SPOILERS FOR BIG GIRL BLITZ BY DANIELLE ALLEN – THIS ANNOTATING PROJECT IS BEST FOR READERS WHO HAVE FINISHED THE BOOK AND WANT TO HAVE AN ANNOTATING PROJECT FOR REFLECTING ON THEMES AND CRAFT
Lamar, the gorgeous, professional-football-player love interest of Big Girl Blitz by Danielle Allen, is an exceptionally thoughtful planner. When it comes to doing good things for Jazmyn, he goes above and beyond. He explains his style of loving the first day they meet:
I snickered, nodding in agreement. “What would you do?”
“For the woman I love?”
[…]
He licked his lips. “Making sure she’s good, taking care of her, keeping her happy, safe, and wanting for nothing.”
Chapter 2, p 17
Lamar often says “I got you” to Jazmyn, and it’s a phrase that’s imbued with meaning. Practically, it means “I love you,” and every time he utters the phrase in the book, I took it to mean he loves her. When he quietly covers her rent, sends her intentional gifts, drives hours to show up at her door, and even gets the library gazebo that she loved as a kid rebuilt: that’s all his brand of quiet love. He’s content to love quietly and from afar, even prefers to be “low-key with it” and “move in silence” — especially since Jazmyn doesn’t seem to be ready for an official relationship.
How to Annotate “I Got You” and “I Love You”
Annotating when Lamar says “I got you” and later in the book when “I got you” converts to “I love you” is a great way to track the relationship growth between Lamar and Jazymn. You’ll need 16 tabs of the same color for this annotating project, plus a coordinating highlighter or pen color for underlining. 1 tab will be for your tab key. The other 15 tabs will be for marking pages with “I got you” or “I love you.”
“You’ve Got This “- Jazmyn’s Version
For an add-on to this “I got you” project, you can annotate Jazmyn’s slightly different version of these words: “You’ve got this.” Even though I don’t provide the list, she says this in a lot of text messages to Lamar before games so it’s easy to find and annotate. It’s worth annotating too because her words of encouragement are intentionally similar to what Lamar says, and I think Danielle Allen set up this echo in the novel for many reasons. For one, it’s cute and it syncs the two love interests up in a creative, subtle way. More importantly, the echo helps give the word “got” an alternate meaning in this novel. “Got” is a safe substitute for the much riskier word Lamar and Jazmyn really want to say, which is “love.” In this way, “I’ve got you” and “You’ve got this” are subliminal declarations of love.
Annotation List
Tab 1 – Chapter 6, p 77
“I got you.”
Tab 2 – Chapter 7, p 78-79
As his laughter died down, he answered, “Being in love to me is anticipating her needs, making sure she’s good, taking care of her, making her life easier.” He slowed to a stop and then looked at me. His eyes fixated on my lips before meeting my gaze again. “Whatever she needs to be good, I got her.”
Tab 3 – Chapter 12, p 140
“And if you ever need anything from me, and I mean anything, you got it.“
Tab 4 – Chapter 13, p 153
Lamar Anderson: I mean it. I got you. Whatever you need, whenever you need it, I’m here. Good night.
Tab 5 – Chapter 16, p 197
“You can talk to me about anything. You do know that, right? After everything you’ve done for me, I got you.”
Tab 6 – Chapter 22, p 263
“I got you,” he whispered against my skin.
Tab 7 – Chapter 23, p 280
“Let me know what you need. I got you.”
Tab 8 – Chapter 23, p 288
He was quiet for a second. “I like that. I got you. Good night, Jazz.” “Good night.”
Tab 9 – Chapter 24, p 298
“Okay, okay, I got you,” he said as he held the phone up and took more. When he handed me my phone, he smiled. “You’re beautiful.”
Tab 10 – Chapter 27, p 333
He was quiet, waiting. “Jazz, talk to me. You know I got you, right? You know you can tell me anything.”
Tab 11 – Chapter 28, p 349
He held me tighter. “I got you.”
Tab 12 – Chapter 29, p 354
“Who got you these, Aunt Addy?” I plucked the card from the bouquet.
Note: Even though these are Jazmyn’s words, I think Danielle Allen phrased her question very intentionally to echo Lamar’s “I got you” promises. Lamar sending Aunt Addy flowers was definitely an “I got you” and “I got the people that matter most to you” moment. This gesture was full of love.
Tab 13 – Chapter 30, p 369
p 369 “I can … I got you covered. With both. With either. With whatever you need.”
“I got you,” he whispered
Tab 14 – Chapter 30, p 371
“I’m here for you, baby.” The deep, soft tone of his voice lulled me to sleep. “Anything you need, I got you. I hate seeing you hurting. I’ll do anything for you. I love you. I…”
Tab 15 – Chapter 30, p 380
“I love you,” he murmured, searching my eyes before his mouth covered mine. “I love you so fucking much.”
My stomach flipped hearing the words.
“I love you, too,” I whimpered.
Note: I didn’t annotate the “I got you” Russ says to Lamar in Chapter 34 on p 430.
Check Out My Other Posts about The Curves Series
Annotate With Sara 