS...

Wonderful done. Great work.

Great story. I was expecting the family to apologize for their previous mistreatment tho, I think I was more resentful against them than the main character LOL

Great one thanks.

Only quibble is with the Kansans and Coloradans speaking Cajun dialect.

Good, entertaining story.

Thank you.

Great story the first time I read it, even better this time! Another Five stars!

Does anyone really care what rich people do?

Very good. A 5, and i give very few.

Had a lot of potential at the start , but fell miserably short